Recorded 2012 Length 4:42 | Genre J-pop, piano rock Label EMI Music Japan | |
Released November 17, 2012 (2012-11-17) Format Digital download, DVD single | ||
"Sakura Nagashi" (桜流し, lit. "Flowing Cherry Blossoms/Cherry Blossoms Sinking") is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It was released digitally November 17, 2012, with a DVD single released 26 December 2012. The song is the theme to the third film of the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, and was later included on her sixth Japanese-language studio album Fantôme, released in 2016. The single also marked Utada's last release under the then EMI-controlled EMI Music Japan as the label was absorbed into Universal Music Japan as EMI Records Japan in April 2013.
Contents
Background
Utada wrote "Sakura Nagashi" at the express interest of the staff for the Evangelion movie series. Although currently still on hiatus, Utada wrote and composed the song due to her appreciation of the movie series, as well as having composed the themes for the previous two Evangelion films.
A website was set up for the song, which also includes the music video, which was uploaded to Utada's YouTube channel on 16 November 2012. The video remained on the channel for 3 days, before being deleted. It was instead replaced by a shortened version of the video. The website states that using the Hashtag "#SakuraNagashi" enters the Twitter user into a prize draw to win one of 1000 CD jacket-sized stickers.
"Sakura Nagashi" is described as "sentimental and beautiful; it is a requiem for life full of literary elegance". The website also has the lyrics to the song, in both Japanese and an English translation by Utada herself.
Composition
"Sakura Nagashi" is a J-pop/piano rock song, composed of piano and strings, and in the latter part of the song drums, guitar and synths.
The song does not follow standard song structure, instead opting for a build-up of intensity throughout, before drums and guitars end the piece, somewhat similar to other works by Utada (such as "Kremlin Dusk" from Exodus).
The lyrics imply the mourning for someone beloved, possibly of Kaworu Nagisa by Shinji Ikari given that this song is the ending theme of Evangelion 3.0, played just after Kaworu's death. The latter part of song repeats the opening line (開いたばかりの花が散るのを見ていた ("Watching flowers just bloomed fall"). There are two instances of English lyrics used, "Everybody finds love in the end".
Music video
A music video was created by film-maker Naomi Kawase, who has previously won the Cannes International Film Festival Grand Prix as well as the Caméra d'Or. She stated about the video: "Because we live in a time such as this, I wanted to incorporate the message of the need to value the things that are presently and immediately around us and can be touched." Utada and Kawase met numerous times to share ideas during the making of the video.
The video depicts various images of scenery around Japan, such as fields of flowers, meadows, more industrialized areas and a baby being breastfed by its mother, as well as an umbilical cord being removed after the birth of a child. The video focuses on motherhood in "a universal light". The video itself is one of the few that does not feature Utada, the others being the previous Evangelion movie theme songs also written and composed by her ("Beautiful World" and "Beautiful World -PLANiTB Acoustica Mix- ", respectively).
The video was uploaded to Utada's YouTube channel on 16 November 2012, and remained there for 3 days before being replaced by a shortened version; the full length video was later made available for wide sale digital distribution on November 28 in Japan and on DVD single on December 26, 2012.
A few days after the release of "Sakura Nagashi", Paul Carter uploaded a version of the track to his YouTube channel, which featured him playing the song on piano.
On September 18, 2016, shortly before the release of Utada's first studio album in seven years, a new music video was released, containing excerpts from Evangelion: 3.0. Like the first video, it was then replaced by a shortened version, although just one day later.
Credits
Track listing
All lyrics written by Utada Hikaru; all music composed by Utada Hikaru and Paul Carter.