Final Distance
| "Final Distance" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Hikaru Utada | ||||
| from the album Deep River | ||||
| Released | July 25, 2001 | |||
| Format | CD, maxi single | |||
| Recorded | — | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 5:40 | |||
| Label | EMI Music Japan | |||
| Writer(s) | Hikaru Utada | |||
| Producer(s) |
Akira Miyake, Hikaru Utada and Teruzane Utada (1) Russell McNamara （2） Taku from M-Flo (3) Akira Miyake, Teruzane Utada (4) | |||
| Hikaru Utada singles chronology | ||||
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"Final Distance" is Hikaru Utada's 8th Japanese-language single (10th overall) and the 1st single on her Deep River album. "Final Distance" is the first song that Hikaru Utada's ex-husband Kazuaki Kiriya filmed the music video to. This is also the first time that Hikaru Utada has worked with M-Flo. The song debuted at #2 on the Oricon charts with 225,860 in its first week. It had a tie-in as the NTT docomo M-stage CM song.
Song history
"Distance" originally appeared in the Distance album, and was planned to be released as a single. However, Utada heard of a school stabbing rampage in which 6 year old schoolgirl Rena Yamashita (山下玲奈) had died. Rena had previously won an essay competition; writing about how she wanted to become an actress just like Utada. Utada decided to rearrange the song into ballad form, creating the song "Final Distance". The Japanese Ministry of Education decided to incorporate Hikaru Utada's ballad "Final Distance" in the high school music textbook starting spring semester 2001, which was announced on 10 April. In order to pass the proposal, they needed 313 points. The proposal was passed with 319 points. They will be targeting high school students in their second year to test the new curriculum. According to the publisher of arts in education, the song was chosen because it is closely familiar with high school students.
Critical and commercial response
The single sold 582,000 units in Japan, making it #2 in Oricon charts and was blocked from the No.1 position for four weeks, each week by a new strong release, but managed to stay at the No.2 position for a month. It charted for 13 weeks. The single was the #24 single of 2001 in Japan. This single, as well as "Hikari" and "Sakura Drops/Letters", strangely did not chart in the world charts airplay charts or sales charts.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Hikaru Utada.| No. | Title | Arranger | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Final Distance" | Kei Kawano, Hikaru Utada Neko Saito (strings arrangement) |
5:40 | |
| 2. | "Distance -PLANITb Remix-" | Russell McNamara | 6:15 | |
| 3. | "Distance -M-Flo Remix-" | Shin Kono (strings arrangement) | 5:56 | |
| 4. | "Distance" | Kei Kawano, Hikaru Utada | 5:42 | |
| 5. | "Distance -Original Karaoke-" | 5:41 | ||
| 6. | "Final Distance -Instrumental-" | 5:37 |
Charts
"Final Distance" - Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)
| Release | Chart | Peak Position | Sales Total | Chart Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 25, 2001 | Oricon Daily Singles Chart | 2 | ||
| Oricon Weekly Singles Chart | 2 | 582,120 | 13 | |
| Oricon Yearly Singles Chart | 24 |
External links
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