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BE:FIRST’s “Boom Boom Back” debuts at No. 1 on the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 22, ruling three metrics of the chart’s methodology.
“Boom Boom Back” hit No. 1 in downloads with 23,004 units, video with 5,010,303 weekly views, and radio airplay. It also came in at No. 2 for streaming with 9,445,515 weekly streams, amassing high points in these metrics. The seven-member boy band’s previous No. 1 single from August, “Scream,” launched with 15,304 downloads, 8,290,751 streams, and 5,015,160 views, so the figures have improved in two of the digital metrics, suggesting the growth of the group’s popularity.

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Sakurazaka46’s fifth single “Sakurazuki” hit No. 1 for sales with 395,075 copies sold in its first week. The track couldn’t supplement this lead in the digital realm, coming in at No. 9 for downloads, No. 14 for radio, No. 29 for streaming, and rises to No. 2 from No. 43 on the Japan Hot 100 this week. Sales are down by about 50,000 copies compared to the girl group’s previous single, “Samidareyo,” which sold 452,752 CDs in its first week.

YU-KA’s “Hoshizukiyo” rises 9-7 on this week’s chart, after the rising singer-songwriter performed the number on the popular music show Music Station last week. The drama theme song is showing the effects of media exposure, improving in two metrics — streaming, which increased 56.4 percent from the previous week, and video, which rose 57.6 percent — and holding with minimal point declines in downloads and radio.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 13 to Feb. 19, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account. 

The relationships between artists and music fans are growing more diverse, involving streaming and social networks. Universal Music Japan has a team dedicated to exporting music overseas: the Export Marketing Team.
The team’s objective is to provide more strategic support to Japanese artists being listened to outside Japan. Ever since its formation, it has constantly updated the company’s strategies for supplying the increasingly competitive global market with music from Japan. It is truly an organization for the streaming era.

Billboard Japan spoke with Hajime Isogai, General Manager of Export Marketing, about Universal Music Japan’s overseas strategy.

Jay Kogami (JK): What is the role of the Export Marketing Team in Universal Music (UMJ)?

Isogai: We rapidly identify and analyze how Japanese music and Japanese artists are being listened to outside Japan, and we discover signs of changes and opportunities for increasing plays. As the leader of the team, I guess my role is to systematically build an approach for thinking about potential measures. Every day, we’re thinking about how we can respond to daily trend movements.

JK: Could you share an example of a specific Japanese artist that you’ve performed export marketing analysis for?

Isogai: Some interesting movement we saw in 2022 involved Fujii Kaze’s “Shinunoga E-Wa” and SEKAI NO OWARI’s “Habit.” Of course, they’re both excellent songs, but they’ve also become well-recognized around the world through social media. “Habit” first started buzzing in Latin America, in countries like Peru and Mexico, and view numbers started climbing. It spread from there around the world. Seeing a song take off from Latin America and spread worldwide from there was something new for us. Fujii Kaze’s “Shinunoga E-wa” spread through use in Thailand in sped-up UGC on TikTok, anime MADs, and K-drama highlight videos. From there, it hit the Spotify viral charts, and in a flash it had spread around the world.

JK: Do you think that Japanese music owes its worldwide acceptance to the overall high number of young social media users overseas? Or is it limited to specific countries or regions?

Isogai: Rather than compartmentalizing along the lines of age or region, I think it’s essential to look at the cultural backgrounds of music fans. For example, Japanese anime is well-established and accepted worldwide. However, that doesn’t mean that anime tie-up songs always take high places on Billboard’s global charts. There are foundational cultures of accepting music that vary by region and age range. When looking for ways to approach overseas markets, it’s important to investigate and examine their underlying cultures.

JK: Have you made any new discoveries that could overturn past stereotypes or conventional wisdom with respect to the kinds of cultures or environments that welcome Japanese artists and Japanese music?

Isogai: I think we need to reexamine our assumption that lyrics have to be in English. When one particular Japanese song became a viral hit in Southeast Asia, local staff carried out a study and found that one of the reasons for the rise in the number of videos using the song was that “the lyrics are good.” It was a deep love song with lyrics in Japanese, so we were surprised to find out that one of the reasons it resonated with locals was the lyrical content. It really brought home the fact that language barriers and national borders don’t prevent artists based in Japan from reaching listeners and users worldwide.

JK: How do you feel that the Universal Music Group’s strengths have changed with respect not only to Japanese music, but also to capturing overseas market share?

Isogai: I think that, as a global music company, our teams around the world are better than ever at directly working with each other when we discover potential hits, wonderful talent, and creative people. In the past, when aiming to create an overseas hit, you’d have to sign a contract with the local label and ship and sell products. Now, with digital services, we can deliver music across borders, without being concerned with language barriers. That’s making it more important than ever to share information, so that we can understand the pioneering cultures in each country. Having marketing teams in each region is an even greater strength for us in terms of creating paths for international success.

