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The members of the band Regallily chatted with writer Rio Hirai for the latest installment of Billboard Japan’s Women in Music interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry. The WIM initiative in Japan launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work.
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Regallily recently released “Kirakira no Hai” (“Twinkling Ash”), the ending theme of Delicious in Dungeon Season 2. Currently a two-woman unit, the band was originally formed by frontwoman and guitarist Honoka Takahashi while in high school. Bassist Umi later joined and the band is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Regallily has just wrapped its tour of small clubs in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka as a means of returning to their roots. In this interview, the two members looked back on their career as a “girl band,” and spoke about what they’re looking forward to now after going through a period of identity moratorium as described in the lyrics of their song “17.”
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. Honoka, you formed the band when you were in high school. Did you plan on continuing the band for a long time from the outset?
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Honoka Takahashi: When I formed the band, I wasn’t thinking that far to be honest. I didn’t even have a goal in mind. Before Regallily, I was in a band with male members, but didn’t fit in well with them. I ended up leaving because they told me they were going to play with only guys. We were only in tenth grade or thereabouts and I suppose it was normal to treat people of opposite sex like outsiders… But it pissed me off and I thought, “I’ll form a band with just girls then!” [Laughs]
Umi: I’ve also played in bands since high school, in a pop music club at the time. There weren’t too many guys so I’ve always been in bands with girls. I never gave much thought about being in bands with only women before joining Regallily, but it was probably easier for me to imagine myself as a member of this band than joining one with male members.
Some of the artists we’ve spoken to in this series say they feel uncomfortable being categorized by titles such as “girls” or “female” (as English loanwords, e.g. “girl band,” “female rapper”). How do you feel about being called a “girl band”?
Takahashi: I didn’t think anything of it at first. But later, a band came along that publicly stated it didn’t want to be referred to as a girl band, which helped me see that there are people who don’t like being called that.
Umi: I mean, it’s a fact that these are bands run by women, but compared to rock or punk, the (genre) classification is a bit sloppy, don’t you think? [Laughs] There are genres within all-female bands, so when a playlist is made by categorizing them as “girl bands,” for example, I wonder if it’s possible to reach the core of those acts. I don’t have a negative impression of the term itself, and I’m sure there were events we were able to play in because of that categorization.
Takahashi: I’m accustomed to the term “girl band,” but when you think about it, “girls” means children. Since men and women have different voices, I get wanting to divide them into different groups, but I’m not sure “girls” is appropriate when all of our life stages change in the future.
SCANDAL was certified last year as the “longest running rock band with the same musicians (female)” by the Guinness World Records after 17 years together, which links to the topic of the difficulty of female bands staying in the business for a long time. Is there anything you take care to do to keep doing what you do for a long time and in a healthy way?
Takahashi: I’ve basically never really understood what common sense is ever since I was a kid. My life has been detached from what’s considered the norm, things like, “husbands go to work and wives stay at home to do housework.” If I ever get pregnant, I’d like to sing (on stage) until the very last minute. I’ve seen (singer-songwriter) Seiko Omori standing on stage during late-stage pregnancy and wondered if I could do it too.
Umi: Pregnancy is something you can’t understand until it happens. I’m looking forward to it. I wonder how much I can take on while pregnant. I’m 25 years old now, and I’ve been thinking about how my life stage will change and that I’ll have to face various things in the future. When I discover new sides of myself, for example as a wife after I get married, or as a mother after I have a baby… I think about how I’ll be able to balance those things when my identity isn’t just as an artist anymore.
I guess our late twenties is when we begin to feel the reality of changing life stages. You released a single called “17″ in January, and that age is also a period when we sense various changes in our lives. Why did you focus on 17?
Takahashi: I turn 27 this year, so 17 was about 10 years ago. I used to listen to a lot of songs that had seventeen as a keyword in them when I was that age, and have a number of favorites. I was thinking of writing a song called “17” when I was 17, but just couldn’t do it when I was in the midst of it all. At around 26 years old, it felt like I gradually came to understand what I was like at that time and what kind of person I am. So now, ten years on, I looked back on those days and put it into words and the music was born.
Umi: I used to go to music clubs quite a bit back then. It was also a period when I was so full of myself and so self-conscious that I was embarrassed about a lot of things and couldn’t enjoy myself. The time I spent going to music clubs alone and being the person only I knew about was my anchor.
This question is one of the themes of this interview series, but how do you think being a woman affects your music career and life in general?
Takahashi: I recently realized that I’m really at the whim of hormone imbalances in life. There are times I need to take care of myself, and the more I take care of myself, the more I can take care of my work. But on the other hand, there are times when my nature makes me want to do something dangerous. Like going somewhere that’s super cold. [Laughs] Taking such risks puts a strain on my body and my hormones go out of whack as a result, so sometimes I wish I had a body that could be more reckless.
Umi: Even just to live normally and safely, you have to be tough when you’re a woman. Like choosing an apartment to live in, if you want safety and require a place on the second floor or higher that has a self-locking system, it costs more money.
