Beautiful World (Hikaru Utada song)

"Beautiful World"
A woman sitting on a ledge at the bottom of a concrete garage building while motion-blurred school children walk past
"Beautiful World" / "Kiss & Cry" cover.
Single by Hikaru Utada
from the album Heart Station
ReleasedAugust 29, 2007 (2007-08-29)
Recorded2007
StudioBunkamura Studio
Genre
Length5:18
LabelEMI Music Japan
Songwriter(s)Hikaru Utada
Producer(s)
Hikaru Utada singles chronology
"Kiss & Cry"
(2007) 		"Beautiful World"
(2007) 		"Do You"
(2007)
Alternate cover
"Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)" digital download cover

"Beautiful World" is a song by Japanese American musician Hikaru Utada. It served as the theme song for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, the 2007 film reboot of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was released as a double A-side single on August 29, 2007 along with her song "Kiss & Cry", which had been released digitally three months earlier.[1] The song was written and co-produced by Utada, while Akira Miyake and the singer's father Teruzane Utada served as producers. In 2009, a remix of the song, "Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)" served as the theme song of the second film in the series, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.

Musically, "Beautiful World" is an pop song that incorporates elements of house music, dance and trance. Lyrically, it delves upon themes of love and desire, being inspired by the character Shinji Ikari. Upon its release, "Beautiful World" received positive reviews from music critics, who commended Utada's lyrical abilities and production style; it won numerous accolades in Japan, and has subsequently been listed as one of her best releases.

Commercially, "Beautiful World" and "Kiss & Cry" experienced success in Japan. The single reached number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 250,000 physical copies. "Beautiful World" individually sold over one million legal downloads and 500,000 ringtones throughout Japan, earning it a million and double platinum certification from the RIAJ. Utada has since performed the song on her Wild Life concert tour and additionally placed the recording on compilation albums such as Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 (2010) and Science Fiction (2024).

Background and development

In 2006, Utada released her fifth studio album, Ultra Blue, led by the digital single "This Is Love". In February 2007, Utada released "Flavor of Life", the theme song for the drama Hana Yori Dango Returns, which became one of her most commercially successful singles, selling over eight million downloads and becoming the second most digitally successful song of 2007 globally.[2][3]

On April 20, Utada's song "Kiss & Cry" began to be used in commercials for Nissin Foods' Freedom Project advertising campaign, and was released as a digital download on May 31.[4][5] Utada's recording of the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon", originally found on her "Wait & See (Risk)" (2000) single, was rearranged and released as a digital download on June 29.[6] Renditions of this song had previously been used in the original Neon Genesis Evangelion animation's soundtrack, and Utada's version was used in trailers for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.[6]

Since Utada had not read the movie's script before writing the theme songs for any of the first three Rebuild movies,[7] Utada took her inspirations from Shinji wanting to see his friends and the real world again at the end of End of Evangelion, and Asuka's realization that she did desire love from other people.[8] Utada's relationship with her mother, a musician herself, and her mental illness later in life influenced her Evangelion songs. For this reason, out of all Eva characters she identified the most with Asuka.[9]

Composition and release

Musically, "Beautiful World" is a love song, inspired by mid-tempo house and dance music.[10] According to Utada, she had already said everything she wanted to say in the song through the melody and arrangement, so she made the lyrics subdued so as not to get in the way. She also said that she created the song with a "wish" at its roots, with an elusive, fluffy feel like the wind or a smell in mind.[11] "Beautiful World" debuted on the radio and was released as a ringtone on July 23, 2007.[12] "Beautiful World" was released as a double A-side with "Kiss & Cry," which premiered on August 29, 2007, through Toshiba-EMI as a CD single and a digital download.[13][14]

Planitb Acoustica Remix

In 2009, the song was rearranged for the second film of the Rebuild of Evangelion series, as "Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)". It was released as a digital download on June 28, 2009. Utada worked with Russell McNamara, who had previously made remixes of her songs "Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari" and "Simple and Clean" between 2001–2002. The song was commercially successful, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.[15] It was added as the final track of Utada's second compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 in late 2010.

Da Capo Version

In 2021, Utada re-recorded the song (specified as a "self cover") for the last film of the Evangelion series, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, entitled "Beautiful World (Da Capo Version)", which featured on her 2021 EP, One Last Kiss. Musically, the Da Capo version immediately follows on from the preceding song, "One Last Kiss".