JK: Is there any overseas marketing or any key trends that you would like to work with?

Isogai: With TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, and the like, you can see the numbers change in real time, so you can see data on the number of fans, listeners, and the like. I always keep in mind the process by which these things happen: things take off on social media, get played and shared on streaming services, and then spread around the world, attracting more and more fans. Specifically, physical products like CDs start selling outside Japan, and we start providing fans with tangible ways of expressing their appreciation of their favorite artists. I think one of the missions of a music company is to provide fans with ways of supporting the artists and music they love. I don’t think this trend is limited to Japanese artists, but can also occur overseas as well.

JK: So you’re creating different physical products from zero in different regions?

Isogai: Well, for example, the VTuber Mori Calliope already had a lot of fans in the U.S., so she consulted with a team in our head office and we’ve started selling her merchandise through an American e-commerce site (the U.S. Universal Music store). The number of fans that bought her titles with additional included merch was even higher than we expected. I think that we’ll be seeing lots of similar approaches being developed in the future.

JK: Are there any fields you’d like to take on, or any that you see as challenges?

Isogai: A lot of successful songs are anime tie-ups, so I’d like to increase the number of artists who become popular without any anime tie-ups. That poses a major challenge, but, in that sense, I feel like Fujii Kaze has opened a new door for artists from Japan. His success on TikTok and other social platforms led to a rise in the number of monthly listeners on services like Spotify and created an environment in which it was possible to pitch him for major editorial playlists like Spotify’s “New Music Friday.” It’s still not an easy process, but it’s started to prove effective.

JK: What are the Export Marketing Team’s targets for 2023?

Isogai: We have a few. One is our approach to cultures like the utaite (cover vocalist) and VTuber culture. I think there are a lot of latent or potential fans around the world for Japanese cultures like these. Mori Calliope, who I mentioned earlier, was looking at expanding into the overseas market from the very start, and she signed with EMI Records. I feel like in 2023 we’re going to see even more of these kinds of overseas connections that span label lines. The value of our Export Marketing Team lies in the fact that we can spring to action and provide flexible support and proposals when artists or staff have even a little bit of interest in working on the global stage.

–This interview by Jay Kogami first appeared on Billboard Japan.

After two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in the last 10 months, Stray Kids have delivered another new project focused on the Japanese market.
Released the morning of Feb. 21 (Feb. 22 local time in Japan), The Sound marks Stray Kids’ first original Japanese full-length album. The 10-track record follows up two previous EPs that the boy band packaged for Japan with Circus from 2022 and All In from 2020. While those earlier EPs consisted of half or more remakes of their K-pop material, The Sound is a majority of original music.

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Ahead of the full album today, several singles previewed the LP including “Scars” and “Thunderous (Japanese Version),” which were both originally released in 2021, “Case 143 (Japanese Version)” from 2022, and the rip-roaring title track “The Sound” from January, and rhythmic ballad “There” from Feb. 15, ahead of the full album today.

Demonstrating fan anticipation for the LP, the Kids took over the top 5 of Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter, dated Jan. 28, with the title track at No. 1, and the cuts “DLMLU,” “Novel,” “Battle Ground” and “Lost Me” at Nos. 2-5, respectively.

Two tracks from The Sound are on the Japan Hot 100 chart dated Feb. 18, 2023. After peaking at No. 14 last year, “Case 143” is at No. 78 for its 19th week on the chart. Meanwhile, “The Sound” is at No. 96 after debuting at No. 34 last week. So far, SKZ peaked at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 with “Scars” in 2021.

While Stray Kids’ most recent Korean albums have been able to top the Billboard 200 thanks to their wide availability in retail stores after signing with Republic Records, there’s no current indication that The Sound or any of the band’s other J-pop material will be made available in retail stores or via physical albums like other Korean bands (such as BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER) have previously done.

Looking ahead, Stray Kids will return stateside next month to make up the previously-postponed dates in Atlanta and Fort Worth as part of their Maniac World Tour, and hold their first-ever arena concerts in the U.S. for a pair of shows at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium on March 31 and April 2.

Stream Stray Kids’ The Sound here.

Hoshimachi Suisei is a VTuber (“Virtual YouTuber”) managed by Japan’s leading VTuber agency, hololive production. Hoshimachi, whose tagline is “it’s your shooting star, your diamond in the rough,” was an independent creator before joining hololive’s new label INoNaKa Music in May 2019. She released her first album Still Still Stellar in September 2021, which launched at No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s download albums chart. In this day and age when VTubers are becoming increasingly recognized and their fields of activity expanding into multiple genres, Hoshimachi has gained a massive following for her distinctive singing voice.

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“The fact that a VTuber is becoming recognized as a recording artist is interesting in itself,” she says of her activities. “I’m enjoying the challenge of seeing how far I can go as a VTuber, how widespread we can become and be accepted. I want to open up new avenues not so much as an artist, but as a VTuber who is also an artist.”