Takahashi: In terms of bands, I look at the careers of the generation above us, like (Japanese rock band) Chatmonchy, and think about what we can and can’t do.
But there aren’t many precedents for all-female bands compared to male bands, so if we can set more examples, it might become easier (for the next generation). Even now, I’m sure many female bands are being born.
Umi: To be honest, there are parts (about male bands and artists) that I kind of envy, but we’ve been doing this for a long time too, and if there are people out there who think we’re cool the way we are, that’s how (our music) resonates and spreads.
—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
Dystinct arrives at the shoot location, enveloped in the soft glow of the early morning light. Seated quietly and somewhat aloof, he patiently awaits the completion of preparations. Attempting to engage in light conversation to ease the anticipation, we found his responses curt and elusive, often deflecting queries by answering questions with more questions. It was as though his intrigue lay more in unraveling the stories of those around him rather than unveiling his own.
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Transitioning seamlessly to our next location for the filmed interview, Dystinct’s demeanor shifts as soon as the camera rolls, unveiling layers of his persona we had yet to glimpse. Beneath his initial reticence lay a wealth of stories yearning to be shared. With each question, Dystinct confidently embarks on a storytelling journey, tracing his roots, starting with his upbringing in Belgium, where his parents steeped him in the rich tapestry of Arabic music. From the haunting melodies of Umm Kulthum to the resonant voices of artists from Egypt and the Gulf, his childhood was a symphony of cultural immersion. He recounts his collaborations spanning the breadth of his career, from music producers to fellow artists, each partnership shaping his artistic trajectory.
Yet it was his profound connection to his Moroccan heritage that underscored his musical ethos. As he delved into his vision for his craft, Dystinct articulated a deep-seated commitment to speak to Arab audiences. His insights into the intricacies of the regional music industry, particularly the nuanced landscape of North African artists, revealed a keen understanding of the diverse influences and audience dynamics spanning Morocco, Europe and the Arab world.
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Dystinct has carved his name among the foremost Afropop artists in North Africa over the past few years, with a series of consecutive hits and collaborations, each turning into a social media trend and amassing tens of millions of streams. With the launch of the Billboard Arabia charts, the depth of Dystinct’s influence on the North African music scene becomes even more apparent. Over successive weeks, more than five of Dystinct’s hits, released at different intervals, secured prominent positions on the Hot 100 list; at the time of writing this, he held rank in the No. 5, 7, and 10 slots.
His song “La” (No) featured on his album Layali (Nights), reclaimed the top spot after the release of its music video, making it one of the few songs capable of clinching the No. 1 position on the Hot 100 list. Other releases from previous periods continue to enjoy significant popularity, such as “Tek Tek” (Tik Tok) ft. MHD, “Y Dor” with Soolking, “Ghazali” (Gazelle) ft. Bryan Mg, whose spread is linked to a unique event.
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Dystinct was taken aback after attending the match between his country’s national team and Belgium in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where players played his song backstage to celebrate, contributing to its exponential spread and forever associating it with the unprecedented historical achievements of the Moroccan national team in the world’s largest tournament.
Dystinct acknowledges that a significant portion of his audience became acquainted with him through “Ghazali,” but it was never his starting point. “Many new people who listen to my songs know me from the song ‘Ghazali,’” says Dystinct. “But before that, I was making Dutch music. In my mind, I always wanted to make Arabic music, but I waited for the right time. I had a song titled ‘Ya La Laa’ (Hey Ma’am) a long time ago, and it was a hit for me, but the thing is, the song was successful, but no one realized it. So, I was working on improving myself. How can I introduce myself to the world? I want to show people who Dystinct is. I said to myself that I want people to see my culture. Even if I make Arabic music, it’s not exclusive to Moroccans or Arabic speakers.”
Dystinct
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Born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan immigrant parents, Dystinct’s connection to his Moroccan roots remains steadfast, with his identity as a Moroccan artist paramount above all else. His mastery of Darija, the dialect of Arabic spoken in Morocco, has allowed him to channel his heritage into his music, beginning with the release of “Ya La Laa” (Hey Ma’am) in 2019, marking the inception of his artistic journey. He has collaborated with proven producers who have enveloped his musical style with refined and consistent themes, notably Unleaded, YAM, Ryder and Seno, fondly referred to by Dystinct as his brothers. While maintaining a musical style predominantly centered around Afropop, Dystinct has recently begun experimenting with blending dialects, incorporating elements of Moroccan Darija with Egyptian or Gulf dialects.
“I believe we are in a new era in the Arab world, and Arabic music will no longer be exclusively for Arabs. I have said this in another interview as well, that African music is very popular now, but it has also been witnessing a growth stage. Now we see everyone listening to African music or everyone listening to Latin music even if not everyone speaks Spanish or the like. This is what I am trying to do for Arabic music.”
Dystinct realizes this fact confidently, speaking from experience gained through his personal journey. In his early days, as he attempted to present his music to event organizers and platforms during his time in Europe, he encountered the same response: that Arabic music there was confined to Arab weddings and communities with no place in public events and among Western audiences. Today, after years of hard work, Dystinct stands with a substantial roster of hits and a sold-out music tour announced in America and Europe, confirming that the era of music being confined to a specific audience has come to an end, and that in the present age, Arabic music has emerged as a dominant force, playing a pivotal role in captivating a worldwide audience.
