is a song by Japanese musician

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 as a double A-side single with the song " For You" on June 30, 2000.

Background and development

In 1999, Utada released their debut album '' First Love'', which was the most commercially successful album of all time in Japan. After this success, they released two follow-up singles, " Addicted to You" (1999) and " Wait & See (Risk)" (2000), which were both produced by American production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. For "Time Limit", Utada enlisted the help of American producer

Rodney Jerkins Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

, and recorded the song at Darkchild Studios in New Jersey. The song was co-composed with Takuro of the band Glay, the first time Utada had shared the role of songwriter since their 1998 pre-debut album '' Precious'' as Cubic U. For Utada's second album ''

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"). ...

'' (2001), they worked together with Takuro again on the song "Drama". The "For You" / "Time Limit" single was released right before Bohemian Summer 2000, their first wide-scale tour of Japan, and on the same day as the

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

release of their previous single, "Wait & See (Risk)".

Promotion and release

The song was first unveiled on June 12, 2000, when a 60-second preview of "Time Limit" was previewed on Japan FM Network radio stations, a week before "For You" was previewed. To promote the single, Utada appeared in magazines released in June and July, such as ''Pati Pati'', ''What's In?'', ''Pia'', ''Tokyo Walker'' and ''Popteen''. Utada performed "Time Limit" live on '' Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'' on June 26, 2000. This show was one of the highest-rated episodes of the program, taking in a 22.1% share of viewers for the time slot, however was beaten by Utada's previous appearances on the show in 1999 and later in 2001. On the June 29 episode of '' Utaban'', Utada performed both "For You" and "Time Limit".

Music video

A music video was created for the song, featuring footage of a live performance by Utada on their Bohemian Summer 2000 tour. The footage was taken from the July 1, 2000 concert at the

Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming and d ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Critical reception

Sato of OngakuDB.com noted the song's layered chorus work, and felt that to fully appreciate this, the song was better suited to listening at home on CD, rather than hearing it on television. CDJournal reviewers felt that Utada's "tightly structured" vocals made it into a "superior pop" song. The "For You" / "Time Limit" single was successful enough to win a Song of the Year award at the 15th

Japan Gold Disc Award The is an award presented 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 Associa ...

Track listings

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from "For You/Time Limit"'s liner notes booklet. *Paul Foley – Pro-Tools editing *

– arrangement, production, rap, recording *

Takuro Kubo , better known by his stage name TAKURO, is a Japanese musician and lyricist best known as one of the guitarists and leader of the rock band Glay, for which he is also the main composer and lyricist. As a musician and composer, Takuro has worked ...

– writing *

Harvey Mason, Jr. Harvey Jay Mason Jr. (born June 3, 1968) is an American record producer, songwriter, movie producer and current CEO of The Recording Academy. He has written and produced songs for artists including Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Deniece Wil ...

– pro-tools editing, recording *Dexter Simmons – mixing *Hikaru Utada – all vocals, arrangement, writing

Charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Time Limit 2000 songs 2000 singles Hikaru Utada songs Japanese-language songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Song recordings produced by Rodney Jerkins Songs written by Hikaru Utada