Keep Tryin'

CD Art

Artist

Utada Hikaru

Single

Keep Tryin'

Released

2006.02.22

Catalog Number

TOCT-5005

Price

¥1,100

Tracklist

1. Keep Tryin'
2. WINGS
3. Keep Tryin' [Original Karaoke]

Information

"Keep Tryin'" is Utada Hikaru's 16th single. Keep Tryin' was used as the au LISMO! au LISTEN MOBILE SERVICE CM song. Keep Tryin' breaks the trend shown in Be My Last and Passion, where the single is released in both CD+DVD and CD only formats. This is is Utada's first single since COLORS in 2003 to have a b-side, and the first since Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro in 2004 to have a karaoke backing track.

Keep Tryin' reached #2 on Oricon charts, being beaten by HYDE's SEASON'S CALL. The single has so far charted for six weeks. Despite such low physical sales, according to the June 2006 issue of Japan's Nikkei Entertainment magazine, Utada's newest Japanese single, "Keep Tryin'," is closing in on the 2 million mark for digital downloads. Additionally, "Keep Tryin'" ranks in at number one again this week on OnGen's Weekly Download Chart, making this the 7th week with Utada at the top. This gives "Keep Tryin'" the most weeks at the #1 spot so far in 2006 on OnGen's chart. As this single sold 125,077 copies in 2006, it was the #82 single of the year.

On December 20th, 2006 iTunes Japan released a list of top downloaded singles and albums; Keep Tryin' ranked at #1 making it the most downloaded song for 2006.

Song Information

PV Shots

Lyrics

Utada Hikaru

Music

Utada Hikaru

Other Information

Arrangement: Utada Hikaru

Keyboards and Programming: Utada Hikaru, Matt Rohde

Additional Programming: Alexis Smith

Bass: David Carpenter

All Vocals: Utada Hikaru

Mixing: Goetz B. for 365 Artists at Bunkamura Studio, Tokyo

Recording: Daniel Burns and Matsui Atsushi at Conway Recording Studios, L.A., and Bunkamura Studio, Tokyo

Music Video

The PV for Keep Tryin' was directed by Kiriya Kazuaki, and is currently the last work that he has contributed as Utada Hikaru's PV director. There was a Japanese blog entry done by Utada during the release of Be My Last (posted 2005.09.09), in which it showed her playing a toy piano. This toy piano was used for a bridge in Keep Tryin', which tells us that Keep Tryin' was originally recorded around about late August 2005. The PV makes several references to Utada's past PVs, including FINAL DISTANCE and traveling.

Utada Quotes

• "Though my message of 'keeping at it' also appeared in my 12th single, COLORS, I think Keep Tryin' clarifies these ideas better. It's a feeling like "I'm trying my best so everybody, let's all do our best too!" and I've finally been able to write it clearly in Keep Tryin'" --Utada Hikaru

• "Do you know the song Keep Tryin' by Groove Theory? It was a big hit, like, 8-9 years ago I think. It was one of my favourite songs ever, and I always wanted to make a song with the same title. I mean of course, you know, I haven't copied it so it doesn't sound alike at all, but it's an uplifting song I think. It's for myself and it's for everyone. It's something I say to myself all the time, like I have to keep trying. You know, I wanna give up a lot of times and I just wanna stay in bed all day. Do nothing, watch TV, eat cookies and cuddle up with my big teddy-bear. But, you know, I have to keep going, and so the next day I bounce back, or even if I'm late for my job sometimes I pick it up from there. That's what the song's about. It's kinda hard to say 'Keep Trying! Keep Trying!', and in the song at the end I say, 'dodedodedo keep trying trying!'. It's actually a bit hard, like a tongue-twister, but it's fun to sing so please try singing along with it." --Utada Hikaru

• "Oh yeah, yeah! The red toy piano I'm playing in the blog photo. I was doing the recording in Tokyo at that time. And there was this part where I definitely wanted to add the sound of a broken toy piano, so all the staff and I went to the toy section of the department store nearby. The store had various kinds of pianos and by trying them out... I found that the one that had been on display, battered and missing a few sounds, had the greatest flavor. We asked, "Can we have this one?" and the clerk women in the section just panicked. Though we didn't ask them for things like a discount, they had a little meeting about if it would be okay to sell that shabby thing. They replied, "Would it really be okay with you...?" and the deal was done~" --Utada Hikaru

Disambiguation

There are three known versions of Keep Tryin' to be included in Utada's discography. These include:

Keep Tryin'

Found on Keep Tryin' single as track #1 and on ULTRA BLUE album as track #2. This is the version set to the PV.

Keep Tryin' [Original Karaoke]

Found on Keep Tryin' single as track three. This version is the standard version, except without the main vocals.

Keep Tryin' (Utada United Live)

Found on Utada United 2006 DVD as track #19. This was one of the three songs used from the DVD to promote it on music video channels.

Oricon Chart Positions

Hikaru Utada promoting the single

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Week Rank	Sales	Total Sales	Date
-	3	2	1	1	1	1	2	70,147	70,147	2006.03.06
1	10	10	8	6	6	6	5	24,096	94,243	2006.03.13
6	15	16	13	9	11	11	13	13,373	107,616	2006.03.20
11	-	-	-	20	19	20	20	7,013	114,629	2006.03.27
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	4,016	118,645	2006.04.03
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	45	2,431	121,076	2006.04.10
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	57	1,592	122,668	2006.04.17
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	77	936	123,604	2006.04.24
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	129	619	124,223	2006.05.01
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	180	454	124,677	2006.05.08
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	176	400	125,077	2006.05.15

Total Reported Sales: 135,077

External Links

• Oricon Profile
• Keep Tryin' Special Website
• Purchase @ Global Yesasia; US Yesasia; CDJapan