J-pop band End Of The World release track Stargazer as they say there’s no rivalry with BTS: ‘We’re proud of them’
J-pop band End Of The World are bringing their music to the UK.
Billed as Japan’s most popular group, End Of The World are taking their music global and their new single Stargazer might help them do just that.
They’ve already toured the US with Clean Bandit and teamed up with DNCE, but they’re now releasing their single here and will be challenging the K-pop popularity, even if that’s not their intention. Lead singer Fukase has also used the band’s popularity to draw awareness to mental health, being open about his own struggles.
End Of The World, or Sekai No Owari, is made up of Nakajin (group leader, lead guitar, sound production), Fukase (lead vocals, group conceptualist), Saori (stage production, piano), and the masked clown DJ LOVE (sonic palette, comedic stage banter).
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk about the new single, they said: ‘The Stargazer concept was originally from Fukase who has written the song. We absolutely love this track and the bass sound and how the synths lay nicely over it. The song expresses that feeling that comes of ‘everyday life’, life just goes on whether you like it or not, through the good or bad and sometimes you can get lost in the routine of life.’
Have a listen here:
The group are childhood friends, brought together musically by Fukase, who had a promising career in medicine before his mental health took a downward turn and he took time out, which led him into a career in music.
‘When things were just out of control, my career plan, friendship, it was a rough time in my life,’ he told us. ‘I started taking the blame out on others, but one day I saw the beautiful sunset from my room, it woke me up and made me realise I shouldn’t be blaming others for my life not being under control. That’s when I learnt I’m the only person who can bring change to my life and situation.’
Instead he turned to music and learned to take the struggle as both ‘an advantage and disadvantage.’
‘Sometimes a great leader can be not open for opinions from others. Sometimes “timidness” in a person can be described as a person with “deliberation”. If you are struggling with an issue, you could start with looking at what good can be generated from the issue,’ he said.
This band are aiming to go global at a time when K-pop is dominating. So can J-pop get a look in? Can they take over BTS’ crown?
‘We don’t see it as competition, no one around me does,’ they said when asked if they thought they could take on the likes of BTS. ‘We have many loving Korean fans and similarly we like K-pop. We, also as an artist from Asia, feel really proud for BTS’s accomplishment.’
They’ve worked with both DNCE on single Hollow, and supported Clean Bandit in 2016 on their tour, and are now eyeing up collaborations with Disclosure, Calvin Harris and Coldplay.
‘Working with DNCE is so inspiring,’ they said. ‘We worked together on a song called Hollow. It was a lot of back and forth sending arrangements to them and then they’d add additional production and it just built from there.
‘It would always come back with that defining DNCE sound and it really inspired us to try and define what our sound is and how to add our ‘colour’ to it. We’re excited to be releasing it internationally this year.’
Speaking of working with Clean Bandit, they said: ‘We share a lot of in common the way we both make music and how relationships were formed before starting the band.
‘We supported their US tour back in 2016, which was incredible. Whenever the guys are in Japan, we always visit the studio and we’ve invited them over for a Takoyaki party.’
Their album tree was released in 2015 and this band have been going from strength to strength. They’ve performed all over Japan, with a 15 date arena tour, and their 2013 YouTube video RPG garnered over 100 million views.
Now they are just waiting for the call to come to the UK and play for their fans over here. There’s a whole festival season coming up, the call could come soon.
Stargazer is out now.
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