Fujii Kaze and his journey-through-Tekken-stages music video for his Pre: Prema song “It’s Alright”

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A screenshot from the music video for Fujii Kaze’s Pre: Prema song “It’s Alright”. Featuring a shot of Kaze as a celestial being in space, holding a glass egg which contains worlds.

Fujii Kaze is STILL giving us music videos for songs off of Prema, and I am here for it. The rollout and promo for Prema has felt a little all over the place at times. But there has been no shortage of Kaze content for fans to mull over, which is a good thing.

On 3rd April, Pre: Prema was released to streaming. Pre: Prema was a separate disc which came with the limited edition of Prema, featuring all of the singles released between Love All Serve All and Prema. I personally feel that these songs would have worked better on a re-release of Love All Serve All, than being put on a seperate for Prema. But at least they weren’t just put amongst the Prema songs, so Prema was able to stand as its own thing. I know a lot of fans were lukewarm on the album. Me? I liked it. But that’s a whole other post.

A screenshot from the music video for Fujii Kaze’s Pre: Prema song “It’s Alright”. Featuring a shot of Kaze surrounded by men with spades — all stood in an old Japanese style structure.
Fujii Kaze - It’s Alright | Republic Records / Universal Music

In addition to the previously released post Love All Serve All singles, Pre: Prema featured an all new song “It’s Alright”. And that song now has a music video, which is like watching Kaze on different stages in Tekken.

The music video for “It’s Alright” was directed and choreographed by Nina McNeely, who was also the director and choreographer for “I Need U Back”. So she’s now 2 for 2 on Kaze music videos which feature him in drag. It’s kinda remarkable how well Nina managed to really nail Kaze’s whole vibe and aesthetic with this music video. And there was clearly a level of trust that Kaze and his team had in Nina to reach out to her again.

A screenshot from the music video for Fujii Kaze’s Pre: Prema song “It’s Alright”. Featuring a shot of Kaze sitting amongst a field of flowers, in front of a decaying statue of a face under a rainbow.
Fujii Kaze - It’s Alright | Republic Records / Universal Music

As per the song and some of Kaze’s other videos — spirituality is a big theme in this video. ‘No mud, no lotus’, ‘Quiet mind’, ‘The earth laughs in flowers’ and ‘We are starlight’ are all phrases rooted in philosophies concerning life, death and the presence of God.

‘No mud, no lotus’ is a Buddhist teaching of how there can be no joy (the lotus) without adversity (the mud). ‘Quiet mind’ is a state of being. ‘The earth laughs in flowers’ is a line from the poem ‘Hamatreya’ written by Ralph Walso Emerson, about the arrogance of mankind. For all of the fuckery that man does here on earth, eventually they will die and return to the earth. And flowers that grow from that earth is the earth saying ‘HA. BITCH. LOOK AT YOU. DEAD AND LOPSIDED. AND MY SHIT STILL THRIVING. LMAOOOOOO.’ It’s a tale of mortality. The earth will outlive man. And ‘We are starlight’ is tied to Hinduism, and the concept that God resides within us all. And when you know this and then watch the video and you see how the different concepts interact with each other, you see how it creates a cycle, which is pretty much life. It’s a really cool video concept. If you look into it, there are messages you can apply to how you move through the world and life. And if you just take the video at face value, then that’s fine too, and you get to enjoy a cool looking music video.

🎤 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 | Prema

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