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Kenshi Yonezu’s “IRIS OUT” extends its run at No.1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for a sixth straight week, topping the chart dated Oct. 29.
The Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc theme leads four metrics this week: — downloads, streaming, video views, and karaoke. Downloads dipped 26% from the week before, but the song returns to No. 1 on the metric for the first time in three weeks. Radio airplay continued to build for a second week, rising to 127% of last week’s points.
Yonezu’s previous longest consecutive streak at No. 1 was the five-week run of “Lemon” in January 2019 (seven total weeks at the summit). With “IRIS OUT,” he now sets a new personal record for consecutive weeks at the top.
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JO1’s “Handz In My Pocket” moves to No. 2, soaring from No. 41 following its CD release. The single sold 692,223 copies in its first week, launching at No.1 for sales. Since debuting, JO1 have now placed all ten of their singles at No. 1 for sales. The CD release also lifted other metrics: downloads climbed from 19-3, streaming 40-33, radio 58-4, and video 65-47. Radio saw the sharpest increase, jumping to 655% of last week’s points.
At No. 3 is “JANE DOE” by Kenshi Yonezu and Hikaru Utada, rising a spot from last week. Karaoke increased to 108% of the previous week. HANA’s “My Body” climbs two notches to No. 4 as the breakout girl group places seven songs on the chart this week, including “Blue Jeans” at No. 6 and “ROSE” at No. 14.
Yonezu’s “1991” settles at No. 5, down two positions. The track comes in at No. 3 for streaming, No. 6 for downloads, No. 8 for video, and No. 14 for radio.
Elsewhere in the top 10, CLASS SEVEN’s first single “miss you” bows at No. 9, selling 18,522 CDs to place No. 4 for sales, while hitting No. 2 for radio and No. 89 for downloads. CUTIE STREET’s “We Can’t Stop Suddenly!” returns to the tally for the first time in about three months, charting at No. 10. The CD sold 50,567 copies to hit No. 2 for sales.
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 Oct. 20 to 26, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
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LiSA and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: the record-breaking collaboration that established a milestone in the history of Japanese entertainment is back. LiSA’s “Zankoku na yoru ni kagayake” (English title: “Shine in the Cruel Night”) graces the blockbuster animated movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle — Part 1: Akaza Returns as one of its two theme songs alongside Aimer’s “A World Where the Sun Never Rises.”
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Yuki Kajiura, who composed the soundtrack for the movie with Go Shiina, wrote “Shine in the Cruel Night.” Kajiura is the songwriter responsible for some of LiSA’s biggest Kimetsu collabs that perfectly capture the work’s universe, including “from the edge,” “Homura,” “Akeboshi,” and “Shirogane.” This comeback marks a significant chapter in LiSA’s hits-laden music career.
The songstress saw her singing overlap on screen with the actual movie footage for the first time shortly before this conversation with Daisuke Koyanagi (Interview inc.). Brimming with excitement, she spoke enthusiastically and deeply about the journey that led to her return to the world of the Kimetsu anime.
The movie was amazing, wasn’t it? We just saw it.
LiSA: I thought the animation’s production team was incredible. The way ufotable illuminates the scenes in the movie is just so beautiful. Throughout the entire film, the light in the characters’ eyes, too… the Infinity Castle movie is a work of art that makes abundant use of torchlights and illumination. The skillful craftsmanship of the artists is amazing, and the story is also great.
It really felt like the final battle in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has begun at last.
Yeah. The story makes it clear that no one can be missing from it.
And this is also your first Kimetsu theme song since the Mugen Train story arc.
While we were working on it, Ms. Kajiura and the team at ufotable talked about making a song that would grace the story. Ms. Kajiura and I wanted to make a song with a quiet chorus that would let everyone reflect on the tale so far and feel emotional, a tug at their heartstrings.
It was amazing. Perfectly intertwined with the story. It makes you wonder what kind of roadmap they created and how much they calculated to achieve that level of precision.
Ms. Kajiura puts thought into how a song will become part of the story, and also writes them with a lot of love for the singer. I think she considered how I could sing it as my own song for a long time to come. We discussed it together, exchanging ideas like, “How about something like this?” or “What about this kind of feeling?”
I’m guessing that until now, the situation was more like “LiSA sings songs written by Yuki Kajiura,” but this one was created differently, with you involved in closer proximity.
I was happy about that, too. Ms. Kajiura believed in me and welcomed me into her circle as someone she could talk to about music. At first, my mind was to just entrust her with (writing the song). In the sense that I have complete faith in her. I can tell that she cares deeply about (Kimetsu) and about me, too, so I thought my job was to interpret that and sing the songs. But after seeing the movie just now, it struck me again that everyone involved poured their hearts into every single scene. I felt that no one wanted to compromise on anything. So they probably also wanted to focus on the music and work closely with Ms. Kajiura to pursue it to the utmost.
Right.
The fact that they took my views into consideration helped me interpret the song with greater clarity when I sang it, and I felt like we were fighting together, which strengthened my commitment towards (the movie).
I get what you mean. How did you feel when you first heard that you’d be working with Ms. Kajiura again on a theme song for Kimetsu?
We last “fought” together on the Mugen Train story arc TV series [televised in 2021, a year after the Mugen Train movie opened in theaters], so being able to work with her again for this felt like we were taking it on together, just like in the story.
It’s been about five years since “Homura” (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train theme song) and you’ve gone through various phases in your career. Ms. Kajiura is someone who helped you seize a huge opportunity. Working on Kimetsu again with someone who knows you so well must have been both exciting and stressful, stirring up all kinds of emotions.
To be honest, I didn’t feel much stress about it. After all, anything that comes from working with her on a project like Kimetsu is bound to be good. I was just excited to see what kind of song she would give me to sing and what new perspectives the work itself would open up for me.
What was your impression when you first received the demo from her?
When I first heard it, it was a bit darker. It felt like it was a little more in tune with a darker mood.
And that changed with each take?
Right. When I received the song, I wanted to talk to her directly, so I visited her studio. I spoke to her of my resolve to fight alongside her as comrades in the same battle, and how I interpreted the song as “a story about us meeting again and going to defeat Muzan, our final enemy” and that I hoped my resolve would be reflected in it. I think that’s why it became more emotional and dramatic during the process. It was the same way with “Homura,” I was the one who wanted to include bright, hopeful phrases, while Ms. Kajiura wrote about sadness as it is. My impression of her first version of that song was also sadness being depicted as sadness.
