is the seventh

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

-language studio album (tenth 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 ...

. It was released on June 27, 2018, as her first album under Sony Music Japan sublabel

Epic Records Japan Epic Records Japan is a Japanese record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Its founder was Shigeo Maruyama. Between 1978 and 1988 the label operated as a wholly owned subsidiary: Epic/Sony Inc. () was established in August 1978

. The release coincided with the commemoration of her 20th Anniversary as an artist in Japan. A national tour was announced to support the album in November 2018. The five previously released songs were confirmed in the album track list, for a total of twelve songs, including the title track " Hatsukoi" and the ''

Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. It is the twelfth installment in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and serves as a conclusion of the ...

'' theme song " Chikai". ''Hatsukoi'' debuted at the top spot of the

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 in Nov ...

Weekly Albums Chart with 203,787 copies sold on its first week or release. This was her overall tenth number-one album in the chart, but became her lowest first-week album sales since ''

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 ''Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2'' is Japanese pop singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada's second compilation album, released on November 24, 2010, by EMI Music Japan, the same day as her Universal-released English language compilation album, ''Ut ...

'' (2010). The album also debuted at the top spot of the Oricon Weekly Digital Albums Chart with 38,185 downloads, making it the highest first-week download record in the chart's history at the time. A 2 LP vinyl version was released on November 7, 2018, at the request of her fans. The album was her first vinyl release in 16 years since '' Deep River''. It has a different mastering by Chris Bellman of

Bernie Grundman Mastering Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

Hollywood and a limited serial number.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at #1 in 6 different digital stores in Japan. Internationally, the album reached the peak in 7 different countries in the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

store, such as Finland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and New Zealand. The album peaked at #4 in the United States, #5 in Canada, Mexico and Australia, #2 in Spain and Brazil, #9 in France and #11 in the United Kingdom. The album charted in top 10 in 22 different countries and charted for a total of 32 countries. In Japan, the album debuted at #1 in Oricon daily chart, selling more than 79,000 copies in the first day alone. It maintained the #1 spot on the second day selling more than 50,000 copies. According to ''Billboard Weekly'', the album sold 204,000 copies in the first week physically and 38,000 digitally. ''Hatsukoi'' was the second best selling album by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

globally in the second quarter of 2018.

Promotion

Although the album did not receive any live performances prior to its release, it was set to spawn up to five singles prior to its release; of which all five reached the top 10 on the ''Billboard''

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

. Two performances were performed on Japanese TV: On June 30, 2018, she performed "

Play a Love Song "Play a Love Song" is a song by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It is her fourth single under the label Epic Records Japan, from her seventh Japanese-language studio album '' Hatsukoi''. The song was released as a digital downl ...

", " Anata" and " Hatsukoi" at

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

's SONGS. On July 14, she performed "Hatsukoi" at TBS's Ongaku no Hi 2018. A TV documentary produced by NHK showing Utada's recording and producing process of the album was aired on June 16. In September 17, she performed " Chikai" live on Music Station Super FES 2018.

Singles

On July 10, 2017, the album's first single "

Ōzora de Dakishimete is a song by Japanese American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It is their first single under the label Epic Records Japan, from their seventh Japanese-language studio album, ''Hatsukoi (Hikaru Utada album), Hatsukoi''. The song is being used as ...

" was released as a digital download. The song was used as a tie-in for Suntory Water campaign starring Utada, starting on June 10. The album's second single " Forevermore" was released as a digital download on July 28, along with its music video. The song was used as a tie-in for the TBS

dorama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thril ...

