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Prisoner of Love (Hikaru Utada song)

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"Prisoner of Love"
Single by Hikaru Utada
from the album Heart Station
ReleasedMarch 26, 2008 (Download)[1] May 21, 2008 (CD)[2]
GenrePop, R&B
Length4:46
LabelEMI Music Japan
Songwriter(s)Hikaru Utada
Producer(s)Hikaru Utada
Hikaru Utada singles chronology
"Heart Station"
(2008) 		"Prisoner of Love"
(2008) 		"Come Back to Me"
(2009)
Music video
"Prisoner of Love" on YouTube

"Prisoner of Love" is Hikaru Utada's 21st Japanese single and 30th single overall. It was cut from her fifth Japanese album, Heart Station (2008), making it her first Japanese recut single in nine years since "First Love" in 1999. "Prisoner of Love" is the theme song for the Fuji TV dorama Last Friends, making it her first song since "Sakura Drops" in 2002 to be used as a main theme song. It was released as a digital download on March 26, 2008, and as a CD single on May 21. Musically, "Prisoner of Love" is a pop ballad influenced by R&B music. The song lyrically depicts a sense of being trapped and unable to escape the intense emotions of love, highlighting the complex nature of relationships.

"Prisoner of Love" received positive reception from most music critics, who praised the arrangement and noted it as a standout from her discography. Commercially, the song gained massive success. The physical single peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). The song fared much better digitally, selling one million full-length downloads and ringtones each, pushing the song's combined sales to 2.182 million copies. An accompanying music video was shot by Wataru Takeishi, which is a recreation of the song's production. The song was performed during Utada's two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010 and has since appeared in several greatest hits albums by Utada.

Background and production

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In January 2008, Utada posted a photo of the string recording of "Prisoner Of Love" on her official website.[3] The track "Prisoner Of Love" was originally written for her English language album This Is the One, but Utada decided that she wanted to write it in Japanese, so she added Japanese lyrics and included it on the album Heart Station.[4] When writing the English lyrics, she chose sharp lyrics, but when translating them into Japanese, she was conscious of not wanting the lyrics to sound flat, and used a crisp arrangement and singing style that is more black-like to avoid a heavy, muddy melody.[5] Utada also said that when she first listened to this song through, she was moved to tears for the first time in a long time. At first, she wanted to make it a love song, but she was asked to write lyrics that could be interpreted as either friendship or love, as she thought there might be a tie-up with a dorama, and this made the writing process very difficult.[5] Incidentally, the lyrics for "Prisoner of Love," as well as "Celebrate" and "Heart Station" were written in a family restaurant in about three or four hours.[5]

Musically, "Prisoner of Love" is a love song that follows an R&B influence; Utada stated that the song was inspired by the rest of the album's "honest" theme, and recognized it as her return to R&B music.[6] According to Utada, the chord progression and the opening part are very similar to her 2000 single "Wait & See (Risk)".[5] She had written this type of song several times before, so she had been avoiding this type of song for a while, but this was the song that she felt like writing again after a long time.[5]

Reception

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It won the Best Theme Song Award in the 57th Drama Academy Awards.[7]

On May 13, 2008, Barks.jp reported "Prisoner of Love" had sold over 1.5 million downloads across all formats,[8] and on July 7, 2008, Yahoo!Japan reported it had sold over 2.9 million downloads,[9] it has been certified by the RIAJ on September 2, 2008, for reaching the one million mark for Chaku-Uta Full downloads in Japan.[10][11] "Prisoner of Love" was the 3rd most downloaded song in Japan during 2008.[12]

Promotion

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"Prisoner of Love" (Quiet Version) serves as the insert song for the Japanese television drama, Last Friends, while the original version is used in the opening theme.[13] The song was performed during Utada's two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[14]

The video for "Prisoner of Love", directed by Wataru Takeishi,[15] features Utada writing, arranging, and composing the song.[16] She is seen doing push-ups and punching the air, while the scene switches back to her crafting the song and having writer's block.[16] This was Utada's idea, and almost all of the items in the video, including the various equipment, lyric notebooks, work table, sofa, etc., are her personal belongings.[17]

