Japanese singer/dancer INTO1 SANTA follows massive success by co-writing ambitious new single, ‘I’m from…’!

‘I’m from…’ digital jacket cover

Following his soaring popularity on the mega-hit Chinese show ‘CHUANG2021’, where he formed the boyband INTO1, Japanese artist INTO1 SANTA has released new single ‘I’m from…’ on November 25 across all digital music streaming platforms.

INTO1 SANTA personally selected the concept for the song, which features autobiographical lyrics that tell his story. Set to a beautiful flowing melody and based on INTO1 SANTA’s own life experiences so far, the lyrics express the importance he places on chasing his dream, while showing gratitude to the family, friends and fans who have supported him along the way. 

Comment from INTO1 SANTA

“This song tells my story. As the title ‘I’m from…’ suggests, it is based on my past experiences. These experiences could only have been achieved with the support of my family, friends and all of you, and they have allowed me to become who I am today – and to love myself.

“I hope you too can continue to do what you love. If you work hard on achieving your dream, your efforts will be rewarded in countless unexpected ways. And while you’re chasing your dream, never forget to care for and appreciate the family and friends around you.

The jacket photo was shot specially for this single release, and it carries a connection to the lyrics, capturing INTO1 SANTA in front of a wall covered in graffiti messages and photos that express his “past, future and present”.

Keep an eye out for INTO1 SANTA, the Japanese artist who is taking China by storm. Be sure to check out SANTA ‘I’m from…’ here!

One Year After Their Debut, Uprising Japanese Group, BE:FIRST Hits Over 300M Views on Their Official YouTube Channel!

Since releasing their debut album, ‘BE:1’ in August this year, Japanese group BE:FIRST, has been nothing short of unstoppable. Signed to renowned Japanese rapper and artist, SKY-HI’s management company and label, BMSG, BE:FIRST is a seven member dance and vocal group who has continuously swept up No.1 spots on various music charts, and music videos receiving over millions of views., This time, the group has reached another successful milestone. Just one year after their debut, their official YouTube channel reached over 300 million total views earlier this week.

All the music videos on BE:FIRST’s YouTube channel thus far have received tremendous numbers of views. Their pre-debut single ‘Shining One’ surpassed 32 million views as of 14 November 2022. Their second single, ‘Bye-Good-Bye’ is about to hit 30 million views any day. Besides the music videos, dance performance and dance practice videos, in addition to live performance videos, are popular among fans.

Additionally, BE:FIRST actively post short versions of the video footage from “You’re My “BESTY”” (fan club content) or YouTube Shorts videos. As of today, their official YouTube channel, which has become an easy way to get to know BE:FIRST, has over half a million and rising-daily subscribers. 

On the day of hitting 300 million views, BESTY (BE:FIRST’s fandom) celebrated on social media by tagging #BEFIRST_YT300Mviews, which trended at No.1 on both Japanese and worldwide Twitter.

BE:FIRST is currently on a Japan tour performing in 17 cities with 29 live shows. On top of that, the group will be appearing at the 2022 Asia Artist Awards (AAA). As one of the biggest Korean entertainment award ceremonies held annually, the event will take place this year on 13 December 2022 in Nagoya, Japan. It has also recently been announced that the group will be performing at Japan’s prestigious annual music TV programs “65th annual The Japan Record Award” and “73rd NK Kouhaku Uta Gassen (Kouhaku Song Festival)” at the end of the year. What a great way to complete 2022! We cannot wait to see what BE:FIRST brings us in 2023.

Be sure to check out their latest album BE:1 across all digital streaming platforms here!

Sumire Uesaka’s 13th Single ‘LOVE CRAZY’ to be Opening Theme for ‘Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack’

ANTHOLOGY & DESTINY Jacket Cover

The ever talented artist and voice actress Sumire Uesaka has announced that her 13th single ‘LOVE CRAZY’ will be released from 8 February 2023. The title track from the release will also be the opening theme song for the TV anime Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack, which will begin airing in January 2023. It sees Sumire Uesaka play the lead role of Miss Nagatoro, as she did in the first season, which her hugely popular track ‘EASY LOVE’ was the opening theme to and has since been streamed over nine million times on Spotify alone.