That’s interesting.
(For “Cruel Night,”) I didn’t convey any wishes to her or anything, just talked about how I felt as we were about to fight alongside each other, like I mentioned. But I did tell her that rather than singing about sadness in a tragic way, I wanted to convey a bit more hope. From Tanjiro (the protagonist of Kimetsu) and the others’ perspectives, they’re having a rough time, but that’s why they don’t want to give up on victory. Then she arranged it into the chorus we have now.
That means you felt it was perfectly natural to talk directly to Ms. Kajiura about such things, and that you felt a sense of responsibility in being involved with the work.
Yes, and also that she lets me do it. She’s left that door open for me, and after working together on four songs, I feel like we’ve built up a relationship of trust, so I figured she’d be OK with it.
And your vocals on this are incredible too. Starting off with a nuance like it’s blended into (the movie), it gradually becomes the theme song, and then ends up as a LiSA number. I imagine the process of making that happen must have been carried out with great precision and attention to detail. How did you approach it?
When I recorded the demo, I was thinking how the chorus shouldn’t sound too bright, but I have a bright voice to begin with, so no matter how hard I try, it ends up sounding like that. I spoke to Ms. Kajiura about it and she told me, “The brightness of your voice is wonderful and that’s what I love about it.” So I decided to trust her to handle that bright quality of my voice. She also said that I didn’t have to lower it on purpose. Since I was going to sing the chorus like that, I figured I’d sing the other parts as someone other than myself… with various personalities, and then just be me in the chorus. I think I was able to sing with various personalities because she said she loved my voice.
You can hear completely different vocalizations in each part.
It was so much fun. For my performance of “Homura” at Nippon Budokan (May 15), too, I was like, “It’ll be ‘LiSA’ no matter how I do it, so I might as well go all out!” [Laughs] I don’t have to try to be LiSA to make her manifest, so I can focus on the emotions. The joy of singing like that is what I’ve gained from Ms. Kajiura’s music.
That’s true, your performance of “Homura” at the Budokan was different from before. Or rather, it felt like your interpretation of the song has become more multi-layered. Does that have something to do with you having recorded this song (“Cruel Night”)?
Yeah, it has a lot to do with it. If “LiSA” is going to manifest without my being like, “This is LiSA!” then I can enjoy using myself more freely and sing songs that fit the music.
Right. If you let “LiSA” out at full blast even for a second, you can make her manifest throughout. At this point in your career, you just have to let that full blast out once, then the rest will become a proper LiSA number even if you create the story that fits the song. Your methodology is changing and becoming more precise. I’m guessing you’ve felt that way for a while. How has it deepened?
I hope I’m not misunderstood, but one thing is that I’ve gained confidence in expressing “LiSA.” Songs like “Rising Hope,” “Catch the Moment,” and “Gurenge” are examples of this, but the LiSA that manifests through identifying techniques is unbreakable now, no matter what I do. I now have a lot of songs that give me confidence that she’ll never disappear. That’s why I can enjoy other ways of expression and feel the potential. I just finished watching the movie, so I’m really identifying with Tanjiro right now. I think I’ve become really fast with a sword because I’ve trained so much. [Laughs] I’ve grown stronger through training.
You’ve become stronger through training, and faster, and it’s like you have a clear view of your surroundings even while fighting at incredible speeds. Like a heightened awareness… the way you manifest “LiSA” and her world is unclouded now.
Yeah. Today, while watching the movie, there were many phrases that made me go, “I get it!” I’ve read the original manga so many times, but there were still lots of phrases that I wanted to remember as words to live by. I think they resonated with me because I’m in this phase of my life right now.
What I found particularly impressive about “Shine in the Cruel Night” was how bare and raw the vocal mix sounded. The last chorus in particular sounds so raw like nothing was done to it after recording. It feels so realistic that it’s like you sang it and just left it as is.
Ms. Kajiura said, “That’s great!” on the first take, so I think that’s what they used.
She did? That’s amazing. When someone tells you, “That’s great!” when you sing once is the ultimate sign of trust.
I always practice really hard for recordings, but this time I approached it with the mindset of creating something together with Ms. Kajiura. As we went through multiple takes, there were a few instances where she said, “This is it!” And whenever she said that, I was thinking the same thing while singing it. But I’m greedy, so I think, “If I could do it now, I could sing it even better if I try a bit harder,” and record it again, but usually the first take is better. [Laughs]
So you were like, “Oh, this will be the one,” when you’re singing it.
Yeah, exactly. It’s like you’re in the zone at times like that. It’s more of a sensory experience so it’s not like you’re thinking with your brain, and you’re not controlled by your emotions, either. When you sing from your senses, that’s what comes across, I think. It was the same with “Homura.” That’s why I trust Ms. Kajiura so much.
“Shine in the Cruel Night” is one of the biggest and greatest achievements of what Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Yuki Kajiura, and LiSA have built up over time. The universe that you’ve all created is proof of the wonderful time you’ve spent together.
It really is an all-out battle. Maybe that’s what Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is all about. Everyone strives for that state and pours their love into it. It’s like no one feels anything else.
—This interview by Daisuke Koyanagi first appeared on Billboard Japan
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Rising South Korean R&B singer dori is set to release a live recording of his collaborative track “Sketch” with Furui Riho, captured during his first-ever solo show in Japan earlier this year. The EP, entitled dori feat. Furui Riho at Billboard Live, is due Oct. 29.
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With a silky, captivating vocal tone and a refined melodic sensibility, dori first made his debut in February 2022 with the single “2 O’CLOCK.” The track has since racked up nearly 20 million streams on Spotify and sparked buzz in Japan as well, after being used on TikTok by acts including JO1 and Local Campione. The 26-year-old has continued to release music at a steady pace, dropping his second EP in 2024 and successfully holding his first headlining concert that year. His work as a songwriter has also earned high recognition, including contributions to the soundtracks of hit Korean drama series Welcome to Samdal-ri and Queen of Tears.
