Billboard Japan
The inaugural MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN ceremony, the largest music awards in the country, is set to take place in May in Kyoto. Embodying the theme of “Connecting the world, illuminating the future of music,” the brand-new international music awards is hosted by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA), an association jointly established by five major organizations in the Japanese music industry.
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This year’s MAJ will recognize works and artists in more than 60 categories, including the six major awards for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year and more, which have gained significant attention and recognition from Jan. 29, 2024 to Jan. 26, 2025. The entries for each category were announced on March 13 and the selection by domestic voting members is currently underway to narrow down the list to five nominees for each category.
Let’s take a look at the 256 songs that are up for the high-profile Song of the Year category, as compared against Billboard Japan‘s all-genre Japan Hot 100 song chart (hereafter BBJ), and delve deeper into the trends and characteristics unique to MAJ based on data.
Comparison with BBJ Chart Metrics
Billboard Japan
First, we’ll compare some of the differences between the MAJ and BBJ metrics. The chart above shows the point share of each metric for the 256 songs entered in the Song of the Year category. The figures for BBJ show the point share of the top 256 songs in the Japan Hot 100 chart during the same tallying period as MAJ.
The entries for Song of the Year is based on an original chart that combines the six metrics of the Japan Hot 100 (rounded up in two-month segments) and UGC data (click here for details). The system is structured in a way that makes it easier for songs with short peak periods to be eligible.
One feature MAJ and BBJ both have in common is that streaming accounts for the largest proportion of both. This shows that both are strongly aware that streaming is the main way people listen to music today.
CD sales account for 10% of MAJ, but only 2% of BBJ. Japan’s CD sales market is still large when viewed globally, and MAJ places importance on this unique Japanese user trend. Downloads are 7% of MAJ while 4% for BBJ, indicating that the former places a relatively higher value on ownership-type metrics.
While streaming is the main focus for MAJ, they are clearly also conscious of achieving a balance with a wider range of metrics. Its most distinctive feature is that its system is designed to take into account the characteristics of the Japanese market.
Analysis of the Songs’ Properties
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The gender ratio of the MAJ entries is 61% male artists, 30% female artists, and 9% mixed acts. Compared to BBJ, the ratio of male artists is slightly lower, and the ratio of female artists is higher. BBJ has more mixed acts, mainly because many songs by male-female duo YOASOBI have charted.
84% of the entries were by Japanese artists. Compared to BBJ, MAJ has slightly more songs by South Korean artists (MAJ 14%, BBJ 10%). The only artists from outside Japan and South Korea were Mariah Carey, OneRepublic, and Taylor Swift, all of whom are from the U.S. There were also two entries for collaborations between artists from different countries: Rosé & Bruno Mars and BE:FIRST X ATEEZ.
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The ratio of member composition of the acts entered in MAJ is highest for groups (37%), followed by bands (27%) and solo artists (26%). Dance and vocal groups, which have strong CD sales, are pushing up the ratio of groups. Meanwhile, BBJ has the highest proportion of bands (36%), influenced by the long-running hits of popular bands such as Mrs. GREEN APPLE and back number. Of the 256 songs, there are 124 acts in MAJ and 103 in BBJ, so the former has a greater variety of acts.
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The genres with the largest number of songs for both MAJ and BBJ are pop and rock. Notably, K-pop accounts for 14% of MAJ, and idol performers account for 9%, indicating the major influence of dance and vocal groups. Hip-hop and Vocaloid account for less than 10%, but these genres have their own categories, such as the Best Japanese Hip-Hop/Rap Song and the Best Vocaloid Culture Song.
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43% of the entries weren’t tie-ins, but songs connected to anime (19%), drama series (13%), and commercials (11%) were also prominent. BBJ shows a more continuous tie-in effect, while MAJ can be said to have a diverse collection of songs that are relatively independent of tie-ins.
These data show that MAJ incorporates a good balance of diverse metrics to reflect a wide range of mainstream music in Japan. The fact that the awards also places weight on metrics reflecting the unique characteristics of the Japanese music market, such as CDs and downloads, is a major difference from the BBJ charts.
It’ll be interesting to see how MAJ’s design will impact the future of the music market and the promotion of Japanese music worldwide. The nominated songs will be announced on Apr. 17, and the awards ceremony will take place on May 21 and 22.
Billboard Japan will continue to publish features on MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN. In the second installment, we’ll compare MAJ’s Song of the Year with BBJ’s Top Global Hits from Japan chart.
Hitomitoi dropped her new album Telepa Telepa via Billboard Japan Records on Mar. 26. The latest release by the Japanese singer-songwriter is her first album of original works since July 2017. The project’s theme is her connection to people and places overseas, which were some of the most memorable things that happened to her over […]
Ado, ATARASHII GAKKO! and YOASOBI graced the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles for matsuri ’25: Japanese Music Experience LOS ANGELES on Sunday, March 16, the music event by Japan’s Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA).
