Music

Kocchi no Kento, the creator of “Hai Yorokonde,” which is going viral on the video platforms, recently sat down for an interview with Billboard Japan. Kocchi no Kento is a multimedia creator who began making music in 2022. He’s also the younger brother of popular Japanese actor Masaki Suda. In this interview, he talked about his roots and what’s behind the creation of his addictive music.

To start off, could you tell us what led you to start making music?

When I was a freshman in university, I joined an a cappella club. We sang covers of existing songs, and I started writing my own songs in 2022 as an extension of that.

What was the first experience you had with music that opened your eyes to how fun and fascinating it can be?

There were two things that got me into music. The first was that my dad loved music. He’d often play guitar and sing at home. In the car, too, there was always music playing, and it was often new to me. The other thing is that I played soccer when I was in elementary school. Our offense was amazing, but that meant that us on defense had nothing to do. Apparently, I would just run around dancing. My parents said “dance might be a better fit for him than soccer,” so I started taking dance lessons. That’s what led me to feeling music with my whole body and expressing it through movement.

As an artist and singer, where do you think your own individuality lies, and what do you see as your strengths?

One of my distinctive features is my natural singing voice, but also, in the a cappella group, I spent four straight years doing covers of Disney songs, so I developed the ability to sing with emotion but without becoming pitchy. I think those two are my main strengths.

Where did the name “Kocchi no Kento” come from?

After I graduated university, I worked as a businessman for a year. Putting on that suit and tie, I felt like I was biting off more than I could chew. I wasn’t really myself, so when I was in my suit, I was “that Kento” (in Japanese, “acchi no kento“). When I was singing, on the other hand, I was more my true, natural self. I was “this Kento” (in Japanese, “kocchi no kento“).

Your first single, “Tiny,” is a heartwarming song. It’s the kind of song you wish you could hear when things are tough. I feel that same mindset in all of your songs. I get the sense that that’s what you want to convey and express through your music.

Right. Every time I put out a new song as Kocchi no Kento, I think about the fact that there are people out there who might draw strength from it.

Have you had any feedback from listeners that really stand out in your mind?

When I released my second single, “Shinuna!” (Japanese for “don’t die”) I was getting dozens of comments a day. Some were saying that they decided to hang in there, while others were explaining why they wanted to die. This flood of comments settled my own turbulent mind, and I was just happy to be able to help people in what little way I could.

“Shinuna!” generated a lot of buzz on video platforms. Is there anything you try to keep in mind or do with respect to how you release your music?

After “Shinuna!” I’d make dances for TikTok to get my music exposed to lots of people. But even more than that, I think it’s important that I make music that I could listen to and enjoy, myself, without ever getting tired of it. Lots of people danced to “Hai Yorokonde,” but what I think is great about that song is that, even now, I like it so much that I can listen to it anytime. If I get tired of a song when I’m making choreography for it with someone, or singing it a cappella, or singing an English version of it, then I can’t put my heart and soul into it. The listeners can hear that. They’d be like “He’s just going through the motions” or “He’s just clinging on to that song.” I think the most important thing is that I really love the music I create, with all my heart.

On the August 14 dated Billboard JAPAN Hot 100 chart, “Hai Yorokonde” reached a new peak of No.5. When did you first start feeling that this song was getting some traction?

There were a lot of people listening to it on the day it came out. I hadn’t released a song in about six months, so I guess there were a lot of people looking forward to a new song. Then, when I released the dance video on TikTok, even though I hadn’t done a collaboration with anyone, it got a lot of views, so I started realizing “wait a minute, we might have something here.” I got Kazuya Kanehisa to do the music video. He turned it in about a month earlier than expected, and in his email, he wrote “I just couldn’t put my pen down” and “The song is wonderful, so it was smooth and effortless to translate what I was feeling into visuals.” When I looked at what he’d created, I knew it would directly connect with people.

What kind of song had you set out to create at the start?

Initially, the theme I had in mind was a little different. I suffer from depression but I decided against killing myself. I decided to live. Someone told me “Don’t die,” so I was like “Okay, I won’t,” and I lived. And everyone got used to me being alive, and one day I realized they’d started demanding things of me. Like “You’re alive, and you’ve got time, so how about getting a part-time job?” And I was like, “No, no, no, my goal was to live, and by choosing to live, I’ve already accomplished my goal.” The song was like “You said don’t die, so I didn’t die, but don’t go trying to make more demands.” My goal was, ultimately, to arrive at the conclusion that “Choosing to live is an option in itself. All you need to do is live.” But it gradually became more of an SOS song—more a song about calling out for help.

Like you were doing all you could just by staying alive.

Right, that’s how it turned out.

You released an English version at the end of July. What led to that?

The “giri giri dance” (in English, “at my wit’s end dance”) of the chorus was originally “get it get it done.” But the music video art style was very Japanese, so having a chorus in English didn’t seem right, which is why I changed the way the lyrics were transcribed to “giri giri dance.” Phonetically, they sound the same, but I thought it would be interesting if there were separate Japanese and English versions, and I’d wanted to write an English version from back when I was still in the production stage. Luckily, I got a lot of comments from overseas listeners, so I consulted with my record label, and we decided to release an English version.

I’m sure your number of overseas listeners must be skyrocketing now. Did you think there would be this kind of response from overseas audiences?

No, I wasn’t expecting it. Sure, I hoped that I’d reach people overseas, but I thought that my music would have to take off here in Japan, first, and then after that it would spread overseas. Instead, it happened at almost the same time. I was just really, really lucky. It just goes to show how much we’re living in the age of social media.