First Love (Hikaru Utada album)
| First Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Hikaru Utada | ||||
| Released |
March 10, 1999 March 10, 201415th Anniversary Edition | |||
| Recorded | August–December 1998 | |||
| Genre | Pop, R&B, dance | |||
| Length | 54:37 | |||
| Label | Toshiba EMI | |||
| Producer | Akira Miyake, Teruzane Utada | |||
| Hikaru Utada chronology | ||||
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| Singles from First Love | ||||
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First Love is the award-winning debut Japanese album by Hikaru Utada, released on March 10, 1999.
First Love is the best-selling album in Japanese music history. It sold over 7.65 million copies in Japan (as estimated by Oricon),[1][2][3] or 8.53 million copies (as estimated by RIAJ[4]) in Japan alone. It is also the only record certified 8× Million (32× Platinum) by RIAJ.[5] It sold over 2 million in its debut week,[6] and topped Oricon album chart for 6 weeks. First Love is Japan's 7th highest album in debut sales.[7] It is also the best-selling album in Asian music history. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide.[8] In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked First Love No.99 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".[9]
In 2014, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of First Love's launch, Universal Music re-released the album featuring remastered tracks and bonus items.
First Love: 15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
To commemorate the 15th anniversary of First Love in 2014, Utada's label, Universal Music Japan, re-released the album with a large amount of extra content. The re-release was established in two separate versions. The normal version is a two-disc set featuring a remastered version of the normal album along with a second disc featuring Utada's previously unreleased "LUV LIVE" concert. The remastering was done by Ted Jensen.[10] The other version is a limited edition 4-disc set, containing the remastered track list on disc one, "LUV LIVE" concert on disc two, as well as featuring a disc containing karaoke tracks and the last containing a multitude of demos from the First Love era of Utada's career. The deluxe edition also carries with it memorabilia from that time, including a hard cover booklet filled with unreleased photoshoots, handwritten lyrics, promotional items as well as replicas of the tickets and backstage passes to her "LUV LIVE" concert. The Deluxe Edition initially was limited to 5,000 copies, however, due to overwhelming demand, this was pushed to 10,000 after the initial 5,000 units were sold almost instantly.[11][12]
Both editions of the First Love: 15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition were realised exactly fifteen years after the initial album, First Love, on 3 March, 2014.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Hikaru Utada.
| No. | Title | Arranger | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Automatic" (Album Edit) | Akira Nishihira, Taka & Speedy (rhythm track arrangement), Kei Kawano (additional arrangement) |
5:28 | |
| 2. | "Movin' on Without You" | Shin'ichiro Murayama | 4:38 | |
| 3. | "In My Room" | Shin'ichiro Murayama | 4:19 | |
| 4. | "First Love" | Kei Kawano | 4:17 | |
| 5. | "Amai Wana (甘いワナ～ Sweet Trap): Paint It, Black" | Akira Nishihira | 5:02 | |
| 6. | "Time Will Tell" | Toshiyuki Mori, Jun Isomura |
5:27 | |
| 7. | "Never Let Go" | Kei Kawano | 3:57 | |
| 8. | "B&C" (Album Version) | Akira Nishihira, Taka & Speedy (rhythm track arrangement) |
4:20 | |
| 9. | "Another Chance" | Akira Nishihira, Taka & Speedy (rhythm track arrangement) |
5:22 | |
| 10. | "Interlude" | 0:17 | ||
| 11. | "Give Me a Reason" | Akira Nishihira | 6:28 | |
| 12. | "Automatic (Johnny Vicious Remix)" (Bonus Track) | 4:54 |
| First Love-15 Anniversary Edition- (CD+DVD): DVD LUV LIFE | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Amai Wana (甘いワナ～ Sweet Trap): Paint It, Black" | |||||||||
| 2. | "time will tell" | |||||||||
| 3. | "In My Room" | |||||||||
| 4. | "Never Let Go" | |||||||||
| 5. | "Another Chance" | |||||||||
| 6. | "Give Me A Reason" | |||||||||
| 7. | "Automatic" | |||||||||
| 8. | "konya wa boogie back (今夜はブギー・バック Boogie back tonight) konya wa boogie back" (feat. Scha Dara Parr (Ozawa Kenji cover)) | |||||||||
| 9. | "First Love" | |||||||||
| 10. | "Movin' on without you" | |||||||||
| First Love -15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition- : CD First Love [TV Mixes] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Automatic [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 2. | "Movin’ on without you [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 3. | "In My Room [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 4. | "First Love [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 5. | "Amai Wana (甘いワナ～ Sweet Trap): Paint It, Black [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 6. | "time will tell [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 7. | "Never Let Go [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 8. | "B&C [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 9. | "Another Chance [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| 10. | "Give Me A Reason [TV Mix]" | |||||||||
| First Love -15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition- : CD First Love [Bonus Tracks] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Automatic" (-Johnny Vicious Remix-) | |||||||||
| 2. | "Movin’ on without you" (-Tribal Mix-) | |||||||||
| 3. | "time will tell" (-Dub Mix-) | |||||||||
| 4. | "First Love" (-John Luongo Remix-) | |||||||||
| 5. | "In My Room" (-Alternate Version-) | |||||||||
| 6. | "time will tell" (-English Version-) | |||||||||
| 7. | "CALLING YOU" | |||||||||
| 8. | "Kotoba ni naranai kimochi (言葉にならない気持ち Indescribable Feelings)" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 9. | "Movin’ on without you" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 10. | "B&C" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 11. | "Another Chance" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 12. | "First Love" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 13. | "Give Me A Reason" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 14. | "Automatic" (-Demo Version-) | |||||||||
| 15. | "SUKIYAKI (上を向いて歩こう) Uewomuitearukō (I Look Up as I Walk)" (-Live Version-) | |||||||||
- "Amai Wana: Paint It, Black" contains the line "I see a red door and I want it painted black" from "Paint It, Black", a song written and composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.