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YOASOBI opened the show, and when the duo’s name on a banner flashed on the screen behind the stage, the 7,000 fans in the audience cheered loudly. As the banner was torn down by the hand of a monster, low-pitched sounds and mysterious music played over the speakers. ikura and Ayase appeared on stage to the announcement, “Welcome to the world of Surrealism,” and the crowd shouted and waved their glow sticks to express their excitement. The intro to “Seventeen” began to play after a brief silence, and ikura said in English, “Welcome to matsuri ’25. We are YOASOBI from Japan. Get ready to have a blast tonight. L.A., are you guys ready?” Fans responded with shouts of “Oi! Oi!” and the band kicked off the event with a bang.
ikura took a moment to explain the purpose of the event, saying, “Three acts from Japan — Ado, ATARASHII GAKKO!, and YOASOBI — have come this time, hoping to enjoy great music, J-pop music, with everyone here.” She then asked the audience to light up their phones and sway to create a sense of unity, and the duo performed the poignant mid-tempo ballad “Tabun.”
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Following “The Brave,” the band performed “Monster,” a fast-paced track with thumping low beats that satisfy performed live. “As a J-Pop artist, we’ve been trying to spread our music from Japan to the world,” said ikura in English. “We are so so so happy to be able to share with all of you. Thank you very much. I love you guys. We dive into the second half. Let me see your passion, OK? You ready to go loud? Can you give us some more? Ok, let’s sing together.” The pair then went on to perform some of its biggest hits back-to-back, with the exhilaration of “Into the Night,” the unity of the chorus in “Blue,” and the energy and enthusiasm of the audience in “Idol” filling the venue. The overwhelming delivery of the last three songs proved that YOASOBI has indeed become one of Japan’s top acts whose concerts sell out instantly whenever they perform overseas today.
ATARASHII GAKKO!
Yuri Hasegawa
Following a 15-minute changeover, the four members of ATARASHII GAKKO! appeared from the audience aisle to the sound of ringing school bells, holding big white flags over their heads. When the members — SUZUKA, RIN, MIZYU, and KANON — gathered on stage, SUZUKA greeted the crowd with the sound of a trumpet in the background: “Hello everyone. We are ATARASHII GAKKO! Everybody, are you ready?” The words “Seishun Nihon Daihyo” (Youth Team Japan) appeared on the screen and the women began their set with “Change,” the members swinging their arms around and performing immaculate choreography off the bat. During “Fly High,” RIN called out, “L.A., are you ready? Jump!” and fans were more than happy to comply. For “Arigato,” each member sang while holding a broomstick like a microphone stand, or fake-played it like a guitar, playfully reminding us of our school days. The audience reacted enthusiastically to the intro of the group’s breakout hit “Otona Blue,” and the members captivated the crowd with their signature head-shaking dance and distinctive choreography.
Following a group chant with SUZUKA, who hyped up the audience calling out, “Everybody, ganbatte (hang in there)! Woo!” the women performed “Toryanse.” Fans waved their glow sticks towards the stage during the intro and danced to the lively rhythm accompanied by electronic sounds of Japanese instruments. Each of the four members called out, “Everybody jump!” “Say yeah!” and “Say change!” in time with the lyrics during the set, confidently charging the crowd with their energy.
An image of the Tokyo metropolis appeared on the screen and ATARASHII GAKKO! launched into “Tokyo Calling.” SUZUKA came down from the stage and sang enthusiastically while making her way through the crowd, regally marching back to the lyrics of “We are marching.” The women closed their set with “One Heart,” the word “SAIKO” (“the best”) appearing behind them on the screen, and the audience joined in and sang along. The lyrics “AG want to take you higher” is like the Japanese modern version of Ike & Tina Turner’s “I Want To Take You Higher,” and the song uplifts and inspires like the best kind of music.
Watching ATARASHII GAKKO!’s performance, this writer couldn’t help but agree with what Creativeman Productions’ Rob Kelso said during the press conference before the event: “The best way to integrate these [artists] is to realize we lost the last excuse. Their last excuse was it must be in English…anything in the U.S. must be in English. And that doesn’t exist anymore. Now it is ok not to be in English…let’s take advantage of that. Doors are opening again to other languages.” The members of ATARASHII GAKKO! know how to entertain the crowds at their shows overseas, encouraging call-and-response with fans using short Japanese words like “ganbatte” and “saiko,” and getting them excited in English, saying, “Everybody jump!’ and ”Say yeah!” Plus, the group’s shows never look cheap or over-the-top, thanks to the four members’ well-coordinated dance moves, SUZUKA’s vocal prowess, and the individuality of each member. Whether you’re Japanese or American, anyone who sees ATARASHII GAKKO! will be able to enjoy its performances to the fullest, and the group’s set at matsuri ’25 was a testimony to that.
Ado
Viola Kam
Then the “Ado Box” was set up in the center of the stage for the event’s final artist, the enigmatic singer Ado, who never shows her face. The 22-year-old songstress immediately launched into her hit banger “Show,” then performed “New Genesis,” “Usseewa” (which sounded faster and more powerful than when this writer saw her on her North American tour a year ago), and “Lucky Bruto” in succession. The stage production was designed to be visually enjoyable as well, with Ado performing “RuLe” by dancing and singing while seated on a chair in her box.
After calls of “Let’s go, Ado” from the audience, the singer addressed the crowd for the first time, talking about how living in Los Angeles for a month last year was one of the best experiences of her life. She shared some episodes that showed her personality, like how she enjoyed In-N-Out burgers and going to Macy’s. “I’m proud to be able to share the stage with ATARASHII GAKKO! and YOASOBI,” she said, expressing appreciation for the opportunity to perform at the event. “I’m so happy that you’ve come to experience Japanese music and culture today. It will really make me happy if you’ll continue to love Japanese music and culture. This has been a really great evening. Thank you.” She then invited the audience to sing and dance with her before performing the last song of her set, “Odo.”