The lyrics to the track have been written by TAKUMI YOSHIDA of Hokkaido’s three-piece rock band saji. Its composition and arrangement has been handled by KoTa, who has worked on numerous songs in Japan’s world of tokusatsu film and TV.

Sumire Uesaka has also revealed her latest artist pic. It sees her in a black and white gothic outfit, drastically different from the cute and soft atmosphere used to promote her latest album ANTHOLOGY & DESTINY.

‘EASY LOVE’, Sumire Uesaka’s opening theme for the first season of Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is still a long lasting hit domestically and internationally, along with her latest releases also attracting attention at home and abroad. With her tenth anniversary as an artist just around the corner and expectations for her future activities ever increasing as she lands bigger and bigger roles (she is currently the star of the new series of Urusei Yatsura, and is in the stage play of GeGeGe no Kitaro, both household names in Japan), this is absolutely a release for fans of Japanese pop culture to look forward to!

Be sure to order Anthology & Destiny from our friends at JPU records here!

Sumire Morohoshi Looks to Shine with Latest Single!

Popular voice actress Sumire Morohoshi will be releasing “Kanaeru,” the ending theme song of the upcoming TV anime Sugar Apple Fairy Tale, which will start airing next January in Japan, as a single on February 1, 2023.

This product will be released in three formats: a Standard Edition; an Anime Edition, which includes the TV size version of the theme song; and a Limited Edition, which includes a Blu-ray containing the music video and four songs from Sumire Morohoshi’s mini-live performance at Victor Studio in 2020.

The studio mini-live performance received a great response after it was streamed, and there were many requests for the video to be packaged. This product has been made in response to those requests.

Be sure to pre-order the single below!

Standard edition

Limited edition

Anime edition

Music Corner Week 121: AAAMYYY

AAAMYYY is a female electronic musician born Honami ‘Amy’ Fukuhara and began her music career when she came back from Vancover, Canada. She began an electro-pop group with her friend Shiori, called Go Retro in 2013. Once their group disbanded, AAAMYYY began the group Eemie with DJ Takuma, where they produced mainly English language music. The group debuted in 2015 and peformed at the Summer Sonic festival, from there AAAMYYY met the group Templay and joined as a supported member performing at the SXSW festival. AAAMYYY began her solo career in 2017 after becoming a Radio DJ; her debut song was '“8PM”. As she had did mainly English produced music, she decided to switch it up to Japanese as a way to reach more listeners in Japan. AAAMYYY western meets eastern style, her inspirations such as M.I.A. bring a memorable style of electro pop style music to Japan. Not only in AAAMYYY’s music career, but also her experience helped boost her audience range worldwide with the ability to sing in both English and Japanese.

AAAMYYY’s debut track, “8PM” drew me in with its catchy electric beat, fun lyrics, and smooth vocals that make you want to get up and dance. This is the type of track I play on a Friday night to get me in the mood for the weekend. “Swim In” has a consistent beat that delivers a nice chill vibe feeling you can’t help but bob your head or tap your feet to, plus AAAMYYY’s vocals perfectly flow with the beat which is steady yet pulsating in a good way. AAAMYYY’s collaboration tracks are perfection as the acts she works with know how to match her style such as tracks like “Z feat. Computer Magic”, “Island feat. MATTON”, Eyes feat. CONYPLANKTON, and KAMERA feat. TENDRE to name a few. These collaborations provide unique musical sounds with AAAMYYY’s pleasant voice along with the collaborating acts. One of AAAMYYY’s latest tracks, Ano emi feat. ano immediately caught my ear due to its composition being a mixture between electronic and alternative plus AAAMYYY’s vocals take a different tone than most of her tracks giving it a unique feel making it very memorable. AAAMYYY’s utilization of her vocal skills plus having a composition that stands out and lryrics to bolster all that made it easily a favorite.

AAAMYYY currently has three studio albums, MABOROSI WEEKEND (2018), Body (2019) , and Annihilation (2021); two EPs, ECHO CHAMBER (2022) and ETCETRA (2018); and eleven digital singles. Check out AAAMYYY’s official website, Twitter, Instagram, and one of her latest music videos “Ano emi” feat. ano below.