Her second album, Specter, released Jan. 25, draws out her potential as a singer even more so than her debut set. Cutting-edge creators such as Tomoya Tabuchi, Tatsuya Kitani, and Nanahoshi Orchestra (aka Takashi Iwami) contributed songs to the album, providing a great variety in sound. Hoshimachi explains that she wanted to add more band-like songs to her catalog because she wanted to perform her second concert with a live band.

At the same time, she says she wanted to express a darker side of herself on this project. “I wanted to sublimate some of the bitterness stemming from what I do that I can’t usually express in my usual livestreams,” she explains. “My first album had a lot of sparkly, ‘idol’-like songs. For the next one, I wanted to sing more numbers along the lines of ‘Her Trail on the Celestial Sphere’ and ‘Ghost.’” The title of her sophomore set is a nod to her self-penned song “Ghost” from her debut project, which she drew inspiration from her innermost negative emotions to write.

The lead track “Michizure” was provided by Ayase, principal songwriter of YOASOBI, the breakout duo that creates music inspired by novels and stories. Hoshimachi shares her reasons for asking the sought-after hitmaker to write the principle number for her second album. “My first album was fortunately well received, so I was wondering who I should ask to write the lead track for the new project that could contend with it,” she says. “I liked Ayase’s music a lot and was talking with my team about how awesome it would be if he were to agree to write a song for me. I’m glad we were able to make it happen.”

Ayase says he had seen Hoshimachi’s videos covering his songs. Regarding VTubers he notes, “They try different things and put out a variety of contents don’t they? They sing, do variety show-like things and live game streaming, too. I think of them as an evolution of TV personalities rather than an offshoot of YouTubers.”

VTubers enjoy immense popularity now, but Hoshimachi looks back on its history and says that it wasn’t always smooth sailing. “When I joined hololive, Kizuna AI was blazing the trail, but it felt like the people who liked VTubers were creating boundaries amongst themselves,” she shares. “We weren’t very big at the time, so I thought that internal conflicts would cause the entire genre to become obsolete. It was a time when we should all be cooperating with each other, and I wanted to expand the concept of VTubers further and make it more interesting.”

Hoshimachi continues to take on various challenges as a virtual artist because of this desire for progress, and she recently demonstrated her motivation in a prominent way. She became the first VTuber to sing on the popular YouTube channel The First Take, which has over 7 million subscribers. The concept of the channel is to record a song live in one take, and fans are treated to their favorite artists’ highly charged performances.

“I was nervous and was like, ‘Whoa, it really is shot in one take!,’” she says with a laugh. “So I really put my heart into that single take. I consulted with various people to find the best way to get people’s attention, but as for the performance itself, I did my best to be my usual self and just sing well. We decided to create the impact by diving into the number with no self-introductions at the beginning.”

In her first The First Take video, Hoshimachi sang “Stellar Stellar,” the lead track from her first album. This video received a great deal of attention and attracted more than 160,000 peak simultaneous viewers. She then dropped a video of her performance of “Michizure,” the aforementioned lead track from her sophomore set.

Looking back at the creative process for the number, Ayase says that Hoshimachi spoke about some hang-ups regarding her career in their conversation that took place before he wrote the song. “When we had our first meeting remotely, I asked her about the problems she faced in her activities as a VTuber,” he shares. “What she told me was similar to the pressures that we (non-virtual) artists feel. The price you pay for fame that comes with facing the public and the worries that derive from that are common to all of us. Of course, ‘Michizure’ is a song about Suisei, but I also mixed in my own personal thoughts as I wrote it.”

Hoshimachi shares the concrete image she had in mind for the lead track. “I intended to fill the second album with themes of pain and conflicting feelings, and asked Ayase to write a track that would lead a set of songs like a ‘hyakkiyako’ (‘monster parade’).” The inspiration for the song comes from her personal feelings, but she adds, “When I write songs, I don’t want to limit the target audience. I want the song to be something that people from all walks of life can relate to when they hear it. I think the lyrics (for ‘Michizure’) turned out like that.”

Ayase says his first impression of Hoshimachi’s singing voice was that it had “both power and clarity.” “It’s rare to find someone with a voice like this. Even if someone has a really good voice, it’s not always possible to explain it as an image. In that respect, Suisei’s voice is strong and clear, and I could picture it as something like a vacuum tube, so it was easy for me to write a song for her.”

“I think people would usually imagine something terrifying when they hear the keyword ‘hyakkiyako,’ but I thought that what she was asking for was a song that would march at the front of that parade of monsters, so I wanted it to be solid,” he continues. “Meanwhile, it should also have a sense of sorrow. I wanted the chorus to have a kind of incongruity, in the sense that it has composure and is majestic, but also has vulnerability at its core.” To achieve this goal, the 28-year-old hitmaker says he was careful “not to put too many words” into “Michizure” compared to the songs he has created before.

