| Ultra Blue | ||||
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| Released | June 14, 2006 | |||
| Recorded | 2002–2006 | |||
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| Length | 56:32 | |||
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| Hikaru Utada chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ultra Blue | ||||
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Ultra Blue (stylized inall caps) is the sixth album by Japanese–American singerHikaru Utada, released on June 14, 2006, byEastworld. It is the first originalJapanese language album under Hikaru Utada's name in four years since her third albumDeep River (2002).Ultra Blue contains thirteen songs, including sixsingles released between 2003 and 2006. While the arrangements for her albumDeep River were done collaboratively, all but one of the songs onUltra Blue were written, composed, and arranged solely by Utada, who also did theprogramming herself. In this album, theR&B elements that have been present sinceher debut are further diminished, and the majority of the songs have anelectronic flavor with an emphasis onsynth sounds.
Ultra Blue received mostly positive reception frommusic critics. The album was a commercial success in Japan, selling over 500,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number one on theOricon Albums Chart. By the end of the fiscal year, it became 2006's best-selling original album by a Japanese female soloist. It was also the fourth mostdownloaded album of the year oniTunes Japan, and was certified as a million-seller by theRecording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). During summer 2006, Utada held a nationwideconcert tour to help support the album titledUtada United 2006.
In 2002, around the time of the release of her third albumDeep River, Utada signed an exclusive contract with the record labelIsland Def Jam,[1] and soon after the release of her single "Colors" in 2003, she began working on and recording anEnglish language album under the Utada name.[2] In the meantime, Utada held herBudokan tourHikaru no 5,[3] and also released thehit single "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro,"[4] the theme song for the movieCasshern,[5] and her firstgreatest hits album calledUtada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1.[6] In autumn 2004, she released her first English albumExodus under the name Utada, and in 2005 she restarted her activities in Japan, releasing the three singles "Be My Last," "Passion," and "Keep Tryin'" in autumn 2005, winter 2005 and winter 2006.[7][8][9]
Utada said that during the experimental process of arranging and experimenting with her own arrangements forExodus, she was able to "try out what she wanted to do with the 'sound,'" and that after the album's production, she came to prefer "simple" sounds and arrangements. In an interview at the time of the release of "Be My Last," she said the following;[10]
In these two or three songs, there is a lot of my character and my own direct experiences, but I also feel like they are a very big world system that swirls around me. I feel like it's a big setting, like the way the world is. If I draw a diagram, it becomes very simple, but there's me in the center, and there's a big circle around me, and all the various things spinning, stagnating, blinking, and colliding with each other are like asteroids, and the reincarnation of the world, the past, the future, and various things like that are swirling around me. It's like an asteroid with all these things going round and round, stagnating, blinking, bumping into each other.
"Be My Last" and "Passion," which were produced in succession, are also placed consecutively on the album, with the interludes between the two songs representing the wild feelings of "anger" that were in the middle of the two songs. The title of the interlude is "Eclipse," which means "God's wrath," and when the eclipse is over, the song is followed by "Passion," which is positioned as a "blue sky" for Utada.[11] The song is not only "blue sky" but also "light of hope" and "joy of understanding."[11] Utada explained the reason for choosing this song as the final song;
"I brought this song with the intention of expressing the joy of understanding and being understood at the end. With such an image of accepting both kindness and sadness with a broad heart, I ended up in this position."[12]
Compared to its predecessorDeep River (2002),Ultra Blue features many songs with arrangements that emphasize thesynth sounds that Utada herself programmed, with a variety of tones, and Japanese culture websiteReal Sound said; "There are two patterns, one where the sounds are long in the background, and the other where the sounds are moving in the background, changing the taste of the songs."[13]
