Movin' On Without You

Born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, Hikaru Utada had started singing at a very young age; they were a member of U3, a musical act with their mother Keiko Fuji and father Teruzane. U released their debut album Star in 1993, with the hope to debut in America; the album failed to gain any recognition or chart positions. Utada's mother was a Japanese enka singer and actress, who released several albums with some topping the Oricon charts during the 1960s and 1970s period, while their father was a Japanese record producer who had contributed to some of Fuji's work. In 1996, the group was rebranded as Cubic U, an R&B project that focused primarily on Hikaru, resulting in the English language album Precious in 1998 with record label Toshiba EMI. Utada had moved to Tokyo in 1997 to attend Seisen International School and later American School in Japan. During this time, Utada had signed solely with Toshiba EMI and started recording their singles and eventually their then-forthcoming album First Love. Utada, who was fluent in English, was asked if they could write Japanese songs by their record company, Toshiba EMI rather than English language lyrics. This led to the recording sessions for their debut Japanese album, First Love (1999). Utada released their first A-side single "Automatic/Time will tell" in 1998, which peaked at number two on the Oricon chart and sold over two million units, becoming their best selling single to date. ==Composition==

"Movin' On Without You" was written, composed and produced by Utada for their debut album First Love. The song's recording demos and programming took place in Tokyo, Japan, with Utada recording all from them with assistance from Motoyama Seiji and Ugajin Masaaki. The song also incorporates dance-oriented R&B rhythms that were present on Utada's previous single and the parent album, and showcases more of their "fresh" and "comfortable" vocal abilities. ==Reception==

"Movin' On Without You" received critical acclaim from most contemporary music critics who reviewed the track. David Jeffries from AllMusic, who wrote the extended biography of the singer, highlighted the song (viewed as [Untranslated song]) as one of Utada's career and parent album standouts. A reviewer from the online publication CDJournal was positive towards the song, calling it a "speedy dance beat" and praised their lyrical content and vocal delivery for being quite "persuasive" and challenging for a fifteen-year-old. At the 14th Japan Gold Disc Awards, they awarded the song along with "Addicted to You" and "Automatic" their own special Songs of the Year awards. Commercially, the song proved to be another mammoth success for Utada. The 12cm edition of the single debuted atop the Oricon Singles Chart with 372,170 copies sold in its first week, making it Utada's first chart-topper. The 8cm edition debuted at number five with 101,360 copies sold in its first week. The 12cm disc was ranked as the 16th best-selling single of 1999 in Japan, while the 8cm disc was ranked as the 59th. To date, "Movin' On Without You" has sold over 1.22 million units in Japan, which became their second best selling single of all time, just behind their debut single and was listed as one of the best selling singles in Japan. Following the success of their million selling singles, this effort was followed by "Addicted to You", "Wait & See (Risk)", "For You", "Time Limit", "Can You Keep a Secret?" from Distance, "Travelling" from Deep River and "Colors" from Ultra Blue. ==Promotion==

An accompanying music video was shot for the single, which featured Utada on a chair in a computer lab seeing images including flowers, waves and other digitally enhanced images. It also intercuts to them dancing to the song in a laboratory. The video was later included in the Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol. 1 (1999) music clip collection. "Movin' On Without You" has been a constant feature of Utada's live concert set lists. They performed the song during the Luv Live concerts in April 1999, as well as their Bohemian Summer 2000 concert tour and at the Utada Hikaru Unplugged event on August 10, 2001. The song was a part of their Hikaru no 5 residency concerts at the Nippon Budokan in February 2004, their Japan-wide tour Utada United 2006, the overseas tour Utada: In the Flesh 2010 and the December 2010 Wild Life concert series. ==Other versions==

Ayumi Hamasaki version (pictured) covered the song "Movin' On Without You" for the tribute album Utada Hikaru no Uta. In November 2014, Universal Music Japan announced a tribute album to Utada's musical works, with their songs covered by a variety of musicians. It was then announced through AramaJapan.com that the artists had been unveiled for the project, now titled Utada Hikaru no Uta, and that the final list included singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki. When the track list was announced, it was revealed that Hamasaki had covered "Movin' On Without You". Hamasaki's version was produced by Moroccan producer RedOne and his team, who had previously collaborated with Hamasaki on her track "XOXO" from her 2014 album Colours. The song's composition departs from the disco and house music style of Utada's version in favor of a more modern electronic dance music "twist". The cover version received favorable reception from most music critics. Bradley Stern from MuuMuse was particularly positive towards the collaboration, stating "Happily, the result sounds exactly like something you might expect to hear on one of Ayu's Ayu-mi-x Euro-dance compilations. It's surging, non-stop nostalgic throwback — for both artists involved, really." Because Hamasaki's version was released only as a digital download, it was ineligible to chart on the Oricon Singles Chart, but charted on the Japan Billboard charts. The song peaked at number thirty-six on the Japan Hot 100 chart. Commercials and other versions During the release of the single, it had a tie-in as the Japanese advertising jingle for the Nissan Terrano, which became Utada's first commercial singles for the advert. A demo version of the single was featured on Utada's 15th anniversary album First Love; "Automatic" still remains unreleased. ==Track listing==

12cm version 8cm version ==Certifications and sales==