Fujii Kaze

is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician under Universal Sigma. Raised in Satoshō, Okayama in Japan, he began uploading covers to YouTube since the age of 12. He released his first studio album, ''Help Ever Hurt Never'' in 2020, which reached number one on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums chart and number two on the Oricon Albums Chart. His second album, ''Love All Serve All'', released in 2022 topped both the Japanese Billboard charts and the Oricon Albums Chart and has since been certified platinum in March 2022 by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), beating his debut’s gold certification in January 2021. Fujii was the first Asian act in history to debut a song in all 73 available countries and regions of Spotify Daily Viral charts.

Biography

Early musical beginnings

Fujii Kaze was born in 1997 in Satoshō in Okayama, Japan, and has one older brother and two older sisters. As a child, he listened to all kinds of music such as jazz, classical music, pop, and enka. Starting at 12 years old, Fujii uploaded various piano and vocal cover videos on his personal YouTube channel, amassing more than 30 million views. During his high school years, he suspended uploading to focus on his musical studies; he returned to YouTube after he graduated. In early 2019, he moved to Tokyo.

2019–2020: Major label debut, ''Help Ever Hurt Never''

Fujii released his debut single, "何なんw (WTF LOL)" on November 18, 2019, and his second single, "もうええわ (Mo-Eh-Wa)" on December 24. Each single was re-released digitally with its own extended play, with each EP including cover songs that can only be downloaded on Apple Music.

In January 2020, he was named as one of Spotify's Early Noise 2020 Top 10 Breaking Artists. One-man live performances in the form of ''Nan-Nan Show 2020'' were scheduled for April 4 and 26 at Zepp Namba and Zepp Tokyo respectively, but were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fujii released his first studio album ''Help Ever Hurt Never'' on May 20, 2020, and reached number one on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums chart. He also announced his first national hall tour, which consists of 12 performances in 11 cities from December 25, 2020, to January 31, 2021.

In August 2020, he became the first Japanese person to be a YouTube's ''Artist on the Rise''. Immediately after Fujii Kaze "Nan-Nan Show 2020" Help Ever Hurt Never at Nippon Budokan, Fujii released two new singles: "Hedemo Ne-Yo" and "Seishun Sick" on October 30. Each single was released digitally with its own extended play and selection of cover songs.

2021: Two tie-ups, Nissan stadium "Free" live and 1st NHK Kohaku appearance

In January 2021, "Tabiji" started airing on TV Asahi as the theme song for a TV drama series "Nijiiro Carte “ (にじいろカルテ/ Niji Village Clinic). This was the first time Fujii's song was used as a tie-up. The song was digitally released as the 7th single on March 1, and on the same day Fujii performed the song live with piano during the TV news program "Houdo Station" (TV Asahi), which was his first live TV appearance. The song won first place in the Oricon Weekly Digital Single Ranking which was announced on March 10th.

On March 8 , Fujii won the Best Breakthrough Artist award at Space Shower Music Awards 2021. In addition to that, the music video for "Seishun Sick" won the Best Conceptual Video award. Fujii gave a live performance of "Seishun Sick" with piano and was broadcast on Space Shower TV.

On March 10 , Fujii won the "Popular New Artist" Award at the 33rd Music Pen Club Music Awards. Furthermore, on March 23 , ''Help Ever Hurt Never'' won the Grand Prize of 13th CD Shop Awards.

On April 22nd "Kirari" started airing in the new Honda Vezel TV ad. "Kirari" was later released as Fujii's 8th single on May 3. The song led to an explosion of his popularity both domestically and internationally, debuting at number one on the ''Billboard'' Japan Download Songs chart. The music video of "Kirari" was released on the official YouTube channel on May 21, which incorporated dance and motorcycle scenes that Fujii requested by himself for the first time, according to Fujii's 'After Talk' live streaming. "Kirari" surpassed 100 million streamings in August 2021 and 300 million streamings in June 2022. On January 14th of the following year, Fujii digitally released a remix EP ''Kirari Remixes (Asia Edition)'' .

On May 20, 2021 in commemoration of the 1st anniversary of ''Help Ever Hurt Never'', ''Help Ever Hurt Cover'' which was originally came with the 1st edition of ''Help Ever Hurt Never'' as a bonus disc, was reprinted and also digitally released. ''Help Ever Hurt Cover'' contains 11 English cover songs. Along with this, the analog record of ''Help Ever Hurt Never'' was also resold (limited quantity production by lottery)  .

In August 2021, Fujii was named one of the most exciting musicians around the world by '' GQ''.

On September 4, "Fujii Kaze "Free" Live 2021 at Nissan Stadium" was held at Nissan Stadium in Kanagawa, Japan. This performance was live-streamed on Fujii's official YouTube channel for free, and about 180,000 people watched it simultaneously, recording the world's No.1 trending word. On the same day, Fujii performed " Mo-E-Yo" for the first time and the song was released as a digital single.

