"Mayday" (stylised in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is a song by Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Coldrain are a Japanese Rock music, rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are written in English. The l ...

. It is the fifth single from their sixth studio album '' The Side Effects'', produced by

Michael Baskette Michael "Elvis" Baskette is an American music producer who has worked with artists such as Sevendust, Alter Bridge, Projected, Tremonti, Chevelle, Falling in Reverse, Coldrain, The Classic Crime, Temple Agents, Clint Lowery and Slash Slash ...

, written by

Masato Hayakawa Masato David Hayakawa (Japanese: 早川雅人, ''Hayakawa Masato'', born December 17, 1986), known professionally as Masato, is a Japanese singer, musician, songwriter, producer and model. He is known for being the bandleader and vocalist of th ...

and Ryo Yokochi, and was released on 2 November 2019. "Mayday" features Ryo Kinoshita from Japanese

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

band

Crystal Lake Crystal Lake or Crystal Lakes may refer to: Lakes Canada * Crystal Lake (Saskatchewan) * Crystal Lake (Ontario), drain into the Lynn River, which drains into Lake Erie United States * Crystal Lake, California, a mountain lake in Nevad ...

. "Mayday" is the second

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

opening for ''

Fire Force is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Ohkubo. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from September 2015 to February 2022, with its chapters collected in thirty-four '' ...

''. "Mayday" also samples the

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 661 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 661 was a Pakistani domestic passenger flight from Chitral to Islamabad, operated by Pakistan's flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines. On 7 December 2016, the aircraft serving the route, an ATR 42-500 ...

mayday distress signal in the song's intro. Due to the success of the single being on the anime, it started rotating in circles around the metalcore scene elevating the band to new heights. It would also eventually become the first song by the band to reach over 10 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. As of 2022, "Mayday" has since been viewed and streamed more than 50 million times worldwide.

Background

"Mayday" was released on November 2, 2019 as the band's fifth single and opening track off their sixth studio album '' The Side Effects'', following the release of the fourth single "The Side Effects" that was released back in August. In July 2019, following the release of the second single "

Coexist Coexist may refer to: * ''Coexist'' (album), a 2012 album by The xx * Coexist (song), 2019 song by Coldrain * Coexist Foundation, a charitable organization based in London, England * Coexist (image) The Coexist image (often styled as "CoeXisT ...

". The track list was released by the band and was revealed to have a feature by Ryo Kinoshita on the opening track "Mayday". At the end of the following month on August 26, it was announced that "Mayday" would be selected to be the second opening for the anime ''

''. The guitarist and one of the main songwriters, Ryo Yokochi, would go on to explain the process and collaboration of working on "Mayday" for ''Fire Force'':

"When we got to talk, we got asked for permission, and we were sympathetic to the information that Mr. Okubo often listens to loud music in the early 2000s, and because it was a thing with hope for offensive music, we tried to do it with all our best, the dark side of the original (Shin). I was allowed to create a song with the image of the serious and positive feelings of the members who fought with the past of La and the family of The Big, and such things, and I think that it was finished with a very heavy, cool, and lively feeling, this "Mayday feat. (Ryo from Crystal Lake)" I hope that the world of the work as an OP of the TV anime "Flame Fire Brigade" is added to the world view of the work of Coldrain."

Composition

"Mayday" is a

, heavy metal, and a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

song. The track runs at 121 BPM and is in the key of A# minor. It runs for three minutes and 47 seconds. The song was written by

and Ryo Yokochi, it was produced by

, with featured vocals from Ryo Kinoshita.

Song structure and writing

In an interview with ''Gekirock'', Hayakawa would go on to explain the reason for the collaboration with Crystal Lake's, Ryo Kinoshita, on "Mayday" and the decision for having the song being the opening track on ''The Side Effects''.

"I just thought that it was a good fit for the first song, and I didn't think about doing a featured song that much. The part of the featured vocals early on seemed, "Oh, this part is not me, it's Ryo". Ryo told me to call him anytime at various times, so I had him come. I didn't even aim and make it, and I thought that the person I just left to rock was Ryo, so I asked him as it was. I think Ryo also had a fresh face. So, I rewrote it as much as possible and put it in the state of the raw voice that Ryo possesses. At first, he didn't like it, but he showed me the best part for him and for that, I think it became a very pleasant feature."

Critical reception

"Mayday" was an instant hit among fans and critics alike, receiving very positive reviews. Critics noted the impact of Ryo Kinoshita's guest vocals on the song. Suzuki Kayomi of ''Live Japan Music'' wrote: ""Mayday" opens the album featuring

singer Ryo Kinoshita, a partnership we had long known when

appeared on the single "The Circle". The song didn't let us down, it was the perfect balance of the band's typical chords and Ryo's vocal range." Severin Furer of ''Morecore'' would go on to say something similar to say, though would also talk about the insane catchy infectious chorus. ""Mayday" greets us with a catchy chorus and the strong vocals of the aforementioned Ryo during the bridge."

Accolades

In 2019, the song was labelled as one of the "Top 25 Anime Opening and Endings of 2019" by ''J-Rock News''. In 2022, ''

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

'' named "Mayday" as the sixth best anime song to "add to your workout playlist."

Music video

The music video was premiered on November 2, 2019. The music video is directed by Inni Vision, with footage of the band captured performing "Mayday" on their One Man Tour in Japan. The video features Ryo Kinoshita as a special guest who performs the song alongside the band. The video was the fastest music video by the band to reach 1 million views, just a little over two months after its release in January 2020. It has since still been the fastest-growing music video released by the band, overtaking every single video released in ''The Side Effects'' era in quick succession. In July 2021, the song reached 5 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. This would become the third song by the band to reach this milestone on the platform, which only " Gone" and "Die Tomorrow" had previously achieved. Not long after, it became the second most viewed music video by the band, surpassing "Gone". In late November, "Mayday" overtook "Die Tomorrow" to become the most viewed song by the band on the site. As of November 2022, the music video for "Mayday" has over 7 million views on

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. Coldrain *

– lead vocals, lyrics * Ryo Yokochi – lead guitar, programming, composition *

Kazuya Sugiyama are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are written in English. The lineup consi ...

– rhythm guitar * Ryo Shimizu – bass guitar *

Katsuma Minatani are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are written in English. The lineup cons ...

– drums Additional personnel * Ryo Kinoshita – vocals *

– producer, mixing, arrangements *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– mastering * Jeff Moll – recording engineer * Joshua Saldate – assistant engineer

Charts

References

{{authority control Coldrain songs 2019 songs Warner Music Group singles Song recordings produced by Michael Baskette Songs written by Masato Hayakawa Metalcore songs Japanese hard rock songs Anime songs