| "Automatic / Time Will Tell" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Utada Hikaru | ||||
| from the album First Love | ||||
| Released | December 9, 1998 | |||
| Format | CD, double A-side single | |||
| Recorded | August 1998 | |||
| Genre | Pop R&B Dance-pop |
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| Length | 5:28 (Automatic) 5:30 (Time Will Tell) |
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| Label | EMI Music Japan | |||
| Writer(s) | Utada Hikaru | |||
| Producer | Utada Hikaru | |||
| Utada Hikaru singles chronology | ||||
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"Automatic / Time Will Tell" is a double A-side single released by Utada Hikaru, released as her second single overall and her official debut Japanese single. It was released on December 9, 1998. "Automatic / time will tell" debuted with 42,210 copies sold in its first week, but it went on to sell 2,063,000. The single hit #4 (8 cm) and #2 (12 cm) on the Oricon charts. This single is the 19th best selling single in Japan. In 1999, a Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen covered "Automatic" as 情不自禁 (Qíng Bù Zì Jìn) in Mandarin.
"Automatic" was used in the Honda Life CM, and was also featured in beatmania GB 2 GatchaMIX for the Game Boy Color.[1]
"Automatic / Time Will Tell" is Utada Hikaru's first official single in the Japanese market, though there have been prior releases under the name "U3" as part of a family unit and Cubic U. Automatic was a tie-in track as the ending theme song to the Fuji TV show "Warau Inu no Seikatsu -YARANEVA!!-" as well as the Honda Life CM song, whereas time will tell was used as the ending theme song to the Fuji TV show Gokigenyou. There were two versions of this released: an 8 cm single as well as a standard 12 cm single. Originally, different versions of the same product were given different placings on Oricon charts. This meant that the single reached #2 (the 12 cm version) and #4 (the 8 cm version) on Oricon charts. The #1 spot went to KinKi Kids' Happy Happy Greeting / Cinderella Christmas. The most recent figures (May 26, 2006) show that the 12 cm version sold 1,290,700 units and the 8 cm version sold 772,080 copies in Japan. Both versions charted for 22 weeks. The 12 cm version placed #5 on the 'top singles of 1999' chart, while the 6 cm version placed at #22. However, if the sales were combined then the single would have gained 2,062,780 sales and ranked as the #2 single for the year of 1999. A peculiar thing about this single's Oricon rankings is that despite KinKi Kids' "Happy Happy Greeting / Cinderella Christmas" beating it in initial Oricon charts, that single did not even appear on the list of top singles for the year. This single reached #20 on World Charts for single airplay, and reached #4 for sales.
Utada performed Automatic on her 2010 tour, Utada: In The Flesh.
Both songs were performed during Utada's two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[2]
| 8 cm version | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Arranger | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Automatic" | Akira Nishihira, Taka & Speedy(rhythm track arrangement), Kei Kawano(additional arrangement) |
5:28 | ||||||
| 2. | "Time Will Tell" | Toshiyuki Mori, Jun Isomura |
5:30 | ||||||
| 3. | "Automatic (Original Karaoke)" | 5:11 | |||||||
| 12 cm version | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Arranger | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Automatic" | 5:28 | |||||||
| 2. | "Time Will Tell" | 5:30 | |||||||
| 3. | "Time Will Tell (Dub Mix)" | Goh Hotoda | 5:36 | ||||||
| Vinyl version (side A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Automatic" | 5:28 | |||||||
| Vinyl version (side B) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Time Will Tell" | 5:30 | |||||||
| 2. | "Time Will Tell (Dub Mix)" | 5:36 | |||||||
"Automatic / Time Will Tell" - Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)
| Release | Chart | Peak position | Sales total | Chart run | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 cm | December 9, 1998 | Oricon Daily Singles Chart | |||
| Oricon Weekly Singles Chart | 4 | 772,080 | 23 | ||
| Oricon Yearly Singles Chart | |||||
| 12 cm | Oricon Daily Singles Chart | ||||
| Oricon Weekly Singles Chart | 2 | 1,290,700 | 23 | ||
| Oricon Yearly Singles Chart |
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