Following the release of her second album Specter, Hoshimachi held her second headlining concert entitled Shout in Crisis on Jan. 28. She shared in an interview ahead of the show: “This is my first live performance with a live band, and we’ve been pretty meticulous about the staging. We’ve prepared various tricks to make you feel as if you’d just finished watching a movie when the show is over.” She also announced her third solo concert at the end of the show, which has been archived and is currently available on YouTube. Like a comet, her namesake, it looks like Hoshimachi’s rapid progress is unstoppable.

This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan.

BSS’ “Fighting,” feat. Lee Young Ji, blasts in at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 15. BSS consists of three members — SEUNGKWAN, DK, and HOSHI — from the 13-member South Korean boy band SEVENTEEN.

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The lead single off the trio’s project SECOND WIND performed well in a balanced way on this week’s charts, coming in at No. 3 for sales, No. 7 for video views, No. 9 for downloads and No. 13 for streaming. The track is the group’s first new song in five years.

NCT DREAM’s “Best Friend Ever” launched at No. 1 for sales this week with 348,133 copies sold, and HKT48’s “Kimi wa motto dekiru” followed at No. 2 for the metric with 178,889 copies. But these two tracks couldn’t support that lead with other metrics — for example, “Best Friend Ever” came in at No. 54 for downloads and No. 90 for video — and were unable to overtake “Fighting” at No. 1 and the long-running hit “Subtitle” by Official HIGE DANdism at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100. “Best Friend Ever” bows at No. 3 while “Kimi wa motto dekiru” debuts at No. 4 this week.

Rising singer-songwriter YU-KA’s “Hoshizukiyo,” the theme of the ongoing TV drama series Hoshifuruyoruni starring Yuriko Yoshitaka and Takumi Kitamura, debuts at No. 9 on the Japan Hot 100. The track is off to a good start, ruling downloads this week with 14,816 units, and also coming in at No. 4 for radio, No. 45 for streaming and No. 72 for video.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.

For the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12, head here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account. 

Japanese dancer Maasa Ishihara sat down with Billboard Japan for its Women in Music interview series. The initiative launched last year in the same spirit of Billboard’s annual Women in Music event that began in 2007, and the Japan-based project also aims to celebrate women who continue to break new ground in music through various contents including interviews, live performances, and panel discussions.
Ishihara is a performer based in the U.S. who has shared the stage with some of today’s top artists including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. While she has enjoyed success in recent years, she almost gave up on her dancing career at one point and made a fresh start in the U.S. after moving there when she was 21 years old. Here, she shares some personal routines she uses to stay grounded in the highly competitive entertainment industry, and talks about the importance of accepting each other’s differences. 

You’ve built your career outside of Japan, but what was your childhood like? If there were any women you looked up to growing up, could you tell us about them?

I was born in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture (in southwestern Japan). During my early elementary school years, I saw (J-pop superstar) Namie Amuro on TV and became obsessed with her. I wanted to be like her. There were no dance schools in my neighborhood, so I started singing and dancing by following her example, and that’s how it all began. Back then it was rare to see a female artist performing on stage with backup dancers (in Japan), and I’ll never forget that electrifying feeling when I first saw her.

I always thought I felt that way about Amuro because she represented a kind of tough woman that didn’t exist around me growing up, but recently I’ve come to realize that my mother was also a woman with inner strength. My mom wasn’t a very chatty type of person, but she always quietly watched over me and supported me. The reason why I’ve been able to come this far longing to be like Amuro is probably because strong women felt familiar to me since childhood, thanks to my mom.

So you’ve always admired women with inner strength, from those close to you to stars you saw on TV. Has that feeling been consistent then and now?

Basically, yes. I’ve lived in the U.S., where people with dreams come from all over the world, and have made a living in the entertainment scene where things can change dramatically in a year or two, so it was really important for me to be resolute. In my 20s, though, there were times when I became unsure of myself and struggled to become something I wasn’t. But ultimately, things like magnetism and strength are things you already have, so you just have to look for what you have and hone them. Now that I’m in my 30s, I’ve harked back to my roots and feel a renewed admiration for women like my mom and Namie Amuro.

You went to the U.S. by yourself and won your place in the entertainment industry there. How did you remain consistent? Do you have any tips or tricks you could share with us?

I adopted a lot of different methods until I settled into my own way of doing things. Starting from trivial stuff like, “Do I drink warm water or coffee first thing in the morning?” I eventually found my way to meditation. I think it’s really important to have a morning routine to get yourself into the right frame of mind for the day. When I wake up, I first keep my eyes closed before I pick up my smartphone and try not to think about anything. It’s actually hard not to think about anything. But I make a conscious effort to set aside 10 minutes to do that each day. When I reset myself like this, I can think, “What happened yesterday ended yesterday. I don’t know what today will be like, but I’ll give it my all.”

