Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter Josh Cumbee and popular Japanese artist Vicke Blanka have united for new single “Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)”, released worldwide on Friday, May 28 across all digital music streaming platforms.
“Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)” is an acoustic version of Cumbee’s debut smash “Sound Of Your Name” freshly re-recorded in collaboration with Vicke Blanka, a breaking Japanese musician whose songs have been used as the theme tune to hit anime Black Clover and on a TV spot for Spotify Japan. The pair first met when Cumbee mixed “Bakashi Hour Night” by Vicke Blanka VS Taiiku Okazaki, which was released back in October of last year. The new collaboration is a natural extension of their friendship, born of mutual respect between two artists.
Vicke Blanka added his heartwarming vocals and new arrangements to this ephemeral acoustic rendition of “Sound Of Your Name”, exposing a new side to this song that sings of the deep wound that opens afresh whenever the singer thinks of his lost lover. The magnificent final chorus, sung by both musicians in unison, is a particular highlight.
The track instantly racked up "New Music Friday"; one of the most influential official Spotify playlists compiling the hottest and most notable recent releases, in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. In addition, the track made its way into Spotify “Acoustic Melodies Tokyo” playlist in Japan.
The song is accompanied by a lyric video, which expresses the melancholy of the lyrics with a selection of cute emoji. Some of these emoji will be especially familiar to Vicke Blanka fans, so be sure to pay close attention.
Cumbee made his debut as a solo singer in February of last year, after having built his career as a producer and songwriter for world-class artists such as Madonna, Chris Brown, Kygo, Rita Ora and Adam Lambert, and recently writing the worldwide hit “Wondering” for Olivia Rodrigo and Julia Lester. He has demonstrated his unique musical sense again and again through his production work, while his singing voice has been widely acclaimed since even before his singer-songwriter debut, when he was a guest vocalist on the hit single “Sunny Days” by veteran Dutch DJ/producer Armin van Buuren.
Having worked in genres including ballads, dance music, rock, K-pop and C-pop, Cumbee is a songwriter of exceptional talent. Be sure to check out “Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)”, his first collaboration with another artist as a solo singer-songwriter.
Comment from Josh Cumbee
“I had the honor of mixing ‘Bakashi Hour Night’ for Vicke Blanka and Taiiku Okazaki a little while back – a super fun record to work on, and a very collaborative mixing process during which I got to know a small fraction of Vicke’s incredible talent. A little while later when I put out the acoustic version of my first single ‘Sound of Your Name’, I was surprised and thrilled to hear that he wanted to try it out as a collaboration. While sitting on a layover at the airport in Amsterdam I sent over the parts, and a few weeks later got back an incredible vocal from Vicke. He had some very inspiring harmony ideas that pushed me to add some additional creative touches for the new version… And just like that, the song was born.”
Comment from Vicke Blanka
“When I first listened to ‘Sound Of Your Name’, I instantly had the urge to collaborate with Josh, and so I contacted him. I’m grateful that things worked out so quickly. I hope you enjoy our dynamic chorus arrangements. We will definitely be working together again in the future.”
Be sure to check out the lyric video for “Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)” below, along with the streaming link for the track here!
