29 August 2023: Today, Fujii Kaze releases his self-affirming new tune "Workin' Hard." "Workin' Hard" is the official TV broadcast theme song of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Japan, released by Universal Music LLC.
Swati Bhat
Since "Shinunoga E-Wa" from Fujii Kaze's debut album HELP EVER HURT NEVER went viral in Thailand in July 2022, the song's popularity has gone worldwide. Fujii Kaze's new song has just been released, around one year after the phenomenon.
In order to get inspired, Fujii Kaze went to see B-League, a professional men's basketball league in Japan, and Japan's national team games before writing this song.
Fujii Kaze stayed in Los Angeles to develop a demo that reflected the thrill and emotion of basketball games in the music. After returning to Japan, he continued to practice the song and returned to Los Angeles to record it while preparing for the Asian tour and producing the video. Dahi, who has worked with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and others, produced the song, which was mixed by Jeff Ellis, and mastering engineer Dale Becker, and each section of the song was crafted by a Grammy award-winning team. In addition to the absolutely world-class sound, the participation of Kaze's lyrics, which can be interpreted as a nod to the Japanese delegates, is noteworthy.
On making the song and music video, Kaze shared with his fans, “This song is an anthem of love and respect to all who are living and doing their best. It is also a positive self-affirmation. And at the same time, it expresses the importance of cooperating with and working for others. Cuz this is also the TV broadcast theme song of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and you cannot play basketball alone :) Let’s work together, do our best, and respect each other. I’m sending much love and energy with this song. I’m happy if you feel it. ♡”
About Fujii Kaze:
Fujii Kaze is a rising singer-songwriter from Japan. He started practicing classical piano when he was little after being influenced by his father. Since he was 12, Kaze uploaded piano covers of popular songs on YouTube, which eventually caught the music industry’s attention and led him to make a label deal.
In May 2020, Kaze released his first album “HELP EVER HURT NEVER” with a message not to hurt anyone but just help, while the world was right in the middle of the pandemic. It reached No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Album chart and got numerous prestigious awards in Japan. He was selected as YouTube Japan’s first Artist On The Rise and picked for Spotify’s global program, RADAR.
In September 2021, he hosted an aspirational event titled Fujii Kaze “Free” Live 2021 at NISSAN stadium. Hoping to free up people’s minds through his music, Kaze performed just by himself with a grand piano at the 70,000-capacity stadium without any audience due to Japan’s state of emergency in response to the spread of COVID-19. It was livestreamed globally on YouTube and reached over 179,000 peak concurrent views. The event ended up becoming the world’s No. 1 trending topic on Twitter.
In March 2022, Kaze released his second album “LOVE ALL SERVE ALL”. The title is a phrase that he cherishes, which also aligns with the title of his first album. Again, the album reached No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Album chart and got numerous prestigious awards.
In July 2022, “Shinunoga E-Wa” from his first album went viral in Thailand. With that, the song reached #4 on Spotify’s Global Viral chart and reached #1 on the platform’s local viral charts in 23 countries including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, UK, France, Canada, Brazil, and Egypt, and reached #2 in the US.
In October 2022, he held a stadium show “LOVE ALL SERVE ALL STADIUM LIVE” at Panasonic Stadium Suita in Osaka, this time in front of a live audience and completely sold out at 70,000-capacity. The show is now available on Netflix globally.
From June to July 2023, he held his first 7-city, 11-show tour of Asia, with all shows sold out.
FOLLOW FUJII KAZE
“Workin’ Hard” – LISTEN HERE
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO HERE