Director Hideaki Anno specifically requested the version be created as he believed "One Last Kiss" would not be long enough for the credit sequence.[16]

Promotion

In early September, Utada performed the song at many music entertainment programs in Japan: at Count Down TV on the night of September 1,[17] Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ on September 3,[18] Utaban on September 6,[19] and both Music Station and Music Fighter on September 7.[20][21] "Beautiful World" was performed during Utada's two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[22] Articles about Utada appeared in music and fashion magazines in August and September 2007, to promote the single. This included R&R Newsmaker, What's In?, CD Data, Barfout!, Oricon Style, Pia, Pop Teen and Patipati.[23]

Two animated music videos were produced for the song, depicting scenes from Evangelion. The first was released at the time of the single's release, and featured scenes of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, directed by the film's chief director Hideaki Anno.[24] This music video won a Japanese MTV Video Music Award for the best video used for a film.[25]

In 2014 to promote Utada's 15th anniversary, as well as the tribute album Utada Hikaru no Uta, a music video of Evangelion scenes was produced by Kazuya Tsurumaki, one of the co-directors of the Rebuild of Evangelion film series.[26][27]

Critical reception

CDJournal reviewers described Utada as singing about "earnest love and deep prayers in a rhythmic tempo", and noted "a painful beauty where transience and passion live together" in the song. They praised the "melancholy" way that Utada sings the lyric "it's only love", as well as the lyrics' sense of ironic while coming from an everyday perspective.[28][29] Tetsuo Hiraga of Hot Express gave an extremely positive review of the song, feeling in awe of the emotional sensitivity of Utada's lyrics and how well they resonated with Evangelion.[30]

Accolades

Awards for "Beautiful World"
Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2008 Japan Gold Disc Awards Best 5 PC Streaming Songs Won [31]
MTV Video Music Awards Japan Best Video From a Film Won [32]
RTHK International Pop Poll Awards Top Japanese Gold Songs Won

Commercial performance

Commercially, the single proved to be a success. "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" debuted at number three on the Oricon Singles Chart with 95,299 copies sold.[33] The single jumped to number two on the chart the following week, selling approximately 51,637 copies.[34] "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" sold 228,716 copies by the end of 2007, making it the 20th best-selling single of the year.[35] The physical single for "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for physical sales of 250,000 units,[36] and is Utada's 18th highest-selling single.[37] However, "Beautiful World" performed better digitally, with the song individually selling over one million downloads and 500,000 ringtones nationwide.[14][38] The song's Planitb Acoustica Mix was certified gold for selling over 100,000 legal downloads in August 2009.[39]

Track listings

"Beautiful World" / "Kiss & Cry" single
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beautiful World"Utada5:18
2."Kiss & Cry"Utada5:07
3."Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) (2007 Mix)"Bart Howard3:24
4."Beautiful World (Original Karaoke)"Utada5:15
5."Kiss & Cry (Original Karaoke)"Utada5:08
6."Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) (2007 Mix) (Original Karaoke)"Howard3:23
Total length:27:35

All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada

"Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)" digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)"5:15
Total length:5:15

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from "Beautiful World" / "Kiss & Cry"'s liner notes booklet.[40]

  • Goetz B. for 365 Artists – mixing
  • Atsushi Matsui – recording
  • Akira Miyake – production
  • Alexis Smith – additional programming
  • Yuzuru Tomita – additional programming
  • Hikaru Utada – arrangement, keyboards, programming, production, songwriting, vocals
  • Teruzane Utada – production

Chart rankings

Certifications

Certifications for Beautiful World
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[46]
Physical single 		Platinum 235,050[45]
Japan (RIAJ)[47]
Digital 		Million 1,000,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[48]
Ringtone 		2× Platinum 500,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[49]
PC Download 		Platinum 250,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[50]
Full-length ringtone 		Gold 100,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalog codes
Japan July 23, 2007 (2007-07-23)[12] Ringtone, radio add date EMI Music Japan
August 29, 2007 (2007-08-29)[1][14] CD single, digital download TOCT-40120
South Korea August 30, 2007 (2007-08-30)[51] Digital download Universal Music Korea
Taiwan August 31, 2007 (2007-08-31)[52] CD single Gold Typhoon 5099950581924
Japan June 27, 2009 (2009-06-27)[39] Digital download (Planitb Acoustica Mix) EMI Music Japan

References

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