Dystinct
@designlesss/Billboard Arabia
With their latest song “Orange,” SPYAIR has entered a new phase of their musical career.
They managed to overcome what could be a fatal blow to most bands — the loss of their vocalist — by launching their YouTube channel “SPYAIR, Looking for a Vocalist” and their vocal audition titled “You’re SPYAIR! Hey Hey Speak Up, Anyone Want to Be Our Vocalist?” They turned this crisis into a new page in the band’s history, written together with their fans, and in April 2023 they relaunched themselves as a new four-member incarnation of SPYAIR with YOSUKE on vocals.
“Orange” is the theme song of Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle, which opened in Japanese theaters on Feb. 16. Not only is it the theme song of a popular anime film, but the band’s previous songs “Imagination,” “I’m a Believer” and “One Day” have also been used as Haikyuu!! theme songs, so “Orange” is a reunion between the band and the anime.
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“Orange” has an emotional backstory, but it’s also making its mark on the music charts. On the Billboard Japan Hot 100 songs chart, it debuted at No. 19 on the Feb. 21-dated chart, the first tracking week after the song’s release. A week later, on the Feb. 28-dated chart, it climbed to its highest position of No. 8, becoming the new SPYAIR’s biggest hit. It’s a truly iconic song for the band.
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That’s not the only reason “Orange” is going to be leading SPYAIR into a new phase of its history. Looking carefully at a breakdown of the points used to calculate the song’s Billboard Japan Hot 100 ranking, it’s apparent that the source of almost all of its points — that is, the way people are listening to it the most — is streaming. The Billboard Japan Hot 100 is currently based on six metrics: CD sales, downloads, streaming, radio, video views, and karaoke. Since the song’s debut on the chart, streaming already accounts for more than 70%. Looking at the streaming metric scores for “Orange,” it’s kept up a steady level of streaming even after it peaked on the Feb. 28 chart, earning roughly the same amount of points each week. This steady streaming performance is key.
All the long-running hits on the charts are songs with consistently high streaming numbers. One example of a song that has kept a top position on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for weeks is Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born.” It has held the No. 1 spot on the chart for 12 consecutive weeks so far (from the Jan. 31 to the April 17 chart), and it’s still going. Another is Ado’s “Show,” which kept dropping from No. 1 and bouncing right back, for a total of 13 weeks at the top. Yet another is YOASOBI’s “Idol,” which holds the chart record of 21 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (from April 19 to Sept. 6, 2023). The list goes on. One thing all of these songs has in common is that they all accumulated points on the karaoke and the UGC metrics. (UGC = User Generated Content. For the Billboard Japan charts, this consists of plays of derivative videos on YouTube.) Karaoke and derivative works are active ways for fans to enjoy songs, and they spread awareness of songs to people who had otherwise not heard them before. When people are exposed to these songs and take a liking to them, they listen to them on streaming services, growing the song’s fan base.
Looking at the metrics for “Orange” from that perspective, we see that the karaoke metric score has been rising week-on-week, finally hitting the top 100 in the April 3 chart. Although it seems the UGC metric has peaked, the song is managing to keep its UGC numbers high, just like it’s keeping up strong streaming numbers. From these two facts, we can see that “Orange” isn’t just a hit among past SPYAIR fans, but that it’s also being welcomed by people unfamiliar with SPYAIR’s previous work. On the comprehensive Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart (Billboard Japan counts the eponymously titled Orange EP as an album), Orange rose up in the CD sales metric in the fourth week after its release (on the March 13, 2024 dated chart). The fact that the drop-off in sales has been so gradual is yet further evidence that the band is reaching new fans.
For artists like SPYAIR who have been active before music streaming services became widespread in Japan, CD sales and downloads remain key metrics that play important roles in determining their ranking positions. SPYAIR’s best-charting song on the Billboard JAPAN Hot 100 has been “Imagination,” which came in at No. 3 on the May 7, 2014 dated chart, followed by “I’m a Believer,” which placed at No. 5 on the chart dated October 28, 2015. Streaming numbers were sluggish not only for these two songs, which came out before streaming was mainstream, but also for more recent songs like “One Day,” the ending theme to Haikyuu!! ~TO THE TOP, season four of the TV anime (the single began streaming on October 3, 2020, and was included in a limited-run CD released on November 11) and their previous song, “RE-BIRTH” (released on July 7, 2023). For all of these songs, ranking positions were correlated with shifts in CD sales and downloads. The situation with “Orange” is totally different. In other words, SPYAIR has finally begun enjoying streaming support and attracting new listeners, which has created the possibility that “Orange” will become a song with long chart staying power.