Therapy is also important. In Japan, the concept of mental care isn’t very familiar, but in the U.S., mental health counseling is common. People go to the gym to become physically fit or to the hairdresser to get their hair styled, right? In the same way, people go to therapy to treat their mental health. It’s important to take care of your mind as well.

So you learned to control your own mental wellness through meditation and therapy?

Yes. Life has its ups and downs, and we all tend to focus on the bad. But you can’t change something that has already happened. So letting it slide for the time being is effective. Even if you feel like you’re still in the midst of a difficult situation, try setting the problem aside and think about what you can do towards the future. And try to “stay ready” instead of “getting ready.” Then once the wave of difficulty passes, you can immediately seize the next opportunity. I try to be in that “staying ready” state both mentally and physically.

Your words are convincing because you’ve really seized those opportunities. Do you think being a woman has affected your career in any way?

Yes, being a woman and a foreigner in the U.S., I’ve felt the effects of various obstacles. It’s a tough industry for a woman to survive as an artist. Sometimes we’re regarded as sexual object in inappropriate situations by undesired people, or we’re underestimated or belittled for being a woman. Even if I was “staying ready,” I wasn’t allowed to stand at the starting line at times. Racial discrimination also persists. For example, no matter how hard I try to speak English, I’m not a native speaker and my pronunciation isn’t great. And because of that, I’m seen as being immature. I can’t count the number of times I felt mortified because people wouldn’t take me as seriously as others no matter how I sincerely I try to communicate. These kinds of things have been going on for a long time in general, but with the #MeToo movement and other reasons, the public has finally become aware of such problems in recent years and moments when minorities have their say are more common now.

Do you feel those influences in the entertainment scene?

I think you can sense the energy of creators trying to break down gender stereotypes in performances. While this is something that’s been done for a while, I get a sense that people are trying to pursue another level of open expression in recent years.

It feels like the number of artists who defy the boundaries of gender is gradually increasing in Japan as well. Likewise, the number of women who speak out and those who support them are increasing as well, but there still seems to be a lot of resistance.

Since moving to the States when I was 21, the biggest change from my days in Japan has been the daily contact with people of various races, backgrounds, faiths and genders. Being born in Japan and growing up in an environment where most of the people around me were Japanese, it took me some time to accept, understand, and coexist with those various differences. I realized that the things I thought were normal up till then were only a fraction of the many ways thinking and values that exist in the world, and felt the need to completely reset the things I thought were a given. I needed to understand, learn, and acknowledge those things that are different from me. When I shifted my way of thinking to “everyone is different and everyone is good,” my perspective broadened. Not only did I learn to accept differences, but I also began to spend time looking into myself, which led to a new awareness of my own identity and the beauty of Japan.

It’s not easy for anyone to accept people and things that are different from themselves and the unknown that they’ve never experienced. It’s scary. But taking that first step and experiencing a 180-degree change in the way I see things was an extremely valuable life lesson. I feel that if people around the world could accept and respect each other’s differences, we’ll be that much closer to world peace.

Check out an exclusive playlist of empowerment songs curated by Maas Ishihara below.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SOWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

Popular Japanese voice actor and singer Sumire Uesaka is set to drop a new CD single called “LOVE CRAZY” on Feb. 8, which can be heard here. The title track is the opener for the TV anime series Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack, in which she voices the heroine, Hayase Nagatoro.

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The single also includes “REBELLION,” a song depicting themes of combat, and “Michi ga Wakaranai no Uta” (“The can’t-find-my-way song”) that comically depicts the singer’s mentality as she finds herself in a certain situation that many will find familiar.

The new single is a collection of solid numbers that kick off the 31-year-old multi-hyphenate’s 10th anniversary celebrations this year as she continues to make further strides in various fields. Uesaka chatted with Billboard Japan about the satisfaction she feels after completing this exciting project and shared details about each track on the set.

February 2023 marks ten years in music for you. Could you share what’s important to you as an artist?

My motto is to never hold back from the things I love, and I encourage my fans to do that as well. In terms of music, I do as I like and try my hand at a wide range of genres, from anime songs that I loved growing up to rock and city pop. Being able to try such a wide variety of music is something I can do because I’m an artist with roots in voice acting. I want to unleash my love for the things I enjoy together with my fans and live a happy life. In my own way, that’s the concept of my musical activities.

In the anime series Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack, you play the heroine, Hayase Nagatoro. Did you notice any changes in your performance compared to when you were voicing the first season?

As we worked through the Season 2, I could feel that Senpai (voiced by Daiki Yamashita) and Nagatoro were getting to know each other better than before. Since the new show starts off where Season 1 ended, there’s already a kind of bond between the two characters. This makes Nagatoro’s usual teasing of Senpai and their efforts to get to know each other seem even more loving than before, and above all, the rom-com element is stronger. You’ll definitely want to root for them!

Your new song “LOVE CRAZY” is also a continuation of “EASY LOVE,” the opener you recorded for Season 1.