From October to November, "Fujii Kaze "Help Ever Arena Tour"" was held. The concert movie (Blu-ray) of the final performance at Yoyogi National Gymnasium was released on June 14, 2022 and ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive year, which made Fujii Kaze the first solo artist in the history to have two consecutive No. 1 for its concert movies.

On December 31, 2021, Fujii performed on the prestigious year-end music program, NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, for the first time. Fujii performed "Kirari" first, which was said to be pre-recorded at her parents' home in Okayama, Japan, then he made a surprise appearance at Kohaku venue at the Tokyo International Forum. Fujii performed "Mo-E-Yo" live with piano on stage. Moreover, in the grand finale, Fujii accompanied Misia, who sang "Higher Love", which was the first song Fujii had ever provided to another artist. Fujii took part in piano and the chorus.

2022–present: ''Love All Serve All''

On January 14, 2022, Fujii released the EP ''Kirari Remixes (Asia Edition)''.

On January 21, 2022, Fujii announced that the release of his second studio album, ''Love All Serve All'', will be on March 23, 2022.

On March 15, Fujii was awarded a very prestigious Art Encouragement Prize for New Artist (popular entertainment category) by Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. On the same day, Fujii also received three awards at the Space Shower Music Awards 2022: Best Solo Artist, Best Conceptual Live, and People's Choice which was chosen by the public vote of music fans.

On March 20, lead single of ''Love All Serve All'', "Matsuri", was pre-released at the same time as its music video. On the following day, March 21, live-streaming of the album's advance viewing" 'Love All Serve All' Listening Party" was held on Fujii's official YouTube channel followed by 'LASA Listening YouTube Premium Afterparty' on YouTube Premium. On March 23, ''Love All Serve All'' was released both in physical and digital format.

Since July 2022, Fujii was brought to the attention of a global audience thanks to one of his songs from ''Help Ever Hurt Never'', " Shinunoga E-Wa", going viral on TikTok. On October 10, 2022, Fujii released the digital single "Grace". The song served as the theme song for his collaboration with NTT Docomo, Japan's largest telecommunications company's "Kaze Films Docomo Future Project". The project films were broadcast as TV commercials throughout Japan for few months. Fujii shot "Grace"'s music video in Uttarakhand, India.

In October 2022, Fujii performed at Panasonic Stadium Suita in Osaka, Japan, attracting 70,000 people in two days. On March 10, 2023, this performance has started to broadcast only on Netflix as ''Fujii Kaze Love All Serve All Stadium Live''.

On December 17, 2022, Fujii kicked off the nationwide arena tour "Fujii Kaze Love All Arena Tour" of 16 shows in 8 cities throughout Japan until February 2023, attracting a total of 210,000 people.

Artistry

Fujii Kaze writes/composes all of his songs. Fujii's music has been described as "fresh yet familiar", with clear influence stemming from the western music he grew up with. His vocals are "reminiscent of Japan's ''kayōkyoku'' pop standards", making his music also distinctly Japanese.

Discography

Studio albums

Cover albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted and certified songs

Music videos

Concert tours

Headlining

* Fujii Kaze "Nan-Nan Show 2020" Help Ever Hurt Never (2020)
* Fujii Kaze "Help Ever Hall Tour" (2020-21)
* Fujii Kaze "Free" Live 2021 at Nissan Stadium(2021)
* Fujii Kaze "Help Ever Arena Tour"(2021)
* Fujii Kaze alone at home Tour 2022(2022)
* Fujii Kaze "Love All Serve All" Stadium Live(2022)
* Fujii Kaze "Love All Arena Tour"(2022-23)

Others

* Live Di:ga Judgement (2018)
* Sanuki Rock Colosseum Monster Bash × I Radio786- (2019)
* Hiroshima Music Stadium -Haruban '19- (2019)
* Viva la Rock 2019 (2019)
* Sakar Sp-Ring (2019)
* Treasure05X 2019 -Heading for Tomorrow- (2019)
* Ohara☆brreak '19 summer (2019)
* Monster Bash 2019 (2019)
* Space Shower Sweet Love Shower (2019)
* FM802 Heavy Rotation Night supported by Spotify Early Noise (2020)
* Viva la Rock 2021 (2021)
* Viva la Rock 2021 Viva la J-Rock Anthems guest vocal (2021)
* Rising Sun Rock Festival 2022 in Ezo (In place of Vaundy) (2022)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujii, Kaze
1997 births
Living people
Japanese male pop singers
Japanese male singer-songwriters
Musicians from Okayama Prefecture
Universal Music Japan artists
People in vegetarianism
21st-century Japanese male singers