Automatic (Hikaru Utada song)

"Automatic"

"Automatic/Time Will Tell" 12cm CD single cover.
Single by Hikaru Utada
from the album First Love
Released December 8, 1998
(see release history)
Format CD Single, Digital download
Recorded 2010
Genre R&B, pop, dance-pop
Length 5:28
Label Toshiba EMI
Writer(s)
Hikaru Utada singles chronology
"Time Will Tell"
(1998)
"Automatic"
(1998)
"Movin' On Without You"
(1999)
"Automatic/Time Will Tell" 8cm CD single cover.

"Automatic" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Hikaru Utada, released as the first single along with A-side "Time Will Tell" from her debut studio album First Love (1999). The song was written and composed by Utada herself while the production was handled by her father Teruzane Utada and Miyake Akira. "Automatic" and "Time Will Tell" were written and composed while Utada was attending college in Tokyo, Japan during 1997. Utada, who received an record contract by Toshiba-EMI, had written English-language versions of the songs, but both songs remain unreleased; the English version of "Time Will Tell" was released in March 2014 in part of the First Love: 15th Anniversary.

Musically, Automatic shares the same R&B elements from the parent album, also utilizing dance-pop and soul music. "Automatic" received favorable reviews from most music critics, who praised the musical arrangement and praised Utada's vocals and songwriting. Many critics have viewed the song as memorable towards the Japanese music scene. An accompanying music video was shot by Tomu Izawa, which features Utada in both a darkened room and a square blue room, similar to the cover art off the compact disc.

Commercially, the singles were a huge success. Both released as a 8cm and normal compact disc, the songs peaked at number four and two on the Oricon Singles Chart respectively, with the latter format selling over 1.2 million units and the first selling just under one million units.[1] To date, the songs remain as Utada's best selling physical single, selling over 2 million units.[1] "Automatic" has been played live on several occasions including international tours Utada United 2006, Utada: In the Flesh 2010 and Wild Life (concert).

Background

Born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, Hikaru Utada had started singing at a very young age; she was a member of U3, a musical act with her mother Keiko Fuji and her father Teruzane. U3 released their debut album Star in 1993, with the hope to debut in America; the album only peaked at thirty-three in Japan.[2][3][4][5] Utada's mother was a Japanese enka singer and actress, who released several albums with some topping the Oricon charts during the 1960's and 1970's period, while her father was a Japanese record producer who had contributed to some off Fuji's work. In 1996, the group was rebranded as Cubic U, an R&B project that focused primarily on Hikaru, resulting in the English language album Precious in 1998 with record label Toshiba EMI.[6][7] The album peaked at two and sold over 700,000 units.[8]

Utada moved to Tokyo in 1997 to attend Seisen International School and later American School in Japan.[9] Utada had signed as a solo artist with Toshiba EMI and started recording her singles and eventually her then-forthcoming album First Love. Utada, who was fluent in English language, was asked if she could write Japanese songs by Toshiba, rather than English language lyrics. This lead to the recording sessions for her debut Japanese album, First Love. (1999)[10] During the process of the tracks and album, Utada desired to become a singer-songwriter and occasionally practiced producing and composing her music rather than become an Japanese idol.[11] She refused to allow talent agencies to contact her, which was a very common tradition for Japanese singers in the 1990s,[12] and her father started to manage her work along with producing and composing it; to this day, her father continues to manage and co-produce some of her work.

Writing and production

The song was recorded in late August 1998, at Studio Z'd, Wonder Station Yoyogi Studio and Studio Terra in Tokyo.[10] "Automatic" was written and composed by Utada herself and the production was handled by her father Teruzane and Miyake Akira.[13] Both Teruzane and Akira continue to produce and composer her music as of this date.[13] The song was arranged by Taka & Speedy, with additional production by Kawano Kei.[13] The songs instrumentation was handled by Akira Nishihira, in which incorporated instruments like keyboards and electric guitars. Other instruments, including synthesizers and guitars where both handled by Tsuyoshi Kon and Nobuhiko Nakayama.[13] Additional mixing, programming and mastering was handled by Goh Hotoda and American programmer Ted Jensen.[14]

