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"Traveling" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist and producer Hikaru Utada taken from her third studio album ''Deep River'' (2002). The song was written, co-produced and co-composed by Utada herself, while additional production was handled by her father, Japanese producer Teruzane Utada and Akira Miyake. The song was used on her greatest hits compilation ''Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1'' (2004). The conception for the track was first recorded and written while she was in progress off ''Deep River'', but she put off all work for the single and album after she was diagnosed with an benign ovarian tumor, which caused her to stop all musical activity. Musically, the song is a dance-oriented song that is particularly different from her previous efforts. The song incorporates traditional house music and disco music. The music composition was composed by Utada like her previous singles and contains instrumentation of synthesizers, keyboards, electric guitars and bass guitars, which is similar to the tracks on the parent album. Lyrically, the song talks about traveling through a dream and differentiating the difference between reality and fantasy, incorporating the theme off spirituality throughout the track. "Traveling" achieved favorable reception from most contemporary music critics, who praised the production values and vocal delivery. Many critics have also cited the song as one of the album's and her career highlight. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Daily and Weekly Oricon Chart, becoming her sixth single to do so. The song peaked at number two on the Yearly Chart, only just behind Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki's EP single ''H'', which was the only release to sell over one million units. The song was certified million by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments off one million units within Japan, despite selling over 850,000 units. An accompanying music video for "Traveling" was directed by Utada's ex-husband, Kazuaki Kiriya and features Utada on a train traveling through a computer generated world with passengers with a variety off colored costumes and clothes. The music video was commercially successful, peaking at number one on the DVD chart in Japan. The song was performed during Utada's two date concert series ''Wild Life'' in December 2010, and has never been performed on live television. ==Background== During her four-year career since her 1998 debut with her single "Automatic", Utada's status as a Japanese singer and producer was enormous and had benefited with strong sales around Japan. Her first two singles since her debut; "Automatic" and "Movin' On Without You" sold over one million units in Japan, with the first selling over two million. The parent album ''First Love'' eventually became the highest selling Japanese album of all time, exceeding sales of more than 7.6 million units in Japan and was certified octuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of eight million units; the album eventually sold an additional three million worldwide, totaling to 10 million sales. By the end of the year, Utada was rank number 5 on a Japanese radio station Tokio Hot 100 Airplay's ''Top 100 Artists of the 20th Century'' by the station and its listeners. After having a two-year break from the public, her second studio album ''Distance'' (2000) became another success in Japan and sold over four million units in Japan. The album was backed by the singles "Addicted to You", "Wait & See (Risk)", "For You" / "Time Limit" and "Can You Keep a Secret?", with nearly all the singles achieving over one million sales in Japan. Utada then begun work on her second studio album ''Deep River'' in 2001. During the process off the song and the parent album ''Deep River'', Utada discovered a benign ovarian tumor and was omitted to undertake surgery to remove it. This caused Utada to suspend work on both writing and composing the track along with any additional promotional activity. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Traveling (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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