Final Distance

rdf:langString Final Distance

rdf:langString Final Distance

rdf:langString Final Distance

rdf:langString Hikaru Utada

rdf:langString Utada Hikaru - Final distance.jpg

rdf:langString Neko Saito

rdf:langString Shin Kono

rdf:langString Kei Kawano, Hikaru Utada

rdf:langString Russell McNamara

rdf:langString Arranger

rdf:langString "Final Distance" track listing

rdf:langString instrumental

rdf:langString original karaoke

rdf:langString M-Flo Remix

rdf:langString PLANITb Remix

rdf:langString * Akira Miyake * Hikaru Utada * Teruzane Utada

rdf:langString Distance

rdf:langString Final Distance

rdf:langString single

rdf:langString "Final Distance" is a song by Japanese recording artist Hikaru Utada for their third studio album Deep River (2002). Written by Utada themself, the song was produced and composed by long-time collaborators Akira Miyake, Utada's father Teruzane Utada and themself. "Final Distance" was originally recorded as "Distance" which was taken from the album with the same name, despite not being a single. The song was re-recorded, re-arranged, and dedicated to Rena Yamashita, a six-year-old victim of the Osaka school massacre who had written an essay about being inspired by Utada. Musically, "Final Distance" incorporates more instrumentation than the previous version, including violins, an acoustic piano and synthesizers. The song strips the original pop music from "Distance" and is a pop ballad song. Despite being written in 2000 from the original version, Utada reflected on the emotions of sorrow, pain, anger and celebration of life while recording the single version. "Final Distance" received positive reception from most music critics, who praised the re-arrangement and favored this version, although some critics felt the song was inferior to their past ballad tracks. Critics have cited the track as one of Utada's career highlights. Commercially, "Final Distance" stalled at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, making it their first single to have missed the top spot. The song also resulted in being their lowest selling physical singles at the time but was surpassed by their 2004 single "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro". An accompanying music video was shot by their then-husband Kazuaki Kiriya, featuring two versions of Utada inside a Utopian-inspired city with ballet dancers and a gothic-like orchestra. The song has been performed on their Utada United 2006 tour and has been featured on a MTV Unplugged appearance in 2002.