Nariaki Obukuro releases his 3rd studio album Strides, featuring 2 songs co-written by Hikaru Utada

Nariaki Obukuro has a new EP album out, titled Strides, which dropped out of nowhere. On October 6th he was like 'New album soon'. Then October 13th hit and it was like 'ALBUM'S OUT'. Bitch, what!?

Nariaki had expressed his dislike of Sony Music Japan, despite being signed to them; saying how little they care for their artists. And me being a fan of artists who were signed to Sony (Crystal Kay, MiChi, Angela Aki) and seeing how their shit ended up, I fully agree. So I guess Nariaki is like 'Well, fuck it. If they don't care. Lemme do how I'mma do'. Hence why Strides and Nariaki's last album Piercing were released not long after they were announced, with none of the lead up you'd expect from a Japanese album release. Not to mention very little promo.

But the real tea is that Nariaki's new EP album features 2 songs which were co-written by his partner in crime Hikaru Utada; "Rally" and "Parallax". Hikaru isn't a credited artist on neither song, but there are some pitched ad-lib vocals on "Rally" which sound like they could be Hikaru's.

Nariaki Obukuro - Strides | © 2021 Sony Music

1. Work
2. Rally
3. Formula
4. Butter
5. Strides
6. Route
7. Parallax

Nariaki and Hikaru are pretty much a package deal these days. Hikaru Utada featured on Nariaki's debut album, on which she is also credited as an executive producer. Nariaki is credited as a producer on Hikaru Utada's songs "Pink Blood", "Dare" and "Time. When you listen to these songs and Nariaki's own material, you get a real sense of his style, which is very lo fi, which seems to be Hikaru Utada's vibe at the moment. Nothing that Hikaru and Nariaki have done has managed to touch the magic that was and still is their debut union on 2016's "Tomodachi". But it's cool that they continue to work with one another, and that they're both based in London.

Nariaki has been living in London since 2019. He really moved to this raggedy country at the worst time. But none of us knew back in 2019 just how much of a shitstorm 2020 would be, and just how far into hell that England would slide.

The album cover for Stride was shot in Shoreditch Park, and Nariaki records in Hackney. So despite me initially thinking that he and Hikaru were making music over Zoom and sending shit back and forth over Box, the two of them have probably been kicking it together in person. So it's highly likely that Hikaru Utada's upcoming album will feature another song or two which has Nariaki listed in the liner notes.

🔊 Stream Nariaki's 3rd studio album Strides: 🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Music | 🔴 YouTube Music