Fujii Kaze’s performs “Prema” on Music Station. His first ever performance on Music Station. Crazy.

Fujii Kaze gave a live performance of “Prema” on Music Station, with some really cool staging and a nice twist from the music video and album versions of the song.

I would have preferred the press conference / courtroom concept for this performance being used for the “Prema” music video. But of course the music video for “Prema” (of all songs) was going to be “Grace” part 2 and be some spiritual shit shot in Sagat’s home country with some Elephants.

There are a couple of things which made me say ‘THE FUCK!?’ out loud. Firstly, Music Station releasing a full performance!? This video will probably be set to private and be ‘archived’ by the time I publish this post. But the fact we actually got an official upload of a full performance on the Music Station YouTube channel — wow…what a moment. The fact that it’s 2025 and official YouTube uploads of televised performances in Japan are still wholly non-existent is bonkers. This makes me wonder why we even got a full upload of Kaze’s performance in the first place. Was it something that his team requested? Or was it Music Station actually being savvy and knowing that uploading his performance in particular was an easy way to get high views. As I write this, the video of Kaze’s performance of “Prema” is at 3 million views, which I think is one of the highest viewed videos on the Music Station channel.

Fujii Kaze - Prema | TV Asahi

This being Kaze’s first performance on Music Station is absolutely insane. It says a lot about the shift that’s been happening in Japanese music over the years. Kaze is part of a generation of acts in Japan who established a fanbase before they were signed to a major record label — circumventing the usual rigmarole of TV and radio, and instead harnessing the power of the Internet. Kenshi Yonezu’s path is also very similar. This is a huge realisation that whilst TV appearances will absolutely help your career, they aren’t as necessary now as they were. Kaze managing to have albums top the Oricon charts, go on national sell out tours and a world tour without a Music Station performance is proof of that. And I think a lot of Japanese acts are slowly realising this, which explains why we are seeing more and more acts pivot to YouTube to create their own content and build online communities. But Music Station being a weekly show with a focus on the singles charts is probably why we haven’t seen Kaze perform on there before. Because despite his albums topping the charts, his singles don’t perform quite as well. “Kirari” was his first song to enter the top 10. All of his single releases from Help Ever Hurt Never and his first couple of singles from Love All Serve All flopped on the charts.

But this being Kaze’s first performance on Music Station also makes me wonder if there is gatekeeping at play. The answer is ‘yes’. There is gatekeeping in every-damn-thing. But I’m still curious. Was this Kaze’s first performance on Music Station because his team had never even bothered to get him on there and kept rejecting invites? Or was Kaze never invited on the show before?

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🎤 Performances: “Free” Live 2021 | “Me-Eh-Yo” on the Help Ever Arena Tour | Tiny Desk | Feelin’ Good

💿 Album Reviews: Help Ever Hurt Never | Help Ever Hurt Cover | Love All Serve All