'' Gomen, Aishiteru'', her first single used in a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

of a commercial TV station since " Eternally - Drama Mix-" in 2008. On December 8, 2017, the album's third single "Anata" was released as a digital download along with its corresponding promotional music video. The song was used as a tie-in for the movie ''Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura'', and has been featured in a

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

campaign to promote a wireless headphone line, in which she herself also appeared. On April 25, 2018, the album's fourth single, "Play a Love Song", was released as a digital download. It was being used as a tie-in for Tennensui Suntory Water. Shortly afterwards, the album's fifth single and title track "Hatsukoi" was released on May 30. The song has been used in the dorama ''Hana Nochi Hare ~Hanadan Next Season~'' as an image song. It is the second song Utada delivers to the ''

Hana Yori Dango , is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio and set in Tokyo, Japan, and the fictional "Eitoku Academy" (an elite school for children from rich families). It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl fr ...

'' drama series, after "

Flavor of Life "Flavor of Life" is Hikaru Utada's 18th Japanese single (25th single overall). The physical single was officially released on February 28, 2007. Compared to the preceding singles following "Colors", "Flavor of Life" garnered far more success. Th ...

" in 2007. "Chikai", along with its English-language counterpart "Don't Think Twice", served as the theme song to the

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

video game ''

''. The song and the English version "Don't Think Twice" was released as a B-side of the single "

Face My Fears "Face My Fears" is a song by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada and American record producer Skrillex, released on January 18, 2019, by Epic Records Japan. Along with its English-language counterpart, it serves as the opening theme ...

" as a

CD single 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 ...

on January 18, 2019. "Too Proud" was announced as a single on November 6, 2018. A remix of the song, called Too Proud (L1 Remix), was released as the A-side featuring Asian rappers XZT,

Suboi Hàng Lâm Trang Anh (born January 14, 1990), known by her stage name Suboi, is a Vietnamese rapper, singer, and songwriter. Raised in Ho Chi Minh City, where she lives, Suboi is the first Vietnamese female rapper to become successful in her cou ...

and EK, each one singing their verses in their first language. It coincides with the first date of Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018.

Other songs

"Good Night" was featured on the soundtrack to the film ''

Penguin Highway is a Japanese science fiction novel written by Tomihiko Morimi, published in 2010. A manga adaptation was serialized in Media Factory's ''Monthly Comic Alive'' from March 2018 to February 2019, and an anime film adaptation by Studio Color ...

''. "Pakuchii no Uta" was used to promote a coriander-flavored cappuccino in Japan, for Tasty Japan, from

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

Japan. "Shittosarerubeki Jinsei" was featured on the soundtrack to the film '' Parallel World Love Story''.

Track listing

All songs are written, composed and arranged by Hikaru Utada, except "Too Proud" (composed by Utada & Ellis Jevon and arranged by Utada &

Nariaki Obukuro is a Music of Japan, Japanese singer, songwriter, producer and CEO of :ja:Tokyo Recordings, Tokyo Recordings. He is responsible for producing songs for acts like Wednesday Campanella, Kou Shibasaki, and other famous acts. His music combines musi ...

) and "Phakchi no Uta" (composed by Utada &

). Strings arrangement by

Simon Hale Simon Hale is a British composer, arranger, and keyboardist. Life Hale was born in Birmingham, England in 1964, being dually raised there and in South Manchester before moving to London, where he studied popular music at Goldsmiths College, Uni ...

in songs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 12.

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 desce ...

Vocals

– lead vocals (all tracks) * Jevon Ellis – featured vocals (track 6) * Lawrence Johnson – choir director (track 1) * Tarna Johnson, Charmain Elliot, Robyn Bailey-Reid, Patricia Scott, Carol Riley, Neresa Maye, Priscilla Danso, Jessica Mae Obioha - choir (track 1)

Instrumentation

Production

Technical

Artwork

* Machiguchi Hikari – art direction * Takay – photography * Ogawa Kyohei – styling * Inagaki Ryoji – hair, make-up

Charts

Weekly and monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

''Hatsukoi''
on Hikaru Utada's official web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatsukoi (Hikaru Utada album) Hikaru Utada albums 2018 albums Japanese-language albums Sony Music Entertainment Japan albums Epic Records albums Albums recorded at RAK Studios