Fujii Kaze comes throughout a bit shy at first, however after he will get snug, his quirky humorousness and excessive cheekbones evoke a barely subdued Jack Sparrow.
The relaxed tone in his voice matches his cozy clothes, punctuated by cool equipment — a classy pair of third-eye sun shades and sandals. For the quilt picture of his newest album, Kaze wears a protracted head protecting draped over his bleached blond locks. The one he got here in as we speak was sewn by his mother.
Final month, the 28-year-old Japanese singer-songwriter offered out his present on the Greek Theatre forward of the launch of his long-awaited new album, the nine-track “Prema,” which was launched Friday, his first full-length launch since signing to Republic Data final 12 months.
He appears comfortable to return to a spot the place he feels a robust connection, having spent 5 months recording and touring in L.A. from late 2023 to the summer time of 2024. He additionally spent a while within the metropolis about three years in the past throughout a artistic lull.
“Lyrically and musically, I did every little thing I may do,” he specifies. “ I used to be sort of burned out on the time. And that’s after they took me to Los Angeles. I don’t know why, however this place was so inspiring.”
First taking off in his house nation, Kaze (he follows the normal Japanese order of utilizing household identify first) rose to worldwide fame when “Shinunoga E-wa,” a B-side launch from his debut album, “Assist Ever, Harm By no means,” went viral on TikTok.
“I mainly love all generations of individuals, I like youngsters, and I actually love my mother and father,” Kaze stated, mulling over his cross-generational attraction.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
It has since racked up greater than 253 million views on YouTube and over 287 million Spotify streams. Final 12 months, he turned the primary artist to launch NPR’s inaugural Tiny Desk Live shows Japan, a efficiency that acquired over 21 million views. His solo headlining present at Nissan Stadium final 12 months drew over 100,000 individuals over two days.
In contrast to most of Japan’s present international artists, Kaze’s recognition isn’t primarily drawn from anime tie-ins, notes J-pop YouTuber Kushun in his minidocumentary on the artist, drawing a parallel between his success with “Shinunoga E-wa” and “Ue o Muite Arukō,” also referred to as “Sukiyaki,” by Kyu Sakamoto, the one Japanese tune to high the American Billboard charts again in 1963.
You wouldn’t know all this from his unassuming demeanor. Valuing in-person connection he has a love-hate relationship with social media, regardless of rising to fame fueled by Gen Z platforms.
And whereas loads of 20-somethings have been in attendance, the viewers on the Greek was additionally full of individuals who bear in mind document shops and massive album rollouts, and a few even introduced their youngsters.
“I mainly love all generations of individuals, I like youngsters, and I actually love my mother and father,” he stated, mulling over his cross-generational attraction.
His mother and father, specifically his father who was an aspiring jazz musician, loom massive as inspiration. “My older brother is 13 years older than me, so, mainly, I grew up with individuals throughout a large technology, and I all the time wish to please my mother and father.”
A part of his attraction lies in his skill to take from his multigenerational upbringing and steadiness it with a present sensibility. His voice has an on-trend soothing high quality, lending itself to music that’s iconoclastic but traditional — rooted in his early influences, particularly American R&B and soul, and interspersed with Japanese components.
“I feel he’s a extremely unimaginable musician,” stated Meredith Edmonds, a 20-something leisure exec who attended Kaze’s Greek Theatre efficiency. “It’s not nearly his lyrics but additionally the truth that he performs a number of devices. You may inform that he loves it … he’s simply sort of foolish and enjoyable and isn’t afraid to be fully himself.”
“American festivals, [they] sort of liberated me,” Kaze stated. “There are individuals who don’t find out about me, and that makes me be happy … which makes me wish to battle to get them to note me.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
After releasing a collection of standalone singles, he launched into a 2025 summer time tour taking part in European jazz festivals at Montreux and North Sea, and a North American tour larger than his first. He additionally made his debut at landmark U.S. summer time festivals. He returns to the U.S. in October for a collection of dates to shut out the American leg of his 2025 tour.
The North Sea Jazz Competition was intimidating. (He blames Erykah Badu for this.) “I noticed her on YouTube or one thing, and she or he was mind-blowing, oh, otherworldly. She made me nervous,” he stated. Montreux was barely much less so and felt like a “one-man present,” whereas Lollapalooza and Outdoors Lands have been stimulating.
“I feel I may be extra aggressive, sort of wild, particularly on the pageant stage, quite than my very own present or one thing. As a result of … particularly American festivals, [they] sort of liberated me. There are individuals who don’t find out about me, and that makes me be happy. They’ll simply move me by or one thing, which makes me wish to battle to get them to note me.”