The album begins with "This Is Love," which incorporates a lot oftechno/electro elements in its track production.[14] The song, according to Utada, is a song in which she says she was able to incorporate her own worldview and sense of values, and deliberately take the lyrics out of the song in a way that she could not express herself before, and that she feels she has developed her own ability to express herself.[12] Musically, "Keep Tryin'" is apop song.[15] Lyrically, the song discusses the theme ofself empowerment, and talks about people doing the best they can at their passions.[16] During the song'sbridge section, a child'stoy piano is playing; Utada reflected that its inclusion reminded her of a child's "admiration" and their questionable "future's."[17] She stated that the "old" and "falling apart"piano playing was live instrumentation, which she bought from a random clerk at a toy department store. She labelled the composition as "gentle."[17]
"Blue" is the title track of the album that also serves as the centerpiece of the album, with a melody that quickly rises to a key of almost an octave in the chorus.[13] The song "Nichiyō no Asa" is organically composed of several loops,[14] and the lyrics are based on Utada's own image of Sunday mornings as "a time for everyone to escape from society."[11] According to Utada, the song is the one that most expresses her own outlook on life, and she often cites it as one of her favorite songs of all time.[18][19] Crafted as an up-tempo electro-pop number, the song "Making Love" is about Utada's friendship with her best friend who suddenly had to move toOsaka, and it is a tune that reveals her own distorted side.[12] "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" was released before her U.S. debut, and its quiet composition, which incorporates mainly an acoustic piano and very fewstrings, allows the lyrics to stand more prominently.[20]
"Colors" is the oldest song on the album, and has a song-like sentimentalism throughout over a track that also includes a two-step beat,[21] with a melancholic first half that picks up quickly in the chorus.[22] The reason for including the song in this album is because Utada stated; "I decided to include it from the beginning because I didn't want to have all the singles on the album in case someone wants to listen to my song half a century from now or something."[11] "One Night Magic" features Masashi Yamada ofThe Back Horn, and features Utada's vocals with an elegantly melancholic quality and Yamada's voice with a hint of primitive madness over asamba rhythm.[14][23] Theballad number "Kairo" combines strings that bring poignant and wistful imagery with an abstract rhythmic arrangement.[14] "Wings" is a song with an arrangement that combines a sophisticated rhythm, a piano with a classical air, and aflute. According to Utada, the song is a "22-year-old 'Time Will Tell,'" and was inspired by a quarrel with her then-husband,Kazuaki Kiriya.[10]
The melancholic sound of theacoustic guitar and Utada's emotional vocals stand out in the song "Be My Last,"[14] and the elimination of thebass and use of amixolydian mode creates a melody reminiscent ofCeltic music.[24] According to Utada, the song expresses the thought of "rebirth, repetition, something starts, and when it grows up, you have to destroy it again, and life is a repetition of that," as well as the pain of such a repetition.[10] "Eclipse (Interlude)" is aninstrumental piece and has been described as "the most advanced electro music of the 2000s."[14] It has been described as expressing a "convulsive rage" and "the feeling of opening doors one after another."[25] "Passion" is the album's closing number and contains elements of genres such asalternative rock andambient, with a backing track of loopingtom drums andwhistles.[26][27][28] The lyrics focus on the thought, "A person in the middle of the flow of time, facing either direction in that sphere, and it is the passion and zest for life within you that connects the past, present, and future all together."[10]
Six singles were released in Japan to promoteUltra Blue. "Colors" was released as a standalone single on January 29, 2003, throughToshiba-EMI.[29] The song peaked at number one on theOricon Singles Chart, and was certified million by theRecording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for exceeding one million unit shipments.[30][31] Another standalone single, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro," was released on April 21, 2004.[4] It also peaked at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, and was certified double platinum in Japan.[32][33]
"Be My Last" was released as the album's third single on September 28, 2005.[7] The song peaked at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, and was certified double platinum just like its predecessor.[34][35] "Passion" was released as the album's fourth single on December 14, 2005,[8] and peaked at number four on the Oricon Singles Chart, while achieving a gold certification in the country.[36][37] The album's fifth single, "Keep Tryin'," was released on February 22, 2006.[9] It peaked at number two in the country, and was certified platinum.[38][37]