It was unthinkable in the past that an artist who maintains her anonymity by never revealing her face would perform on stage in a box. But it’s true that many people listen to Ado’s music and when she announces shows outside of her home country, many fans rush to buy tickets. This is in line with what Goldenvoice vice president Ellen Lu said at the conference that “festivals are booking with a global sense now. Because that is what people are listening to, so if we are to stay in touch with what people are wanting to see that is not just exclusive to the U.S. or Europe which historically has been the case. It just puts these [international] artists in front of audiences that want to see them or have never had a chance to see them.” This is why Ado was able to successfully tour the world last year, and is set to embark on her second global trek this summer at even bigger venues including arenas.
The three acts that performed at the matsuri ’25 event all had previous experience performing live in North America, and it was a luxurious and precious experience to be able to see them at once. It was an evening that surely made fans want to support other Japanese artists that will follow these groups and go on to perform on the world stage.
—This article by Tomoya Ogawa first appeared on Billboard Japan
Mrs. GREEN APPLE‘s “Lilac” Returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released March 26.
The Oblivion Battery opener is back atop the tally after five weeks to log its seventh week at No. 1. On its 50th week on the chart, streaming for the long-running hit is up 103%, downloads 104%, and karaoke 103% compared to the week before.
Eighteen songs by the popular three-man band continue to chart this week, with “Ao to Natsu” from 2018 leading the pack at 282 weeks.
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Debuting at No. 2 is SixTONES’ “Barrier.” The six-member boy band’s 14th single bows at No. 1 for sales again, selling 374,475 copies after dropping March 19, making it the group’s 14th consecutive single to debut atop the metric.
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Sakanaction’s “Kaiju” rises a notch to No. 3. The newly released music video accompanying the Orb: On the Movements of the Earth opener helped boost downloads, streaming, video views and karaoke. Downloads are up slightly, streaming up 106%, video 185%, and karaoke 198% week-over-week.
Rosy Chronicle’s “Heirasshai! ~ Nippon de aimasho” bows at No. 4. The Hello! Project girl group’s major-label debut single launches with 74,912 CDs to come in at No. 2 for sales and No. 28 for downloads.
Boku ga Mitakatta Aozora’s “Koi wa baisoku” follows at No. 5, debuting on the chart at a higher position than the group’s previous single, “Sukisugite Up and down.”
Southern All Stars’ “Yume no Uchuryoko” rises to No. 8. The track off the evergreen veteran band’s 16th studio album and the first in ten years entitled THANK YOU SO MUCH ruled radio and came in at No. 11 for downloads after dropping March 19.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from March 17 to 23, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Billboard Japan’s Women in Music initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers, and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work, in the same spirit as Billboard’s annual Women in Music celebration since 2007. This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project.
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For the latest installment, the four members of ATARASHII GAKKO! — MIZYU, SUZUKA, RIN, and KANON — spoke with Billboard Japan at Amazon Music Studio Tokyo in Shibuya. There’s no other act quite like this unique group anywhere in the world, including its home country. Their concept is to “stand out” and true to this motto, the “Otona Blue” members put on fierce performances clad in their signature sailor-style school uniforms. Having toured internationally to great success and secured fans of various genders and nationalities, what’s their current mindset and where are they heading? The four young women who have been fearlessly standing out from boundaries over the years looked back on their careers and spoke about their future goals in this latest interview.
SUZUKA
Megumi Omori
The concept of ATARASHII GAKKO! has been to “stand out” from the beginning. Why did you choose this theme?
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SUZUKA: I think the premise was that “ordinary is boring.” We wanted to create something new instead of copying something made by someone else. When we explored that idea, we ended up with the concept of “standing out with our individualities and freedom.”
RIN: We were still in junior high and high school when we formed the group, so we were actual students. That’s why we really wanted to become leaders who were half a step ahead of other students. That feeling is also reflected in the “leaders” part of our group’s name. [Translator’s note: The group’s name in Japanese means “the new leaders in school.”]
Now that a decade has passed since the group’s formation, has your way of thinking about standing out changed?
KANON: I think my understanding of it has deepened. At first, I just sort of intuitively tried to stand out, but now I think about what I can do to push boundaries in a meaningful way.
SUZUKA: Yeah, standing out sounds easy but it’s actually quite hard. At first, I was simply rebellious, like, “I don’t like stuff that is exemplary,” but now I have respect for the background of why those boundaries were created. I often say, “It’s OK to stand out, but not to go overboard.” [Laughs] Instead of taking off on a stolen motorbike like the late Yutaka Ozaki sings in his classic song, “The Night,” our group places importance on inner freedom and liberation. We’ll follow rules but push boundaries and add our own new essence, that’s how we feel now.
RIN: In the past, we were like, “Let’s stand out!” on a single straight line that we’d drawn, but now that line has split and spread out in various directions and we look forward to it intersecting with various things.
KANON: To explain in sensory terms, it feels like it started out as a cool color, but now it’s become a warm color. Ten years ago, we were standing out in a pointed way, but now the way we stand out is like a permeating warmth.
KANON
Megumi Omori
What’s the public reaction been like to the way you’ve been standing out?
MIZYU: In Japan, it feels like if you’re even slightly different from the norm, people will ask you, “How come?” But I’ve always wondered who decides what is “normal.”