- "Never Let Go" features the same beat used in "Take Him Back" by Monica, and was originally used in Sting's "Shape of My Heart". Hikaru said that Monica inspired her so much with her R&B that she decided to use that beat. However, the guitar sample from "Shape of My Heart" was not included on the final credits for the album's final manufacturing press due to time constraints.
Remixes and covers
"Interlude" was produced into a song called "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi" on Utada's Distance album.
The album version of "B&C" (which is found on the Movin' on Without You single) has Utada's voice in auto-tune and has a "sudden car stop screech" background, all in the song's last part, making it a more "cleaner" version than the version found on the single.
Singles
The single "First Love" is released after the album's release, considered a recut single.
| Date | Title | Peak position | Weeks | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 December 1998 | 08 cm - "Automatic/Time Will Tell" | 4 | 23 | 772,080 |
| 12 cm - "Automatic/Time Will Tell" | 2 | 23 | 1,290,700 | |
| February 17, 1999 | 08 cm - "Movin' on Without You" | 5 | 12 | 346,820 |
| 12 cm - "Movin' on Without You" | 1 | 13 | 879,760 | |
| 28 April 1999 | 08 cm - "First Love" | 6 - Recut | 19 | 303,430 |
| 12 cm - "First Love" | 2 - Recut | 13 | 500,890 |
Charts
First Love - Oricon Sales Chart (Japan & Taiwan)
| Release | Chart | Peak Position | Debut Sales | Sales Total (Japan) | Worldwide Sales | Chart Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 10, 1999 | Oricon Daily Albums Chart | 1 | ||||
| Oricon Weekly Albums Chart | 1 | 2,026,870 | 7,650,215 | 10,056,000 | 84 | |
| Oricon Yearly Albums Chart | 1 |
Personnel
All Japanese names are in Western order (given name before family name).
- Hikaru Utada (vocals)
- Anthony Jimenez Corton (secret Love,additional chorus)
- Akira Nishihira (arrangement, keyboards & programming)
- Kei Kawano (arrangement, additional keyboards)
- Shinichiro Murayama (arrangement, keyboards & programming)
- Toshiyuki Mori (arrangement, keyboards & programming)
- Jun Isomura (arrangement)
- Tsuyoshi Kon (guitar)
- Yoshiaki Kusaka (guitar)
- Hironori Akiyama (guitar)
- Yuji Toriyama (guitar)
- Masayoshi Furukawa (guitar)
- Yuichiro Honda (guitar)
- Yuichiro Goto (strings)
- Jullian Hernandez (additional chorus)
- Nobuhiko Nakayama (synthesizer programming)
- Takahiro Iida (synthesizer programming)
- Masayuki Momo (synthesizer programming)
- Taka & Speedy (rhythm arrangement, rhythm programming)
- Akira Miyake (producer)
- Teruzane Sking Utada (producer)
- Hidenobu Okita (director)
- Masaaki Ugajin (all vocals' recording)
- Masaaki Ugajin, Masashi Kudo, Seiji Motoyama, Takehiko Kamata, Bob Allecca, Mike Brown (back track recording)
- Hotoda Goh (mixing)
- Ted Jensen (mastering)
References
- ↑ 宇多田ヒカル-ORICON STYLE
- ↑ 2006年06月14日 14時00分. "トレンディドラマとともに訪れた90年代のミリオンセールス時代 ニュース-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
- ↑ List of million-selling CD albums in Japan
- ↑ RIAJ: Turbulent and challenging 10 years of software industry - Rapidly changing recording industry
- ↑ RIAJ: The History of Recording industry
- ↑ ORICON STYLE - Weekly album chart : 4th week of March 1999
- ↑ —ð‘ãƒAƒ‹ƒoƒ€ƒ‰ƒ“ƒLƒ“ƒO]
- ↑ 2010-3-24 22:42 (2010-03-24). "亚洲地区专辑销量最高的是多少张_百度知道". Zhidao.baidu.com. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
- ↑ "Finally! "The 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time" Listed". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
- ↑ "CDJapan: First Love -15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition-". CDJapan. CDJapan. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "CDJapan: First Love -15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition-". CDJapan. CDJapan. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "News | Hikki's WEBSITE". UtadaHikaru.jp. Universal Music Japan. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
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