 |
Be My Last Released Date: 2005/09/28 Debut Ranking: #1 Label: Toshiba-EMI Product Code: TOCT-5002 Official Site |
Utada Hikaru’s 14th single, “Be My Last”, was released on the 28th of September 2005. This single debuted at the top position on the daily Oricon charts on its release day. “Be My Last” also managed to achieve the first position on the weekly chart, selling about 80,043 copies to date. By taking a look at the sales amount of Hikki’s earlier releases, one can notice that, compared to Hikki’s standards this single didn’t fare well, at all.
The reason why this single is selling so poorly, is mainly because there is only one song included in this single. This single doesn’t even include the instrumental version of “Be My Last”. The cover design also is not really attractive and rather plain. So it is not surprising that many J-Pop fans do doubt the worthiness of this single.
“Be My Last” is Hikki’s first Japanese poetry work, which was specifically written for the upcoming movie by Toho Western Film Theaters in Japan – “Haru no Yuki”, starring Satoshi Tsumabuki and Yuko Takeuchi. This movie is based on the Yukio Mishima’s masterpiece “The Sea of Fertility” tetralogy.
The promotional video was taken in a gorgeous city, Prague. Hikki, who wears black suit and has a gloomy demeanor, acts as an angel who protects a couple. At one given point the guy decided to leave his girlfriend while they were together. The girl was really anxious so she ran out to find her boyfriend. Hikki knew she would die on the road in a car accident and thus Hikki decided to sacrifice herself in order to save her life. That’s the basic plot of this video. Naturally many other fans claim that this video has deeper and more intricate meanings hidden within it.
Be My Last
Since this song was planned to be the theme song for “Haru no Yuki”, Hikki’s painful tone in her voice has brought out the sadness and poignancy which was portrayed into this movie. The lyrics of this poetry song should have heaps of hidden meaning within the words that will allow the audiences/viewers to explore after they watch the movie “Haru no Yuki”.
This is not a good song, if you ask me, as this is not a song that Hikki usually sings. The instrumental arrangement sounds a bit weird and unbalanced and eventually makes me feel really annoyed. The only good element in this song is that Hikki’s vocals are really attractive, even though this melody doesn’t satisfy my expectations for Hikki’s comeback single.
Anyway, there are numbers of fans who found this ballad really satisfactory and great too. Hopefully nobody will be affected by my negative comments for this song. I suggest you should simply give it a try and you might be the one who actually gets to love it.
Rating: 
Loading ...
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I dont really like this album.. it’s not as good as the other ones I dont like the effects either oowell…
the beginning shows the two women playing together as children.. hikki wasnt supernatural, just lost in the flow of her best friends busy life style
Please stick to Ayu and Ai Otsuka and leave Hikki to the grown ups.
This is a great song and you are clearly blinded by fanboyism.
Man, i have no idea what you guys are talking about! T_T
I really REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY like “Be My Last”
It’s one of the best songs i have ever heard from Utada.
I like Simple and Clean, but man… Be my last totally stuck to my mind…
But it doesn’t matter, UTADA IS GREAT.
Only Japanese singer i stalk =P
wOw nice article!! i really love the tunes and melodies of this song..its so unspiring, try listening to it..even though u dnt understand japanese u can say wat d meaning of the song is if u’ll get to the deeper point of it..=)
I actually liked it somewhat. It’s definitely not one of my favourite Utada Hikaru tracks, but it’s worth a listen, even just once.
Okay fine, I liked the PV better, but it is a very emotional song, despite being a bit repetitive.
Passion was a better single, however :D
eventhough the lyrics is a bit too repetitive, but i think her vocal improves, and the lyrics is so beautiful, i like the song, and i think this is one of her best ballads. well, watched the PV, and i like it eventhough it’s a bit too odd i think, when the car hit her… o.O
i hope Passion will be better than this one…will be as good as hikari.
I agree, Jason, the song is not good. Unlike you, however, I really don’t like Hikki’s vocals. I don’t think she tried her very best with this song, to tell you the truth. It’s not doing very well in the Oricon Charts, either. I liked the PV, but not enough for me to like the song more. It makes me wonder how the quality of her next songs will be…
If they didn’t use such cheap effects for the car crash scene, fans wouldn’t be pissing themselves laughing. Most corpses don’t somersault in the air.
Excellent article! I really do love how you pinpoint the best points in every article you make. I do agree with your article.
Be My Last was mediocre. The only thing which saved this track from being a total disaster was the brilliant promotional video and its use of imagery and symbolism. After watching the promotional video the song grew onto me a little. Anyhow I hope her next single will have more than one track and will be close to the quality of “Simple and Clean”. I don’t want to see Hikki sink into the path of mediocrity…