Similar to most of the songs from First Love, "Automatic" is a R&B driven track that expresses "full emotions" and Utada's vocal abilities.[15] Unusual dance grooves are created by the strumming of a "distorted-yet-laid-back" bass guitar.[16] Wilson and Alroy from Warr.org commented that the instrumentation creates a sense of "unusual but casual intimacy" vibe.[16] Rockin' On Japan's editor and chief Kano had commented that Hikaru had brought a large prominence of R&B and soul music with the tracks "Automatic" and "Time Will Tell" and felt that the release introduced a new R&B audience.[17] Utada uses the song title on her 2009 English-language album This Is the One for the song "Automatic Part II".[18] In March 2014, a special edition of her debut album First Love was released to celebrate the 15th anniversary since its release. A demo cut for "Automatic" was featured as a bonus track.[19]

Critical reaction

CDJournal gave the single a star of recommendation, praising Utada's vocal and expressive songwriting. They described her voice as "full of emotion", and felt the "flexible melody line" created a pleasant floating feeling.[20] David Jeffries, who had written the extended biography of Utada at Allmusic, had selected the song as an album and career standout track.[21] Wilson and Alroy had highlighted the track as an album standout from First Love, who awarded the album a three star rating out of five.[16] Kano commented "It's the all began from here" when referring to "Automatic", and said the song presented "innocent energy" that was "vivid enough" to admire singers like Utada.[17] Satoshi Shimada from Yeah!! J-Pop felt that "Automatic" was the strongest single on Utada's first greatest hits compilation Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 (2004).[22] Jun Takama from Vibe was positive towards all tracks from the compilation, who commended Utada's vocal abilities, songwriting and production skills.[23]

"Automatic" was given the gold award at the 2000 JASRAC awards, beating her own song "Time Will Tell" and "Dango 3 Kyodai" to be the most royalty-receiving song in 1999.[24] The Japan Record Awards mentioned the song as an Honorable Mention Award.[25] In 2000, The Japan Gold Disc Awards had awarded "Automatic" along with "Movin' on Without You" and "Addicted to You" for Song(s) of the Year.[25]

Commercial response

"Automatic" is the second best selling single by a female artist, just behind Namie Amuro's (pictured) single "Can You Celebrate?"

"Automatic / Time Will Tell" charted together in Japan and was first served for their 8cm release. "Automatic / Time will tell" had peaked at number four on the Oricon Singles Chart, which became her first top five single but had missed the top spot. The singles had eventually sold over 772,000 copies during 1998 and 1999, making the release Utada's best selling single on a 8cm format.[26][27] In February 1999, the songs were re-released on compact disc format by Toshiba-EMI. The song peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, which had raised her previous position, but again, failed to peak at number one on Oricon.[28] However, the singles sold an additionally 1.3 million copies in Japan.[26][28]

In November 2009, during the international promotion off her English-language album This Is the One, "Automatic" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for 100,000 sold full-length ringtone units in Japan.[29] In 2014, up until Utada's 15th career anniversary off her debut album, "Automatic" debuted and peaked at number 52 on the Japan Hot Adult Contemporary chart and Japan Hot 100 at number 73.[30][31] This charting became her most recent effort to chart in Japan overall since her last release was in 2010. With total digital and physical sales, "Automatic / Time Will Tell" has sold over 2.1 million units in Japan and is one of the best selling singles in Japan. These sales were her highest up until her 2007 single "Flavor of Life", which sold over 650,000 physical units, 2.85 million digital units of the ballad version,[32][33][34] and 2.25 million digital units of the original version.[35][34][36] These sales tally up to 5.7 million units, Utada's highest selling single to date.[37]

Promotion

It was also used in a commercial for Honda Life, and was featured in beatmania GB 2 GatchaMIX for the Game Boy Color.[38] The song has been a constant feature of her live concert set lists. She performed the song during her Luv Live concerts in April 1999, as well as her Bohemian Summer 2000 concert tour and at the Utada Hikaru Unplugged event on August 10, 2001.[39] The song was a part of her Hikaru no 5 residency concerts at the Nippon Budokan in February 2004, her Japan-wide tour Utada United 2006, her overseas tour Utada: In the Flesh 2010 and her December 2010 Wild Life concert series.[40]

A music video was produced for the song, directed by Tomu Izawa,[41] and later included in her Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol. 1 (1999) music clip collection. It featured Utada sitting in a darkened room, performing the song on a yellow armchair. The second section of the video features Utada performing the song in the blue and white room depicted on the 12cm cover. In 2010, Utada self-parodied the armchair scene in the music video for her song "Goodbye Happiness".[42]