The video is very interesting in that it is her first to use various references to her U3 blog.[16] She is seen peeling and eating an orange-like fruit called a mikan, and in her blog she mentioned having a surplus of them.[16] She is also seen drawing her inventive superhero, Super-Kuman, based on Kuma Chang, her stuffed bear, which is the subject for her song "Boku wa Kuma".[16]

Track listing

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CD+DVD Version

CD
No.TitleLength
1."Prisoner of Love"4:46
2."Prisoner of Love ~Quiet Version~"4:34
3."Prisoner of Love (Original Karaoke)"4:44
4."Prisoner of Love ~Quiet Version~ (Original Karaoke)"4:34
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Prisoner of Love (Music Video)"-:--

Chart rankings

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Certifications and sales

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Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales[24] 82,000
RIAJ physical certification[25] 100,000
RIAJ ringtone downloads[26] 1,000,000+
RIAJ full-length cellphone downloads[27] 1,000,000+
RIAJ PC downloads[26] 100,000+
RIAJ streaming[28] 100,000,000

References

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  1. ^ "[2008/03/19] アルバム「HEART STATION」着うた(R)/RBT配信スタート！". EMI Music Japan. Archived from the original on 25 March 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Prisoner Of Love". EMI Music Japan. Archived from the original on 27 April 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  3. ^ "みんな変態". Hikki's WEBSITE. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  4. ^ "コムギ". Hikki's WEBSITE. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e Utada, Hikaru (2009). 点―ten―. Japan: EMI Music Japan. p. 222. ISBN 9784930774224.
  6. ^ Channel Ai Staff (2 December 2008). "Utada Hikaru MSN Interview – Heart Station". MSN; published through Channel Ai. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  7. ^ "テレビ番組表 - テレビ欄・番組表のSmartザテレビジョン". Smartザテレビジョン. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  8. ^ "宇多田ヒカル、デビュー以来全アルバムがミリオン達成". BARKS. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  9. ^ Yahoo!Japan Archived August 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "一般社団法人 日本レコード協会｜各種統計". riaj.or.jp. Archived from the original on 31 August 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Oricon Sales: 'Heart Station' / 'Pol': 1M Chaku-Uta Full". Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  12. ^ "3044永利官网vip |主頁(歡迎您)". utada-online.net. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008.
  13. ^ "News (JP) - Hikki's WEBSITE". Hikki's WEBSITE. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  14. ^ "宇多田ヒカル一時休止前ラスト公演で感涙＆Ust新記録樹立" (in Japanese). Natalie. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  15. ^ "宇多田ヒカル Prisoner Of Love". Space Shower. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009.
  16. ^ a b c d e "宇多田ヒカル - Prisoner Of Love". YouTube.
  17. ^ "宇多田ヒカル、最新シングルのビデオクリップでプライベート・スタジオを公開". PIA Corporation. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). 28 May 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  19. ^ "Ｐｒｉｓｏｎｅｒ Ｏｆ Ｌｏｖｅ - 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  20. ^ a b "レコード協会調べ 5月度有料音楽配信チャート（「着うた（R）」）＜略称：5月度レコ協チャート（「着うた（R）」）＞" (in Japanese). RIAJ. 20 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 June 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  21. ^ "レコード協会調べ 2010年06月09日～2010年06月15日 ＜略称：レコ協チャート（「着うたフル(R)」）＞" (in Japanese). RIAJ. 18 June 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  22. ^ "Japan Billboard Hot 100 Year-end chart 2008". Billboard Japan. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  23. ^ シングル 年間ランキング (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  24. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Retrieved 17 September 2010. (subscription only)
  25. ^ ゴールド等認定作品一覧 2008年5月. RIAJ (in Japanese). 10 June 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  26. ^ a b レコード協会調べ 6月度有料音楽配信認定 ＜略称：6月度認定＞. RIAJ (in Japanese). 20 July 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  27. ^ レコード協会調べ 7月度有料音楽配信認定 ＜略称：7月度認定＞. RIAJ (in Japanese). 20 August 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  28. ^ "Japanese single streaming certifications – Hikaru Utada – Prisoner of Love" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 29 August 2024. Select 2024年7月 on the drop-down menu
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