Traveling

Traveling

“Traveling” is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist and producer Hikaru Utada taken from her third studio album Deep River (2002). The song was written, co-produced and co-composed by Utada herself, while additional production was handled by her father, Japanese producer Teruzane Utada and Akira Miyake. The song was used on her greatest hits compilation Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 (2004). The conception for the track was first recorded and written while she was in progress off Deep River, but she put off all work for the single and album after she was diagnosed with an benign ovarian tumor, which caused her to stop all musical activity. Musically, the song is a dance-oriented song that is particularly different from her previous efforts. The song incorporates traditional house music and disco music. The music composition was composed by Utada like her previous singles and contains instrumentation of synthesizers, keyboards, electric guitars and bass guitars, which is similar to the tracks on the parent album. Lyrically, the song talks about traveling through a dream and differentiating the difference between reality and fantasy, incorporating the theme off spirituality throughout the track. “Traveling” achieved favorable reception from most contemporary music critics, who praised the production values and vocal delivery. Many critics have also cited the song as one of the album’s and her career highlight. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Daily and Weekly Oricon Chart, becoming her sixth single to do so. The song peaked at number two on the Yearly Chart, only just behind Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki’s EP single H, which was the only release to sell over one million units. The song was certified million by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments off one million units within Japan, despite selling over 850,000 units. An accompanying music video for “Traveling” was directed by Utada’s ex-husband, Kazuaki Kiriya and features Utada on a train traveling through a computer generated world with passengers with a variety off colored costumes and clothes. The music video was commercially successful, peaking at number one on the DVD chart in Japan. The song was performed during Utada’s two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010, and has never been performed on live television.

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