Fujii Kaze
Fujii Kaze is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. Born and raised in Satoshō, Okayama, he began uploading piano covers of pop songs to YouTube at 12. Signed to Universal Sigma's Hehn Records, Fujii released his debut single, "Nan-Nan", in 2019. His first studio album, Help Ever Hurt Never, reached number one on Billboard Japan
Fujii's second studio album, Love All Serve All, topped the albums charts of both Billboard Japan and Oricon, and it was certified platinum in Japan. The album was supported by the lead single "Kirari", which peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum for streaming in Japan. In 2023–2024, Fujii released standalone singles including "Workin' Hard", "Hana" and "Michiteyuku" and embarked on concert tours outside Japan.
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 stopped 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, "Nan-Nan" on November 18, 2019, and his second single, "Mo-Eh-Wa" on December 24. 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, Fujii became the first Japanese person to be named 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.
2021: Two tie-ins, Nissan stadium "Free" live and 1st NHK Kohaku appearance
In January 2021, "Tabiji" started airing on TV Asahi as the theme song for the TV drama series Nijiiro Carte. The song was digitally released as his 7th single on March 1, and on the same day, Fujii performed the song live with piano during the TV news program Houdo Station, which was his first live TV appearance. The song won first place in the Oricon Weekly Digital Single Ranking which was announced on March 10. On March 8, Fujii won the Best Breakthrough Artist award at Space Shower Music Awards 2021. 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 Blue at the 13th CD Shop Awards.On April 22, "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 14 of the following year, Fujii digitally released a remix EP Kirari Remixes .
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 . In August 2021, Fujii Kaze 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 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. He performed "Kirari" first, which was pre-recorded at his parents' home in Okayama, Japan. Fujii then made a surprise live appearance at Kohaku venue at the Tokyo International Forum, where he performed "Mo-E-Yo" live with piano on stage. In the grand finale, Fujii accompanied Misia, who sang "Higher Love", which was the first song Fujii had composed for another artist. Fujii took part in piano and the chorus.
2022: Second album ''Love All Serve All''
On January 14, 2022, Fujii released the EP Kirari Remixes . On January 21, 2022, Fujii announced that his second studio album, Love All Serve All, would be released on March 23, 2022. On March 15, Fujii was awarded a very prestigious Art Encouragement Prize for New Artist 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. The album reached No. 1 on Billboard Japan's Hot Album chart and got numerous prestigious awards.
Since July 2022, Fujii was brought to the attention of a global audience due to one of his songs from Help Ever Hurt Never, "Shinunoga E-Wa", going viral on TikTok. The song reached #4 on Spotify's Global Viral chart, and also reached #1 on the platform's local viral charts in 23 countries. On Spotify's Global Song chart, it reached #57, and also the #118th position on the US Billboard Global 200 chart, despite the song being originally released in 2020. On YouTube's Global Top Songs chart, the song spent 12 weeks, peaking at #33.
On October 10, 2022, Fujii released the digital single "Grace". The song served as the theme song for his collaboration with NTT Docomo, "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 held a stadium show called "Love All Serve All Stadium Live" at Panasonic Stadium Suita in Osaka, Japan, attracting 70,000 people in two days. On March 10, 2023, this performance was broadcast on Netflix globally as Fujii Kaze Love All Serve All Stadium Live. On December 17, 2022, Fujii began his nationwide arena tour "Fujii Kaze Love All Arena Tour" of 16 shows in 8 Japanese cities. The tour ended in February 2023, garnering an audience of 210,000 people.
2023: First international tour 'Fujii Kaze and the Piano Asia Tour 2023'
Fujii held an Asian tour, Fujii Kaze and the Piano Asia Tour 2023, from June to July 2023. The tour, which was Fujii's first overseas tour, consisted of a total of eight performances in seven cities. Fujii performed solely with a piano. It was also announced that vinyl editions of Fujii's first album and second set Love All Serve All would be released in the touring markets and re-released in Japan in conjunction with the tour. On April 21, Fujii was featured on a remix of Jvke's song "Golden Hour".On July 4, it was announced that Fujii's single "Workin' Hard" was selected as the theme song for "FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023", which was broadcast on Nippon TV and TV Asahi from August 25. In preparation for the production of this song, Fujii visited and watched the B-League and Japan's national team matches, as well as NBA games in the US. He then stayed in Los Angeles to create a demo of the song. After returning to Japan, Fujii continued working on the song. In his busy schedule with his Asian tour and video production, he went back to Los Angeles to record the song. The song's sound producer is DJ Dahi; the mix engineer is Jeff Ellis; and the mastering engineer is Dale Becker. On August 8, Fujii announced on X that "Workin' Hard" had been pre-released exclusively on TikTok in four parts, while the full song would be released on August 25.
Fujii's song "Garden" from Love All Serve All was used in a TV advertisement for fabric softener Laundrin, which depicts the life of a single girl in tune with the song. Fujii was featured in the advertisement as narrator. On October 10, it was announced that Fujii's song "Hana" was selected as the theme song for TV drama series Ichiban Sukina Hana, scheduled to air from October 12. The song was released on October 13 as his 14th single.