Automatic (Hikaru Utada song)

Born and raised in New York City, Utada had their first solo experience in professional recording under the pseudonym Cubic U, which was used for their earlier English language work. After completing their first record Precious (1998), with the help and guidance of their parents, musicians Teruzane Utada and Keiko Fuji, it failed to generate interest in either the United States or Japan, with the record only appearing at number 38 on the Oricon Albums Chart in the latter country. At the time however, Utada had moved to Tokyo and attended Seisen International School, and later the American School in Japan, subsequently scoring a record contract with label Toshiba-EMI. Executives at the company worked with Utada to become classified as a singer-songwriter instead of an idol singer, and prompted them to write and record songs in Japanese rather than English. Utada solely wrote "Automatic" in Tokyo, and recorded a demo tape in mid-1998—which then appeared on the special 15th Anniversary edition of their album First Love (1999). They received help from their father and his friend Akira Miyake, who both served as producers on the track. Utada acted as a co-producer and co-composer on the recording, two roles which they felt were necessary to perform in becoming a singer-songwriter. According to Utada, an English version was recorded, but executives at Toshiba-EMI insisted that they promote themselves in the Japanese market, so they recorded the final version in Japanese instead. ==Composition and release==

Musically, "Automatic" is an R&B song that incorporates elements of pop, dance and soul music. A contributor of Japanese magazine CD Journal noted that the R&B composition was a very "common" trait in Western music in the late 1990s. Kano, writing for ''Rockin'On Japan'', agreed, and felt the song successfully infused contemporary soul and club music. The writer commented that Utada's experimentation with R&B music was significant to Japanese culture, as he felt the country did not emphasize the genre. Additionally, he noticed the contrast of their "painful" yet "innocent" vocal range in the number. "Automatic" was released as a double A-side with "Time Will Tell", which premiered on December 9, 1998, through Toshiba-EMI in three physical formats: mini CD single, standard-size CD single and 12" vinyl. All three packages feature the two songs, but included a different third track; the mini CD featured an original karaoke of "Automatic", while the vinyl and standard CD single included an English-dub mix of "Time Will Tell". The cover art for the mini CD was a shot from the accompanying music video, which has the singer sitting on a yellow sofa. Furthermore, the artwork used for the standard CD single was yet another shot from the clip, this time with Utada standing in the blue room wearing white clothes. In 2009, a song titled "Automatic Part 2" was included on the singer's second English-language album This Is the One, which samples parts of the English lyrics from the original Japanese song. ==Critical response==

Since its release, "Automatic" has received positive reviews from music critics. A journalist of CD Journal awarded it a special star recognition, praising Utada's "full of emotions" and vocal abilities. Although they felt that the sound was "generic", they stated that the production was "flexible" and "pleasant", whilst noting their professional abilities at 15 years old. Satoshi Shimada of Yeah!! J-Pop! and Kanako Hayakawa from Shinko Music agreed, and both felt it was one of the strongest hits from the collection. "Automatic" has been awarded several accolades by music organisations. In 2000, the single was given the gold award for most royalties received from the previous year at the JASRAC awards, beating Utada's own song "Time Will Tell". That same year, it received the Honorable Mention at the Japan Record Awards, and at the Japan Gold Disc Awards, "Automatic" was awarded Song(s) of the Year with their follow-up releases "Movin' on Without You" and "Addicted to You". ==Commercial performance==

Commercially, "Automatic/Time Will Tell" was a success. The 8cm edition of the single debuted at number 20 on the Oricon Singles Chart with 17,990 copies sold, while the 12cm edition debuted at number 12 with 24,220 copies sold. Weeks later the 12cm edition would peak at number 2, while the 8cm edition peaked at number 4. By the end of 1999, Oricon ranked the 12cm single at 5th place on their year-end chart with 1,290,700 copies sold, while the 8cm edition was ranked at 22nd place with 772,080 copies sold. Across all individual releases, "Automatic" / "Time Will Tell" has sold 2,062,780 copies, marking it as the second highest-selling single of 1999, just behind "Dango 3 Kyodai" which was a collaborative release between Kentaro Hayami, Ayumi Shigemori, Sunflower Kids, and the Dumpling choir. It was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for physical shipments, and gold for 100,000 ringtone cellphone purchases. ==Music video==

An accompanying music video was directed and produced by Tomu Izawa, and marks Utada's visual debut. The video opens with a small intro screen of Utada and the song's title, and disappears to show Utada sitting and singing on a yellow sofa, in front of a closed garage door. As the chorus begins, they start to dance with various close-up shots of their face. The second verse and chorus showcases Utada in a small blue room lit by a LED light, and superimposed the song's title on various scenes. It ends with the singer's title against their face, as the screen is tinted blue. The clip was included on their 1999 DVD collection Singles Clip Collection Vol. 1, and subsequently on the 15th anniversary edition of First Love, which included all the visuals from the record. ==Promotion and cover versions==

In order to promote the single, Utada conducted several endorsements with companies throughout Japan. It was featured on the video game Beatmania GB 2 GatchaMIX (1999) for the Game Boy Color. Additionally, "Automatic" has appeared on all of the singer's concert tours; its first appearance was their Bohemian Summer Tour in 2000. The following year, Utada hosted an MTV Unplugged series, in which they performed the number as one of the closing songs; it was also featured on the live album/DVD, and premiered throughout various Japanese music television shows. Three years later, the singer included the track on the set list for their Live in Budokan tour, which was a resident series of concerts at Nippon Budokan, and two years later on Utada United as part of the encore. In 2010, Utada commenced their first international tour in the United Kingdom and United States, titled Utada: In the Flesh 2010. For each date, they performed "Automatic" as an encore number, and also performed it during their December 2010 show Wild Life. In 1999, Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen covered the song in Mandarin. Ten years later, Jamaican reggae group Sly and Robbie and Unitzz released an English language cover of the song. A second reggae cover was produced in 2011 by DJ Sasa with Island Souls on their album Respect! J-Pop, featuring vocals by Shinobu Nakasone of OrangeClover. Kyoto rock band Unchain released a cover of the song on their cover album Love & Groove Delivery (2013). Swedish band Dirty Loops covered the song on their 2014 album Loopified, and in the same year singer-songwriter Yasuyuki Okamura recorded the song for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut. ==Track listings and formats==

Mini CD single • "Automatic" – 5:14 • "Time Will Tell" – 5:30 • "Time Will Tell" (Dub mix) – 5:36 '''Untitled 12" vinyl''' • "Movin' on Without You" – 4:40 • "Movin' on Without You" (Tribal mix) – 4:40 • "Automatic" – 5:14 • "Time Will Tell" – 5:30 • "Time Will Tell" (Dub mix) – 5:36 ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of First Love: 15th Anniversary edition. Musicians and personnel • Hotoda Goh – mixing • Kei Kawano – additional arrangement • Masashi Kudo – recording • Tsuyoshi Kon – Guitar • Akira Miyake – production • Nobuhiko Nakayama – synthesizer programming • Akira Nishihira – arrangement, keyboards, programming • Taka & Speedy – rhythm tracks arrangement, programming • Masaaki Ugajin – recording • Hikaru Utada – writing, vocals • Teruzane "Skingg" Utada – production ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Sales and certifications==