Fantôme (album)

Background and recording

In July 2015, Utada announced on her blog that she had given birth to a baby boy and was working on a new album during the pregnancy. In March, it was revealed by her team that she had returned from her five-year hiatus with two new digital singles, "Hanataba wo Kimini" and "Manatsu no Tooriame", and a campaign called "New-Turn", with songs downloaded by Japanese fans via digital music services having part of their sales donated to planting cherry trees in areas damaged by the by 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. On July 12, 2016, Utada has posted on her Instagram account that she had finished recording for the album. On August 8, 2016, the cover and track listing were revealed on Utada's website. For the first time, Utada used Japanese titles for all the songs on the album.It was released physically in Japan, and digitally worldwide on September 28, 2016 by Virgin Records and Universal Music Japan, her first record to do so since EMI Music Japan was merged to Universal Music Japan in 2013. The album was released in two formats: a physical SHM-CD and a digital download.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Fantôme received critical acclaim. Ryo Miyauchi of Unrecorded.mu rated the album with 70 points out of 100, commending the singer's songwriting and vulnerability, especially highlighted in the album tracks: "Ningyo", "Tomodachi", and "Kōya no Ōkami". Miyauchi carried on saying that he believed the record's sound was similar to her previous albums, but noted "Though Fantôme shows no sign from Utada of being nostalgic for who she once was, the album still sounds undoubtedly her. Fantôme creates an odd sense of time where it has one foot in the past and another slightly pointed to what’s next."

Karen Flores, writing for ABS-CBN news, selected "Bōkyaku", "Nijikan Dake no Vacance", and "Michi" as the record's best tracks, and described it as her "best album to date." However, she believed the material was not as "approachable" as her previous albums Deep River (2002) and This Is The One (2009).

Japan and Asia

In Japan, Fantôme debuted at number one on the Daily Oricon Albums Chart, selling 87,088 units. For its first week on the Weekly Oricon Albums Chart, it entered atop the chart with over 252,581 copies sold; It sold more copies than its competitor of the week, Exile's greatest hits album Extreme Best (2016). Fantôme became her ninth number one album, her first studio album since Heart Station (2008) to debut at the top position, but also resulted in becoming her lowest first week sales for one of her Japanese-language albums. In its second week, it stayed at number 1 with 103,854 physical units sold, again outselling the nearest competitor by a wide margin. The next week, it stayed at number one, selling 63,207 units, thus becoming her only studio album besides her debut First Love to chart at the pole position for more than two weeks, and then further extending this feat by one more week. Likewise, Fantôme debuted at the top spot on the Japan Hot Albums and the Top Albums Sales charts, both hosted by Billboard Japan. Alongside this, Utada's digital single, "Michi", placed atop of the Radio Songs chart during the week of October 10, 2016. On November 9, Oricon revealed its new weekly Digital Albums Chart. Fantôme ranked at number one on the chart, selling 6,537 digital downloads. It topped the chart a second week, shifting an additional 3,993 downloads.

According to Billboard Japan, it was the best-selling digital album of the year, as well as the third-best-selling physical album, according to Oricon. Overall, it thus became the top-selling album of the year in Japan.

Other territories

Upon its overseas release on the iTunes Store, Fantôme debuted at number one in Japan, Finland, Slovenia and 7 other Asian territories. It reached the top ten in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand and a further 6 countries. Additionally, it entered the top 20 in the United Kingdom and 5 further countries. According to online publications, it was labelled as her most successful release internationally, and had beaten previous positions that her English records: Exodus (2004) and This Is The One (2009) experienced.

The album opened at number two on the US Billboard World Albums chart. It marked her first record to enter the World Albums chart, her first Japanese release to enter the US charts, and her first album to obtain a position in the US since This Is The One in 2009; it sold approximately 1,992 units in its first two days of sale. The following week, it reached number one and had sold over 3,500 units. The album debuted at #1 at United World Chart with 265,000 copies sold in the first week.

Promotion

Utada's website listed a schedule of magazine reviews and interviews about the album, internet interviews and TV appearances with performances with songs from the album, on shows like Music Station (where she performed "Sakura Nagashi" for the first time live), NHK's SONGS (where she performed "Michi", "Tomodachi" and "Hanataba wo Kimi ni"), CX's Love Music and NTV's News Zero.

An internet stream event was scheduled to happen on December 9, 2016, called Sanjudai wa Hodo-Hodo, where Utada answered fan questions and performed the songs "Boukyaku" and "Ningyo" live. Two guests had been announced, the rapper KOHH and the DJ PUNPEE.

Singles

Fantome is Utada's first studio album not to have any physical singles released. All the songs released as singles were distributed on online platforms exclusively. The first one was "Sakura Nagashi" the theme song of Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, which was released on November 17, 2012, while she was still officially on hiatus. On April 15, 2016, "Hanataba wo Kimi ni" and "Manatsu no Tooriame" were released, marking her official return to the music scene. The former became a big success for her, being certified double platinum for over 500,000 digital downloads and staying on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 over the course of the rest of the year, peaking at number 2. The latter received the award for "Video of The Year" at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. Shortly before the album's release, "Michi" was released to radio stations on September 13 and three days later as a digital download, while "Nijikan Dake no Vacance", a duet with Sheena Ringo, received a music video release. On January 19, 2017, the singer's 34th birthday, a music video for "Bōkyaku" (sung with KOHH) was also released.