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King Stingray has announced the departure of lead vocalist Yirrŋa Yunupiŋu just as the band prepares to embark on their massive For The Dreams national tour.
The announcement was shared via the band’s social media on March 19, confirming that Yunupiŋu, who co-founded the band in 2020, will no longer be part of the lineup. Stepping into the role is Ngalakan Wanambi, who has already performed with King Stingray on their recent U.S. tour.
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“Hey everyone, we’ve got some news to share – King Stingray and Yirrŋa have parted ways,” the band wrote. “To keep the fire burning, we’re stoked to introduce the deadly Ngalakan Wanambi stepping up on vocals. He absolutely smashed it with us on our recent U.S. tour, and as always, our main man, Dima Burarrwanga, will be bringing the energy as he always does.”
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Formed in Yirrkala, a remote community in Arnhem Land, King Stingray quickly made a name for themselves with their blend of Yolŋu rock, seamlessly fusing Indigenous sounds with surf-rock and alternative influences. Yunupiŋu, the nephew of the late Dr. M. Yunupiŋu of Yothu Yindi, co-founded the group with guitarist Roy Kellaway, the son of Yothu Yindi bassist Stuart Kellaway.
With Yunupiŋu as lead singer, King Stingray released their self-titled debut album in 2022, followed by For The Dreams in November 2024. The band has since been at the forefront of Australia’s contemporary music scene, winning critical acclaim and multiple awards, including an ARIA for Best Independent Release.
Their For The Dreams national tour kicks off March 21 at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, followed by stops in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Fremantle. Special guests Beddy Rays and The Belair Lip Bombs will join them on select dates.
Despite the lineup change, the band assured fans that the tour will retain the signature King Stingray energy. “This For The Dreams tour is gonna be something really special – same King Stingray spirit, same unstoppable Yolŋu rock and a whole lotta love,” they wrote.
Australia has fallen out of the top 10 global music markets for the first time in nearly three decades, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) latest Global Music Report.
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The annual report, released this week, ranks the world’s largest music markets based on recorded music revenues, with the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom retaining their long-standing dominance in the top three positions. However, for the first time since at least 1996, Australia is absent from the top 10, with Mexico overtaking it to claim the final spot.
Despite this shift, recorded music revenues in Australia continue to rise. The IFPI report states that revenues in Australasia reached $629 million in 2024, reflecting a 6.4% increase, with Australia specifically seeing a 6.1% boost. Similarly, New Zealand experienced a 7.8% revenue increase. Yet, these figures were not enough to maintain Australia’s position in the ranking, as markets like Mexico saw even more rapid growth, with a 15.6% increase, while Brazil, now ranked ninth, grew by a staggering 21.7%.
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Historically, Australia has been a formidable player in the global music industry, reaching as high as No. 6 on the IFPI’s ranking in 2004 and holding that position again from 2007 to 2015. In recent years, however, the country has hovered on the edge of the top 10 before finally dropping out in 2024.
This decline raises questions about the factors influencing Australia’s global standing. While growth remains steady, the rapid expansion of emerging markets suggests a shift in industry investment and audience engagement. Countries like Mexico and Brazil have seen increased investment in A&R, marketing, and local talent development, contributing to their rising influence on the international stage.
The IFPI’s Global Market Overview offers an optimistic outlook overall, noting that worldwide music revenues increased for the tenth consecutive year, growing 4.8% to a total of $29.6 billion. “The growth tells a story of an industry that continues to evolve and adapt around the world – with every region experiencing growth,” the report states.
However, the challenge for Australia lies in securing a stronger foothold in the global landscape amid this evolving market. Recent figures from ARIA indicate six consecutive years of revenue growth in Australia’s recorded music sector, but the nation’s industry leaders may need to explore new strategies to regain their competitive edge. Increased investment in local artists, a greater push for international market penetration, and innovations in streaming and digital distribution could all be key to Australia reclaiming its spot in the global top 10.
The full IFPI Global Music Report is available for review, providing further insights into the shifts shaping the industry in 2025.
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.
Australian rock icons Silverchair are set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their seminal debut album, Frogstomp, with a special event in Sydney next week. However, frontman Daniel Johns will not be taking part.
