Hikaru Utada shares the cover art for “Gold ~Mata au hi Made~” and an extended preview of the song

It’s official. The Bad Mode chapter is closed. Hikaru Utada has hung up the brown sweat set. And we’ve got a new promotional photo of Hikaru Utada with a brand new hair-do, a cover for the single “Gold ~Mata au hi Made~” and a new trailer for Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny which features more of the song.

Hikaru Utada - Gold ~Mata au hi Made~ | Sony

This cover is gorgeous. The stillness of Hikaru, but the movement around them reminds me of the “Beautiful World” cover. This is almost too good for a single cover, as it could easily be an album cover. But I like that we got something like this for a single cover. I feel like there isn’t much effort put into single cover arts these days. It’s always just random outtakes from an album shoot, a screenshot from a music video or just the album cover.

One thing Hikaru Utada doesn’t get credit for is how consistent their visuals are and also their style. This puffy-ass dress is Hikaru Utada as hell. They’ve worn these types of dresses with some big puffy shit going on several times throughout their career. On tours (Wild Life and Utada United), for album covers (Ultra Blue...kinda) and in music videos (“Passion”). It’s been a while since we got something this high fashion from Hikaru, so it’s nice to see. But it makes sense given their recent affiliation with Chitose Abe of Sacai, having attended her fashion show in Paris in June and starring in the campaign for her collaboration with Cartier in 2022 - although the dress Hikaru is wearing for the cover of “Gold ~Mata au hi Made~” shot is not Sacai. It is however by a fellow Japanese fashion designer by the name of Tomo Koizumi. And honey, it’s CUSTOM. And for those of you who like bears, here is a photo of Tomo. You are welcome. “Boku wa Kuma” is available on streaming.

Another trailer has been released for Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny which features more of the song. But not so much that it gives too much of the song away, which feels like a rarity these days, in the age of 2 minute jingles masquerading as songs.

I cannot tell whether this song is going to have a build which creeps up on you like “Manatsu no Tooriame” and “Chikai” or something like “Sakura Nagashi” where it slaps you in the face outta nowhere and pulls a Phil Collins with the drums. Either way, I really like how this song sounds. I’m talking found-this-trailer-on-YouTube-Music-and-put-it-on-repeat-for-like-an-hour really like how this song sounds. Something would have to go horridly wrong past the 1:22 mark of this song for me to not like the full song. Now watch this shit be two minutes and 30 seconds long.

“Gold ~Mata au hi Made~” releases on July 28.

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💿 Albumkaru Reviewtada: Bad Mode | Hatsukoi | Fantôme | This is the One | Heart Station | Ultra Blue | Exodus | Deep River | Distance | First Love
💿 Singlekaru Reviewtada: Pink Blood | One Last Kiss | Dare ni mo Iwanai | Time

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