Deep River is the fourth studio album by Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada. It was released via Toshiba EMI on June 19, 2002. The title of the album, as well as its title track, was inspired by the novel Deep River by Shusaku Endo. Utada wrote and co-produced the majority of the record, and unlike their previous album Distance (2001), they worked primarily with Japanese collaborator Akira Miyake and Teruzane Utada. Musically, Deep River is widely noted by fans and critics as the transition state from Utada's earlier style, R&B, to ethereal pop.
Music critics praised Deep Rivers production and Utada's experimental approach to their sound, and the album and its content received numerous awards and accolades. Commercially, the album attained meteoric success. In Japan, it debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified triple million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for selling over three million copies. The album is listed as the eighth highest-selling album in Japanese music history.
To promote the album, Utada released four singles: "Final Distance," "Traveling," "Hikari" and "Sakura Drops / Letters." All four of them performed well in Japan, with the second single "Traveling" becoming the album's most commercially successful track. The album's third single "Hikari" and its English-language version "Simple & Clean" served as the theme song for Square's action role-playing video game Kingdom Hearts (2002), and is their most well-known single internationally. Along with the four singles, the song "Play Ball" was released as a radio single, and the album's title track received a music video. Utada also went on promotional tours throughout Japan, and a video collection titled Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol. 3 was released, which included all of the album's music videos.
Background and content
On March 28, 2001, Utada released Distance, their third studio album. It serves as the follow-up to their highly successful major-label debut First Love (1999). Distance was a critical and commercial success in Japan, with the highest first-week sales of all time at the time (before Adele's 25), and eventually becoming the fourth best-selling album in the country. It also spawned a series of million-selling singles in Japan, with the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produced "Addicted to You" becoming the most successful of the bunch.
After finishing the record's promotional tour, Utada attended Columbia University, taking a leave of absence in January 2001. In February 2002, they announced that they had signed an exclusive contract with the record label Island Def Jam in New York. During that time, Utada began working on a new album. The record's production was temporarily halted when they were diagnosed with a benign ovarian tumour, which was successfully removed; they resumed work after recovering from surgery. Utada wrote and co-produced the majority of Deep River, but unlike Distance, they worked primarily with Japanese producers Akira Miyake and Teruzane. The album was produced in about a year, the shortest period of development for an album in their career. In an interview at the time, Utada said, "Maybe it was because I felt that I had to make it in a hurry now. I thought it could only be done by me now. I know I'm changing rapidly, so...."
Akira Miyake, who had been involved in the creation of Utada's music since their debut, attributed their increased pace of songwriting to "their budding professionalism." Utada also said that the album is full of their own "color" as they were fully involved in the arrangements. Utada stated that "being unique is what I'm aiming for," but that they didn't want to go so far as to be "unrecognized by everyone." In a previous interview with Jun Kano, Kano had said, "Rock isn't about not needing anyone to understand," and when Radiohead released their album Amnesiac, Kano had said, "Up until then, we'd made music that was easy to understand, and we valued our desire to connect with everyone's ears and tastes." He felt a sense of empathy and relief when he heard these things. He also felt a sense of trust in his listeners, which allowed him to relax a little in his subsequent productions.
Composition
thumb|The [[Ganges River (Varanasi), one of the themes of Deep River]]
The musical composition of Deep River is an evident departure from the templated Americanized R&B sound of Utada's blockbuster album Distance, and is considered the transition from Utada's earlier style to ethereal pop music. Utada also noted that the "two-step, half-finished" beat is a fine example of the intense emotional ups and downs of the song. The song "Traveling," which Utada says was intended to be "light and easy to understand" and "a cheerful song with a groove," is one of the most unique songs on the album, with its sophisticated house beat and caricature-like lyrics that also quote a famous passage from The Tale of the Heike.
"Shiawase ni Narou" features a western approach to R&B music in its light tempo, with a simple and unrefined piano, and also quotes the melody of Beethoven's "Für Elise" in the latter half of the song. It has also been pointed out that this is "a quotation as a foreshadowing of tragedy" since the background of the composition of "Für Elise" was "a love affair with an aristocratic lady that could not be fulfilled." The album's title track, "Deep River", uses a sitar in both the intro and outro; the song was inspired by Shusaku Endo's Deep River, which is about the Ganges River and indigenous beliefs in India. It also features a slightly backward rhythm that emphasizes the third and fourth beats.