This streaming support also has the potential to make “Orange” not just a long-running hit in Japan, but also a global hit. Songs with strong streaming (and karaoke) support, like “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” “Show,” and “Idol,” became global hits almost simultaneously with blowing up in Japan. Of course, there were other factors involved, like dances or short videos, but one key factor was getting included in playlists on streaming platforms. It’s clear that this drew even greater attention to them and exposed even more people to these songs. On Billboard Japan’s Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan, a global chart that ranks hit Japanese songs in over 200 countries and regions excluding Japan, “Orange” peaked at No. 57 (on the March 7, 2024 dated chart). In the Japan Songs (by Country) chart, which adjusts the data from the Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart by weighting it on a per-country basis, “Orange” has entered the top 20 in Korea (reaching No. 18 on the chart dated March 7, 2024). SPYAIR is gradually developing more widespread recognition, especially in Korea.
There’s no way to talk about SPYAIR without talking about the staunch support they enjoy in Korea. In 2011, when it was comparatively rare for Japanese artists to gain recognition overseas, SPYAIR performed at Korea’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival 2011. In the same year, they released their first album in both Japan and Korea, and they performed on the music TV show M Countdown roughly 12 years before YOASOBI. Since then, they’ve played at several local festivals and sold out their 2DAYS solo show. Through the years, they’ve steadily built up a Korean fan base. Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle will be released in theaters overseas in May, and global interest in “Orange” is certain to rise. Given that, the existence of a fandom outside Japan will serve as a tremendous advantage in the band’s overseas expansion.
SPYAIR performed at the Sakura-Con anime convention held in Seattle from March 29 to 31, and in May it’s planning an Asian tour that will take it to Seoul, Taipei, and Shanghai. Keep a close eye on the new SPYAIR and watch as it takes wing not only in Japan but also throughout Asia and the rest of the world.
—This article by Maiko Murata first appeared on Billboard Japan
Billboard and Billboard Korea have joined forces with CJ ENM to expand the global influence of the K-pop industry. The entertainment company behind KCON and MAMA AWARDS has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Billboard and Billboard Korea, ahead of the first Billboard Korea print issue mid-year. Harry H.K. Shin, Head of Music Entertainment […]
Kakao Entertainment is aiming to accelerate the global expansion of K-pop thanks to a new partnership with Billboard and Billboard Korea. The company announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with the American music and entertainment magazine to enhance the influence of K-pop worldwide. Joseph Chang, co-CEO of Kakao Entertainment, met with Billboard President […]
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” extends its stay atop the Billboard Japan Hot 100 to 12 weeks on the chart dated April 17.
While downloads for the MASHLE Season 2 opener dropped to No. 5, the hip-hip track continues to hold the top spot for streaming, video views, and karaoke.
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Kenshi Yonezu‘s “Sayonara, Mata Itsuka!” (“goodbye, see you again sometime”) debuts at No. 2 this week. The latest track by the J-pop hitmaker is currently being featured as the theme song for the latest installment of the historic NHK morning drama series entitled The Tiger and Her Wings. After being digitally released April 8, the song racked up 39,275 downloads in its first week, surpassing the 34,423 downloads of its predecessor “Spinning Globe.” “Sayonara” also debuts at No. 8 for streaming and No. 5 for video, also a better start than the previous single. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter’s previous No. 1 hits “KICK BACK” and “Lemon” rise 75-72 and 98-82 respectively, possibly influenced by the release of this new track.
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Bowing at No. 3 is “Chance wa byodo” (“chances are equal”) by Nogizaka46. The J-pop girl group’s 35th single went on sale April 10 and hit No. 1 for sales with 713,872 copies sold in its first week, while also coming in at No. 15 for downloads and No. 14 for radio. The song’s first-week sales was about 20,000 copies more than the group’s previous single, “Monopoly.”
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Number_i’s “Blow Your Cover” debuts at No. 5 on the Japan Hot 100, after hitting No. 1 for radio, No. 2 for downloads, and No. 7 for video. Number_i took the stage at Coachella for the first time on Sunday (April 14), performing “FUJI” and “GOAT,” the latter including a surprise collaboration with Jackson Wang.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” debuts at No. 11. The opener for the anime Oblivion Battery comes in at No. 4 for downloads, No. 15 for streaming, and No. 8 for video.
In other Japan chart news, Hikaru Utada’s songs off her latest best-of album Science Fiction, which topped all the album charts this week, also moved up the song chart. “Traveling” is at No. 27, “First Love” at No. 43, and “automatic” at No. 80.
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 April 8 to 14, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
In January 2023, when Los Angeles-based songwriter David Arkwright accepted his Roc Nation-signed colleague Natania Lalwani‘s invitation to visit her home city of Mumbai, he thought, “Let’s go see India! This could be fun.” The next thing he knew, he was commuting two hours a day through heavy traffic to work 18-hour studio sessions all month with the singer-rapper King, whose 2022 hit “Maan Meri Jaan” has 446 million Spotify streams.
“King walked in, and he started to sing,” recalls Arkwright, who wound up taking two additional trips to India last year to work on King’s October album New Life. “We just went, ‘Aaaaaand we’re writing.’ After that, it was like, ‘Hi, nice to meet you.’”
