Time Limit (song)

"Time Limit" (タイム・リミット) is a song by Japanese musician Hikaru Utada. It was released as a double A-side single with the song "For You" on June 30, 2000.

Background and development
In Spring 1999, Utada released her debut album First Love, which became the most commercially successful album of all time in Japan. After this success, she released two follow-up singles, "Addicted to You" (1999) and "Wait & See (Risk)" (2000), which were both produced by American production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. For "Time Limit", Utada enlisted the help of American producer Rodney Jerkins, and recorded the song at Darkchild Studios in New Jersey.

The song was co-composed with Takuro of the band Glay, the first time Utada had shared the role of songwriter since her 1998 pre-debut album Precious as Cubic U. For Utada's second album Distance (2001), she worked together with Takuro again on the song "Drama".

The "For You" / "Time Limit" single was released right before Bohemian Summer 2000, her first wide-scale tour of Japan, and on the same day as the DVD single release of her previous single, "Wait & See (Risk)".

Promotion and release
The song was first unveiled on June 12, 2000, when a 60-second preview of "Time Limit" was previewed on Japan FM Network radio stations, a week before "For You" was previewed. To promote the single, Utada appeared in magazines released in June and July, such as Pati Pati, What's In?, Pia, Tokyo Walker and Popteen.

Utada performed "Time Limit" live on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ on June 26, 2000. This show was one of the highest-rated episodes of the program, taking in a 22.1% share of viewers for the time slot, however was beaten by Utada's previous appearances on the show in 1999 and later in 2001. On the June 29 episode of Utaban, Utada performed both "For You" and "Time Limit".

Music video
A music video was created for the song, featuring footage of a live performance by Utada on her Bohemian Summer 2000 tour. The footage was taken from the July 1, 2000 concert at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo.

Critical reception
Sato of OngakuDB.com noted the song's layered chorus work, and felt that to fully appreciate this, the song was better suited to listening at home on CD, rather than hearing it on television. CDJournal reviewers felt that Utada's "tightly structured" vocals made it into a "superior pop" song.

The "For You" / "Time Limit" single was successful enough to win a Song of the Year award at the 15th Japan Gold Disc Awards.

Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from "For You/Time Limit"'s liner notes booklet.


 * Paul Foley – Pro-Tools editing
 * Rodney Jerkins – arrangement, production, rap, recording
 * Takuro Kubo – writing
 * Harvey Mason, Jr. – pro-tools editing, recording
 * Dexter Simmons – mixing
 * Hikaru Utada – all vocals, arrangement, writing