J-pop megastar returns to the central Japan mountain range with “Dare ni mo Iwanai” (“I Won’t Tell Anybody”).

J-pop recording stars’ careers often burn bright and fast, as they pump out a high-content flow of new singles in the time until their fame runs dry. Hikaru Utada, though, has taken the opposite approach for most of her career. Despite being one of the most revered artists in the industry, Utada’s releases are few and far between, and when she does decide to grace listeners’ ears with a new song, it’s a major event, often with partners eager to help get her sound out there.

Utada’s latest song is titled “Dare ni mo Iwanai” (“I Won’t Tell Anybody”), and she’s giving fans a preview in a beautifully shot video that’s also an ad for beverage company Suntory’s Tennensui bottled water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8qlmbb5vX4

The video, Utada’s second for Suntaory, follows her as she hikes through the Japan Alps, the range from where Suntory sources Tennensui, showcasing the beautiful natural scenery of the mountains of central Honshu.

Playing in the background is a section of “Dare ni mo Iwanai,” its lyrics meshing with the breathtaking but bittersweet feeling of being all alone in the great outdoors when Utada sings:

“It’s not fun, but I have to tell myself
That’s it’s better to be hurt forever than to live alone

More than learning from the past, I want to become closer to you tonight
I won’t tell anyone”

While most of the atmosphere is cool and misty, there’s a moment of warmth as Utada makes camp on a mountaintop and sits by the fire, reading aloud from a collection of poetry from Japanese poet Doppo Kunikida, which the singer herself personally selected for the video.

In addition to the 60-second video above, there’re also a half-length version and a behind-the-scenes making-of video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv_TcsphE1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX_UfByWPXk

Surprisingly, while the 30-second video also features “Dare ni mo Iwanai,” the section of the song is noticeably much more up-tempo than the one used in the 60-second version, suggesting there’s a lot of complexity in the song’s arrangement to look forward to when the single becomes available digitally on May 29.

Source: YouTube/サントリー公式チャンネル （SUNTORY） via Comic Natalie via Otakomu, Yahoo! Japan News/The TV Vision
Images: YouTube/サントリー公式チャンネル （SUNTORY）
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