For his first headlining show in Japan, held in May at Billboard Live Yokohama, dori invited singer-songwriter Furui Riho as a special guest. Furui has long been drawn to dori’s music — so much so that she regularly plays his songs as the pre-show BGM at her own concerts. That connection led to a one-night-only collaboration, where their distinct voices intertwined on “Sketch.” The newly released live audio captures the emotion of that moment, bringing the audience right back to the stage.
“A special moment like this release is something I believe will continue to have a big impact on my life in music,” dori shares. “And when things get difficult or tiring in my work, I want to be able to come back to this album and let the memories of this release give me strength.” He also speaks with admiration and respect for Furui as a fellow musician, saying she’s “exactly the kind of artist I used to dream about, like someone I’d see in a movie.” He also goes on to confess to her: “I even feel a little envy knowing you grew up with gospel influences from such a young age. Meeting you, talking with you, and creating music alongside you made me feel your presence and appeal even more strongly.”
This project came to life through the collaboration of Billboard Live — known for hosting leading artists from Japan and abroad — and Billboard Japan Records, working together with ONGRAY. This marks the first time Billboard Japan Records is releasing a project from an international artist. See below for dori and Furui Riho’s comments in full.
dori’s Comment
To be honest, it still doesn’t feel real. It makes me so happy to feel that I’ve been able to follow in the footsteps of artists I’ve long looked up to, even in a small way. Live albums were always something I listened to on CD or streaming, so to release one under my own name — and to do so together with Billboard Japan, a place I’ve often visited — is truly emotional for me.
I know I wouldn’t have made it here without my fans and my team. I’m deeply grateful. A special moment like this release is something I believe will continue to have a big impact on my life in music. And when things get difficult or tiring in my work, I want to be able to come back to this album and let the memories of this release give me strength. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.
And to Riho — I truly respect you as a fellow musician. You’re exactly the kind of artist I used to dream about, like someone I’d see in a movie. I even feel a little envy knowing you grew up with gospel influences from such a young age. Meeting you, talking with you, and creating music alongside you made me feel your presence and appeal even more strongly. Your vocal approach — your ad-libs, your melodic lines — are so beautiful that I genuinely want to learn from them. On stage, and even in rehearsal, I was able to be at ease and have so much fun.
Everyone — Riho is truly a captivating artist. Please go listen to her song “LOA” right now. I’m sure you’ll immediately understand what I mean. Thank you, Riho. Let’s keep making wonderful music together — even after I come back from military service.
Furui Riho’s Comment
It was such an honor to be invited as a guest for this special occasion — dori’s first live show in Japan. And the fact that it took place at Billboard Live, the same stage I had the privilege of performing on last year, made it feel even more meaningful. I’m truly happy we were able to share such a wonderful moment there.
I’ve actually been drawn to dori’s music and listened to it a lot since before he came to Japan. So to be able to stand on the same stage and make music together with an artist I’ve admired felt like a dream. He’s so sincere, and his love for music runs so deep. Every piece he creates is both delicate and powerful, and his voice, his sound, and his sense of creativity all hit me right in the heart.
This time, we performed one of my favorite songs of his, “Sketch,” together. I joined by adding original Japanese lyrics. Because I love the song so much, I also felt a bit of pressure — but the experience was incredibly fun and so special to me. I’m now dreaming of the day we get to create new music together and share it with everyone. Thank you, dori, for finding me and for making music with me. I’d be so happy if many people could feel how special this day was for us.
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Kenshi Yonezu recently sat down with Billboard Japan to discuss his new single “IRIS OUT / JANE DOE.” “IRIS OUT” was written as the theme song for CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC, while “JANE DOE” serves as its ending theme. “IRIS OUT” sets impulsive vocals and comical lyrics against a swinging groove, while “JANE DOE,” a duet with Hikaru Utada, depicts a world that is both beautiful and dark. Together, they form a striking contrast.
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On the Billboard Japan charts, “IRIS OUT” hit the 100 million–stream milestone four weeks after its debut — the fastest ever in the chart’s history. Meanwhile, on the U.S. Billboard Global 200 that covers more than 200 countries and regions worldwide, the track achieved the highest ranking ever for a Japanese-language song, hitting No. 5 on the chart dated Oct. 4. In step with the movie, the single is currently making waves both at home and abroad.
In this latest interview, Yonezu shared the thoughts that shaped this release, as well as the changes in his day-to-day life after completing his world tour.
First off, tell us about how you’ve been doing. Since wrapping up the Kenshi Yonezu 2025 TOUR / JUNK in April, you’ve likely spent much of the past few months focused on creating. After completing such a large-scale tour, including overseas performances, has there been any changes in your mindset?
Experiencing concerts in countries I’d never been to before on the world tour, in Korea, the U.S., and various cities in Europe, was huge for me. I don’t want to sound disrespectful to those who’d already been listening to my music outside Japan, but since I hadn’t really thought about it much before, I was surprised by the realization that, “So many people have been waiting for me.” I was welcomed so warmly, and even heard voices calling out “Hachi,” a name I haven’t been addressed by in years, which made me genuinely happy. It left me with a very strong feeling of refreshing clarity.
After going through that, I feel like I’ve started aiming for a more productive way of living this year — something I’d always struggled with before. Looking back on my life, if I hadn’t been accepted through music, I think it would have been terrifying. I wasn’t someone who could function socially, just spending all my time making music or drawing at home, neglecting everything else. But now I feel like I’m gradually moving away from that kind of life. It’s very ordinary stuff, but I’ve started doing simple things like keeping a daily routine and paying attention to my health. For most people it might sound like, “Really? Only now?” But for me, it feels like my way of living has shifted a lot. I can’t say for sure whether the concerts were the direct reason, but I do feel they’ve had a big influence.
I saw your shows in Seoul and Los Angeles, and remember you saying, “I’ll come again” while addressing the crowd. Local fans probably took that as a promise of a reunion rather than a one-time visit, and I imagine that feeling developed for you somewhere along the tour.
Yes, that was almost something that just slipped out. Even when I said I’d come again, there wasn’t a concrete plan in place, so I wondered if it might have been an irresponsible thing to say. But the scenes I saw during the tour were radiant. For the first time in my life, it felt like I was truly making eye contact with the audience.