"This Is Love" was released as the album'slead singledigitally on May 31, 2006; the song was also used as ajingle for aNissin Cup NoodleTV commercial.[39] "This Is Love" was never retailed as aCD single and received a digital only release. Therefore, it was ineligible to chart onOricon because of them not counting digital sales at the time.[40][41] Despite this, the track was certified double platinum forringtone downloads,[42] platinum for full-length cellphonedownloads,[43] and Gold for full-lengthPC downloads.[44] "This is Love" was the 9th most downloaded song on iTunes Japan during the year 2006.[45]
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Utada embarked on nationwideconcert tour calledUtada United 2006 to promoteUltra Blue. It was Utada's second concert tour of Japan following her Bohemian Summer 2000 tour.[46][47] The Utada United 2006 tour ran from July 1, 2006, to September 10, 2006. A liveDVD of the tour was released on December 20, 2006.[48] The home release captures her performance at theSaitama Super Arena.[49] The film was directed by filmmaker and Utada's then-husbandKazuaki Kiriya, and recorded using 60 high-definition cameras.[50]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Hot Express | (favorable)[51] |
| The Japan Times | (favorable)[52] |
| CDJournal | (neutral)[14] |
| MTVChinese.com |   [53] |
Ultra Blue received generally positive reviews frommusic critics. The album received a glowing review by Hiraga Tetsuo ofHot Express; he stated that everything about the album is new and stimulating and that she can take on both the task of seriously polishing music as an artistic thing and making it catchy so that the listener's ears and hearts naturally enjoy it.[51] Daniel Robson fromThe Japan Times was generally positive in his review, calling it a "top-notch pop record."[52]
CDJournal stated that the album is a cut above the rest of J-Pop, but the lyrics and vocals have lost some of the vibrancy of her debut album, which they considered to be a concern.[14] Pinjun ofMTVChinese.com gave the album four out of five stars, saying that it shows a more mature Utada.[53]
Ultra Blue sold 500,317 copies in its first week of release and debuted atop theOricon Albums Chart.[54] This marks Utada's fifth consecutive studio album to debut at the top spot since her first albumFirst Love in March 1999.[55] By the end of June, the album had topped the monthly chart, selling nearly double the 220,000 copies of the runner-up albumHorizon byRemioromen.[56]Ultra Blue continued to sell 156,978 copies on its second week of availability, ranking first on the Oricon chart for two consecutive weeks.[57]Ultra Blue dropped to number two on the Oricon Albums Chart on its third week of availability by selling 80,351 copies, being knocked off the top spot byB'z'sMonster.[58]
In total,Ultra Blue lasted six weeks in the top ten, and stay in the top 300 chart for 53 weeks.[59] Cumulative sales forUltra Blue reached 909,113 copies, making it Utada's first album to sell less than a million copies.[60] Despite that, it still ranked seventh in the Oricon Yearly Albums Chart with 882,343 copies sold throughout 2006, making it the best-selling original album by a female artist that year.[61] In the digital market, the album was a smash hit, with over 4 million digital downloads of the album's songs,[62] and it was ranked number four in the annualiTunes ranking in the album category, which began in 2006. In addition, the song "Keep Tryin'" topped the singles category of the same chart for the year.[63] The album has also been certified as a million-seller by theRecording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).[64] By July 2008, the album sold about 1,150,000 copies globally.[65]
All songs are written, composed and arranged by Hikaru Utada, except "Colors" (arranged by Hikaru Utada & Kei Kawano).[66]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "This Is Love" | 4:58 |
| 2. | "Keep Tryin'" | 4:53 |
| 3. | "Blue" | 5:15 |
| 4. | "Nichiyō no Asa" (日曜の朝; Sunday Morning) | 4:44 |
| 5. | "Making Love" | 4:25 |
| 6. | "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (誰かの願いが叶うころ; When Someone's Wish Comes True) | 4:27 |
| 7. | "Colors" | 3:59 |
| 8. | "One Night Magic" (featuring Masashi Yamada ofThe Back Horn) | 4:39 |
| 9. | "Kairo" (海路; Sea Route) | 3:34 |
| 10. | "Wings" | 4:52 |
| 11. | "Be My Last" | 4:30 |
| 12. | "Eclipse (Interlude)" | 1:32 |
| 13. | "Passion" | 4:42 |
|
Weekly chart[edit]
Monthly charts[edit]
| Yearly chart[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Japan (RIAJ)[70] | Million | 909,113[60] |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | — | 1,150,000[65] |
| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | June 14, 2006 | ||
| China | |||
| Hong Kong | |||
| Taiwan | |||
| Thailand | June 20, 2006 | ||
| South Korea | June 22, 2006 | ||
| Canada | July 11, 2006 | ||
| United States | September 19, 2006 |
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