With its population of 1.4 billion, India is one of the biggest potential international markets for streaming hits — and it’s just emerging as a music business powerhouse after years of dealing with online piracy and stream-ripping. So top publishers are funding trips for veteran Western songwriters like Arkwright to combine their pop skills with regional stars. And it’s not just India. In October, publisher Warner Chappell sent U.S. country songwriters to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for a camp that generated potential hits for top regional sertanejo stars. And U.S. songwriters have spent the last decade traveling to South Korea and Japan, working with regional labels to write K-pop and J-pop hits.
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“With the way socials are going, the world is such a smaller place, whether we’re talking Korea or India or Brazil,” says J.Que Smith, a Grammy-nominated L.A. songwriter who has co-written for Beyoncé and Justin Bieber and recently penned Japanese girl group XG‘s hit “Shooting Star.” “Thirty years ago, we weren’t really caught up on what India was doing, and India didn’t know what we were doing. But now that’s very different.”
For decades in the record industry, the only Western stars who could break internationally were those who could ship physical records to far-away countries — from Cheap Trick in Japan to Michael Jackson in Europe. In the streaming era, that has changed. K-pop stars, as well as Latin-music breakouts like “Despacito,” have demonstrated that international successes can emerge from anywhere, not just North America or Europe. Coachella showed this international breadth in April with headliners such as Mexico’s Peso Pluma and Carin León, South Korea’s ATEEZ and LE SSERAFIM, Colombia’s J Balvin, Argentina’s Bizarrap and South Africa’s Tyla, says Marc Geiger, the former William Morris head of music who is now head of SaveLive, which invests in independent live music clubs. “Music has turned into the Olympics,” Geiger says.
Roughly 14 years ago, Harvey Mason, Jr., a producer and songwriter who has worked with Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Justin Timberlake, accepted an invitation from South Korea’s SM Entertainment to work with a half-dozen other Los Angeles songwriters to crank out what became hits for K-Pop groups like Girls’ Generation and EXO. “We kind of just did what we did and took their sounds and took our sounds and put them together,” recalls Mason, now CEO of The Recording Academy, who continues to collaborate with K-pop artists. “New music markets are being developed and becoming more healthy and vibrant. Look at Africa — you’ve got 1.4 billion people on the continent, and they consume so much music. As the infrastructure of the industry starts to build, you’re going to see regional hits becoming just as important as hits in the U.S.”
India is perhaps the most fertile region for music-streaming opportunity: Total streams in 2023 were more than 1 trillion, second only to the U.S., according to Luminate, and the country ranked first in volume growth, well outpacing the U.S., Indonesia and Brazil. Then again, a monthly Spotify account in India costs roughly $1.42, so the revenues for artists, labels and other rightsholders aren’t yet as robust as they are in the U.S. and elsewhere. “The revenue generated for a track always depends on where it is streamed and what the end-user is paying for the subscription in that specific geography,” says Ludovic Pouilly, senior vp of music industry relations for Deezer, a streaming service available in more than 185 countries (though not in India).
In 2023, Asian recorded-music revenue increased 14.9%, according to IFPI, its fourth straight year of double-digit growth, while revenues in the Middle East and North Africa rose 14.4% and Latin America’s 10-year boom continued with a 19.4% jump. Major music companies are making heavy investment bets in these regions — Sony Music bought top Brazilian indie label Som Livre for $255 million in 2021, for example, to try to dominate the world’s ninth-largest music market, whose revenues increased 13.4% in 2023, according to the IFPI.
For publishers, the world market has become so robust that many are making like Arkwright and Smith and supplementing their song-royalty income from once-reliable U.S. markets with suddenly-reliable work in Asia and Brazil. “Five years ago, pop songs were huge in America, and it was easy to export our writers. It’s a bit harder now, because there’s a local hip-hop culture where Nordic writers are not as good to be in,” says Lars Karlsson, managing director of Warner Chappell Music Scandinavia, a region famous for pop mega-songwriters such as Sweden’s Max Martin. “It’s beautiful to have emerging markets open up for us.” Adds Ryan Press, Warner Chappell’s North American president: “For a while, it felt like you had to have success in the U.S., and that dictated everything. Now that’s not the case.”
In 2022, Universal Music Publishing Group launched an A&R team, the Global Creative Group, to plan cross-cultural collaborations such as a recent K-pop songwriting camp in Los Angeles and a country-and-Latin-music camp in Mexico City. It sent Elena Rose, a Venezuelan-American songwriter from Miami who co-wrote last year’s Becky G–Karol G hit “Mamiii,” to Morocco to collaborate with singer-songwriter Manal — and wound up with a duet and a reworked album. “It wasn’t like, ‘We’re going to send our Western producers to colonize some unsuspecting territory,’” says David Gray, the UMPG exec who leads the group. “It was, ‘We’ve got a great Latin artist and a great artist in Morocco, let’s put them together.’ This is not about imposing Western creative styles onto another country.”
Dominated by the Bollywood film industry and plagued for years with online piracy, India has struggled to develop its own recorded-music business, despite a period of Indipop and Punjabi pop hits in the ’80s and ’90s. But Universal and Sony have had offices in India for years, and Warner Music expanded its presence there in 2020, installing Jay Mehta as managing director; earlier this year, Reservoir Media signed publishing deals, including catalogs and future works, for Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil. India is the 14th-biggest music market, increasing revenues by 15.3% in 2023.
