On December 7 to celebrate the start of her 10th year since her debut, her song "Automatic" (1998) was released as a free ringtone for four days. At the same time, it was announced that Utada was working on her fifth Japanese studio album, to be released in spring 2008.[6]
Promotion and release
The song was first announced and used in Asience commercials in October 2007, and released as a ringtone on December 7.[6][7] After a single month, the song's ringtones had been downloaded more than 250,000 times.[8]
After the song was released to radio stations on January 7, it was heavily played on FM radio stations across Japan. It managed to reach number one on the newly established BillboardJapan Hot 100 chart in mid January, despite having no purchasable release at the time.[8][9]
In February, Utada was featured in many music and fashion magazines in Japan to promote the single, including issues of Pia, Patipati, CD Data, What's In? and Pop Teen.[10] On February 28, Utada performed the song live on Utaban.[11] It has been part of two of Utada's concert setlists: her international tour Utada: In the Flesh 2010 and her two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010.[12][13]
Critical reception
CDJournal reviewers felt the song was simultaneously painful and warm, and praised the song's passionate lyrics and inflected vocals. They described the song's piano as having an "extremely pure" sound, like skipping stones on a surface of water, and felt the lyric "shūshoku mo kimatte, asonde bakkari iranai ne" ("You've got a job, so you can't just play all the time anymore") was particularly gripping.[14][15] Takayuki Saito of Hot Express described the song as being as minimalist as possible, and noted it was rare of Utada to use feminine lyrics in the way she does in "Stay Gold", and praised the song's "high level of perfection".[16]
Listen.jp reviewer Shigefumi Koike praised how the song showed off Utada's "adventurous spirit" while remaining an easily listenable pop song. He felt that "Stay Gold" displayed an effective use of the acoustic piano, and praised the song's emotion. Koike felt that both "Stay Gold" and "Heart Station" were a "magnificent" display of Utada's "futuristic" abilities as a sound creator, and that both songs showed off the emotive qualities of Utada's vocals and had great "ambient sound arrangements".[17]
Covers
In 2014, Ohashi Trio recorded a cover of "Stay Gold" for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut.[18]
Track listings
All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada
"Heart Station" / "Stay Gold" single
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Heart Station"
4:37
2.
"Stay Gold"
5:15
3.
"Heart Station (Original Karaoke)"
4:38
4.
"Stay Gold (Original Karaoke)"
5:15
Total length:
19:45
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from "Heart Station" / "Stay Gold"'s liner notes booklet.[19]
^宇多田ヒカル、デビュー以来全アルバムがミリオン達成 [Hikaru Utada has her first digitally million album] (in Japanese). Barks. March 13, 2008. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
^ ab宇多田ヒカルが「Automatic」無料配信&新曲発売 [Hikaru Utada releases "Automatic" digitally for free, announces new song] (in Japanese). Natalie. December 7, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
^ ab宇多田ヒカルの新曲「Stay Gold」試聴スタート [Trial listening starts for Hikaru Utada's new song "Stay Gold"] (in Japanese). Natalie. January 7, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
^"『宇多田ヒカルのうた』全貌明らかに。井上陽水、椎名林檎、浜崎あゆみ、吉井和哉ら参加アーティストコメント" [All details revealed for Utada Hikaru no Uta, comments from contributing artists such as Yosui Inoue, Ringo Sheena, Ayumi Hamasaki and Kazuya Yoshii.] (in Japanese). Barks. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
^Heart Station / Stay Gold (Media notes) (in Japanese). Hikaru Utada. Tokyo, Japan: EMI Music Japan. 2008.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^「Stay Gold」着うたフル・PC配信スタート! (in Japanese). EMI Music Japan. February 20, 2007. Archived from the original on February 29, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
^"Heart Station" (in Korean). Bugs. 20 February 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2015.