Maps of Music

Distance (2001)

Where the lyrics of Distance take you, and where it was really made.

The title came from a feeling Utada had while interacting with others, and the album was worked on in cities from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

Key places

Studio TERRA, Tokyo (2001)

Recording site Studio TERRA — The album's source lists Studio TERRA in Tokyo among its recording places for Distance. The pin marks the studio location listed in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Bunkamura Studios, Tokyo (2001)

Recording site Bunkamura Studios — The album's source lists Bunkamura Studios in Tokyo among its recording places for Distance. The pin marks the studio location listed in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Hit Factory, New York City (2001)

Recording site The Hit Factory — The album's source lists The Hit Factory in New York City among its recording places for Distance. The pin marks the studio location listed in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Distance: third studio album by Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada
• Released 28 March 2001 by Toshiba EMI, the second release for the label
• Utada wrote and co-produced most of the album with Akira Miyake and Teruzane Utada
• New collaborators on the album: Rodney Jerkins and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
• Sound: pop and R&B base, with hip-hop, rock, reggae and techno influences from Western music

Background

• Predecessor First Love (1999) was a commercial success and became the best-selling album in Japanese music history
• Songs on the album were recorded between 1999 and 2001
• "Addicted to You" was produced in Minneapolis during summer 1999 with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
• Utada said the production with them was on an equal footing
• Recording of the album was announced as completed on 26 January 2001
• Akira Miyake, Utada's producer since debut, described months of demos and repeated retakes in a post-recording note

Recording

• The remaining songs were written and recorded in November 1999, after university exams and over the New Year break
• Several recorded songs were created during the first national tour in 2000
• Chorus parts were sung dozens of times, in some places layered about 40 times
• The album title came from a feeling Utada had while interacting with others

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born January 19, 1983 in New York City to Japanese parents; mother Keiko Fuji was an enka singer, father Teruzane Utada a record producer.
• Began writing songs at age 10 and moved to Tokyo at age 11; performed as Cubic U from 1996.
• Signed with Toshiba-EMI; English debut album Precious (1998) under Cubic U.

Members

• Solo artist, known mononymously as Utada; later performed under the name Hikaru Utada.

Career

• Japanese debut First Love (1999), Japan's best-selling album of all time.
• Distance (2001) sold three million copies in its first week; Deep River (2002) followed.
• Exodus (2004) marked an English-language push in North America under the name Utada.
• Returned to Japan with Ultra Blue (2006) and Heart Station (2008); This Is the One (2009) followed.
• Long hiatus after 2010 Wild Life tour; returned with Fantôme (2016) and Hatsukoi (2018).
• Wrote theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts series, including Face My Fears with Skrillex.
• Bad Mode (2022) was the first bilingual album; Science Fiction (2024) celebrated 25 years since debut.
• Over 40 million records sold; came out as non-binary in 2021.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic's Ian Wade rated the album four stars
• Wade praised the record's production and songwriting
• Wade called it one of Hikaru's most consistent and inventive albums, and a more convincing R&B record by a Japanese artist than later attempts to crack the US market
• Hot Express's Tetsuo Hiraga praised the album as a work that expresses the dramatic growth from First Love, and noted the expansion of its musicality
• Rockin'On Japan's Jun Shikano called the music soulful and reflective of the heart, both universal and primal
• AllMusic's Ian Martin said the tracks produced by Jerkins, Jam and Lewis had rich production, compared with the cheap, tinny sound of Japanese pop at the time
• Critics also praised the overall sound and production quality of the album

Records

• Oricon Albums Chart: number one, with 3,002,720 copies sold in the first week
• The first-week sales stood as the highest in music history until Adele's 25 in 2015
• Topped the chart for two nonconsecutive weeks; A Best replaced it in the second week
• 4,404,290 units sold by the end of 2001, the best-selling album of that year
• Utada topped the annual singles chart that year with "Can You Keep a Secret?"
• RIAJ certified quadruple million; Oricon reports sales over 4.472 million in Japan
• Oricon named it the best-selling Japanese album of the 2000s; IFPI ranked it tenth best-selling record of 2001
• Japan Gold Disc Awards from 1999 to 2002; Best Rock & Pop Album in 2002
• Currently the fourth best-selling album in Japan, behind Glay's Review, B'z's The Best and First Love

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Released on the same day as Ayumi Hamasaki's greatest hits album A Best (2001), a coincidence Avex Trax had organised
• The clash between the two releases drew wide media coverage, with claims that the two singers were rivals
• "Distance" was first planned as an unaltered single, but was released instead as the rearranged ballad "Final Distance" in memory of a fan who died in the June 2001 Ikeda school massacre
• "Can You Keep a Secret?" served as the theme song of the 2001 dorama Hero, in which Utada appeared as an actor
• Distance was re-released worldwide on 23 January 2019 via digital and streaming services
• A double vinyl edition was re-issued in Japan by Universal Music on 10 March 2022

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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