Over the last few years, according to New Delhi-born singer-songwriter Subhi, the music business in India has broadened from strict Bollywood-industry guidelines to artists and music companies with a broader palette to create songs. That shift has led to more regional hits — and interest from major record labels and publishers, and more collaborations, like a songwriting camp Subhi attended through Anara Publishing and a co-writing session with a U.K. producer she’d met at a separate camp. “It’s a huge market to cater to, but also, slowly, we’re building an audience for independent music,” says Subhi, who is based in L.A. and Chicago. “It’s only the beginning.”
A regional star in India, King is a “sign that Indian music will have an increasing impact and influence on the global charts,” as the general manager of his label, Warner Music Middle East, said in 2023’s IFPI report. Now that King’s 2020 hit, “Tu Aake Dekhle,” has scored 395 million Spotify plays, Bhavy Anand, one of his managers, says, “We’ve been getting a lot of attention from international songwriters and publishers and media houses. This was unheard-of three years, four years [ago].”
Working with Warner’s Mehta, King’s team saw an opportunity to cross over from regional hits to international stardom, and recorded a new version of “Maan Meri Jaan,” with vocals in both Hindi and English. The label contacted Lalwani, the Mumbai-born songwriter who lives in Los Angeles. “I wanted to make it very effortless — Hindi and English isn’t something that’s always put together,” Lalwani says. Later, the label enlisted a U.S. pop star, Nick Jonas, to add duet vocals for the new version released in April.
For Arkwright, collaborating with artists outside North America and Europe is a crucial way to diversify his songwriting business. “People there are doing things that no one is doing here. I want to partner with those people,” he says. “I wish it could be like in the ’80s, where you could have a Michael Jackson B-side and buy a house in Malibu. But you have to look at things differently. You have to look at new and emerging markets.”
Chowon, a member of the K-pop girl group ICHILLIN’, was reportedly hospitalized after being hit by a foul ball at a professional baseball game that she and her band mates were participating in on Tuesday (April 16), according to local reports in Korea.
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At a matchup between the Kiwoom Heroes and KT Wiz and Kiwoom held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, ICHILLIN’ opened the game with member Yeju throwing the first pitch and ICHILLIN’ leader E.Ji taking the ceremonial first bat ahead of a group performance later. While watching the game and waiting to perform, the group’s youngest member, 18-year-old Chowon, was struck by a foul ball during the third inning.
According to reports, the foul ball struck Chowon in the back of the head with the blow knocking the singer unconscious. She was taken in for medical assistance in the stadium and regained consciousness with the aid of on-the-scene physicians and officials. The star was transferred to a nearby hospital.
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The initial reports indicate Chowon was not seriously injured. However, the performance from ICHILLIN was canceled after the incident.
A YouTube account has uploaded video footage from ICHILLIN’s time at the baseball game where viewers can hear the crack of a baseball and see ICHILLIN and those in the audience near them spot a high-flying foul ball coming towards them. According to social media comments, the uploader chose not to include footage of the moment the ball made impact. The moment happens during the last five seconds of the video:
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Billboard has contacted KM Entertainment, the label and representation for ICHILLIN’, but did not immediately receive a response.
Consisting of members Chowon, E.Ji, Yeju, Jackie, Chaerin, Joonie and Jiyoon, ICHILLIN’ made their debut in September 2021 with the single “Got’Ya” to compete alongside the latest crop of K-pop groups vying for international attention. With three EPs under their belt, the group’s latest record, Feelin’ Hot, dropped on March 7, led by the single “On My Lips,” with its music video garnering almost a million views to date.
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Billboard Japan spoke with singer-songwriter kiki vivi lily for its Women in Music interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry. The WIM initiative in Japan launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work. The first 30 interviews in this series were published in Japan as a “Billboard Japan Presents” collection by writer Rio Hirai.
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kiki vivi lily is a J-pop singer known for her soothing voice and various collaborative efforts with acts and artists in hip-hop and other genres, who realized her dream of making a living as an artist after working in the corporate world for a while. The 33-year-old sat down with Billboard Japan to look back on her career and share her thoughts on lookism and ageism in the Japanese music industry, cheerfully noting, “I think there are things I can do because I debuted as an adult.”
When did you decide to pursue music as a career?
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I’ve always loved music and apparently used to sing on top of tables since I was two or three years old. I formed a band in junior high but it was just for fun and we covered other people’s songs by imitating them. It wasn’t until I entered university that I began to think seriously about wanting to become a musician. I saw a documentary on (J-pop superstar) Yumi Matsutoya and seeing the process of how the things she wrote became the finished songs was so amazing that I decided to try writing my own.
You’ve always written your own lyrics. Is there anything you are mindful of when you work on them?
So I love Yumi Matsutoya and when you listen to her songs, it’s like the landscape opens up before your eyes. The way she depicts the scene is incredible and she transports the listener to a different world through her music. I try to keep that in mind when I write, so that my listeners can experience something like that through my music. I’ve matured now compared to when I first got started, so I also want to write lyrics that empower people who listen to them.