SUZUKA: We often use the phrase “intolerance is stifling” in our activities and this has been a theme since the group’s formation. There are rules in school and society that you have to follow, of course, but they include things that make you wonder, “Why isn’t this allowed?”
RIN: I think I’ve probably felt pressure to behave in a certain way because I’m a woman.
KANON: But we shouldn’t have to feel that pressure, you know? We want to convey through our music and performances how we can free ourselves from such pressures.
It takes courage to stand out from boundaries. What advice would you give to someone who can’t muster up that courage?
RIN: “Standing out” doesn’t necessarily mean sticking out, and taking that first step towards doing the things you like or want to do is what’s important. That small first step will lead you to your own unique way of standing out. This isn’t really advice, but I want to tell people to cherish the things they really like.SUZUKA: I think one of the main reasons why people can’t muster up the courage to do what they want is because they’re worried about what other people think. But the truth is, no one is really paying that much attention to you. [Laughs] If you do something you like and it’s within the rules, then the people around you have no choice but to accept it. So trust yourself more and do what you like.
RIN
Megumi Omori
So that’s the solid common understanding you all share.
KANON: What SUZUKA and RIN said has become the norm among the four of us. Because we’re accepted by the other members of the group, we can also accept everyone else. So when you come to our shows, you’ll understand what I mean. It’s a space where everyone becomes free and we can all say to each other, “This is the best!” We and all our fans have become a community that sticks out.
RIN: The members have completely different characters and our personalities and appearances are diverse as well. But because four such people got together and grew up respecting the things that we each like, the ATARASHII GAKKO! community has become a place where everyone can feel at ease. That’s why we can express ourselves with confidence even when we go out into the outside world.
MIZYU: I’ve never felt that I had to be the same as everyone else. If you like cute things, for example, you can pursue that to your heart’s content, and even if your tastes are different from the people around you, the important thing is to explore that. The members of our group can respect each other even if we can’t relate to certain aspects, and we’ve come this far because we can enjoy our differences.
MIZYU
Megumi Omori
As female artists, do you ever find yourself thinking about gender?
KANON: We’re women, but it’s a given that we don’t want to be bound by gender. Sometimes we wear sailor-style (girls’) school uniforms, sometimes we wear gakuran (school uniforms for boys), and we have male fans who wear sailor-style school uniforms. Both in Japan and elsewhere, many people express themselves in ways that transcend gender boundaries. We feel like we just express ourselves as human beings without being bound by gender.
MIZYU: Yeah, it seems like our fans freely choose what they like instead of thinking that men should be like this or women should be like that.
KANON: That’s why we want to live as individuals and as human beings instead of “being strong as women.” If people take our expression on a more essential level, like in their souls or senses, rather than being bound by our gender, that would make me happy.
SUZUKA: When I was little, I used to behave in ways that were so different from what was considered “girly” and really hated the feeling of being pushed into a stereotype of what a girl should be like. Now I’ve come to think that it’s fine to just be the way I am.
Is there anything the four of you want to take on in the future?
SUZUKA: I want to make my life wonderful, and I want to make everyone else’s lives wonderful, too. It could be about attaining happiness, or about accomplishing something amazing, but I want to make it so that I can look back and think, “That was one hell of a life!”
KANON: We often use the word “seishun” (youth), but for us, seishun isn’t about age, but about living life to the fullest right now. I want to keep living life to the fullest with these members.
This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan.
King & Prince’s “HEART” blasts in at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated March 19.
The group’s 16th single is being featured as the ending theme song for the latest drama series starring member Ren Nagase. The CD launched with 329,809 copies to debut at No. 1 for sales, tops downloads (30,920 units), and comes in at No. 14 for streaming (4,288,922 weekly streams), No. 23 for radio airplay, and No. 3 for video views.
“HEART” becomes King & Prince’s 14th No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100. The group has consistently sold over 300,000 copies of all of its singles in the first week and all of them have topped the physical sales list.
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King & Prince First Week Single Sales
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1. “Cinderella Girl” 622,701 copies
2. “Memorial” 372,139 copies
3. “Kimi wo Matteru” 400,315 copies
4. “koi-wazurai” 385,303 copies
5. “Mazy Night” 531,162 copies
6. “I promise” 578,092 copies
7. “Magic Touch/Beating Hearts” 470,605 copies
8. “Koi Furu Tsukiyo ni Kimi Omou” 449,115 copies
9. “Lovin’ you/Odoruyouni Jinsei wo.” 471,845 copies
10. “TraceTrace” 513,056 copies
11. “Tsukiyomi/Irodori” 614,173 copies
12. “Life goes on/We are young” 1,051,909 copies
13. “Nanimono” 546,829 copies
14. “Aishi Ikiru koto/MAGIC WORD” 353,077 copies
15. “halfmoon / moooove!!” 315,400 copies
16. “HEART” 329,809 copies
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” stays at No. 2. The track continues to rule streaming for the 28th week with 9,761,022 streams, while hitting No. 8 for downloads, No. 66 for radio, No. 2 for video, and topping karaoke. The Oblivion Battery opener has sailed past 500 million streams as of this week.
SKE48’s “Tick tack zack” debuts at No. 3. The girl group’s 34th single sold 288,724 copies in its first week, coming in at No. 2 for sales and No. 50 for radio.
