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Letters (Hikaru Utada song)

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"Letters"
The head of a woman surrounded by frills, flowers and leaves
"Sakura Drops" / "Letters" cover.
Single by Hikaru Utada
from the album Deep River
ReleasedMay 9, 2002 (2002-05-09)
Recorded2002
Genre
Length4:48
LabelToshiba EMI
Songwriter(s)Hikaru Utada
Producer(s)Kei Kawano, Akira Miyake, Teruzane Utada
Hikaru Utada singles chronology
"Sakura Drops"
(2002) 		"Letters"
(2002) 		"Colors"
(2003)

"Letters" is a song by Japanese American musician Hikaru Utada. It was released as a double A-side single with the song "Sakura Drops" on May 9, 2002.[1]

Background and development

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Since she debuted as a musician in 1998, Utada had worked as the primary or sole songwriter for her music. Beginning with her second album Distance (2001), Utada began to co-arrange songs, such as "Wait & See (Risk)", "Distance" and "Kettobase!"[2] The bonus track on Distance, "Hayatochi-Remix", was arranged entirely by Utada.[2] In March 2002, Hikaru Utada released "Hikari", the theme song for the game Kingdom Hearts.[3]

"Letters" was written and arranged solely by Utada. It featured six different guitarists all performing the acoustic guitar in the backing, including Char, Hisashi from Glay and her own father Teruzane Utada.[2]

Promotion and release

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The song was used in commercials for NTT DoCoMo's 2002 range of FOMA cellphones.[4] This was the third song of Utada's to be used in collaboration with DoCoMo, after "Final Distance" (2001) and "Traveling" (2002).[5] On May 20, 2002, Utada performed the song live at Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, a week after she performed the single's other A-side "Sakura Drops".[6][7]

Utada performed the song during her Hikaru no 5 Budokan residency show in 2004, at her Utada United 2006 Japanese tour and at her two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[8]

Covers

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In 2014, "Letters" was recorded by Ringo Sheena for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut.[9] It was released as a preceding download from the album on December 3, 2014.[9]

Critical reception

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Critical reception to the song was positive. Hayashi of Ongaku DB felt "Letters" was a "Latin-sounding number" with a melody that had a "high level of freedom".[10] CDJournal reviewers described the song as having a "spicy Latin/gypsy" sound, and praised the "passionate melody", and noted how the upbeat rhythm contrasted with the lyrics, which dealt with "melancholic everyday feelings".[11] Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music felt that the song had a mature mood, and that it was "sexier" than her other songs due to the guitar backing of so many older male guitarists.[12] Akiyoshi Sekine of CD Data praised the song's "percussive rhythm", and praised the skill and sense that went into Utada's arrangement of the song.[13]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada

"Sakura Drops" / "Letters" single
No.TitleArrangerLength
1."Sakura Drops"Utada, Kei Kawano5:01
2."Letters"Kawano, Utada4:48
3."Sakura Drops (Original Karaoke)"Utada, Kei Kawano5:01
4."Letters (Original Karaoke)"Kawano, Utada4:48
Total length:9:59

Personnel

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Personnel details were sourced from Deep River's liner notes booklet.[2]

  • Hironori Akiyama – acoustic guitar
  • Char – acoustic guitar
  • Hisashi from Glay – acoustic guitar
  • Yuichiro Larry Honda – acoustic guitar
  • Goh Hotoda – recording
  • Tsunemi Kawahide – synthesizer programming
  • Kei Kawano – acoustic piano, arrangement, keyboards, programming
  • Atsushi Matsui – recording
  • Akira Miyake – production
  • Yuji Toriyama – acoustic guitar
  • Masaaki Ugajin – recording
  • Hikaru Utada – arrangement, producer, writing, vocals
  • Teruzane "Sking" Utada – acoustic guitar, production

Charts

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Chart (2002) Peak
position
Japan Oricon weekly singles[14]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
 1

Sales and certifications

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Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales[15]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
 687,000
RIAJ physical certification[16]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
 2× Platinum (800,000)

Release history

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Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalog codes
Japan May 9, 2002 (2002-05-09)[1][17] CD single Toshiba EMI TOCT-4381
Taiwan Gold Typhoon 55088529
Japan April 1, 2004 (2004-04-01)[18] Digital download Toshiba EMI
South Korea September 30, 2005 (2005-09-30)[19] Digital download Universal Music Korea

References

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  1. ^ a b "SAKURAドロップス/Letters". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Distance (Media notes) (in Japanese). Hikaru Utada. Tokyo, Japan: Toshiba EMI. 2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ "Artist Search 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Sony Magazines. Archived from the original on March 20, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  4. ^ "News" (in Japanese). Toshiba EMI. Archived from the original on April 1, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  5. ^ 宇多田ヒカル / Utada Hikaru SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.1 (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  6. ^ "GUEST 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Fuji Television. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  7. ^ "GUEST 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Fuji Television. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  8. ^ "宇多田ヒカル一時休止前ラスト公演で感涙＆Ust新記録樹立" (in Japanese). Natalie. December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  9. ^ a b 『宇多田ヒカルのうた』全貌明らかに。井上陽水、椎名林檎、浜崎あゆみ、吉井和哉ら参加アーティストコメント [All details revealed for Utada Hikaru no Uta, comments from contributing artists such as Yosui Inoue, Ringo Sheena, Ayumi Hamasaki and Kazuya Yoshii.] (in Japanese). Barks. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  10. ^ Hayashi of OngakuDB.com (May 9, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  11. ^ 宇多田ヒカル / 1.SAKURAドロップス 2.Letters (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  12. ^ Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music (May 15, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  13. ^ 宇多田ヒカル PAST RELEASE (in Japanese). CD Data. Archived from the original on January 10, 2004. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  14. ^ 宇多田ヒカルのシングル売り上げランキング [Hikaru Utada single sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  15. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  16. ^ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2002年5月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. May 2002 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). 512. Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan: 12. July 10, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  17. ^ "櫻花翩翩". G-Music. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  18. ^ "SAKURAドロップス". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  19. ^ "Sakuraドロップス/Letters" (in Korean). Bugs. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
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