HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Fantôme'' is the sixth Japanese studio album (ninth overall) by Japanese-American singer-songwriter
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 ...
. Although Utada announced an indefinite hiatus from the public eye in August 2010, she continued writing and composing material with her father, Utada Teruzane, and long-term collaborator, Miyake Akira. Musically, ''Fantôme'' contains a collection of tracks that utilizes acoustic and stripped-down instrumentations, alongside influences of
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...
, electronic, and R&B music. The lyrical content delves into themes of grief, sadness, love, and death—mostly influenced by the death of her mother, her second marriage, and the birth of her son in 2015. Commercially, ''Fantôme'' experienced success in Japan, reaching number one on the weekly
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 Al ...
with sales of over 253,000 units, becoming her eighth consecutive number-one album in the country. It additionally topped the US World Albums chart and has sold over a million copies worldwide. It won various awards, including
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...
at the Japan Record Awards and the Grand Prix prize at the
CD Shop Awards The is an annual set of music awards presented in Japan. It is sponsored by All-Japan CD Shop Clerks Union and awarded based on votes by CD shop clerks from all over Japan. It is referred to as a "music edition of Japan Booksellers' Award". Abs ...
. The singles " Sakura Nagashi", " Hanataba o Kimi ni", and " Manatsu no Tōriame" were released prior to the album's announcement, while "
Michi Michi may refer to: People ;Given name * Michi (born 1996), Japanese J-pop singer * MiChi (born 1985), British singer * Michi Atkins, former WNBA basketball player *Michi Beck (born 1967), DJ and MC of the German hip hop group ''Die Fantastischen ...
" and " Nijikan Dake no Vacance" were dropped shortly before its release.


Background and recording

In July 2015, Utada announced on her blog that she had given birth to a baby boy and was working on a new album during the pregnancy. In March 2016, it was revealed by her team that she had returned from her five-year hiatus with two new digital singles, " Hanataba o Kimi ni" and " Manatsu no Tōriame", and a campaign called "New-Turn", with songs downloaded by Japanese fans via digital music services having part of their sales donated to planting cherry trees in areas damaged by the by 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. On July 12, 2016, Utada posted on her
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
account that she had finished recording for a new album. On August 8, the cover and track listing were revealed on Utada's web site. For the first time, Utada used Japanese titles for all the songs on the album. ''Fantôme'' was released physically in Japan and digitally worldwide on September 28, 2016, through
Virgin Music Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...
and
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 ...
. This was her first record released following the 2013 merger of
EMI Music Japan , 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 ...
with Universal Music Japan. The album was released in two formats: a physical SHM-CD; and a digital download.


Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Fantôme'' received critical acclaim. Ryo Miyauchi of Unrecorded.mu rated the album with 70 points out of 100, commending the singer's songwriting and vulnerability, especially highlighted in the album tracks "Ningyo", "Tomodachi", and "Kōya no Ōkami". Miyauchi added that he believed the record's sound was similar to her previous albums:
"Though ''Fantôme'' shows no sign from Utada of being nostalgic for who she once was, the album still sounds undoubtedly her. Fantôme creates an odd sense of time where it has one foot in the past and another slightly pointed to what’s next."


Commercial performance


Japan and Asia

In Japan, ''Fantôme'' debuted at number one on the Daily
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 Al ...
, selling 87,088 units. For its first week on the Weekly Oricon Albums Chart, it entered atop the chart with over 252,581 copies sold; It sold more copies than its competitor of the week,
Exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
's greatest hits album ''Extreme Best'' (2016). ''Fantôme'' became her ninth number one album, her first studio album since '' Heart Station'' (2008) to debut at the top position, but also resulted in becoming her lowest first week sales for one of her Japanese-language albums. In its second week, it stayed at number 1 with 103,854 physical units sold, again outselling the nearest competitor by a wide margin. The next week, it stayed at number one, selling 63,207 units, thus becoming her only studio album besides her debut '' First Love'' to chart at the pole position for more than two weeks, and then further extending this feat by one more week. Likewise, ''Fantôme'' debuted at the top spot on the Japan Hot Albums and the Top Albums Sales charts, both hosted by ''
Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from '' ...
''. Alongside this, Utada's digital single "
Michi Michi may refer to: People ;Given name * Michi (born 1996), Japanese J-pop singer * MiChi (born 1985), British singer * Michi Atkins, former WNBA basketball player *Michi Beck (born 1967), DJ and MC of the German hip hop group ''Die Fantastischen ...
" placed atop of the Radio Songs chart during the week of October 10, 2016. On November 9, 2016, Oricon revealed its new weekly Digital Albums Chart. ''Fantôme'' ranked at number one on the chart, selling 6,537 digital downloads. It topped the chart a second week, shifting an additional 3,993 downloads. According to
Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from '' ...
, ''Fantôme'' was the best-selling digital album of the year, as well as the third-best-selling physical album, according to
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike i ...
. Overall, it thus became the top-selling album of the year in Japan. The album sold 569,963 physical units in 2016 and 117,259 in 2017, according to Oricon's respective yearly sales ranking, thus totalling 687,222 physical units sold by December 2017.


