Ultra Blue

Ultra Blue (stylized as ULTRA BLUE[1]) is the fourth Japanese studio album (sixth overall) by Utada Hikaru, released in 2006. It debuted at #1 on the Oricon daily, weekly and monthly charts and sold 500,317 copies in its first six days of sales. Ultra Blue had sold more than one million copies worldwide and almost four million digital single tracks and ringtones as of July 13, 2006 according to EMI.[2]

Ultra Blue
Studio album by Utada Hikaru
Released	June 14, 2006
Recorded	2002–04, 2005–06
Genre	New age alternative electronica experimental
Length	56:32
Label	Toshiba-EMI
Producer	Utada Hikaru, Akira Miyake, Teruzane Utada
Utada Hikaru chronology
Exodus (2004) Ultra Blue (2006) Heart Station (2008)
Singles from Ultra Blue
"Colors" Released: January 29, 2003 "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" Released: April 21, 2004 "Be My Last" Released: September 28, 2005 "Passion" Released: December 14, 2005 "Keep Tryin'" Released: February 22, 2006 "This Is Love" Released: May 31, 2006 (digital single)

Ultra Blue was also a strong online digital seller. After two months of digital downloads, Ultra Blue remained in the top ten album downloads in Japan's largest online music store, iTunes Japan. This album also became the fourth most downloaded album on iTunes Japan of the year and won an "Album of the Year" title at the 2007 Nihon Golden Disk Awards.[3] On July 30, 2007, EMI Group released its Annual Report for 2007, and in it reported that Utada's album Ultra Blue had sold 1.3 million units worldwide, making it EMI Music's 10th-best selling album of 2006.[4] Despite its success in terms of promotions, "Ultra Blue" is Utada's least commercially successful Japanese album to date in terms of physical sales, until it was surpassed by Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 in 2010. Utada went on a nationwide Japan tour called Utada United 2006 to support the album.

Promotion

Taiwanese promotion

This album is her most heavily promoted album in Taiwan since her compilation album, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1. Pre-order receipts were made available 2 weeks before the Taiwanese pressing of Ultra Blue. Those who pre-ordered received a Japan imported Ultra Blue poster packaged in a transparent cylindrical tube. Commercials were aired often on buses, MRT stations, as well as local channels helping to promote the album, playing "Blue" in the background. One of its tag-line was, "The whole world is waiting, Utada Hikaru, Ultra Blue" (this is a direct translation). Also, Toshiba-EMI of Taiwan collaborated with Yam.com and created an Ultra Blue blog similar to Utada's Japanese blog. The website held an essay contest about "You and Utada Hikaru". Toshiba-EMI Taiwan also held a private premier listening press party by inviting an ambassador from the Japan branch of Toshiba-EMI to represent the absent Utada. For what seems to be the final wave of promotion, the company put together a short "Blue" music video to air in between show blocks on various channels. The video consisted of pictures of the Ultra Blue booklet, the commercial clip of Ultra Blue and also a scene from the "Colors" video. The album debuted and stayed at the #1 spot in the G-Music Combo album charts for three consecutive weeks, with its debut week accounting for 26.39% of the total album sales in Taiwan for that week, charting for a total of 15 weeks.

North America promotion

This album is perhaps her heaviest Capitol Records promoted album since her Cubic U album, Precious. After the physical CD was released in Japan on June 14, 2006, the album was made available on iTunes to Japan and other countries, including the United States and Canada, on June 28, 2006. It was also released on the UK edition of iTunes.

In Canada, the physical CDs for Ultra Blue and Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 were released on July 11, 2006.[5][6] In the United States, the physical CDs for Ultra Blue and Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 were released on September 19, 2006.

The B-sides of "Colors" ("Simple and Clean") and "Passion" ("Sanctuary") were not included in this album, but in her English album This Is the One.

Track listing

All songs are written, composed and arranged by Utada Hikaru, except "Colors" (arranged by Utada Hikaru & Kei Kawano).

