Since she debuted as a musician in 1998, Utada had worked as the primary or sole songwriter for her music. Beginning with her second album Distance (2001), Utada began to co-arrange songs, such as "Wait & See (Risk)", "Distance" and "Kettobase!"[2] The bonus track on Distance, "Hayatochi-Remix", was arranged entirely by Utada.[2] In March 2002, Hikaru Utada released "Hikari", the theme song for the game Kingdom Hearts.[3]
"Letters" was written and arranged solely by Utada. It featured six different guitarists all performing the acoustic guitar in the backing, including Char, Hisashi from Glay and her own father Teruzane Utada.[2]
Promotion and release
The song was used in commercials for NTT DoCoMo's 2002 range of FOMA cellphones.[4] This was the third song of Utada's to be used in collaboration with DoCoMo, after "Final Distance" (2001) and "Traveling" (2002).[5] On May 20, 2002, Utada performed the song live at Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, a week after she performed the single's other A-side "Sakura Drops".[6][7]
Utada performed the song during her Hikaru no 5 Budokan residency show in 2004, at her Utada United 2006 Japanese tour and at her two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[8]
Covers
In 2014, "Letters" was recorded by Ringo Sheena for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut.[9] It was released as a preceding download from the album on December 3, 2014.[9]
Critical reception
Critical reception to the song was positive. Hayashi of Ongaku DB felt "Letters" was a "Latin-sounding number" with a melody that had a "high level of freedom".[10] CDJournal reviewers described the song as having a "spicy Latin/gypsy" sound, and praised the "passionate melody", and noted how the upbeat rhythm contrasted with the lyrics, which dealt with "melancholic everyday feelings".[11] Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music felt that the song had a mature mood, and that it was "sexier" than her other songs due to the guitar backing of so many older male guitarists.[12] Akiyoshi Sekine of CD Data praised the song's "percussive rhythm", and praised the skill and sense that went into Utada's arrangement of the song.[13]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada
"Sakura Drops" / "Letters" single
No.
Title
Arranger
Length
1.
"Sakura Drops"
Utada, Kei Kawano
5:01
2.
"Letters"
Kawano, Utada
4:48
3.
"Sakura Drops (Original Karaoke)"
Utada, Kei Kawano
5:01
4.
"Letters (Original Karaoke)"
Kawano, Utada
4:48
Total length:
9:59
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from Deep River's liner notes booklet.[2]
^ abcdDistance (Media notes) (in Japanese). Hikaru Utada. Tokyo, Japan: Toshiba EMI. 2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ ab『宇多田ヒカルのうた』全貌明らかに。井上陽水、椎名林檎、浜崎あゆみ、吉井和哉ら参加アーティストコメント [All details revealed for Utada Hikaru no Uta, comments from contributing artists such as Yosui Inoue, Ringo Sheena, Ayumi Hamasaki and Kazuya Yoshii.] (in Japanese). Barks. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
^Hayashi of OngakuDB.com (May 9, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
^Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music (May 15, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
^宇多田ヒカルのシングル売り上げランキング [Hikaru Utada single sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
