Dai Nagao
"To Be" was written by Hamasaki herself, while production was handled by long-time collaborator Max Matsuura. The song was composed by Dai Nagao, who used the alias D.A.I., whilst it was arranged by Nagao and Japanese musician Naoto Suzuki. It was mixed by Dave Way, and mastered by Eddy Schreyer. Musically, "To Be" is a J-Pop song, a genre that wasn't as prominent on the parent album "Loveppears" (1999), which heavily incorporated dance music. The song's instrumentation consists of synthesizers and keyboards by Suzuki and electric guitar by Masayoshi Furukawa, whilst programming was handled by Takahiro Iida. Lyrically, the song was written in third person perspective, a trait that is shared with the rest of the album's tracks.