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Is Love"	4:58
2.	"Keep Tryin'"	4:53
3.	"Blue"	5:15
4.	"Nichiyō no Asa" (日曜の朝; Sunday Morning)	4:44
5.	"Making Love"	4:25
6.	"Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (誰かの願いが叶うころ; When Someone's Wish Comes True)	4:27
7.	"Colors"	3:59
8.	"One Night Magic" (feat. Masashi Yamada of The Back Horn)	4:39
9.	"Kairo" (海路; Sea Route)	3:34
10.	"Wings"	4:52
11.	"Be My Last"	4:30
12.	"Eclipse (Interlude)"	1:32
13.	"Passion"	4:42

Singles

Date	Title	Peak position	Weeks	Sales
January 19, 2003	"Colors"	1	45	893,790
April 21, 2004	"Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro"	1	22	365,206
September 28, 2005	"Be My Last"	1	13	150,928
December 14, 2005	"Passion"	4	15	112,345
February 22, 2006	"Keep Tryin'"	2	11	125,077

Personnel

Credits for Ultra Blue adapted from Allmusic. [7]

Utada Hikaru – vocals, songwriting, production, keyboards, arranging (all tracks), programming (tracks 1-6, 8-13), acoustic piano (track 6), basic programming (track 7) Yamada Masashi – featured vocals, chorus (track 8) Teruzane Skingg Utada – production Miyake Akira – production, executive producer Doyama Shoji – executive producer Kawano Kei – arranging, keyboards, programming (track 7) Tomita Yuzuru – programming (tracks 1, 3-5, 8) Alexis Smith – programming (tracks 1-5, 8-10, 12-13) Matt Rohde – keyboards, programming (tracks 2, 13), acoustic piano (track 13) David Carpenter – bass (track 2) Kon Tsuyoshi – acoustic guitar (tracks 6, 11) Tsunemi Kazuhide – synthesizer programming (track 7) Great Eida Group – violin section (track 7) Abe Masashi Group – cello section (track 7) Takakuwa Hideyo – flute (track 10) Brio Taliaferro – programming (track 11) Forrest Robinson – drums (tracks 11, 13) Ben Mauro – guitar (track 13) Glenn Erwin – pro-tools operation (track 13) Goetz B. – mixing Goh Hotoda – mixing (tracks 6, 7), recording (track 6) Matsui Atsushi – recording (all tracks) Daniel Burns – recording (track 2) Pat Woodward – recording (track 13) Komori Masahito – assistant engineering Saito Yuta – assistant engineering Yamamoto Yasutaka – assistant engineering Nakauchi Taketoshi – assistant engineering Dave Emery – assistant engineering Flancesco Perlangeli – assistant engineering Matt Snedecor – assistant engineering Heath Aiken – assistant engineering Kazuaki Kiriya – art direction and photography Cho Kenji – art direction and design Ogawa Kyohei – styling Inagaki Ryoji – hair and make-up

Charts

Oricon sales chart (Japan)

Current total Sales (worldwide): 1.3 million

Release	Chart	Peak Position	First Week Sales	Sales Total	Chart Run
14 June 2006	Oricon Daily Charts	1
14 June 2006	Oricon Weekly Charts	1	500,317	1,000,000	64
14 June 2006	Oricon Monthly Charts	1
14 June 2006	Oricon Yearly Charts	7		900,343 (2006) 909,113 (total)

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Japan	June 14, 2006
China
Hong Kong
Taiwan
Thailand	June 20, 2006
South Korea	June 22, 2006
Canada	July 11, 2006
United States	September 19, 2006

References

1. 宇多田ヒカル『“生”が感じられる4年ぶりのアルバム！！』 (in Japanese). ORICON STYLE. June 14, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
2. Ultra Blue EMI-Report
3. RIAJ - 21st Japan Gold Disc Award 2007
4. U.Blog » Utada @ EMI Annual Report 2007 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
5. ShopEMI.com - Ultra Blue on ShopEMI
6. ShopEMI.com - Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 on ShopEMI
7. "Ultra Blue - Hikaru Utada | Credits | https://www.allmusic.com/album/ultra-blue-mw0000473449". Allmusic. External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)