Now, tell us about “IRIS OUT” and “JANE DOE.” After you were asked to work on CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC, where did the production of the songs begin?
It started with the request to create two songs. One was already decided to be the ending theme, and for the other, the production team was exploring where it would fit within the film. From the beginning, I had a strong, specific idea of what I wanted “JANE DOE,” the ending theme, to sound like. But with “IRIS OUT,” I remember figuring things out as I went along while creating it.
Having written “KICK BACK” for CHAINSAW MAN before, were you mindful of any links between that song and the new ones?
From the start, I felt strongly that I didn’t want it to turn into something like “KICK BACK Part 2.” I never really felt that risk with “JANE DOE,” but with “IRIS OUT,” I sensed that if I let my guard down, it could easily end up becoming “KICK BACK Part 2.” So I placed a lot of importance on how to differentiate it from “KICK BACK.” It’s a song with a complex and eccentric structure, full of dynamism, so if that’s like a rollercoaster, then I wanted “IRIS OUT” to be more like a free-fall ride — starting with a jolt, racing straight ahead, and ending abruptly. I was very conscious of giving it that kind of decisiveness.
“IRIS OUT” feels like a song with a deliberately narrow focus, in the best way. It seems to reflect how Denji is led around as a character. How do you see it?
Since CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC features Reze as such an important character, I thought it’d be better to keep the focus on the relationship between Denji and Reze. In CHAINSAW MAN and in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga in general, there are often women who throw men off balance. I think that’s one of Fujimoto’s hallmarks as a writer, and the “Reze Arc” is very much a story where that nuance stands out. So it felt necessary to keep everything centered on Denji being enthralled by a woman named Reze, who is such an alluring and beguiling woman. By honing in on that single axis and driving straight into it, I felt I could differentiate it from “KICK BACK.”
What do you think makes Reze so appealing?
It’s that she playfully unsettles and misleads him in a way that’s somehow enjoyable. She blushes, casts an upturned gaze at Denji, and teases him a little while making her affection for him unmistakably clear. Of course someone like Denji would fall for it, and in a way, the desire to be deceived is actually an important aspect of romantic feelings. She’s charming and mischievous, but at the same time has a certain mysterious quality — you never really know what she’s thinking. If someone asked, “Who is that girl?” the truth is, no one really knows. She’s the kind of presence that unsettles your senses in the most pleasurable way possible.
Tell us about “JANE DOE” as well. Since it was intended to play during the ending of the Reze Arc movie, what was your initial concept for the song?
At first, I thought it probably shouldn’t be me singing. My male voice didn’t feel at all appropriate for the ending of the Reze Arc movie. I had a strong sense from the start that the song needed to be led by a female voice to work properly. I really like the duet “I’ve Seen It All” by Björk and Thom Yorke from Dancer in the Dark. I felt that kind of nuance would fit perfectly, and started creating the song with that in mind. From there, there were various twists and turns — I even tried a version that was nostalgic and evoked youthful feelings — but it felt overly circuitous. In the end, I felt that a duet with a slightly melancholic, dark vibe would be the most fitting. That’s how it came together.
You mentioned in your comments that you didn’t have a specific singer in mind when you began writing it. At what point in the songwriting process did you imagine Hikaru Utada for the track?
I started from the piano riff, and when the melody and lyrics for the first verse began to take shape, I was thinking it had to be Hikaru Utada. My personal impression of their voice is that it can be melancholic, wistful, and lonely, while at the same time — including their smoky tones — it has a freshness that sweeps through like a breeze. They have both qualities. Also, when listening to their music, there’s a sense of being overpowered by their immense talent and the brilliance of their songs and voice. There’s both a tremendous presence and a certain ethereality in their inner world. I even felt that without that duality, the song wouldn’t work.
Hikaru Utada is an extremely multi-faceted artist, and throughout their career they’ve given form to many different expressions. With “JANE DOE,” it feels like the sense of loss that often appears in their work is being drawn out. What are your thoughts on that?
Two of my personal Hikaru Utada favorites are “FINAL DISTANCE” and “Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro.” I first heard those songs in junior high, and they were the starting points for Utada-san’s presence becoming a big part of my life. I went to one of their concerts recently, where they performed the original “DISTANCE” in a remixed version. It was presented with a happiness and overflowing sense of euphoria that stood in contrast to “FINAL DISTANCE.” They were singing “hitotsu niwa narenai” (though we can’t be one) while dancing joyfully, and I thought it was wonderful. This is just my personal impression, but I feel that kind of duality, ambiguity, and kind of helplessness is something that lives strongly in their music. I felt there was something in common with what Reze embodies. Of course, I’m not saying Utada-san is like Reze.
You sing from Denji’s perspective in “IRIS OUT.” Listening to “JANE DOE,” it almost feels as if Utada is taking on the role of Reze. Was that intentional?
I explained to Utada-san that I wanted to create a duet between a girl carrying something incredibly complex and a boy who essentially doesn’t understand that at all, and asked them to sing it in that way. They approached that with their own take and that’s how it took shape.
What did you communicate with Utada in terms of recording and production?
Since they live in London, the recording process was carried out by exchanging data, almost like corresponding back and forth in letters. We did have one phone call, and during that conversation they told me something along the lines of, “I think if you sing it this way, your voice will stand out more.” I really felt they were right. That’s because Utada-san and I have very different sensibilities when it comes to singing. They’re a musician rooted in R&B and other styles that move with a laid-back, rich sense of rhythm. On the other hand, I come from a background in Vocaloid and computer-generated music, where I tend to place more importance on the vertical grid lines. I can also lean into an alternative rock-like urgency. Since we’re so different in nature, when Utada’s voice is layered onto something I’ve written, it makes the song feel much more full-bodied. That difference between us was really wonderful. As I mentioned earlier, the song ended up embodying the contrast between a girl carrying something deeply complicated and a boy who, at heart, doesn’t understand any of it. That wasn’t something we set out to do at all — it just happened as a result. But it feels like we arrived at the one and only way it could be.
The lines ”Let’s fill this world with mistakes“ in “JANE DOE” and “In this world right now, you’re my one-and-only perfect answer” in “IRIS OUT” feel deeply connected. Were you aware of contrasting or linking the two when you were writing them?