His profession trajectory reads like a fairy story as he first got here to public consideration with YouTube piano performances recorded at his childhood house in Satoshō, a small rural city in Okayama prefecture. Amongst his oldest movies nonetheless on-line is one in all a precocious 12-year-old Kaze taking part in his electrical piano. Solely the darkish shades he sports activities and a wry half-smile trace on the performer to come back.
In actual fact, he has no reminiscences with out the piano, a continuing companion since he was 3. “I bear in mind, the rating, the musical rating, was turning black due to all of the pencils from my instructor … he [the piano] has been there all my life,” Kaze stated. “I don’t know why he’s there, however one factor’s for certain: I’m very grateful for him. As a result of with out him, I couldn’t make music.”
“I need it to be easy and clear … it purifies me, writing in English. It makes my imaginative and prescient and emotions clearer. So I actually love the method,” Kaze stated.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
He has sung in English for years, protecting a head-spinning array of American and British artists from the Carpenters to Lizzo. Nevertheless, “Prema” marks his first try at writing songs of his personal in English, his second language, a problem he has taken head-on.
It’s a daring however hard-earned transfer contemplating he’s identified for his lyricism in Japanese, tackling themes as deep and broad as mortality, types of love, larger that means and gratitude.
“My lyrics have by no means been very poetic,” he counters. “I’d say they’re sort of simple, particularly not too long ago, my Japanese lyrics are getting less complicated. I need it to be easy and clear … it purifies me, writing in English. It makes my imaginative and prescient and emotions clearer. So I actually love the method.”
Two songs from the nine-track “Prema,” which implies “all-encompassing love” in Sanskrit, have been launched earlier this 12 months: the bouncy, Jamiroquai-like “Hāchiko,” rooted in Japanese folklore, and the hovering yacht-rock love ballad “Love Like This.” The accompanying movies are characteristically visually beautiful. He has usually collaborated with Mesudayuma (MESS), however on the French Riviera-themed “Love Like This” (his first as a romantic lead), he turned to L.A.-based director Aerin Moreno.
Religion is a recurring theme in his work, and it surfaces significantly in older songs like “Hana” and “Grace,” however when pressed, he doesn’t elaborate on a specific dogma, and his supervisor politely intervened earlier than he may get too far on the topic. The brand new album continues referencing his spirituality.
“Prema,” a flippantly funky uptempo ballad a la Michael McDonald, is probably his most direct expression as he declares within the refrain: “Prema, don’t you already know you might be love itself / Can’t you see that you’re God itself.” “Prema is 100% me,” he stated. “As a result of I completed writing the tune all on my own. And the lyrics are sort of hip-hop-influenced, like I’m boasting, however in a religious approach.”
“I wish to thank Los Angeles total, as a result of after I was burned out and had no inspiration, L.A. vibes, the climate, the air, the individuals helped me lots to maneuver on as a musician,” Kaze stated. “So, I’m very grateful for Los Angeles.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
Kaze additional challenged himself on this undertaking by working with an array of producers: Individuals Shy Carter, Dan Wilson and Rob Bisel (he’s labored with Bisel earlier than), Nolan Lambroza (a.okay.a. Sir Nolan) and Greg Kurstin, in addition to Canadian Tobias Jesso Jr. Aiming for a traditional Eighties by way of early-2000s sound, he cites Michael and Janet Jackson as influences for the kind of affect he was aiming for.
A fan of albums, he wished each tune to be a possible hit single. Serving to with this purpose was famous Korean DJ/producer 250, the one producer to work on all 9 tracks. “I wished to point out the world the facility of Asia as effectively,” Kaze stated of 250, who’s Korean.
Reached by e-mail, 250 — greatest identified for his work with the lady group New Denims — talked about his purpose for “Prema.” “I wished to offer a way of consistency, a story thread that runs naturally from the primary observe all the best way to the final,” the producer stated. They labored intently collectively on preliminary manufacturing at Home of Refuge on Jeju Island, sharing meals as they laid out concepts.
Total, the album leans closely towards the late ’80s, like within the guitar riff intro of the synth-heavy “I Want U Again,” whereas the quirky breakup tune “Casket Woman” feels like a slinky backdrop to a sizzling L.A. summer time night time.
That may be simply nice with Kaze. “I wish to thank Los Angeles total, as a result of after I was burned out and had no inspiration, L.A. vibes, the climate, the air, the individuals helped me lots to maneuver on as a musician. So, I’m very grateful for Los Angeles.”