"Tokyo Nights" depicts a wanderer in search of a place where he can quench his thirst in the bustling nightless city of Tokyo, with arpeggios of oboe and harpsichord that seem to herald the arrival of night. In May 2000, Utada revealed on their official website that they liked Endo's The Sea and Poison and that they were in the process of reading Deep River again. The artwork for the album jacket and booklet was done by Kazuaki Kiriya, The photographs were taken in the streets of Shinjuku. All of the photographs were in black and white and show Utada standing alone in a deserted urban alleyway. Utada and Moriyama have never seen each other since then, and Moriyama recalled their encounter as a "holy once-in-a-lifetime" experience in a 2018 magazine interview. Moriyama said that his impression of Utada at the time was that they were "a very smart girl, very honest and of good character," and that he had photographed Utada's mother, Keiko Fuji, once before, which was one of the reasons he agreed to do the shoot. He also said that it was cute when Utada told him during the shoot, "Please take beautiful pictures of me, like my mother." Moriyama added, "When I moved closer to get a close-up of Utada, she really looked like Keiko Fuji in the viewfinder. When I took the camera off, I saw Hikaru Utada, who still looked like a little girl. It was a strange feeling. I remember that feeling." The song received positive reviews from critics and peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart. After shipping over 400,000 units, the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) certified it platinum. The album's second single, "Traveling," was released on November 28, 2001, along with an additional DVD that included the music video and behind-the-scenes footage. Critics praised the song's danceable sound and production style. It became the album's first chart-topper on the Oricon Singles Chart, and it was certified million by the RIAJ after shipping more than one million copies nationwide.
On March 20, 2002, "Hikari" was released as the album's third single. The song served as the theme song for Square's action role-playing video game Kingdom Hearts (2002), as well as its English version "Simple & Clean" in international markets. It received positive reviews from critics and debuted at the top of the Oricon Singles Chart. The single was certified double platinum by the RIAJ after selling over 500,000 copies in Japan. "Sakura Drops" and "Letters" were released as a double A-side single on May 9, 2002. Both songs received positive feedback and debuted at the top of the Oricon Singles Chart, earning the album's final double platinum certification from the RIAJ. The RIAJ certified "Sakura Drops" gold for exceeding 100,000 digital downloads. The song "Play Ball" was released as a radio single prior to the release of the album for promotion.
To promote the album, the video collection Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol. 3 was released on home video, which included all of the music videos from the Deep River era as well as behind-the-scenes footage for each one. Toshiba EMI distributed it throughout Japan on September 30, 2002.
Release and reception
Deep River was re-released worldwide on January 23, 2019, through digital and streaming services, with a double vinyl edition re-issued in Japan by Universal Music Japan on March 10, 2022.
Afternoon Black Tea from MTVChinese.com awarded the album a perfect score of five out of five stars, stating in the review: "The album is rich in style and rhythm, and before the release of the album, Utada said to the public that 'this is their best work', which is true, and this is indeed their most amazing work since their debut." The Japanese music publication CDJournal gave the album a good review. They praised the album's sound and overall arrangement quality, while also mentioning Utada's "sincere" songwriting and storytelling.
From 2002 to 2003, the album and several singles received numerous awards. At the 2002 Japan Gold Disc Awards, Deep River won Rock & Pop Album of the Year, "Travelling" won Music Video of the Year, and "Travelling," "Hikari," and "Sakura Drops" won Songs of the Year. The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC Awards) honoured the album's single "Hikari" with the Foreign Silver Award, while "Travelling" received the Silver Award. In 2002, Utada, the album, and "Travelling" were nominated for Best Female Artist, Album of the Year, and Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. A year later, "Sakura Drops" was named the Best Female Video. The Television Drama Academy Awards went on to accolade "Sakura Drops" with the best Drama Song Award.
Commercial performance
Deep River achieved great commercial success nationwide. It debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart with 2,350,170 copies sold in its first week, making it the country's fifth-fastest-selling album. Overall, Deep River charted for a total of 57 weeks. Deep River was the best-selling album in Japan of 2002, having sold 3,526,780 units by the end of the year. The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) certified the album triple million for selling more than three million copies, with Oricon claiming sales of over 3.604 million in Japan. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) named Deep River the 18th best-selling record in 2002, and it is currently the eighth best-selling album in Japan, and is Utada's third best-selling studio album after Distance and First Love.
Track listing
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from the Deep River liner notes booklet.
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