Was there a reason why you started thinking that way?
Looking back on my career, being a female artist is something I’ve often been aware of. When I first began working in music, there was a clearer distinction between men and women than there is now, and with the rise of social media, I’ve had people say things about my appearance. A lot of the musicians around me were male, but when I discussed this with them, they didn’t seem to receive as many comments about the way they looked. Female artists were often criticized about their appearance and age more than their music, so I’ve always felt that was weird. I’ve always focused on trying to make the coolest music I can in my career, but it felt like people were only looking at the surface. I just pretended to ignore it and let it slide at the time, but have always thought that one day, when I have more influence, I want to do something to help others who are feeling the same way.
So after some time passed, you decided to put those feelings from back then into your work.
Right. I’d sort of given up at the time, thinking I wasn’t in a position to make a difference. Times have changed since then and words like lookism and gender gap are more well known now, so it’s easier for me to say what I want to say. I’m also at a point where I don’t really care what people say about me anymore and trust that there are people out there who will get what I’m saying.
I’d like to think that we’ve made some progress since the days when lookism was rampant, and when artists like you make your position clear, it definitely accelerates that advancement. Also, the topic of how female artists can continue their careers for a long time in a healthy way while dealing with changes in their lifestyles is something I’d like to ask you about.
That’s a really important topic for me as well. What I try to keep in mind for the long haul is to not sell myself short. The artists who write songs that I want to listen to for a long time stay grounded doing what they do. So I’ve also been working with the belief that what’s important is to steadily keep making music I think is good.
I started my music career my mid-twenties, and was sometimes told back then that I was quite old. Staff members would say it to my face or I’d hear that someone had said so. It made me sad every time, but that’s why I stayed away from people in authority who judged me based on my age or appearance, and made songs with artists of my generation. Looking back now, I know I was right not to let such things bother me, and that as long as I take what I do seriously, time will take care of things. Now that I’m older than I was back then, I’ve come to think that getting older isn’t something to be afraid of.
Are there any female artists you see as role models?
I always look forward to watching the Grammys. It’s great seeing women be successful. I think Victoria Monét is particularly wonderful, and after doing some digging about the way she uses her platform to speak out on social issues, I feel she’s one of the figures I aspire to be. In Japan, Yumi Matsutoya of course, and seeing artists like Chara and UA staying in the forefront through motherhood makes me want to try it, too.
I’m in my thirties now and the women around me are going through various life stages. My musician friends are really energetic and active in their careers, and I’m having a lot of fun, too. Meanwhile, my friends who have families also seem fulfilled. I started auditioning while in college, but once I graduated, I found a job and continued to work at a company while doing music. When the pandemic hit, I decided to focus on music. Because I debuted relatively late, I often think about how to keep doing what I do for a long time, and I’m like, “I’ll just do everything I want to do.”
It sounds like you’ve gone through a lot but put things behind you and are now able to focus on your career. What message do you want to convey through your music?
That there are no rules in life, I guess. There’s no such thing as “too late” to start something, and there’s no rule that says female artists must look attractive. It’d be great if everyone could do what they long to do. I need to be spending quality time and be filled with good vibes or I won’t have the energy to send out positive messages to people, so I’d like to see the wider world and experience a lot of things from now on, too.
—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
Wednesday Campanella singer Utaha chatted with Billboard Japan for its Women in Music interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry. The WIM initiative in Japan launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work. The first 30 interviews in this series were published in Japan as a “Billboard Japan Presents” collection by writer Rio Hirai.
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Utaha began her music career under unusual circumstances, joining a successful music project as the second-generation lead singer. The 22-year-old artist is now branching out into other fields as well, such as acting. Her striking, one-of-a-kind look has been her passion since before she debuted as Wednesday Campanella’s new frontwoman. After going through a period of feeling like she couldn’t live “normally,” she decided to first change her appearance to cast off her old self, and this transformation eventually led to major changes in her life as well.
I heard you weren’t thinking of becoming a singer before joining Wednesday Campanella. What do you think you’d be doing otherwise?
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Utaha: A designer…maybe? I studied design at an art college, and shortly before Wednesday Campanella, I was looking into internships at design companies. I was also uploading my outfits and the stuff I was thinking about at the time on social media. I was asked to join the group because they saw what I was doing, so I was able to start my current career pretty freely.
So your current hair, makeup, and fashion are extensions of what you were doing before.
Yes, the prototype already existed when I was in high school. I couldn’t adapt to school life very well. I didn’t have an icon or an ideal image of what I wanted to be like, but I wanted to break away from my weak self at the time. I wanted to be strong, so I pierced my lip and buzzed my hair.
I imagine it would take courage to do something different when you’re not feeling strong. Were you trying to generate momentum to change yourself?
There was a period when I never encountered anyone who could help me when things were rough, so I had no choice but to help myself. It was really hard for me to change how I felt because of deeply ingrained values. But I realized that all I needed to do was to take a step forward to change the way I look. After realizing that, I immediately took action.