Not at all. When I’m writing a song, I’m completely absorbed in it, so I often only notice connections later on. Even with the title of “JANE DOE,” I realized later that it ties to a song in the Reze Arc movie — a Russian song that Reze sings alone in the story, which includes the line, “Jane slept in a church.” I only noticed that after finishing the song. I find it interesting when these kinds of unconscious links emerge naturally.
—This interview by Tomonori Shiba first appeared on Billboard Japan
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Kenshi Yonezu’s “IRIS OUT” tops the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the fifth consecutive week, on the chart released Oct. 22.
The Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc theme continues to dominate streaming, video views, and karaoke this week, while hitting No. 3 for downloads, No. 7 for radio airplay, and No. 14 for physical sales. Points have declined in most categories except radio, which gained 159% from the previous week. Yonezu’s longest consecutive run at No. 1 to date was five weeks with “Lemon” in January 2019 (seven weeks at No. 1 in total). If “IRIS OUT” tops the overall chart again next week, it will mark his longest consecutive No. 1 streak yet.
Debuting at No. 2 is FRUITS ZIPPER’s “Hacha Mecha Wacha Life!” The lead track from the girl group’s fourth single “Hacha Mecha Wacha Life! / JAM” sold 381,464 copies in its first week, marking the group’s highest-ever first-week sales and earning them the No. 1 spot in physical sales. The track also placed at No. 43 for downloads, No. 38 for streaming, and No. 16 for video. FRUITS ZIPPER’s previous peak on the Japan Hot 100 was No. 1 with “Kawaiitte Magic,” making this their second entry in the top 10.
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At No. 3 is Yonezu’s “1991,” the theme song for the live-action movie 5 Centimeters per Second. The track moved 20,002 downloads in its first week, putting it at No. 1 for the metric, while also hitting No. 3 for streaming, No. 6 for video, and No. 9 for radio. Following at No. 4 is Yonezu and Hikaru Utada’s collaborative hit “JANE DOE.” This week, three songs by the J-pop hitmaker are charting in the top 5, and he also sweeps the top 3 spots on the streaming list.
At No. 5 is GNJB’s “Paranoid Rendezvous.” The seven-member boy band’s first single since signing with Universal Music launched with 234,269 copies — their highest yet — to hit No. 2 for sales, No. 28 for streaming, and No. 54 for radio.
In other chart news, RADWIMPS’ “World End Girlfriend,” from the band’s first album in four years called Anew, climbs 85-53 in its second week on the tally. Streaming for the track gained 171% and radio 111% week-over-week. Meanwhile, Fujii Kaze’s “I Need U Back” jumps 80-67 after the accompanying visuals premiered on Oct. 9.
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 Oct. 12 to 18, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Kenshi Yonezu’s “Plazma” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released June 18.
The track is the theme song for the latest Mobile Suit Gundam installment called GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- and dropped digitally on Jan. 20. The track debuted at No. 1 on the chart released Jan. 29, and returns atop the tally after the double-A side single “Plazma / BOW AND ARROW” went on sale June 11.
With 310,981 copies sold in its first week, the single marks the highest first-week sales for a solo artist among all releases during the 2025 chart year so far. The CD release also led to significant growth in other metrics, with downloads gaining 108% over the previous week, karaoke 106%, video 198%, and radio airplay a whopping 745%.
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HANA’s “Burning Flower” debuts at No. 2. The new song by the recently formed girl group dropped digitally on June 9 and hits No. 1 for downloads, No. 3 for streaming, and No. 22 for radio. HANA currently have three songs charting on the Japan Hot 100, with “ROSE” at No. 7, “Drop” at No. 16, and “Tiger” at No. 23. The group is set to digitally drop another song called “Blue Jeans” on July 14, followed by the “Blue Jeans” CD single that includes “Burning Flower” on July 16.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “breakfast” slips a notch to No. 3, but is still going strong in various metrics, with streaming up to 120% and radio to 140% week-over-week.
Bowing at No. 4 is “Blue Hawaii Lemon” by ≒JOY (“Nearly Equal Joy”). The girl group’s third single launched with 207,790 CDs, a personal best for the group, and hits No. 2 for the metric.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “KUSUSHIKI” is at No. 5. While the The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Part 2 opener drops two notches from last week, overall points for the track remains mostly unchanged for the past four weeks, indicating a steady stream of listeners.
Elsewhere on the Japan Hot 100, Fujii Kaze’s lead single “Hachikō” (released June 13) off his upcoming new album Prema debuts at No. 29. The track comes in at No. 2 for downloads, No. 88 for streaming, No. 10 for radio, and No. 12 for video.
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 June 9 to June 15, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
The “Niconico VOCALOID SONGS” mid-year ranking for 2025 was recently announced. This chart, which was launched on Dec. 7, 2022, tracks the top 20 songs on Niconico created using voice synthesis software. The ranking is based on metrics developed by Billboard JAPAN, including the number of plays, the number of videos that use the songs, the number of comments, the number of likes, and more. In the recently released chart, the number one position went to Hiiragi Magnetite’s “Tetoris,” followed closely by DECO*27’s “Monitoring.”
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The video for “Tetoris,” which was released in November 2024, shows Kasane Teto spinning over a yellow background. The lyrics drip with self-deprecation: “I’m so busy with depression and Mania / That I can’t even get some sleep / Yet again.” The song is anchored by the melody to “Korobeiniki,” the Russian folk song famous as the background music of the Tetris video game, and uses rhythmical phrases that place heavy emphasis on the feel of the lyrics, combining “Teto” and “Tetris.” The lyrics are ultra-fresh, with lines like “Jinsei Cancel Cancel Kaiwai” (“Around the ‘Cancel Cancel Life’ Neck of the Woods”) that play on the online slang from late 2024, “Furo Cancel Kaiwai” (“Around the ‘Cancel the Bath’ Neck of the Woods”).
