Flavor Of Life

The song that soundtracked *Hana Yori Dango 2* and, in doing so, sold over seven million downloads — but its craft is quieter than that number suggests. The arrangement is spare and slightly wintry: acoustic guitar arpeggios, a soft-shoe drum pattern, unobtrusive strings, and a chorus that resolves rather than explodes. Nothing is trying to be a hit; the melody just happens to be one of those shapes that lodges immediately. Utada sings it close to the microphone with lots of breath and almost no ornament, letting small hesitations sit in the phrasing, which suits a lyric built entirely on ambivalence. The central image is famous: the bittersweet is sweeter than the sweet, a plain white shirt is more beautiful than the gift-wrapped thing, and the space between friendship and love is where the actual feeling lives. It's a song about a relationship that has not been named yet and might never be, which is why it attached so perfectly to a drama about longing across class lines. The English title's slight awkwardness has become part of its charm. It plays best in the specific hour of walking home after seeing someone you can't quite ask about — cold air, hands in pockets, the conversation replaying.