"How Beautiful You Are" is a song by Japanese musician

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

. It was released on February 8, 2012, as the leading digital single from her thirteenth studio album, ''

Party Queen ''Party Queen'' is the thirteenth full-length studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki. The album was released digitally on March 14, 2012 and physically on March 21, 2012 through Avex Trax. Primarily a pop album, ''Party Queen'' ...

''. The song was used at the theme song for the

Kyōko Koizumi (born February 4, 1966) is a Japanese singer and actress. She is signed to Victor Entertainment. Career In 1981, Kyoko Koizumi participated and won the Star Tanjo! programme and released her 1st single in March 1982. She gained her first num ...

-starring

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

drama ''

Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi ''Second to Last Love'', or , is a Japanese television drama series, starring Kyōko Koizumi and Kiichi Nakai. The series aired Thursdays at 22:00 - 22:54, on Fuji Television from January 12, to March 22, 2012. A second season entitled was broa ...

''.

Background

The single was the second time Hamasaki had released an official single digitally after " Together When..." (2007), the leading song from her album ''

Guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

''. It had been three years since a song by Hamasaki had been used as a drama theme song, since " Sunrise (Love Is All)"'s use for ''Dandy Daddy?''. For the second series of ''Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi'' in 2014, a new song by Hamasaki, "

Hello New Me "Hello New Me" (stylized as "Hello new me") is a song by Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on May 14, 2014 as the second digital single from her fifteenth studio album, ''Colours'' (2014). The song was used as the theme song for ...

", served as the theme song.

Writing and production

The music of the song was written by her musical collaborator Tim Wellard, who first worked with Hamasaki on the song "Brillante" from her extended play ''

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'' (2011), and also wrote the songs "Party Queen", "The Next Love" and "Eyes, Smoke, Magic" for ''Party Queen''. Fuji Television director Hiroki Wakamatsu commissioned Hamasaki for the drama's theme song, asking her to write a grown-up song. Hamasaki wrote the song's lyrics after reading the drama's script.

Music video

A music video was produced for the song, directed by Masashi Muto. It features Hamasaki singing in monochrome, and depicts couples of different races and sexual orientations. Japanese gay porn star Koh Masaki and his partner Tien Tien made cameos as one of the couples, a year before Masaki's death in June 2013. The dress she wore in the video was specially made for her by Indonesian fashion designer

Tex Saverio Tex Saverio (born 28 August 1984, in Jakarta) is an Indonesian fashion designer. In September 2005, Saverio won a national award in the Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Award, which qualified him to compete against other Southeast Asian designers the fo ...

Critical reception

The song received mixed reviews. CDJournal called the song a "beautifully magnificent ballad" that displayed Hamasaki's presence, however felt that the song's arrangement was disappointing. Music reviewer James Hadfield for Time Out Tokyo reacted strongly to the song, describing it as "wretched" and "generic".

Track listing

Chart rankings

Certifications

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Party Queens liner notes booklet. Musicians and personnel *Ian Burdge – strings *Ayumi Hamasaki – lyrics, vocals *Masamichi Imafuku – additional background vocals *Yumi Kawamura – background vocals *Yuta Nakano – arrangement, string arrangement, programming *David Reitzas – additional drum programming, mixing *Timothy Wellard – music, additional background vocals

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 songs 2012 singles Japanese-language songs Japanese television drama theme songs Ayumi Hamasaki songs Songs written by Ayumi Hamasaki Avex Trax singles Song recordings produced by Max Matsuura 2010s ballads LGBT-related songs