Single Review: Kenshi Yonezu - Karasu

“Iris Out” is still having the absolute shit streamed out of it and swept awards at the Music Awards Japan a week ago — where Kenshi also gave a performance of the song. And this song is 9 months old, having first released back in September 2025. But Kenshi’s team can’t stop the program and halt the singles because of this shit. They’ve gotta stay on the program. They have NHK coin to collect.

So, Kenshi Yonezu’s single “Karasu” is the 2026 NHK Soccer theme for their coverage of the FIFA World Cup. And lemme tell you. One thing about Kenshi’s team, they are in their Beams bag when it comes to tie-ins. They are gonna make sure Kenshi’s singles are tied to the highest profile shit. And for the Summer of 2026, you cannot get more high-profile in Japan than the NHK and the FIFA World Cup. Especially with how Japanese football fans are going viral online for their etiquette at matches, their excitement at being on camera for TV and living their best lives in Texas.

I am a complete sucker for these happy-ass, dime a dozen songs that are often made to be opening or closing themes in anime and Japanese dramas. So that’s one box checked. But what I also like about this song is that it feels like a nod to how Kenshi started out. Kenshi used to make vocaloid songs. And “Karasu” sounds very much like a style of song you would have made with vocaloid at a point in time.

With “Karasu” being the official song for NHK’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup, I think the energy and disposition of the song is a good match. But I did wonder about the lyrics. Nostalgia seems to be a big hook for the song, along with trying to find your own path in life. And I was like ‘How the fuck does this correlate with some football?’. But then I thought more about it and listened to the song some more, and it clicked. First of all, I think any song which is inspirational can work as a theme for a sporting event. But second of all, an account of looking back on pivotal moments of your life, people you remember and using that to fuel the pursuit of your own dreams also works. Everybody who is playing in the World Cup is doing what they love and pursuing a dream. And I also think that there is a lot of nostalgia in sports in general. Many people who go on to be professional athletes probably have a memory of the first time they saw sports on TV or went to see a match sporting event and felt that spark of ‘This is what I want to do, no matter what’. And I think “Karasu” does a great job of capturing that sentiment of ‘I really want to move beyond looking back, and choose to look forward to pursue the thing that I love’. But there is also a darkness in the lyrics of “Karasu” which to me implies the sentiment that no matter which hardships you have experienced or how broken you may have felt, you can still have the ability to overcome these things and pursue your dreams. And there is also so much universality in these messages, which gives “Karasu” a life and meaning beyond just being a World Cup song. It’s also far more fitting and timeless than that mess of a song that Lisa, Anitta and Rema put out, where the only connection to football was that the song was called “Goals”.

Kenshi Yonezu - Karasu | Sony Music Labels Inc.

Kenshi Yonezu tends to go back and forth between these really fun angsty songs and these really open beautiful songs, and I’ve always found this really cool about him. Because not only does he suit both styles, but I think these two sides are reflective of who he is as a person and how he sees the world. And even in “Karasu” you feel him walking that tightrope, where the lyrics do have moments of angst and tension, but are ultimately hopeful and optimistic. And the music is full of optimism. This is what I like most about “Karasu”. It feels like a true reflection of Kenshi, as so much of his music does. But there is also a sense that this song is a sort of manifesto for Kenshi himself — as somebody who finds comfort in his old habits and the things he feels comfortable with, but always wants to see what’s on the other side and how things would be if he chose to let these things go. And hopefully he’ll continue on that journey and chronicle it in his music.