"Glimpse of Us" is a song by Japanese singer Joji, released as the lead single from his third studio album '' Smithereens'' on 10 June 2022 through

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and

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. It was written by Alexis Kesselman, Castle, Riley McDonough, and producer Connor McDonough. The song became Joji's most successful hit single to date, having peaked at number one in Australia, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore, while peaking in the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, Norway, the United States and Vietnam. Following its release, "Glimpse of Us" broke a series of records. It became the first song by an Asian artist to reach number one on

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's Global chart, remaining there for 10 consecutive days. With the song's debut in tenth place on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it became the second song by a Japanese artist to reach the top 10 after

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as " Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached numbe ...

's "

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the ''nabemono'' (Japanese hot pot) style. It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in ...

" in 1963. It also marked the first debut of an Asian soloist directly in the top 10, as well as his fifth entry on the chart. The song also topped the New Zealand and Australian singles, becoming Joji's first number-one single. The song received a nomination for Song of the Year at the ARIA Awards 2022 in Australia, due to Joji being part Australian on his father's side.

Critical reception

The song received with widespread acclaim, with critics praising its simplicity, lyrics and Joji's emotional vocals. Brenton Blanchet of ''

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'' described the song as a "chilling piano ballad", while

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...

of ''

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'' considered it "splendid and striking". Andrea See of ''Bandwagon Asia'' felt that the "stripped-down" sound of the song "foreshadows Joji's more mature sonic territory" in contrast to his previous

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material.

Music video

The song was accompanied by its music video, directed by Dan Streit. The video contains various scenes of tomfoolery committed by "anonymous protagonists," including in race cars. Clips from the video became popular on

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, leading the music video to gain tens of millions of views. The video was shot on a Sony DCR-HC32 miniDV and consisted of 15 hours of raw footage before editing. The video was primarily shot in

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, with additional scenes shot in

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and

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Commercial performance

"Glimpse of Us" became Joji's highest-charting single upon its debut in various countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and the UK. It debuted at number ten on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, marking Joji's first top-ten single in the country. For the chart dated 2 July 2022, the song peaked at number eight. With "Glimpse of Us", Joji became the second Japanese artist to have a number one single on the Australian singles chart, and first since

's "

" in 1963.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Joji (musician) 2022 songs 2022 singles 2020s ballads Joji (musician) songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Malaysia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in the Philippines Number-one singles in Singapore Warner Records singles