''First Love'' is the debut Japanese-language studio album (second overall) by Japanese-American recording artist

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

, released on March 10, 1999, by

Toshiba-EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

. An R&B and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

album, ''First Love'' centres on the theme of love and relationships. Songs like " Automatic" and "

First Love First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

" are prime examples of these themes. A 2014 re-issue of the album was released simultaneously, featuring a bonus live DVD and the special edition featured two additional discs. Critics' opinions of the album were generally favourable, praising Utada's song writing and vocal delivery. In its first week of release, the album entered the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

at number one with over two million units sold. Since its release, ''First Love'' remains the highest selling Japanese album. It has sold over eleven million units worldwide. Utada promoted the album by releasing four singles: "Automatic", "

Time Will Tell Time Will Tell may refer to: * Time Will Tell (Fifth Angel album), ''Time Will Tell'' (Fifth Angel album), 1989 * Time Will Tell (game show), ''Time Will Tell'' (game show), an American game show which aired on the DuMont Television Network in 1954 ...

", " Movin' on Without You" and "First Love", all which were accompanied by a short

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. She performed several tracks from the album on several television appearances in 1998 and 1999, and have performed songs on her Utada: In the Flesh 2010 and Wild Life tours. "Automatic", "Time Will Tell" and ''First Love'' are her best-selling singles and album respectively.

Background

Born and raised in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Utada started singing at a very young age; she was a member of U, a musical act with her mother

Keiko Fuji (5 July 1951 – 22 August 2013), known primarily by the stage name was a Japanese singer and actress. She had success in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s with her ballad-type songs. She was married on-and-off with Utada Teruzane, and was the ...

and her father Teruzane. U released their debut album ''Star'' in 1993, with the hope to debut in America; the album only peaked at thirty-three in Japan. Utada's mother was a Japanese

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, p ...

singer and actress, while her father was a Japanese record producer who had contributed to some of Fuji's work. In 1996, the group was re-branded 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 , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Whe ...

. The album peaked at two on the

and sold over 700,000 units. Utada moved to Tokyo in early 1997 to attend

Seisen International School Seisen International School (SIS) is an all-girls, Catholic school located in Setagaya, in Tokyo, Japan. Students and faculty from over sixty countries are represented at Seisen, with English being the main language of instruction. It offers the ...

and

American School in Japan The American School in Japan (ASIJ; ja, アメリカンスクール・イン・ジャパン) is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a ...

. During her studies, Utada signed as a solo artist with Toshiba EMI and begun recording her album ''First Love''. Fluent in both English and Japanese languages, the head offices at EMI asked if she could write Japanese songs rather than English lyrics. During the process of the album, Utada desired to become a singer-songwriter and occasionally practised producing and composing her music rather than become a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...

. She refused to allow

talent agencies Talent has two principal meanings: * Talent (measurement), an ancient unit of mass and value * Talent (skill), a group of aptitudes useful for some activities; talents may refer to aptitudes themselves or to possessors of those talents Talent may ...

to contact her at the start, which was a very common tradition for Japanese singers in the 1990s, 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 their work.

Composition

The lyrics to the tracks from ''First Love'' are written by Utada and featured English-language phrases. Utada's father Teruzane and Akira Miyake served as the album's primary producers alongside Hikaru; Saito Masaaki, Nakasone Junya, Sanada Yoshiaki and Okamoto Tatsyua served as the album's

executive producers Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. Utada contributed to editing and producing her recorded vocals for all the tracks. The tracks from ''First Love'' were recorded in studios across her native New York City,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and Tokyo. American producer and mixer

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

had mixed the tracks at Sterling Sound Studios in New York. The album's opener " Automatic" is a R&B and

song that talks about a previous relationship. ''

Rockin' On Japan ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazine that covers the Japanese music scene and various cultural events in Japan, such as art venues and culinary expos. History The magazine was founded in 1972, and focused on prov ...

s editor and chief Kano had commented that Utada had brought a large prominence of R&B and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

with the tracks "Automatic" and "Time Will Tell", and felt that "Automatic"'s release introduced a new R&B audience inside of Japan. The

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may al ...

is a pop ballad song conveying slow and off-key vocals that complimented the music to the album. " Movin' on Without You" is a

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

inspired track that was influenced by the early 1990s dance music throughout the Western part of the world and lasts a duration total off four minutes and forty-one seconds.Reviewed by Lucas Vill
"J-Pop queens collide: Ayumi Hamasaki sings Utada Hikaru's 'Movin On Without You'"
Retrieved on February 20, 2015. "B&C", a funk song, was featured as a

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to the physical CD format from "Movin' on Without You". The album closer "Give Me a Reason" is a

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

song. "Interlude" was produced into a song called "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi" on Utada's ''

Distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects or points are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). ...

'' album.

Release

''First Love'' was released on March 10, 1999, by Toshiba EMI. The album was released as a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

and a double vinyl. The vinyl was exclusively released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and Japan by Eastworld Records. ''First Love'' was released in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

by OctoArts EMI Music. It was released in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

by Eastworld and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

by Toshiba EMI Limited and PT EMI Indonesia. After fifteen years of its release, ''First Love'' was re-released by

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

on March 10, 2014, 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

. 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.

Singles

The

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

singles " Automatic" and "

' was released on 9 December 1998 as 8cm

CD singles A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

. The songs received positive reviews, many which were highlighted as album stand outs. "Automatic" was given the gold award at the 2000

JASRAC The , often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan. Overview JASRAC's main business activity i ...

awards, beating her own song "Time Will Tell" and "

Dango 3 Kyodai is a Japanese song released on March 3, 1999. The song caused a social phenomenon in Japan. On the Japanese Oricon weekly single charts, it debuted at the number-one position with the sales of over one million copies. It was considered that the ...

" to be the most royalty-receiving song in 1999. The

Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST a ...

mentioned the song as an Honorable Mention Award. 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. "Automatic/Time Will Tell" peaked at number two and four on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

in their respective formats. "Automatic/Time Will Tell" has sold over 2.1 million units in Japan, making it her best selling physical single and the nineteenth best selling single in Japan. The third single " Movin' on Without You" was released on February 17, 1999, as a CD single. The song received positive reviews, many of which highlighted the song as an album stand out. It won the award for Song of the Year at the Japan Gold Disks Awards. The song reached number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, marking this her first number one. The song was certified million by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ) for shipments of one million units. The fourth and final single "

" was released on April 28, 1999, as a mini-CD single. The song received positive reviews, many of which highlighted the song as an album stand out. The song peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, missing the top spot but was certified double platinum by RIAJ for shipments of 800,000 units in Japan.

Commercial performance

''First Love'' entered the

at number one with over two million units sold. It stayed at number one for six weeks and stayed on the chart for eighty-four weeks. By August 2000, ''First Love'' had sold 9.6million units in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, including 8.7million in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, 450,000 in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and another 450,000 in other Asian countries. ''First Love'' is the only album or physical record to have been certified 8x Million by RIAJ, which is equivalent to 32x platinum.RIAJ: The History of Recording industry
/ref> This makes ''First Love'' the best selling Japanese and Asian-oriented album of all time. As of March 2010, ''First Love'' has sold over ten million units worldwide. In September 2007, ''

Rolling Stone Japan ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its c ...

'' ranked ''First Love'' No.99 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time". ''First Love'' is the seventh album to claim the highest weekly sales in Japan, behind her 2001 album ''

'' and 2002 album '' Deep River''.

Track listing

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 *

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Notes

References

{{Authority control Hikaru Utada albums 1999 debut albums Japanese-language albums Universal Music Japan albums