At No. 4 on the Japan Hot 100 is Sakanaction’s “Kaiju,” slipping a notch from last week. The Orb: On the Movements of the Earth opener came in at No. 7 for downloads, No. 2 for streaming, and No. 6 for radio and video. The accompanying music video dropped Mar. 16, so points for video will also fuel the track from next week.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Darling” follows at No. 5. The track is also down a notch from last week, but radio and karaoke increased by 133% and 109%, respectively, compared to the week before.
Elsewhere on the chart, Remioromen’s J-pop classic “Sangatsu Kokonoka” (March 9th) charts for the second consecutive week (No. 33 this week). The graduation-related favorite from 2005 climbs the chart every year around this time, and this week, streaming for the track is up 111%, downloads 168%, videos 142%, and karaoke 126% week-over-week.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Mar. 10 to 16, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Kazuma Kawamura, a member of the 16-piece Japanese dance and vocal group THE RAMPAGE, has now made his solo debut as L.E.I. with the double A-side single “Delete/Enter.”
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While he’s done some rapping on THE RAMPAGE songs and in live shows, with L.E.I., rap is at the very heart of his art. In an interview with Billboard JAPAN, he discussed the background behind this solo debut. “From the very start, when THE RAMPAGE was formed, our concept always included elements of hip-hop. We’d just assembled as a group, and everyone had different musical tastes, so we made hip-hop one of the cores of the group. That got me interested in hip-hop, and our leader, LIKIYA, knew a lot about U.S. hip-hop and R&B, so I learned a lot from him. Yamasho (Shogo Yamamoto) had been talking about the movie 8 Mile, so I watched it, and it also had a huge impact on me. So I discovered the world of hip-hop a bit at a time, and the more I explored it, the more I got hooked.”
“But it’s not like I’m super-knowledgeable about hip-hop music or artists. I’m still learning. I’ve been really influenced by the culture and philosophy of hip-hop, but not the so-called rapper lifestyle. Drink, drugs, women, partying, violence—those aren’t appealing to me. I’m not interested in bragging about how bad I am or boasting about violence. Instead, I’m interested in the philosophy of hip-hop that’s focused on changing the world. Making it better.”
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“Of course, there have been a lot of rappers who’ve influenced me. Busta Rhymes influenced me with his fast rapping style, while A$AP Rocky has just been an overall huge presence for me. And my long-time favorite, who I still find amazing, is Kendrick Lamar. Needless to say, of the four elements of hip-hop, dance has also had a big impact on me. For example, the krumping of Tommy the Clown and Tight Eyez, who was influenced by Tommy, just reached out and grabbed a hold of my heart. It was like it was saying, ‘Don’t just stand there, get moving!’”
On “Delete,” one of the songs on the single, L.E.I. expresses his frustration and anger with society and the state of things through serious, fiery rap verses, set to a dark trap beat. It has a distinctive structure, challenging the listener about their own beliefs and pushing them to tackle these problems together. “It’s my first song as L.E.I., so I didn’t want to make any compromises. Putting rap front and center, I knew I needed to make something that caused a stir. ‘Delete’ is a powerful representation of that idea. There’s a lot I want to communicate, but the first was a feeling of release from what’s got you trapped, which is why I wrote this song.”
“It’s easy to just shout ‘No!’ But if you want to convince listeners, if you want to convey an effective message, I think you need to raise issues. To get people who listen to the song to think and be more aware, you need to ask questions. I don’t just want to stroke my own ego by spouting things off. And I think the society we live in is one that stops thinking. That’s dangerous. But I didn’t just want to say ‘No!’ or ‘Think!’ Instead, I wanted to reach out to the listener, saying ‘I think this situation is messed up, what about you?’”
The rapping in “Enter,” the theme song of the anime I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths!, has a lot of variety in its flow. “I tried to change up the flow. I think people will have more opportunities to hear this song, such as through the anime, so I wanted to surprise people, like ‘All these different rap parts are being done by one guy?!’ By changing my approach in each part of the song, I was able to achieve a wider range of artistic expression. It’s like the entire repertoire of my flow as a rapper, all in one song. I did it simply because it’s fun to have a song made up of all these different kinds of rap.”
It’s an anime-themed song, but L.E.I. put his true thoughts into the lyrics. “Sure, there are dark aspects of me, like in ‘Delete,’ but the anime theme brought out the sunnier parts of my personality. I think ‘Enter’ represents my bright side, and the lyrics are all heart-felt. I have a lot of respect for the anime, and I linked keywords that inspired me with my own feelings to create the lyrics. In that sense, as well, I also want to write positive songs that fill you with optimism.”
On inspirations behind his work, he notes, “I’m not the best speaker, but I read a lot of books and manga, more than the average person, and also read a lot through games and anime. So there’s a lot of input, both in the sense of vocabulary and of the beauty of language, and I bring those out in the lyrics. The foundation of the song consists of my own feelings, and then I sift through my vocabulary to come up with ways to express those feelings through rap. When I do that, I think really deeply about what the lyrics will sound like when I rap them. I might write a line a certain way because in that part I’m more focused on conveying my message directly than in the sounds of the words, while in another part I might focus more on the vibe of the sounds.”