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The event is scheduled for March 26 at the Metro Social in Sydney, a venue that holds significance for Silverchair, as it hosted some of the band’s early performances before their rapid rise to fame.
The night will feature drummer Ben Gillies, former Silverchair manager John Watson, and label executive John O’Donnell, all sharing insights into the band’s meteoric success. Additionally, celebrated music photographer Tony Mott will be in attendance, and Sydney-based indie rockers The Buoys are set to perform tracks from Frogstomp in tribute.
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Released in March 1995, Frogstomp catapulted Silverchair to international stardom. The album debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and made history by reaching the top 10 of the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 9 and marking the first time an Australian band had done so since INXS.
The record, which features hits like “Tomorrow” and “Pure Massacre,” earned five ARIA Awards and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
The upcoming anniversary celebration follows the release of Love & Pain, a memoir co-authored by Gillies and bassist Chris Joannou in 2023. The book offers an in-depth look at the band’s origins in Newcastle and their rise to becoming one of Australia’s most successful rock acts. However, the absence of Johns from the event is consistent with his continued reluctance to revisit Silverchair’s past.
Johns has been vocal about distancing himself from his former band. He previously opposed the airing of a two-part Australian Story documentary on ABC iView, which coincided with the release of Love & Pain, citing unauthorized use of Silverchair’s music. In an Instagram post, Johns addressed his stance:
“I was and remain incredibly supportive of them telling their story,” he wrote. “I was asked at the end of filming to be interviewed about their contribution to the band and although I wished them all the best, I respectfully declined for one reason. I haven’t been involved in the book nor am I aware of the contents. I’ve asked on many occasions to read the book but haven’t been sent a copy, consequently, I was uncomfortable being interviewed to help promote it.”
Despite Johns’ absence, the Frogstomp anniversary event is expected to be a significant occasion for longtime Silverchair fans, offering a retrospective look at one of the most defining records in Australian rock history.
Tencent Music Entertainment surpassed revenue of $1 billion in the fourth quarter, representing an 8.2% increase from the prior-year period, while net profit climbed 47.3% to $284 million.
The Chinese music streaming company operates three music streaming services — Kugou Music, QQ Music and Kuwo Music — as well as WeSing, a karaoke app. In recent years, Tencent Music’s business has become increasingly dominated by its music services as its social entertainment business continues to lose business.
Online music revenue grew 16.1% to $799 million due to music subscription gains and growth in advertising revenue, while music subscription revenue jumped 18% to $552 million in the quarter as the number of subscribers increased 13.4% to 121 million. Additionally, gross margin jumped to 43.6% in the fourth quarter from 38.3% in the prior-year period. The company attributed the improvement to strong growth in music subscriptions and advertising revenue and increased usage of owned content, as well as its adoption of the Super VIP program, a subscription tier that costs five times the normal rate. Monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) grew to 11.1 RMB ($1.52) from 10.7 RMB ($1.47) due in part to the expansion of the Super VIP membership program.
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The social entertainment business has suffered a sharp decline since the Chinese government began cracking down on the use of live-streaming apps to enable gambling in 2021. In the fourth quarter, social entertainment revenue fell 13% to $223 million and mobile monthly active users declined 21.2% to 82 million (the number stood at 223 million at the end of 2020). Monthly ARPU fell 9.7% to 70.4 RMB ($9.64), down from 172.1 RMB ($26.38) at the end of 2020, and paying users slipped 3.8% to 7.7 million.
For the full year, revenue increased 2.3% to $3.89 billion while net profit climbed 36.2% to $974 million, and gross margin improved to 42.3% from 35.3%. Online music revenue grew 25.5% to $2.98 billion while social entertainment revenue fell 36.1% to $912 million. Full-year gross margin improved to 42.3% from 35.3% in 2023.
Tencent Music Entertainment’s music platforms have evolved into one-stop shops that also include audiobooks, merchandise, downloads and live-streaming. In 2024, the company produced physical albums for Xiao Zhan and Lay Zhang and boosted album sales for Esther Yu by providing options to purchase merchandise along with her digital albums. It also partnered with the band Mayday for an online New Year’s Eve concert.
