Sakura Nagashi
2012 single by Hikaru Utada
"Sakura Nagashi" (桜流し; lit. 'Flowing Cherry Blossoms/Cherry Blossoms Sinking') is a song by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. Utada recorded the song as the theme for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), the third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series. EMI Music Japan issued it digitally on November 17, 2012, during Utada's hiatus from music, followed by a DVD single on December 26. Utada wrote the lyrics and co-composed the music with British songwriter Paul Carter, developing the song over approximately one year. Built around piano and strings before expanding with drums, guitar, and bass, "Sakura Nagashi" addresses loss and permanent separation. Although Utada received the film's screenplay, they deliberately avoided learning its narrative and wrote the lyrics in response to their own thoughts and feelings rather than its plot.
Music critics praised "Sakura Nagashi" for its emotional weight, lyrical expression, and gradually intensifying arrangement. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, topped the Billboard Japan Hot Animation chart for three consecutive weeks, and reached number ten on the US Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) later certified it double platinum for 500,000 digital downloads. "Sakura Nagashi" received its first CD release on Utada's sixth Japanese-language studio album, Fantôme (2016), and a 2021 remaster subsequently appeared on the One Last Kiss EP.
Background and composition
Following the digital release of "Goodbye Happiness" in November 2010, Utada began their indefinite "human activities" hiatus at the end of the year, a period in which they suspended their activities as an artist to focus on personal growth.
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