Other territories

Upon its overseas release on the
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
, ''Fantôme'' debuted at number one in Japan, Finland, Slovenia and 7 other Asian territories. It reached the top ten in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand and a further 6 countries. Additionally, it entered the top 20 in the United Kingdom and 5 further countries. According to online publications, it was labelled as her most successful release internationally, and had beaten previous positions that her English records: ''
Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * E ...
'' (2004) and ''
This Is The One ''This Is the One'' is the third English studio album by Japanese American pop singer-songwriter Utada, released by Island Records in the United States digitally on March 24, 2009 and physically on May 12, 2009. The album was originally set to b ...
'' (2009) experienced. The album opened at number two on the US ''Billboard'' World Albums chart. It marked her first record to enter the World Albums chart, her first Japanese release to enter the US charts, and her first album to obtain a position in the US since ''This Is The One'' in 2009; it sold approximately 1,992 units in its first two days of sale. The following week, it reached number one and had sold over 3,500 units.


Promotion

Utada's website listed a schedule of magazine reviews and interviews about the album, internet interviews and TV appearances with performances with songs from the album, on shows like Music Station (where she performed "Sakura Nagashi" for the first time live), NHK's ''SONGS'' (where she performed "Michi", "Tomodachi" and "Hanataba o Kimi ni"), CX's ''Love Music'' and NTV's ''News Zero''. An Internet live stream event was scheduled to happen on December 9, 2016, called ''Sanjudai wa Hodo-Hodo'', where Utada answered fan questions and performed the songs "Boukyaku" and "Ningyo" live. Two guests had been announced, the rapper
Kohh , better known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist from Oji, Kita, Tokyo. Early life Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother. His younger brother is also an ...
and the DJ Punpee.


Singles

''Fantome'' is Utada's first Japanese-language studio album not to have any physical singles released. All the songs released as singles were distributed on online platforms exclusively. The first one was " Sakura Nagashi", the theme song of '' Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo'', which was released on November 17, 2012, while she was still officially on hiatus. On April 15, 2016, " Hanataba o Kimi ni" and " Manatsu no Tōriame" were released, marking her official return to the music scene. The former became a big success for her, being certified double platinum for over 500,000 digital downloads and staying on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 over the course of the rest of the year, peaking at number 2. The latter received the award for "Video of The Year" at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. On September 13, 2016, shortly before the album's release, "
Michi Michi may refer to: People ;Given name * Michi (born 1996), Japanese J-pop singer * MiChi (born 1985), British singer * Michi Atkins, former WNBA basketball player *Michi Beck (born 1967), DJ and MC of the German hip hop group ''Die Fantastischen ...
" was released to radio stations, and three days later as a digital download, while " Nijikan Dake no Vacance", a duet with Sheena Ringo, received a music video release. On January 19, 2017, the singer's 34th birthday, a music video for "Bōkyaku" (sung with
Kohh , better known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist from Oji, Kita, Tokyo. Early life Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother. His younger brother is also an ...
) was also released.


Track listing

All tracks written by Hikaru Utada except where noted.


Personnel

Credits adapted from the album’s
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...
.


Vocals

*
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 ...
– lead vocals (all tracks) * Ringo Sheena – featured vocals (track 4) *
Nariaki Obukuro is a Japanese singer, songwriter, producer and CEO of Tokyo Recordings. He is responsible for producing songs for acts like Wednesday Campanella, Kou Shibasaki, and other famous acts. His music combines musical elements of the R&B, PBR&B, Ele ...
– featured vocals (track 6) *
Kohh , better known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese hip hop recording artist from Oji, Kita, Tokyo. Early life Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother. His younger brother is also an ...
– featured vocals (track 9)


Instrumentation


Production


Technical


Artwork

* Seida Yu – art direction * Julien Mignot – photography * Ogawa Kyohei – styling * Inagaki Ryoji – hair, make-up


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Sales and certifications


References


External links


''Fantôme''
on Hikaru Utada's official web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Fantome (album) Hikaru Utada albums 2016 albums Japanese-language albums Universal Music Japan albums Virgin Records albums