Right. The love being depicted in the new single is much more passionate than the previous one. “EASY LOVE” had equal amounts of aloof and affectionate (“tsundere” in Japanese), but the protagonist of “LOVE CRAZY” is head-over-heels and can’t help but approach her crush in a straightforward way. It’s really adorable and also very vibrant.

When you listen to it with Nagatoro’s character in mind, you can see that it’s a clear depiction of how a girl’s mind works. The message of the lyrics is really straightforward, and it’s kind of like a romantic “user’s manual.”

Yes, exactly. It’s like the song is depicting the process of writing and erasing the “user’s manual” related to Nagatoro to gradually bring it to completion. It’s very cute in that way too.

This cuteness was especially evident in the part where the mostly fast-paced number slows down briefly mid-song. I interpreted that part as an expression of Nagatoro’s affectionate side.

You got it right. Nagatoro usually appears to be tough, but she’s really an innocent girl at heart. I interpreted that part as a cute soliloquy, so I sang it with a whispery voice to give a calmer impression than the other parts.

How did the recording go?

It didn’t take that long. We finished recording in about two hours.

In just two hours!

I’m the type who usually records intensively without taking much time. And “LOVE CRAZY” is a song with brilliantly straightforward lyrics, so even if I were to sing it in a tired state, I wouldn’t be able to draw out the momentum and bounce that characterizes the song. So I was able to express myself in a way that matched the track by not taking long with the recording and enjoying the process.

So your concise recording style worked well with the momentum of the number.

My first impression of the song was that the fast pace would be hard to sing. But the rhymes in the lyrics felt really pleasing, probably because the songwriter who wrote them, Takumi Yoshida, also performs in his own band called saji. For example, the ends of some of the words are unified, like “Nigenaide, Yuuki dashite” (“Don’t run away, Have confidence”) in the chorus, so I didn’t have to think too hard about the execution.

The setting depicted in the quirky music video for “LOVE CRAZY” appears to be connected to the one presented in the video accompanying “EASY LOVE.”

I wore a summer-style school uniform in “EASY LOVE,” but this time I went with a winter version to match the clothes of the characters in 2nd Attack. I also appear in a date-friendly white outfit in the new video, so while it’s not exactly the same as in “EASY LOVE,” I’m sure people can get a sense of the similarities between both worlds.

The second song on the CD, “REBELLION,” is the theme for MAGICAL DESTROYERS KAI, the smartphone game project linked to the original anime series Magical Destroyers set to air from April in Japan. What’s this song like? 

Magical Destroyers is a story about characters living in a dystopia who defy fate to reform the world. I already have several songs in my catalog that can be described as being about “revolution,” and I can really relate to “REBELLION” because protecting the things I love is something I want to cherish throughout my music career. I was surprised by how close the song was to the anime and to me personally.

Moving on to the next track, “Michi ga Wakaranai no Uta” (“The can’t-find-my-way song”)… Is it all right to assume this one’s something of a comic relief?

[Laughs] I’m not the type to make singles that are tightly structured from the first track the last, and always want some wiggle room. “Michi ga Wakaranai no Uta” depicts a situation where I’m late for an appointment, but feel relieved because that person assures me that it’s no big deal. I’m feeling disappointed in myself while heading to the meeting place, but the other person’s generosity saves my day. So it’s a comical, self-deprecatory number about that sort of thing, but comes with a really cool track for some reason.

I see, so you got off the hook for being late. It’s fascinating though, in that there’s a significant leap in the language being used, from the depiction of specific situations in the first two verses — “15 minutes looking for the owl (statue) in Ikebukuro” for example — to the chorus that’s made up of abstract phrases like “lying angels” and such.

I wanted to make a song like those typical anime songs from a generation ago, the kind that focuses on sounding cool even if you can’t really understand what it’s trying to say. So for the chorus part, I attempted to collect a lot of words being used in cool anime songs while being careful not to retread any familiar numbers. I know I shouldn’t say such things but I figured if the words match the music, it would work. [Laughs] I whipped up the lyrics in a day, then spent about a week adjusting the details.

While each track is extremely distinctive, there’s definitely a sense of unity to the single as a whole. Could you sum up the new single for us?

All the songs have a strong flavor, but they don’t taste bad together. We were able to produce a single with intriguing charm. All the songs have positive energy, so I hope you’ll listen to them daily to get yourself in the mood for my upcoming concerts in March.

—This interview by Kota Ichijo first appeared on Billboard Japan

Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS from EXILE TRIBE’s “Stars” blasts in atop the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 8, becoming the group’s first No. 1 hit in about three and a half years since their single “Scarlet feat. Afrojack” that led the chart in August 2019.

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“Stars” is a hot new number written by music producer sty, creator of the song “R.Y.U.S.E.I.” that finished at No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s year-end song chart for 2015 after being released in June 2014. The new single is off to a great start, launching at No. 1 for sales with 104,841 copies sold, while also hitting No. 3 for radio airplay, No. 6 for downloads, No. 17 for video views, and No. 37 for streaming.

Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” holds at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 after slipping from the top spot last week. The four-man band’s record-breaking single continues to rule streaming for the 16th week in a row with 11,352,196 streams. While down by about 2 percent from the previous week, weekly streams for the track are still more than 3 million ahead of the song at No. 2, Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK” with 8,112,798 streams. Although the downward trend continues, the number of views isn’t expected to drop significantly and the track is likely to still hover near the top of the charts.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Jan. 30 to Feb.5, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION recently released their 30th single, “Karma.” The band wrote the song as the opening theme for the latest season of the TV Tokyo-produced animated series BORUTO – NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS, which began last month. The theme of the song is how the two protagonists are buffeted by fate, but the lyrical world of the song is also a reflection of how we all feel in this age of uncertainty and confusion. The heavy but constrained melody and the sound production are new territory for the band.

Shortly after their major-label debut in 2003, their song “Haruka Kanata” was chosen as the opening theme for the second season of NARUTO. “Karma” marks their fourth musical tie-in with the NARUTO series. NARUTO has been inextricably intertwined with the fate of AKFG. Billboard Japan spoke with the band about the song’s appeal, the highlights of their new single’s B-sides and more.

Gotoh: NARUTO really means a lot to us. In particular, our 2002 release “Haruka Kanata” was a major turning point in our careers. At the time, there wasn’t really an established culture of using music from rock bands as the theme songs of animes. I’m sure it must have seemed strange to some rock fans. However, Japan was producing high quality animation that was gaining attention around the world. We thought that when NARUTO was put out on the world stage, we’d be able to go right along with it. I remember feeling “this is a wonderful opportunity” when we got the offer.

Kita: Yeah, now that you mention, I feel like we approached it really carefully. Like, we set aside time for all of us members to discuss it. At the time, we didn’t know what kind of image this would create for the band.

Yamada: When we’ve played “Haruka Kanata” or any of our other NARUTO songs overseas, the reaction has just been immense. Everyone sings along so loud it feels like they’re going to drown our our actual performance. It’s made us realize how well our music has been received overseas. In a sense, it’s like NARUTO has been our partner through the years.

What is the appeal of NARUTO and BORUTO?

Ijichi: I’ve been a long-time reader of the two series, and they’ve been consistently good the whole time. One of the things I like about them is that there are elements that are fun for kids and elements that adults can enjoy.

Gotoh: With BORUTO, Masashi Kishimoto has passed on the baton of illustrating the comic to Mikio Ikemoto, but the characters still have the same appeal, and the comic is packed with ideas. BORUTO starts with a heartbreaking scene, and through the story it’s hard to find any signs of hope. NARUTO was also a pretty hardboiled comic, but I feel like BORUTO draws you in even more. Either way, the story is far more complicated than when we first started reading NARUTO in Weekly Shonen Jump (laughs).

When you’re asked to write a song for a show, how do you reflect the show’s world in the song?

Gotoh: For any show, not just NARUTO, I always do a ton of research. That’s because I want to read the original comic and write a song that’s truly inspired by it. As for our latest song, “Karma,” the comic isn’t finished yet, so we had to write the song without knowing what would happen next in the story. My hope is that the main characters can overcome these obstacles being thrown at them by “fate,” as it were. As I touched on a second ago, in the first episode, Boruto and Kawaki face off and fight each other as enemies. The story is going to circle back to that at some point. I racked my brains about what kind of story would lie beyond that face-off between the characters that the comic opens with.

Do you think there’s a message in there for modern society?

Gotoh: Yes, I do. In the modern world, it isn’t easy to set down your burdens and try to shoulder new burdens. I feel like you can really see the growing disparity in wealth, and that wealth disparity is becoming even more entrenched. Parents’ economic situations are being passed on to their children. The “winners” keep on winning and the “losers” keep on losing. There’s a feeling of disgust with the state of the world, and at the same time a desire to break through these barriers and overcome these problems. I think the feeling of entrapment in the world of NARUTO and BORUTO shares a lot in common with the sense of entrapment I feel in our own modern world. We’re living in a society with that same antagonism and division as in that first episode of BORUTO.

I feel like that sense of “entrapment” is also reflected in the heavy but constrained melody and sound of “Karma.” The part that really sticks out to me is the four lines of the bridge: “The reason we’re alive/Must be part of that modest dream/If it gets crushed underfoot/It plays right into the hands of those that have cursed our world.” What are you trying to express through these lyrics?