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It’s also worth noting the dramatic success being enjoyed by DECO*27, a veteran Vocaloid producer who will be celebrating the 17th anniversary of their debut this October but who remains on the frontlines of the Vocaloid scene. DECO*27 has been distinguishing himself since the 2010s, when songs like “Mosaic Roll” and “Streaming Heart” were covered by huge numbers of utaite. Even now, 16 years later, his popularity remains sky high. His works are about change, which has had a tremendous impact on his evolution as an artist. For example, on his album TRANSFORM, released on November 27, 2024, he used the new Miku voicebank. Since May 2023, DECO*27 has been using a Hatsune Miku 3D model he created himself (Deco Miku) primarily to promote his music on YouTube and TikTok. This approach ties in closely to his movement on the chart.
The mid-year chart also has many songs related to the film Kowareta Sekai To Utaenai Miku (“Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing”), an offshoot of the smartphone rhythm and adventure game Project Sekai Colorful Stage! Feat. Hatsune Miku, that began airing in theaters nationwide in January 17. There’s DECO*27’s song “Hello, SEKAI feat. Hatsune Miku,” which is featured in the movie, and six songs written by musical units and virtual singers and then arranged by six Vocaloid producers such as kemu, Iyowa, and Nilfruits. VocaColle, the world’s largest user submission-focused event in the Vocaloid scene, had a higher number of submissions than ever before. Like Proseka, it has become the perfect place to discover new talent. In VocaColle 2025 Winter, which was held in February, Avaraya, a Vocaloid producer with previous experience competing in the event’s rookie bracket, took the number one position in the Top 100 with “The Sound About Petals.”
One constant throughout the mid-year ranking of 2025 was the use of music video thumbnails featuring virtual singers, primarily Hatsune Miku and Kasane Teto. The tide of songs featuring Kasane Teto, which began in 2024, has carried on this year, but we’re now also seeing a rise in songs with both Hatsune Miku and Kasane Teto, a trend launched by 32ki’s “Mesmerizer.” For songs by Vocaloid producers who are gaining support overseas, the visuals of the virtual singers often serve as symbols of the songs themselves. Just as each Vocaloid producer tweaks the vocals, giving their virtual singers a unique sound, it appears now that each producer’s virtual singer has established their own distinct visual look.
One of the powerful boosters of the buzz in the scene is the recent influx of overseas listeners. For example, Vocaloid producer Nunununununununununununununununu debuted in 2022 and has already established a global fan base. The music video for his song “Mimukauwa Nice Try,” which ranked 4th on the chart, has both English and Japanese subtitles, and on the Chinese video streaming site Bilibili, the song has Chinese subtitles. One of the notable things about “CandyCookieChocolate,” by Hallo Cel, who debuted in 2021, is that it has subtitles in 13 different languages, including Japanese. Artists are looking at the potential for global expansion and are planting the seeds for creating connections with overseas listeners in the future. Global strategies such as the use of multilingual subtitles and captions are likely to accelerate in the future. This will be facilitated by Asia Creators Cross, a creator coordination program run by Dwango which provides opportunities for Japanese creators to thrive worldwide and for global creators to thrive in Japan. As part of this program, in May of this year, the Strawberry Music Festival, one of China’s biggest music festivals, featured a performance by four DJs with many Chinese fans: Minami no Minami, namigroove, Natsuyama Yotsugi, and TeddyLoid.
Vocaloid songs are often mirrors that reflect the real societal problems being faced by Gen Z. This may fly under the radar because of the recent trend for upbeat-sounding music, but underneath that music are songs about some of the dark recesses of modern life, such as LSD. “Monitoring,” with its delusions spinning out from hallucinations, and “Mesmerizer,” in which Hatsune Miku undergoes a menacing transformation in the second half of the music video, are prime examples. In that sense, Ura Amala’s “Daidaidaidaidaikirai” shares something in common with them, as the moment the song breaks into the chorus, the sound production becomes intensely psychedelic. Hallo Cel later revealed that the look of “CandyCookieChocolate” was an homage to the style of the artist named “channel” (who now goes by the name “CAST”), the creator of the music video for “Mesmerizer.” The animation in the video draws one’s consciousness in like a vortex, and the three sweets that make up the name are suggestive of some sort of code word.
Something to note, given this increase in trippily-themed songs, is the looping track structure of many of the songs. This looping lodges the lyrics to the songs in the listener’s brain. “Mimukauwa Nice Try” repeats the refrain “Zako♡, zako♡” (“Loser♡, loser♡”). The song “Daidaidaidaidaikirai” has the repeated rhyming of “Daidaidaidaidaikirai, OMG nasakenai, mohaya bye bye bye bye bye shitai” (“I hate hate hate hate hate you, OMG, how pathetic, I just wanna say bye bye bye bye bye already”). The intro to “CandyCookieChocolate” boldly draws on the song’s name, with the lyrics “CANDY CANDY CANDY COOKIE CANDY CANDY CHOCOLATE”. In other words, one of the big trends in today’s Vocaloid scene is using the music as an “electronic drug” that doesn’t place too much of a burden on the mind. It’s an SOS signal from those in the scene, especially zoomers. The recent popularity of up-beat songs is likely because of how well they fit with short video platforms like TikTok, but behind the fast melodies are dark lyrics. This is where the true value of Vocaloid songs lives on, casting a keen eye on the reality around us. That’s why we can never get enough Vocaloid.
—This article by Mio Komachi first appeared on Billboard Japan
SixTONES’ “BOYZ” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released June 11.
The six-member group’s latest release is being featured as the opener for the anime series WIND BREAKER Season 2. The single launches with 358,770 CDs and becomes the group’s 15th consecutive single to bow atop the physical sales metric since its debut. “BOYZ” also comes in at No. 5 for downloads, No. 93 for streaming, No. 17 for radio airplay, and No. 48 for video views to give the boy band its eighth No. 1 hit. The other singles by SixTONES that hit No. 1 are “Imitation Rain,” “NAVIGATOR,” “NEW ERA,” “Boku ga boku janai mitaida,” “Mascara,” “Kyomei,” and “Watashi.”
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “breakfast” debuts at No. 2. The track is being featured as the theme song for the new Fuji TV news program Sun! Shine that began airing Mar. 31. After being released June 4, the track launched with 13,093 units to rule the metric, while coming in at No. 2 for streaming, and No. 18 for radio. The accompanying music video, which features the three members performing choreography for the first time in three years since the visuals for “Dance Hall,” also hits No. 1 this week.