Legacy

"Automatic" is often regarded as one of the best-reviewed Japanese singles in modern Japanese music history.[22] Shimada commented that not only "Automatic" was one of her strongest singles, but felt it was one of the strongest singles in Japanese music.[22] Calling it a "roaring" and "shocking" single, Hayashi from OngakuDB.com felt it was "only like yesterday" when the song was release. He felt that it was "strange how six years have flown."[43] Hayakawa Kanako from Shinko Music was also shocked how the song "was released about five years ago" and praised the longevity of the tracks production and Utada's production skills. It was highlighted as an album standout in their review.[44]

In total combination, the singles have sold over 2.063 million units in Japan, making this the nineteenth best selling single in all Japanese recent music history.[1] Because of this, this remains Utada's best selling single, the second best female single behind Namie Amuro's "Can You Celebrate?" which sold 2.29 million and the third best selling double A-Side single in all of Japan's music history.[1] This also became Utada's first single to be certified and sell over one million (and her only to sell over 2 million units) in Japan. This effort was followed by "Movin' On Without You" from First Love, "Addicted to You", "Wait & See (Risk)", "For You", "Time Limit", "Can You Keep a Secret?" from Distance, "Travelling" from Deep River and "Colors" from Ultra Blue.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51] [upper-alpha 1]

Alternative usage

In 1999, Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen covered the song in Mandarin.[52] In 2009, Jamaican reggae group Sly and Robbie and Unitzz released an English language cover of the song.[53] A second reggae cover was produced in 2011 by DJ Sasa with Island Souls on their album Respect! J-Pop, featuring vocals by Shinobu Nakasone of OrangeClover.[54] Kyoto rock band Unchain released a cover of the song on their cover album Love & Groove Delivery (2013).[55] Swedish band Dirty Loops covered the song on their 2014 album Loopified, and in the same year singer-songwriter Yasuyuki Okamura recorded the song for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut.[56]

Alternative version

An English-language version was recorded for both "Automatic" and "Time Will Tell", but the latter track was released on Utada's 15th anniversary album First Love and 12cm of this single; "Automatic" still remains unreleased.[19] On the same album, the demo version off "Automatic" was released on a 3rd disc for First Love.[19]

Track listings

8cm pressing
No. Title Length
1. "Automatic"   5:12
2. "Time Will Tell"   5:30
3. "Automatic (Original Karaoke)"   5:11
Total length:
15:53
CD Single
No. Title Length
1. "Automatic"   5:12
2. "Time Will Tell"   5:30
3. "Time Will Tell (Dub Mix)"   5:36
Total length:
16:18
Promo CD
No. Title Length
1. "Automatic"   5:12
Total length:
5:12

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from First Love's liner notes booklet.[10]

Musicians and personnel

  • Hotoda Goh – mixing
  • Kei Kawano – additional arrangement
  • Masashi Kudo – recording
  • Tsuyoshi Kon – Guitar
  • Akira Miyake – production
  • Nobuhiko Nakayama – synthesizer programming
  • Akira Nishihira – arrangement, keyboards, programming
  • Taka & Speedy – rhythm tracks arrangement, programming
  • Masaaki Ugajin – recording
  • Hikaru Utada – writing, vocals
  • Teruzane "Skingg" Utada – production

Chart rankings

Charts (1998) Peak
position
Japan Oricon weekly singles[27]
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell" 8cm
4
Japan Oricon weekly singles[28]
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell" 12cm
2
Charts (2014) Peak
position
Japan Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay[31] 52
Japan Billboard Japan Hot 100[30] 73

Sales and certifications

Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales[26]
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell" 8cm
772,000
Oricon physical sales[26]
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell" 12cm
1,291,000
RIAJ physical certification[57]
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell"
4× Platinum (1,600,000)
RIAJ cellphone download certification[58] Gold (100,000)

Release history

Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan December 9, 1998[27][28] 8cm single, 12cm single Toshiba EMI TODT-5242, TOCT-4127
February 17, 1999[59] Vinyl record TOJT-4140
November 19, 2004[58] Digital download

Notes

  1. According to Oricon, the songs "For You", "Time Limit", "Travelling" and "Colors" did not sell over one million units in Japan but was certified Million by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)

References

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