MATSURI’s 3rd digital single was just released and it’s another awesome song by her. Now that the song is out we have album artwork to go with it and if you’ve checked it out on Apple Music you may have noticed that it’s listed under the title “Hotaru” which was the previous single. 🥺 The folks over at Spotify did the safe thing and kept in Japanese (線香花火).
Tamashiro Chiharu (Kiroro) recently announced the release of her solo single “Hope Dream Future” on 9/21. As the song’s title implies, it’s a very uplifting song (very Kiroro) and the recording musicians include Shimabukuro Masaru (BEGIN) and members of HoRookies. Be sure to add it to your collection and check out the MV.
Tamashiro Chiharu’s “Hope Dream Future” MV
MATSURI announced on her Twitter that her 3rd digital single will be released on 9/22! At the same time a YouTube lyric video will be released on her channel. We’re looking forward to seeing the artwork for the new single and to hearing it.
A hula version of i-Dushi’s “Mirai e” (Kiroro) was recently put together by Insense Music Works on their YouTube channel. The cover song was released with the compilation album “HONEY meets ISLAND CAFE – Sea of Love 5 -” from December 2020. Unfortunately, the album nor the single is available globally so we’ll have to enjoy the video on YouTube.
HoRookies recently released their 2nd album “Focus” at the beginning of the month and held a release party for it on YouTube. They announced that it’s now available on YouTube as an archive so if you missed the livestream or just want to watch it again, here’s your chance! By the way, if you haven’t added “Focus” to your library, it’s definitely worth a listen.
I hope you enjoyed the two days of Uchinaa culture with HUOA’s 2021 Virtual Okinawan Festival (and if you haven’t, there’s always the archives). We were treated to a lot of amazing local talent and a few special guests and one that came to our attention is singer-songwriter Gus Hokama from Argentina and his song “Jikuu no Hana”. The video has been on his YouTube channel for a few years with Español subtitles (it’s sung in Japanese) but the version clipped above has English ones and is the Español version of the song. This particular song with Gus’s husky voice wouldn’t be out of place in a K-drama. It’s so good. The icing on the cake is that musician Brandon Ing makes a special appearance on sanshin for the song. “Jikuu no Hana” is from his 2018 album of the same name which is definitely worth adding to your music library (Apple Music link).
Gus recently released his single “Quiero oír tu voz” on June 19th and has a music video for it.
Following the release of their fun summer song “Root Beer”, HoRookies have announced the release of their second album “Focus”. The album has a total of 7 tracks and is available on all music streaming services.
Miura Daichi is on a roll for 2021 and is featured on J-pop singer AI’s single “In The Middle”. Daichi also helped pen the lyrics and compose the music for the song so it definitely works to both singers strengths. Available on Apple Music on other music streaming services.
Miura Daichi participated in a group project for Team Coca-Cola with other pop artists and the song “Colorful” has reached over 1 million views on YouTube. The music video had its YouTube premiere on 7/19 along with a single that’s available on all streaming platforms. He’s the first artist on the video so you can’t miss him!
Coming ahead of SPEED’s 25th anniversary tribute album, Shimabukuro Hiroko released a new single on 8/5 “Something Great”. The digital single is available on all streaming platforms (gotta love it). She mentions in a tweet that it’s a strange feeling to have released a new song in the 25th year (her last release was in 2013 although has been holding live concerts since going solo). It’s a nice song so please be sure to add it to your playlist!
Karakui 