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The three-man band’s “KUSUSHIKI” holds at No. 3, topping streaming and coming in at No. 6 for downloads and No. 4 for video.
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Tsubaki Factory’s “My Days for You” bows at No. 4. The Hello! Project girl group’s 13th single sold 91,145 copies in its first week to hit No. 2 for sales, and was downloaded 1,397 times to hit No. 23 for the metric. HANA’s “ROSE” stays at No. 5, with downloads gaining 116% and downloads 103% from the week before.
Outside the top 10, NGT48’s “Kibo Ressha” sold 47,195 CDs in its first week to debut at No. 13 on the Japan Hot 100. timelesz released FAM, its first original studio album with the current new members, on June 11 and enters the charts for the first time in three weeks.
Recurrent rules have been implemented on the Japan Hot 100 and Hot Albums tallies from the charts released June 4. The Streaming Songs chart is exempt from the recurrent criteria, and will be calculated in the same way as it has been up to the 2025 mid-year tally.
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 June 2 to June 8, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
2025 has marked a pivotal year for Japan‘s music culture, with signs of transformation echoing both at home and abroad. But what does the future look like from a global vantage point? To find out, Billboard JAPAN sat down with Joe Hadley – Spotify‘s Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience – during his visit to Japan in May for the inaugural MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025, the country’s first-ever global music awards.
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In recent years, a growing number of Japanese artists, like Kenshi Yonezu, Fujii Kaze, YOASOBI, and Ado, have gone on successful world tours. People are saying that J-pop is starting to make sweeping advances overseas. How do you see the current situation?
It’s amazing to see these artists touring globally and resonating with fans around the world. And it’s not just about live shows – the streaming numbers tell a compelling story of growing global interest as well. In 2024, about 50% of the royalties paid out to Japanese artists were from outside of Japan, and nearly three-quarters of that was for tracks in Japanese. In other words, the music doesn’t have to be in English to travel. It does really well in Japanese, which is a very telling sign about the world’s reception and readiness for Japanese music.
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Here’s another really fun stat: in 2024 alone, Japanese artists saw about 2.6 billion first-time streams from listeners outside of Japan. This is a pretty incredible number. Japanese music is really expanding its global reach.
So does this mean that Japanese music is drawing a lot of attention, or that the widespread use of music streaming services like Spotify is transforming the structure of the global music business, or both?
It’s a bit of both. We have a really strong product and we also have an incredible editorial team. When you talk about the globalization of music, you also have to talk about global curation groups within Spotify. These are teams of editors specializing in each genre and region who come together from around the world to share music and support one another in getting music playlisted in the right places. Creating playlists like Gacha Pop, which is popular outside of Japan, is really important, and our role is to use curated playlists like this to stream music to global audiences. Personalization features like AI DJ also help share the world discover this music on Spotify.
Could you talk to us a bit about the current state of music culture? What trends and movements are you keeping an eye on?
Music is really travelling around the world. All kinds of artists are being listened to in countries and regions outside the ones they’re from. This is tremendously exciting. Spotify has almost 700 million monthly listeners, and its ability to export music globally just keeps growing and growing.
One recent trend I’m keeping my eye on is the global growth of country music. We’re starting to see it spreading outside of the U.S. to places like the U.K. and Europe, but really in Australia and New Zealand. You’d also be hard-pressed to miss the growth of African music outside Africa.
Of course, Japanese music is important, too. For example, I saw in the news the other day that ONE OR EIGHT’s “DSTM” had become the first song by a Japanese boy band in America’s Media Base Top 40 radio chart. That’s a great starting point. Even beyond the collaboration between Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba, we’re seeing the potential for a lot of growth around the world. This ties back to what we were talking about earlier, regarding global artists that are touring.
Until now, some have been saying that Japan’s music industry is lagging behind the rest of the world. What do you see as Japan’s current position within the global music scene?
Japan is in the middle of that same movement. That’s why we’re all here in Japan, and I’m really looking forward to going to the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN (MAJ) award ceremony in Kyoto.
What do you think about the launch of the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN?
I think it’s an incredible opportunity and a super exciting one. Spotify is really proud to partner with CEIPA (the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Society, which is made up of five major music industry groups) on MAJ. It’s CEIPA’s role to empower artists and creators, and we want to be side-by-side with them on their journey of developing Japan’s music industry both at home and abroad. That’s why we’re here taking part in this inaugural event.
The five nominees for Top Global Hit From Japan were selected using Spotify’s voting feature, and they were voted on by general overseas Spotify listeners. How do you see this award?
There are a lot of award shows out there, but I think having one that involves ordinary music fans is very meaningful. I can’t divulge any specific voting numbers, but the number of voters was far more than I’d expected, which really impressed on me how interested people are in the award.
I was a part of the voting process, and that was very much a learning experience for me. It made me feel even more involved with Japan and created a stronger sense of responsibility. The selection of nominees was quite diverse, which I think is representative of Japanese music as a whole. I think it’s easy if you’re not familiar with Japanese music to pigeonhole or stereotype it, but there are many different genres. That definitely came across in the nomination process.
What kind of future do you think the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN will help create for Japan’s music culture?
In my opinion, the biggest contribution right away is the very fact that the event is happening. It’s like a wedding, where you gather together people who’ve probably never all been in the same room – in this case, artists, executives, writers, and the like. So this will be the first time, but it’s going to continue and grow to have a massive impact. It won’t just be Japanese artists, but it will get artists from other countries to come to Japan, which is going to have ripple effects. But for me, the most exciting part and the biggest impact will be having those people in the room, feeling the energy and the connections that come from it.
What do you see for the future of Japan’s music scene?
It’s already been going in a pretty incredible direction these last five or ten years. I think if Spotify continues to grow, we continue to work with more local partners like CEIPA, and we continue to think globally, Japanese music will keep growing at the same rate. I do think it’s on the artists, the labels, and their teams to make sure that they’re hitting the markets, going out and continuing to tour, and being intentional about collaborations, but the sky’s the limit. I’m very, very optimistic and excited about the future of Japanese music and music as a whole.
—This interview by Tomonori Shiba first appeared on Billboard Japan
Gen Hoshino sat down with Billboard Japan for its Monthly Feature series focusing on currently notable artists and works, to chat about his first new album in six years simply entitled Gen.