The company also announced a $273 million dividend and a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion over a two-year period that will commence this month. A $500 million share repurchase program announced in March 2023 will conclude this month.
Tencent Music Entertainment’s shares, which trade on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, had risen 15.8% to $15.12 on the NYSE at the close of trading on Tuesday.
For over a year, the K-pop industry has been embroiled in a heated debate over the girl group NewJeans. In fact, even the name “NewJeans” has become a point of contention following the group’s announcement in February that they would be rebranded as NJZ. However, their management company, ADOR, has disputed the legitimacy of this name change. While the group has requested to be referred to as NJZ, no legal ruling has been made on the matter, leaving the existing contract intact. As a result, from a legal standpoint, NewJeans remains the more accurate designation for the time being.
Amid ongoing legal uncertainties, NewJeans is moving ahead independently. This March, the group is scheduled to perform at ComplexCon Hong Kong, where they are reportedly debuting a new song. This move appears to be an attempt to further establish their rebranded identity as NJZ. After all, performing NewJeans’ hit songs while adopting a new name could be seen as contradictory.
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Music organizations and associations in Korea are closely monitoring the NewJeans situation. In February, five major organizations — the Korea Management Federation, Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association, Record Label Industry of Korea, Recording Industry Association of Korea and the Korea Music Content Association — issued a statement expressing concerns over NewJeans and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s independent activities. Their primary issue is “tampering,” with suspicions that Min has been attempting to remove NewJeans from ADOR.
The statement from the five organizations reads, “For the past 10 months, we have observed a growing trend, in which certain parties attempt to resolve private disputes through media campaigns and unilateral public statements instead of proper negotiations or legal procedures, including former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s press conferences, NewJeans member Hanni’s appearance at a National Assembly audit, and the group’s independent activities.”
NewJeans fans argue that these five organizations are merely echoing ADOR/HYBE’s stance. However, the key issue at hand is their emphasis on the importance of “adhering to legal processes.”
At a press conference on Nov. 28, 2024, NewJeans members announced that “their contract with ADOR would officially end at midnight on November 29th.” They stated, “We have had enough conversations and sent certification of content, but there were no responses during that time. As ADOR and HYBE have breached the contract, we are terminating it.”
Since then, NewJeans has continued its individual actions and reiterated its stance in interviews with foreign media. In a CNN interview last month, the group emphasized, “We have completely lost trust in ADOR. We believe we will win this battle against HYBE and ADOR.” Through Japan’s TV Asahi, a subsidiary of Asahi Shimbun, they stated, “Right now, there are very few media outlets in Korea that carry our voices. Instead of letting that discourage us, we will enjoy our activities.”
International fans who have closely followed NewJeans’ statements may be more inclined to side with the group. However, with both the lawsuit verifying the validity of their claims and the injunction application still ongoing, their assertions remain one-sided. In this context, foreign media that present NewJeans’ perspective without providing balanced coverage of the ongoing legal dispute risk spreading misinformation.
NewJeans and ADOR remain deeply divided, locked in a tense standoff. On March 7, the Seoul Central District Court held the first hearing on ADOR’s provisional injunction request to “maintain the status of agency and prohibit the signing of advertising contracts.” Both parties presented conflicting arguments and failed to reach a resolution.
As a result, it is challenging to take a definitive stance between ADOR or NewJeans. The most prudent thing to do right now is to wait and see how the court reaches its decision, based on the various claims and substantial evidence presented by both parties.
This is precisely the position shared by the five music industry organizations in Korea. On Feb. 27, they held a press conference titled, “Let’s Keep a Promise: Without Record Producers, There is No K-pop!,” where they declared:
“No one can confirm the cancellation of a contract before the court’s judgment, and we must all accept the legal outcome, whatever it may be. This is the only way to protect our industry amid conflict and dispute.”
For now, the K-pop community watches and waits for the court’s decision — a ruling that could have lasting implications for NewJeans, ADOR and the entire industry.
This article was written by Austin Jin and originally appeared on Billboard Korea.
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.