One of Japan’s hottest contemporary talents, Fujii Kaze takes a step closer to global adoration with his first English-language album, Prema. He talks growth, identity, and resilience.

Fujii Kaze’s rise has been far from conventional. He grew up in Okayama, taught himself piano, and started posting covers online, slowly gathering a following before introducing his own songs. His first album, HELP EVER HURT NEVER, arrived in the middle of the pandemic and carried a message of compassion that hit home. Two years later, while he was already moving forward with his follow-up LOVE ALL SERVE ALL, the track “Shinunoga E-Wa” from his debut took over the world via TikTok; a tender yet urgent love song, it resonated across borders in a way few expected, breaking far beyond Japan and putting Kaze on a global stage almost overnight.

Since then, he’s sold out arenas, released a Netflix concert film, and made his Tiny Desk debut – the kind of run that’s taken him from self-taught YouTube covers to one of Japan’s most visible musical talents. What’s kept global listeners under Kaze’s spell is more than fleeting social media virality – his blend of vulnerability and spiritual openness has made him one of the rare artists who can speak to both the heart and the soul.

This year marks another step forward in his trajectory as a global star. Kaze kicked off a landmark summer with sold-out shows across Europe, including Berlin, Paris, and London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, before wrapping the first leg of his debut U.S. tour with sold-out performances at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and festival after-shows at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands. With unprecedented demand – 260,000 fans queuing in Los Angeles alone – he’s continued to break records while building an international presence.

Now, Kaze returns with his third studio album, Prema. It’s his first English-language record; a leap that’s both daring and deliberate. The title, taken from Sanskrit, means “supreme love,” and that idea threads through all nine tracks – not just as a theme but as something Kaze is living through the music.

Prema balances light and heavy, joy and doubt. “Casket Girl” turns a rhyme into something darker; “I Need U Back” looks back at the dream that started it all for him; “Hachikō” began as a playful studio idea and ended as a meditation on loyalty. Elsewhere, “Love Like This” channels ’80s new wave into a hymn for divine love, and “Forever Young” closes on Gandhi’s words about living and learning. Kaze calls the album a “documentary” – a snapshot of where he’s at now, wrestling with doubt, holding onto faith, and finding humour even in heavy moments.

When you talk to him, he moves from burnout to rhymes to faith, circling back to the belief that music is a dialogue with God. Through it all, there’s balance: human and spiritual, playful and searching. That’s Prema – a bold statement from one of Japan’s most exciting musical talents. And what follows is Fujii Kaze in his own words.

Listen to the album…

Read the exclusive interview… 

You open the album with “Casket Girl,” which you’ve said could also be a metaphor about demons, addictions, and toxic attachments. Do you usually trust those sparks to lead you somewhere profound, or was this a case where intuition pulled the whole song into place?

I think it’s both. I trust my spark is God’s, and it leads me to the right place. I also rely on my intuition, because it could be a message from God.

“I Need U Back” captures that tug-of-war between exhaustion and rediscovering your fire as an artist. How do you navigate those moments when the desire to quit collides with the reminder of why you started?

I tried to remember who I wanted to be when I was a teenager. Back then I enjoyed a lot of English pop songs and imagined being an international artist. I almost forgot about that because I was overwhelmed by everything in Japan.

With “Hachikō,” you connect a very Japanese cultural symbol to universal ideas of loyalty and devotion. Do you feel a responsibility to thread your Japanese identity into your global work, or does it happen more subconsciously?

It happens more casually and light-heartedly. I didn’t think of putting Japanese words into this album – it was an idea from the producer Tobias Jesso Jr.. I think this song ended up serving as a bridge connecting my previous songs and the following English songs.

You describe “Love Like This” as divine love filtered through an ’80s new wave lens. What is it about that era’s sound that feels like the right vessel for something as spiritual and timeless as Prema?

I would say, when it comes to expressing love, the musical vessel can be anything you like. This time, I wanted to use ’80s music for that, because I never had the chance before!

The title track “Prema” is a beautiful statement about God, love, and oneness. Were you writing that more as a message to yourself, or did you picture it as something the world needed to hear right now?

I motivated myself with this one, but at the same time I don’t see you and me as different. In that way, this song expresses the ultimate oneness.

“It Ain’t Over” carries a sense of resilience but also simplicity and is inspired by your faith. How do you balance faith-driven conviction with keeping the music accessible and human?

I always try to see myself as objectively as possible. I want to be very accessible as a human, like everybody’s friend. Also, I want to uplift myself spiritually in a very melodic and sometimes jazzy way.

On “You,” you distill a huge cosmic philosophy into something tender and encouraging. Do you see music as your way of teaching — or is it more like you’re reminding yourself through melody and then letting listeners overhear the process?

Yes, reminding myself through melody and then letting listeners overhear the process. You said it perfectly. All of my songs are like reminders to myself.

“Okay, Goodbye” feels like a grounding moment after the spiritual heights earlier in the record. How important is it to you that your albums move like a journey, with arcs of ascent and descent, rather than just a collection of songs?

These collections of songs felt like my documentary. I want to stay high spiritually but I still live as a human with a life full of ups and downs. So I think it’s important to share the vulnerability as well, for now.

You’ve said that “Forever Young” takes inspiration from Gandhi’s words about living and learning. Do you think you’ve grown more as a musician or as a human being while making this record?

Both, baby, both. I always want to keep growing as a musician and as a human, because I’m still an artist. Ultimately though, humanity is what matters most.

If listeners walk away from Prema carrying just one feeling with them, what do you hope it is?

I hope it is ‘Prema’, which means the selfless, spiritual and supreme kind of love, however small it may be. In simple terms, it could be kindness.

Words – Hasan Beyaz