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The new project, released May 14, is the Japanese superstar’s first full-length studio set since his previous smash hit album POP VIRUS. It contains 16 tracks including singles “Fushigi,” which topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100, “Create” (Japanese title: “Souzou”), the 35th anniversary theme song for Super Mario Brothers, and “Comedy” (“Kigeki”), the ending theme song for the anime SPYxFAMILY. Gen also includes a variety of other songs such as “Mad Hope (feat. Louis Cole, Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes),” “2 (feat. Lee Youngji),” “Memories (feat. UMI, Camilo),” and “Eden (feat. Cordae, DJ Jazzy Jeff),” with guest artists from various countries.
The album is clearly different from Hoshino’s previous works in terms of sound design and songwriting. It reflects the changes in his production style that began during the pandemic, and his attempts to “sing about himself,” something he had previously tried to avoid doing. The 44-year-old singer-songwriter is set to break new ground in pop music with his latest project.
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Gen debuted at No. 2 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums chart and No. 1 on the Download Albums chart on the tallies released May 21. Hoshino broke down the production of his latest project and shared his current mindset after his six-and-a-half-year journey in this new interview.
Gen shows the various changes that you’ve gone through since your last album POP VIRUS, and at the same time, it’s a work that opens up a new phase in pop music. I imagine the starting point was “Create.” What’s your take on the process from your previous album to this one?
Gen Hoshino: The EP Same Thing that I released after POP VIRUS was a project that was like a “journey to find out about the outside of myself.” Until then, I’d basically been creating music on my own, but I wanted to know how other people were doing it and also to update my world. After going through that, I started writing “Create” and the pandemic struck. During the time I couldn’t leave the house, I taught myself how to produce music on a digital audio workstation (DAW) from scratch, and made a song called “Oriai” to try it out. I thought, “I can handle this” (DAW production), so I produced “Create” again from scratch. Looking back, I think that was the starting point for this album.
I used to start out (writing songs) on my guitar, but with a DAW, I can use various sound sources and punch in the drums, bass, keyboards and stuff to create my own world by myself. When I first started using it, I was like, “OK, this is my thing” and was immediately hooked. From the very beginning, it felt like, “This is totally different from the way I used to make music.” My skills improved from there and the things I could do kept increasing.
It’s great that you were having so much fun during the production.
It was like that in terms of creativity, and there was also that innocence towards music at the center. It kind of felt like how it was when I started playing the guitar in junior high. I’ve been in the business for 25 years now, and in the 20th year of my career, I got a new toy. I can maintain objectivity while doing the actual work feeling like a junior high school student. That was an experience I’d never had before.
The album includes tracks featuring Louis Cole, Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes, Lee Youngji, UMI, Camilo, Cordae, and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Before, I used to write a song on my guitar, write the score, have the band members get together, discuss it and record it, and that was it. This time it was different in that I started by creating the basic track on my own on a DAW, and if I thought that a part would work better recorded live, I had a musician come in and record it, then put that back on my computer and edited it again.
For example, for “Mad Hope,” I handed the beat that I’d made to Louis and said to him, “You can play it this way, or you can arrange it,” and he sent me the data of him playing it the same and the version where he’d arranged it. I then decided where and how I could use those various takes and edited them. After that, I changed the structure of the song to make it longer, so I visited Louis at his home and recorded some more. It was like I was making everything from beginning to end always at my fingertips.
So the flow was like, as I worked on the songs, the faces of the people I wanted to collaborate with would come to mind and I’d make an offer. “2” was like that, too. After I started writing the song, I thought, “It’d be great if Youngji rapped on this,” so I asked her to do it.
She covered your song “Koi” at her Japan show last year. Did you have any previous contact with her?
I liked her music and listened to it a lot, and have also seen the variety shows she appeared on. She debuted as a rapper while in high school and is definitely “current” in terms of sound and skill, but I sometimes detect a whiff of female rappers from the ’90s in her and she has various sides to her which fascinated me. Then a fan of hers sent an email to my radio show telling me that Youngji had covered “Koi” at a concert in Japan and said she was a fan of mine. We followed each other on Instagram after that.
You both wrote the lyrics for “2 (feat. Lee Youngji).” What kind of themes did you share?
It was about two people being invincible when they get together, and also about making it a song of empowerment for each of us. I already had my lyrics, and when I told her the theme, she came back with some great bars. She also offered to rap in Japanese, and her Japanese verses were really great, too. UMI and Camilo, who worked with me on “Memories,” as well as Cordae and Jazzy Jeff, who took part in “Eden,” really understood what I was trying to do, and they each interpreted it through their own filters and reflected that into their music. I was thinking how fortunate I was while working on the project that I could interact with them in such an organic way.
So you didn’t know which direction the sounds would end up?
Right. But there was one thing I wanted to do sound-wise. Each song contains a variety of sounds. There are unadjusted sounds recorded with very cheap microphones, clean sounds recorded in a good studio, synth sounds from computers and those from real synthesizers. The theme of the sound production is that all of these sounds, clean and messy, old and new, are all equivalent and they can all exist at the same time. You can hear the sound of a guitar with noise mixed in that I played at home and the clear sound of a guitar that Ryo-chan (Ryosuke Nagaoka) played in the studio in a single track, or sounds from 2025 and sounds made in 2021 existing at the same time. Past and present, clean and messy are next to each other. It’s an album where I assembled various sounds according to my senses.
You’re currently in the midst of your Gen Hoshino presents MAD HOPE domestic tour, and will be embarking on your Asia trek from August.
It’s been a while, six years, since I’ve been on tour. It’s called MAD HOPE, so I guess it’s like a concept tour, and since I haven’t toured in a while, I want to include both my latest songs and the old ones. Live shows belong to the audience is how I basically see it, so I hope everyone enjoys it the way they like. Heading home afterwards saying, “That was fun,” “That was good” is great, isn’t it? I prefer making the music, so when it comes to performing live, I always just feel so grateful. I’ve always felt that the best thing is for everyone to enjoy the show, and that feeling has never changed.
–This interview by Tomoyuki Mori first appeared on Billboard Japan
