Hold on tight to your keyblades.
It’s been well over a decade, shockingly, since the release of Kingdom Hearts II, which provided us with “Passion” (“Sanctuary” in English), and 16 years (!!!) since “Hikari” (“Simple & Clean” in English) soundtracked the original Kingdom Hearts.
But now, at long last, the third and final installment of the trilogy in the Dark Seeker saga, Kingdom Hearts III, is coming to us later this year, for real – and there’s another song by Utada Hikaru on the way too: “Oath” (“Don’t Think Twice” in English).
After being teased for what feels like an actual eternity, the domestic and overseas trailers for the third installment of the beloved Disney-Pixar-meets-Final Fantasy crossover video game franchise premiered during the 2018 D23 Expo Japan on Saturday (February 10).
And we can already hear at least about 90 seconds of the track, in both English and Japanese.
It’s tough to make an assessment of the new song, or compare it to the two (well, four) classic theme songs just yet, especially considering this track seems to pick up just as the preview comes to an end. But some are already speculating that, based on the more subdued piano and string-led production, these are actually the “After the Battle”-style outro versions.
That’s still to be determined, but it’s surreal to think this is all actually happening once again.
“Oath” will also be included in Utada’s upcoming studio album due out sometime later this year, and she’ll be performing it on her upcoming tour too, according to her official website announcement.
English lyrics (so far) below…
“How did I live in a Kingdom of thieves?
And people who say things they don’t really mean, really mean…
You’re only everything I ever dreamed, ever dreamed of, ever dreamed of
You must be kidding me, did you really think I could say no?
I want you for a lifetime,
So if you’re gonna think twice baby, I don’t want to know baby
I don’t want to know, baby
Everything is just fine, but if you’re gonna think twice baby
I don’t wanna know baby, I don’t wanna know…“
