That influence will once again be felt in Kingdom Hearts II .' Nomura's second stance of choosing them over another singer was because he noted that fans from the first Kingdom Hearts associated Utada with the franchise. Kingdom Hearts II was publicly announced in July 2005, and Nomura confirmed Utada's second involvement with the series, 'When we were creating the original game, there were a lot of factors that were influenced by Utada-san's theme song. But scheduling time with Nomura proved to be difficult, as Utada worked on her second English language album Exodus in her hometown New York City she had been signed to Island Def Jam the previous year as their headquarters discovered her success in Japan. Regarding the theme song, Nomura only had Utada in mind as he felt she were part of the franchise's family, and felt that her music could break both foreign and international markets.

In early 2003, The Walt Disney Company and Square Enix confirmed the sequel to Kingdom Hearts (2002). Since its release, 'Passion' and 'Sanctuary' have been widely considered as two of the best songs in video game history and has been recognized as a major factor in Utada's commercial rise in the western market. In order to promote the single, Utada performed the tracks on television shows such as Music Station and Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, and has appeared on one concert tour: Utada: In the Flesh 2010. The music video for 'Passion' was generally well received, but critics questioned the lack of footage from the video game. The clip was inspired by numerous anime films and aesthetics, along with the atmosphere portrayed in Kingdom Hearts II. However, it was certified Gold in three categories by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).Īn accompanying music video was directed in China by her then husband Kazuaki Kiriya, which depicts Utada in a dreamscape filled with animated clouds, figures and a cathedral-like architecture. Commercially, 'Passion' was successful in Japan, peaking inside the top ten on the Oricon Singles Chart and TBS's Count Down TV chart despite this, 'Passion''s sales were much lower than previous releases. Additionally, several publications ranked the songs on their year-end lists of 2005–06 and soundtrack lists.

Upon its release, both songs received critical acclaim from music critics, who strongly opined her musical departure and the Utada's progression in production and singing. The song's lyrics delve into themes of nostalgia, and discuses the circumstances of past, present and future. Musically, 'Passion' has been described by music commentators as a multi-genre tune, noting elements of alternative rock, ambient and 'ethereal' music. The conception of the two tracks were to emphasize a 'dusk'-like vibe to the game, in comparison to 'Hikari' which she described as the 'dawn'. The creator of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Tetsuya Nomura, sought to collaborate with Utada as she previously wrote 'Hikari', alongside his prospects for her to break into foreign and international markets. 'Passion', alongside its English counterpart ' Sanctuary', were used as the national and international theme songs to the Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II (2005) the tracks serve as the successors to ' Hikari' and its English counterpart, 'Simple and Clean', which are found on Kingdom Hearts. It premiered on December 14, 2005, in two physical formats and for digital consumption, distributed by EMI Japan and EastWorld. ' Passion' is a song recorded by Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada, taken as the fourth single from her studio album Ultra Blue (2006).

Sanctuary its a vibe top