Kawamura’s vision is to continue as both a member of THE RAMPAGE and as a solo artist. “Right now, Kazuma Kawamura, member of THE RAMPAGE, is linked to L.E.I., but they may move away from each other over time. I’m also curious and excited to see what form this will eventually take. But as Kazuma Kawamura or as L.E.I., one thing that won’t change is that I’ll always be 100% direct with the people hearing my lyrics. If there’s anyone out there for which L.E.I.’s approach resonates—anyone who I can help through my music—then I want to share my music with them, first. Reaching a wider audience can come later. I want to be an artist that is, first and foremost, a person capable of expressing his own values. I feel like if I can truly accomplish that, then I’ll be unparalleled. I’m striving to be a true rapper with a true message.”
—This interview by TAKAGI “JET” Shinichiro first appeared on Billboard Japan
Tokyo-born singer-songwriter TOMOO — pronounced “tow-mow-oh” — has been playing the piano since she was a child and began working on music in earnest in middle school when she began writing original songs. Her voice has been praised by top Japanese artists and her first full-length album, TWO MOON, reached No. 15 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums chart after dropping in Sept. 2023. She was featured in many music programs the following year, and in her MONTHLY FEATURE interview with Billboard Japan, she looked back and shared, “Rather than there being a milestone somewhere like a major change or turning point, 2024 felt like a year when a lot of my activities advanced another step or another level as an extension of the year before, whether it’s about live shows or TV appearances.”
When asked how she would introduce “what kind of artist TOMOO is,” the 29-year-old musician replied, “Yin and yang, old and new. Sometimes people who listen to my music say I seem to have a lot of life experience, but other times they say I still have a boyishness or girlishness about me. That’s an attribute I want to keep. Even when it’s bright, a shadow comes along with it, and even in shadow, a hint of light can be seen in the distance. Having both light and shadow is also my individuality.”
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“Rather than always having something I want to express, I want to be able to give form to the things that come into my mind at any given time,” says the “Grapefruit Moon” artist, explaining that she tries to be like a transparent vessel instead of dyeing herself a particular color. “When I was a teenager, I wanted something that would make it easy to visualize my individuality, but recently I’ve started to think that maybe that’s not necessary. I have the 12 years I’ve been doing this. At the time, I didn’t have a past to look back on and my way of thinking was still very superficial. So I used to think that if I worked hard at something or suffered more, I’d be able to figure out who I am. But it didn’t work that way. I guess that’s why I thought, ‘Then maybe that’s just the way it is.’”
Her latest single, “Contrast,” is currently being featured as the ending theme for the anime series Blue Box Season 2. The show is based on a manga series currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, and tells the coming-of-age love story of high school students devoted to their club activities. ”I started reading the original manga after being tapped to write the song. I wasn’t sure if I could relate to the transparency and freshness of the story, and to the feelings of the characters who are about 10 years younger than me,” TOMOO admits. “But I really did write songs like that when I was a teenager, and wanted to sing the theme song for a work like that, so I was happy when they asked me to do it.”
“Some people said that the character of the song seemed simpler than usual, and that makes sense in a way,” she explains. “It’s the simplicity of high school students concentrating on the moment in front of them within the limited ‘box’ of their time, season and environment, and it’s also the simplicity of feeling both happy and sad with your whole body when you haven’t yet developed emotional immunity. I thought about the lyrics while reading the original manga, trying to evoke the feelings I had when I was around 15 years old.”
For TOMOO, creating “Contrast” was an experience that took her back to her youth. “I wrote the chorus and the music pretty much at the same time, but wrote the first verse (A-melody) from scratch at the piano,” she shares about the writing process. “It was just like how I used to write music when I was a teenager. It turned out a lot more somber than I’d expected, but I figured that was fine because it was the result of the memories of my five senses having seeped out and not something I’d come up with in my brain. It was like I was facing the piano with nothing in mind, and my senses and the honest spirit of the song took the lead. It’s been a while since I’ve written music like that.”
The singer-songwriter worked with Ryo Eguchi, a music producer and arranger who has worked on numerous Japanese pop, idol and anime songs, for the first time on the song’s arrangement. “I’d been aware of Mr. Eguchi since I was around 20 years old. When I was in elementary and junior high school, I liked a lot of anime music that he’d arranged, so I’ve always wanted to ask him to arrange something for me if I ever had the chance to be involved in anime,” TOMOO recalls, going on to say that “Contrast” started out with a solid band-based sound but turned out to be a dramatic piano ballad with deep, resonant synth and cello tones. “Because it was quite heartfelt when I was composing it, I wanted to add elements that would evoke a sense of environmental coolness, like the wind, the sky, and the shadows of buildings. I asked him to add in some programmed rhythms and electric guitar strumming that sounds like strings in the distance, to give it a slightly structured, cool feel, to balance out the sense of temperature.”
The “Super Ball” singer is set to headline a solo concert in May at the historic Nippon Budokan for the first time in her career. She expresses enthusiasm for the upcoming show, saying, “I want to make this concert even more meticulous than my previous ones. I’ve always done my best within the schedule laid out for each show, but this time we’ve talked it over and set aside as much time as possible to prepare.”
“I always thought that the Budokan would be a kind of culmination, a milestone, a goal of that sort,” the singer-songwriter adds. “But I’ve started to feel that it’s not like that, now that I’m actually going on that stage. I realized it’d be better to leave it up to the feelings and mindset of each person who comes to see me. So I’m going back to my roots. Psychological closeness and sounds. When I first started out, I did a show on the floor. With the audience all around me, it was a bit scary before the show started, but I was really focused during the performance and there was tension in every moment. I want to recall that feeling of being nervous and excited at the same time when I perform at the Budokan.”
