Fujii Kaze

One Liner: Japanese R&B and pop with a huge TikTok hit and then some other catchy bits

Wikipedia Genre: J-Pop, R&B, pop
Home: Satosho, Okayama, Japan

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts: Damn.  I was really hoping that I was about to get something that matched up to the idea of a Kamikaze - like angry ass Japanese Fugazi.  Instead, the top song is like if Harry Connick Jr. used trap beats and only sang in Japanese.  Pretty catchy.  Pretty weird!  And much like my statements about Feid, I don't know what to do with all of this.

That is apparently his real name, which is interesting on its own.  He began by posting piano covers of pop songs to YouTube when he was 12, and then he signed to a Universal imprint after more than 30 million views.  His first album was big in Japan, 2020's Help Ever Hurt Never. reaching #1 and being certified gold.  But it wasn't until "Shinunoga E-Wa" became a viral hit on social media that he made waves outside of Japan.  That song is, for sure, his biggest hit.  682.7 million streams.

Nice voice.  Pretty piano.  I have no clue why this would go viral - have my girls done weird TikTok dances to this?  But catchy, even if I have no clue what he is going on about.  As I have kept this one going, I actually just had the thought that I needed to put some music on while I work.  But this was already playing.  Not a good sign for your music when my brain just registers it as silence.  It means I need to get this over with.  The song I am in now is R&B, but with Japanese lyrics.  Strange thing to hear.

In 2021, he won Best Breakthrough Artist as something called Space Shower Music Awards.  Way to go!  He also won Popular New Artist at the Music Pen Club Music Awards and the Grand Prize <Blue> at the CD Shop Awards.  I feel like this was all translated from Japanese like the words that would come on the screen in old school Nintendo games.

His second biggest streamer has a title that I don't know how to type because it is in Japanese characters.  "まつり" is maybe it?  Whatever.  261 million streams though.

Weird that YouTube calls that "Kirari," while Spotify just uses the Japanese characters.  Again, sounds kind of fun and catchy, and he's a good-looking fun bro.  But none of this was made for me.  I am good to let other people enjoy this adventure.  I need to find a Japanese Fugazi now.