Until then, what was difficult for you or made you feel you couldn’t adapt?
I’m not sure… I was a really normal kid. There was a time when I tried my best to “live like everyone else,” but that didn’t seem to suit me very well. But because I couldn’t do what everyone else was doing normally, I was able to think about what I could do and improve on that.
What changed when you changed your appearance?
I went to a public high school in Tokyo and TikTok was all the rage. It was normal for everyone to look cute like the girls on TikTok in my school, so there were no other girls who had their hair buzzed and lip pierced. There were some who thought I was weird and expressed that sentiment, but it felt like changing my appearance created a kind of barrier around me. I didn’t become stronger on the inside right away, but it was like I had another skin around my weak self. Eventually, it made me stronger on the inside as well.
After you debuted as Wednesday Campanella, you entered a phase where you were expected to express yourself with more than your hair and makeup. Did you feel uncomfortable about that?
I’d never thought of becoming a musician, so I started out not knowing anything at all, like what would happen when I did something on stage. Plus, I debuted in the midst of the pandemic and there were a lot of restrictions like not being able to speak or raise your arms (during concerts), so we got no reactions and I couldn’t tell what the right answer was. But after about six months, a song [“Edison”] went viral. After that, I had more opportunities to be featured in the media. When you get exposure, people say stuff about you on social media. I almost lost sight of what I really wanted to value, but after going through that period, now I’m able to work without losing sight of myself.
You’re in an unusual position where you took over from a predecessor, but it looks like you’re working with a clear idea of what you want to do. Could you tell us what it is you value to not lose sight of yourself?
Obviously I wondered if people would accept me and felt pressured about that, but once I got started, it turned out people were surprisingly welcoming. After I felt that response, I began to do more and think about my strengths. By accepting myself, that I’m cute the way I am, I want the people who see me perform to think that it’s OK to accept and praise themselves for being cute and amazing. “Value the things you like, but live with respect and consideration for others” is the message I can communicate from the stage, and that’s the strength of what I do.
While diversity is being celebrated these days, it feels like society is becoming more divided and our values becoming more polarized in reality. I can see how a lot of people would be encouraged by the way you value your distinctive style of cuteness in such an environment.
When I look at TikTok and such, it really feels like the ideal of what everyone thinks is cute is becoming more and more standardized. It’s kind of strange that my idea of cute is respected in a society where lookism is still so rampant. Obviously there are people who don’t share my idea of cute, but that’s just a matter of preference so I think if I pursue what I believe in, the people who share my outlook will congregate where I end up.
I’m sure there are people out there who don’t have the courage to do what they believe in like you do. Do you think such people should just give it a try?
I’m in a position to say, “Why don’t you give it a try?” because I actually went through with it and it worked out, but I’m sure there are people who aren’t able to take the plunge because of their environment. Especially if they’re students surrounded by adults who instill rules in their lives, I’m sure many feel it’s hard to take that first step. But when you go out into the world, don’t you think, “What a tiny world I lived in when I was a student”? The world is much bigger than that, so I think you can have more fun searching for freedom if you broaden your perspective.
Do you think being a woman has affected your career?
It probably has affected me, for better or worse. Nowadays, men are freer to wear skirts and do their nails and such, but I’ve loved makeup and fashion since I was little, so I was glad to be a girl to be able to enjoy those things freely. I used to not like the shape of my body before, but thanks to fashion I’ve come to like it. Ideally, though, I want such discrepancies between men and women to disappear. People are always arguing on social media about how women are like this and men are like that, and I know there’s no easy solution, but I hope there will be less discrimination all around.
Society is gradually changing and I want to think that people in their 20s like you sense things differently and have a more unbiased outlook. Do you think this is the case?
I’m probably surrounded by people who think like I do. I say stuff like, “Let’s look at people as people and not by their genders” and “Don’t call people names based on their looks,” so the ones who discriminate don’t come near me. But when I interact with people who aren’t my fans on social media, there are so many different opinions. It feels like things are changing when I’m just looking around myself, but I’m reminded that when I look at society as a whole, not much progress is being made.
I get the impression that you’re analyzing yourself and society very calmly as you go through life. Do you have ways of coping when you feel down or when you hit a wall?
I don’t think I’ve hit any walls yet, but there are times when I feel down. When that happens, I eat and sleep! [Laughs] You know how there are things you can’t do anything about right away? Like lookism, you can’t change that right away. Although I know there’s nothing I can do even if I keep worrying about it, I feel down sometimes, so I try to eat properly and go to bed before late at night to not be overwhelmed by it all. After 22 years of living, I’ve realized I’m more energetic in the morning than at night.
That’s simple and very good. OK then, what advice would you give yourself when you were just starting out?
I think I was really tense for the first year and a half of my career. I want to say edgier, but just a lot more pointed. I don’t think it was necessarily a bad thing though, and I’m glad I didn’t take in opinions that I couldn’t agree with, so I’d like to tell myself that I’m OK the way I am. I got to where I am today because I struggled and felt conflicted about things in my own way at the time.
–This interview by Rio Hirai first appeared on Billboard Japan