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
Based in Los Angeles since 2016, her0ism has carved out a career in the forefront of the global music industry. The Japanese producer and songwriter has produced numerous hit songs on an international scale, and his recent works include tracks for XG and BLACKPINK’s LISA’s “Dream” from her album Alter Ego, which topped Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart and debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. One of the producers on ever.y, his creative team, achieved a major milestone this year when Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal, which the producer contributed to, won the Grammy for best rap album.
her0ism sat down with Billboard Japan and shared his thoughts on the influence of J-pop on Western pop music and elaborated on his recent efforts to establish a new category in the Grammys called the Asian music performance award.
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How was the recent Grammy Awards ceremony?
Doechii’s album Alligator Bites Never Heal won best rap album this year, and Peyote Beats, a producer on our creative team ever.y, had worked on it. I’d been invited to the ceremony every year but this was the first time I was involved in such a close capacity. The award for best rap album was announced at the start of the evening’s proceedings. It was the first time Peyote had attended the event and to be honest, he wasn’t quite mentally prepared. So when the presenter said “Doechii!” he burst into tears. We got up and hugged each other in joy. My goal has been to win a Grammy and I’d worked towards it for a long time, but until that moment, it still felt distant, like something happening on TV.
Peyote Beats is an Armenian-American from Los Angeles. It’s interesting that a producer with such a background is interested in J-pop.
He comes from an immigrant family and I think they went through some hard times. So, yes, it is interesting that someone with that background is interested in J-pop. I’ve also wondered about that, and think he’s drawn to J-pop’s melodies.
Could you elaborate on that?
Hip-hop basically places emphasis on the track, but the songs he writes have counter melodies, with guitars and other instruments singing, and I think that’s largely influenced by the melodic elements of J-pop. I played Fujii Kaze’s music in the studio and he’s been into that recently. And it’s not just him, I’m sensing that J-pop is gradually spreading in the U.S., and that this year will be the starting line for the genre overseas.
Working in the States, I really feel the popularity of XG. They’re promoting a hybrid genre they call “X-POP” and it skillfully combines the melodic aspects of J-pop with the foundation that K-pop has built up Stateside. Their song “IN THE RAIN” that I helped produce is R&B, but the melody is emphasized and it’s recognizable as having Japanese influences. I think that kind of thing is starting to be accepted. I made this song with my partner Shintaro Yasuda, and he also makes hip-hop with a great sense of melody.
Tell us about your current efforts involving the Grammys. I hear there are some new developments.
I’m a Recording Academy voting member, and I’m also in charge of the screening process for the different genres. Recently, I was approached by the Recording Academy about the possibility of creating a new Asian category at the Grammys. When I spoke at a panel discussion at SXSW, I met a guy named Ralph from the Recording Academy at a party and he said to me, “If you’re making so many songs (for Asian acts), why don’t you create an Asian category?” and I was like, “You can make categories?” Ralph asked me to apply for it, and I had to become a voting member to apply. So last year, I applied for it with Mr. Kato from Project Asteri, but we were rejected. And I was like, “Why are we being rejected when we were asked to apply?” But apparently, Ralph needed to let people within the Recording Academy know that this kind of action was being initiated. Once a category is created, judges would be needed, but currently only about 4% of the voting members are Asian. There’s a huge lack of professionals who can make these decisions, so we need to increase the number of Japanese voting members and also need to do some promotional activities to achieve this.
If an award for Asian music performance can be established, it would bring about a huge change. In the same way that music from Central and South America is categorized under “Latin,” the music scene across Asia would become categorized under “Asian.”
Right. Coincidentally, I feel like I’ve finally moved on to the first page of my own career, having worked on a song for LISA and watching XG’s reach spread globally. My music publishing contract has also changed. I’ve signed a worldwide contract with Sony Music Publishing L.A., the American branch of Sony Music Publishing. Apparently, no Japanese person has done this before. Until now, even though we’d received offers, there were differences in the publishing rules between Japan and elsewhere, so it was difficult to make progress. But we’ve finally been able to sign a contract that forms the basis for competing on a global scale, so that also feels like the first page of a new chapter. There’s talk of J-pop spreading globally, and there’s also talk of the potential new Grammy category, so I feel like this year is truly the starting line. A new awards called Music Awards Japan will also take place in Kyoto in May to promote Japanese music globally. The timing is excellent.
What are your hopes and visions for the future?
Personally, I’m still in the middle of my challenge, and just reached the starting line. I want to produce American artists and Asian artists without any distinction. I can share things that other (Japanese) producers don’t have because I’m based in the U.S. I think there’s a kind of J-pop that can only be done because I’m not in Japan, and that there will be more things expected of me because I’m Japanese in the U.S. I want to keep moving forward and build on that over the next ten years. I also think it’s necessary to create an environment where my juniors can follow in my footsteps. I want to continue fulfilling my dreams in the future so I can show that making music is a dream-inspiring profession.
This interview by Tomonori Shiba first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Singer-songwriter YU-KA traveled to Sweden to work with local creators and co-write the songs on her newly released five-song EP, Wild Nights. With songs like “Feel Like This,” the ending theme to part 1 of the Netflix series Beastars‘ final season, the EP has a mellow electronic sound evocative of northern Europe, and YU-KA’s delicate singing voice and expressiveness are in full bloom. She talked with Billboard Japan at length about how her time in Sweden stimulated and inspired her, and how she put those feelings into her music.
