Ayumi Hamasaki has released the music video for her digital single “MASK,” a collaboration with composer and arranger Tetsuya Komuro, and followed the premiere with news of her first full album in more than six years.
The video went up on Hamasaki’s official YouTube channel on November 18 and was shot entirely on location at teamLab Planets TOKYO in Toyosu, Tokyo. In the clip, Hamasaki performs in a white rubber dress, moving through the museum’s orchid-filled and light-based art spaces with her dancers. The installations are timed to the performance, turning the venue’s rooms into a shifting backdrop for the song.
“MASK” drew extra attention because it is Hamasaki’s first track arranged by Komuro in 12 years, since “crossroad” arrived on September 22, 2010. After the video went live, it entered YouTube’s Trending chart and quickly passed some 500,000 views. Fans commenting on the clip pointed to its color and atmosphere, describing the imagery as gorgeous, cool and ephemeral.
You can watch the official video on Hamasaki’s channel: “MASK.”
Right after the premiere, a second clip titled “Special Report” announced that Hamasaki will release her 18th original album on Wednesday, January 25, 2023. It will be her first full-length album since M(A)DE IN JAPAN on June 29, 2016, which was later followed by the EP TROUBLE on August 15, 2018.
In the years between those releases, Hamasaki put out a run of singles that the announcement said would be part of the new album, including “Ohia no Ki” and “Dreamed a Dream” in 2020, “23rd Monster” in 2021, and “Nonfiction,” “Summer Again” and “MASK” in 2022. “Ohia no Ki,” written as an ode to her newborn child, was noted as her first single with a Japanese-language title.
Hamasaki, known to fans as ayu, has written her own lyrics since her 1998 debut and, at the time of the announcement, was working toward the 25th anniversary of that debut in April 2023. Official updates are posted on her website, YouTube, TeamAyu fan club, X and Instagram.