Gotoh: Right now, everybody is just all looking down on each other and ridiculing each other. When I see that, I just think, “Is this really enriching our lives?” The people that held the World Cup made more than the athletes that played in it. Over 6,000 people lost their lives in Qatar in the construction of the stadium and surrounding infrastructure. I just keep thinking, “Can’t we make a world a better place?” I’m not blaming anyone. I just wonder why we can’t praise each other and encourage each other. If we don’t, we’re just “playing into the hands of those who have cursed our world.” One of the things that’s incredibly reassuring is that I have people who stand with me. It’s wonderful that I’m in a band. From my position as a member of a band, I feel like if everyone could just get together on weekends and enjoy each other’s music, we could make it in this world without losing hope. I want everyone to realize and appreciate the value of the relationships they have with each other. That’s what I was thinking about when I wrote the lyrics.

The B-side of “Karma” is “Weather Report,” which was written and sung by you, Kita. It’s a refreshing song, but the lyrics are quite serious. It’s about interpersonal relationships that never progress.

Gotoh: “Karma” is a song about the relationships between us, no matter where life may take us, so in “Weather Report” we wanted to sing about relationships that are in a rut, never coming together. When I wrote the lyrics, I was thinking about how tire tracks never cross unless you make a U-turn. Ken (Kita) would be singing, not me, so I thought it might be good to have a sweet love song, which is different than the kinds of songs I sing. We’ve had other songs like that, too. When I’m not the one singing, we can be a bit more free in deciding what the theme of the song will be.

“Nissaka Down Hill” feels like a followup to your 2008 album Surf Bungaku Kamakura. What led you to go back to that approach?

Gotoh: It’s a power-pop song with power chords, octaves, and unison, but there are also some unusual chord progressions here and there. It’s a really fun song to play with the band. I wanted the feel to be like Weezer’s “El Scorcho.” With Surf Bungaku Kamakura, we were thinking about Weezer’s first album. The title, after all, came from “Surf Wax America.” This time, we want an album that has that Pinkerton sound. It’s like half parody of the 1990s, but half sincere. That’s what pop music should be like, right? We’ve basically applied that style, but matched it up our own sensibilities and made changes to update it for our times.

What were you all trying to set out to do with your sound design approach?

Ijichi: We recorded all of “Weather Report” in a single take. Lately we’ve been trying to finish our songs in as few takes as possible. Up until the day before the recording, we spend a lot of time thinking about it. But then, on the actual day of the recording, we want to get takes that are as fresh as possible. Our goal when we recorded this song was to get it in three takes or less.

Yamada: “Karma” is a tie-up that we wrote on request, so we wanted to make a song that had the AKFG feel we’ve established over the years, but the B-side songs were all very challenging. “Nissaka Down Hill” is a power-pop song, but it has a different feel than any of our past songs. There are only three songs on the single, but I think there’s really a lot there.

Kita: Going back to the “Karma” lyrics for a second, Gotch had already pretty much nailed down those four lines from the demo stage. The bridge evolved over the course of a jam session by the four of us, and Gotch changed up the melody along the way, but that core remained all the way through the finished song.

Gotoh: You said the song had a “constrained” melody, and, you’re right, we tried to avoid having a really soaring chorus. If it had that kind of chorus, we wouldn’t want to perform it live. It would just be too hard (laughs). With “Karma,” we were traying to create a “sustainable emo sound” that simmers and builds up, not one that really takes a physical toll. We’re almost in our 50s, after all (laughs).

A lot of people passed away in 2022, the pandemic continued unabated, and every time you thought the world situation couldn’t get any worse, it did. Hopefully 2023 is a good year.

Gotoh: I really hope so. So many terrible things happened in 2022. For example, if the World Cup had been a less corrupt event, Messi’s win would have been so much easier to celebrate wholeheartedly, but the information that came to light made that impossible. I just want to always try to live a better life. Every time I meet someone, I remember that, and we try to create a better mood wherever we go. We’ve got a lot of concerts coming up, so we’ll keep trying to do our best in 2023.

—This interview by Takanori Kuroda first appeared on Billboard Japan

LE SSERAFIM’s “Fearless” hits No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 1, preventing Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” from extending its all-time record for weeks at No. 1.

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The six-member girl group’s first single in Japan ruled physical sales with 321,717 copies sold in its first week. In other metrics of the chart’s measurement, the single came in at No. 7 for video views, No. 14 for radio airplay, No. 41 in downloads, and No. 55 in streaming, leading this week’s song chart with 9,376 points overall.

After scoring its 12th week at No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100 last week, Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” slows down in all metrics besides radio and slips to No. 2 for the first time in nine weeks with 8,687 overall points, down by about 8 percent from the previous week.

This week saw the breakthrough of girl groups on the Japan Hot 100. TWICE’s “Moonlight Sunrise” jumps 20-5, fueled by streaming (No. 5, up 127 percent from last week) and video (No. 2, up 12 percent). Rising five-member K-pop group NewJeans’s “Ditto” also breaks into the top 10 after crawling up the list these past several weeks (12→18→13→12→11→10). The track was powered by streaming, coming in at No. 4 for the metric.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, YouTube and GYAO! video views and karaoke data.

Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Jan. 23 to Jan. 29, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.