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Your new EP, Wild Nights, came out six months after your previous EP, Sunshade. Were the songs on the albums written around the same time?
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I didn’t write the lyrics or put the finishing touches on the songs until after Sunshade‘s release, but I made the actual demos for all of the songs in Sweden last summer. I was there for a little under a week, and while there I wrote a lot of different songs with different writers. The songs on Wild Nights come from the songs I wrote there. The speed with which the Swedish writers worked, and their way of thinking, was a little different than Japanese artists. Even the way they chose sounds was totally different, so it was an extremely stimulating experience.
Actually having gone to Sweden, did you find that it had a unique atmosphere of its own?
In Japan, everything gets lumped together as “Western music,” but the music in Sweden has a different feel than American or British music. Also, even though Sweden and Japan are very far away geographically, the character of the Swedish people is a good fit in many ways for that of the Japanese people. I felt a strange link between the countries. The artists I co-wrote with have also written songs for other Japanese artists, so they had connections with J-pop. I felt an unexpected affinity throughout the songwriting process.
What is the concept behind Wild Nights?
When writing the lyrics afterward, I wanted to make the theme for the EP “night.” Ever since my debut, I’ve been writing and releasing music, so I decided to stop for a second and think about my own artistry and my own strengths. I realized that, in the duality of light and dark, I tended toward the dark side. Other musicians and my vocal coaches often describe my voice as having a “shadowy” feel. Also, a lot of the songs I wrote a long time ago, on my own, were dark songs. So that’s why I decided to make the theme of the EP “night.” The title Wild Nights comes from a poem by Emily Dickinson. I found out about her in university, where I was majoring in English literature. When I was struggling with the decision of whether or not to become a singer, I was inspired by her poetry, and I decided to give music my all. “Wild nights” refers to stormy nights, and I thought that fit perfectly with the EP’s image, so I chose it as the title.
The image of your previous EP, Sunshade, was that of being out in the sun, so the new EP’s title stands in contrast.
The theme of Sunshade was “J-pop.” The songs I wrote in Sweden had a sound that was more like Western music, so before releasing them, I wanted to make an album that embodied my J-pop side. That was Sunshade. That’s also why the lyrics are relatively straightforward, while the lyrics on Wild Nights are a bit more aggressive and wild. In that sense, too, I think the two EPs present a contrast.
“Feel Like This” is the ending theme of part 1 of the Netflix series Beastars final season. Since it’s a tie-up, you’d expect it to go in a J-pop direction, but instead you took a bold approach, going with all-English lyrics.
The anime’s production team asked me to use English lyrics, and I thought it was a good idea. It’s evidence of the fact that anime is watched around the world. I was really happy that they picked me to write the ending theme. When I wrote the song, in Sweden, my vision was to pair it with English lyrics, so I think it was easier to write the lyrics in English than if I’d tried to write them in Japanese. I like lyrics that tie into the work the song is being used for, so I had fun writing them.
Beastars is set in a school, and it’s a love story, but it’s also enjoyable because of its takes on social issues like discrimination and its exploration of identity. What did you focus on when you wrote the lyrics?
The main character, a wolf, is in love with a rabbit, who’s a herbivore. In the natural world, their relationship would be predator and prey, but there’s a romance element, which is one of the key features of the anime. I think that contrast between reason and instinct is really important. The whole anime is a metaphorical depiction of problems in human society, and I think there are themes that apply to everyone. For example, think of what you want to do as being “instinct” and what you have to do as being “reason.” There are a lot of people who sacrifice what they want to do for what they have to do. It’s important not to let your instinct run rampant, but if you go overboard in ignoring your own desires, you’ll eventually come apart at the seams. I’ve felt that in my own life, so I based the lyrics on that idea. The lyrics use the contrast between certain expressions in English, and there’s a sense of playfulness that runs throughout.
I wrote the song “1-2-3” [also on the album] with David (Fremberg), who also worked on “Feel Like This.” Originally, we were just working on “Feel Like This,” but then we realized that if we kept focusing on this one song alone, we wouldn’t be able to come up with anything good. Instead, we figured we should play around with something else for a while and then come back to “Feel Like This.” And that’s how “1-2-3” came to be. We wrote “Feel Like This” and “1-2-3” in a single day.
The new EP has a good balance of English and Japanese lyrics. The last song, “Silent Parade,” is in Japanese, so the message and intent come through really strong.
There’s been a lot going on in the world recently, and perhaps because of that, the sight of people taking a position and asserting themselves has stuck with me. Asserting yourself is an impressive feat, you know. But if you think about it, being a singer-songwriter is similar, in a way. Singer-songwriters start out on their own, but they’re able to keep on making music thanks to the relationships they develop with all kinds of other people, like listeners or staff members. As they go on, that line of people becomes even longer. The question is whether, when you start out as in this silent parade, all by yourself, you can imagine all the people that will one day join in. Whether you can trust that to happen. That’s why it’s “Silent” and not “Alone.” I wanted to encourage people who step forward. They may feel like they’re alone, but when people have their sights set on the future and they keep pushing forward, they’re walking at the front of a long line of the people who will one day join them. When I started out, I thought I was all on my own, but now, as YU-KA, I’m surrounded by staff members and people who support me. Writing the song, I was struck once again by just how precious their presence is, and it made me want to make the YU-KA parade an even bigger one.
This interview by Hiroko Goto first appeared on Billboard Japan.