Fujii Kaze dances his way into shit for “Damn”

Fujii Kaze released his second studio album Love All Serve All just over 5 months ago. And yet here we are with another single and music video from the album. Music videos and singles for songs from an album, post release of said album is slowly becoming something we’re seeing more of in Japanese music - and it’s great. Hikaru Utada has been adopting a similar approach with their album Bad Mode.

Japan is one the second biggest music market in the world. Albums definitely push units there. And yet it’s always felt like there has been a greater focus on pushing singles and tours than actually sustaining the sales life of an album with something other than a tour. So I hope this release single-from-an-album-post-album-release pattern becomes more of a trend that we see across the whole of the Japanese music business.

And there’s more. The digital single release of “Damn” also features the Instrumental and karaoke versions of the song. Japan is one of the few markets today where singles still come with instrumentals as standard. But ever since the advent of the digital single, instrumentals have remained very much a physical release only thing, which is shitty. So it’s great to see Kaze include instrumentals for a digital release, and I also hope others follow suit.

HENNYWAY.

Let’s talk Kaze, “Damn” and the delivery of yet another quirky and cool video to add to a cool and quirky videography.

Ever since “Kirari”, Kaze has been adamant that he’s gonna dance in every single music video, and I’m here for ever bit of. I like a super clean and sharp dance routine as much as the next hoe. But it’s not always necessary, and it’s certainly not a requirement for a routine to engage. Sometimes a routine being loose, a little sloppy and having great energy is all that matters, and it works wonders in this video. From the moment Kaze starts dancing, you just want to dance with him.

The scene of Kaze flying back through the music videos of songs that he self references during the bridge of “Damn”. YES bitch. A really cool touch for those who may have missed that cool detail in the song. I completely missed it when I heard “Damn” for the first time.

As was the case with the DoCoMo TV commercial which featured Namie Amuro and her song “How Do You Feel Now”, Kaze is dancing in the centre of Shibuya’s Scramble Crossing when it is completely dead. But of course, it’s all blue screened and VFX. Scramble Crossing is never quiet. That bitch is never dead. And I’m almost certain that there’d be no way you could get a permit to close it and the surrounding areas for a shoot. And even if you did manage that feat, you’d need VFX anyway to replace all of the ads and billboards.

Damn. I miss Japan. Now that they’ve opened the country to gaijin again, I might actually consider returning.

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🎤 Performances: “Me-Eh-Yo” on the Help Ever Arena Tour | “Free” Live 2021
💿 Album Reviews: Love All Serve All | Help Ever Hurt Cover | Help Ever Hurt Never