Why Did Kenshi Yonezu Blow Up?

It is a shame that I, as a professional composer/music producer, hadn’t checked out much of Kenshi Yonezu’s music which has been taking the industry by storm.

In this article, I would like to talk about why Kenshi Yonezu and his music blew up the way they did, from the producer’s perspective with respect.

From my point of view, Yonezu is successful for the following reasons.

Producing/Marketing everything by himself

Although there are dozens of singer/songwriters and creators in Japan, only a few of them are doing everything by themselves.

If you have experience creating content on niconico or some other platforms, you may know that Japanese industrial music is the work of the team in most cases.

Some people may be good at writing radio-friendly songs, or others may be known for their complex song composition. However, on the other hand, not many of those producers are good at song arrangement or singing as well. Kenshi Yonezu has experienced every part of music production.

He writes his own songs and lyrics, does a lot of self-arrangement, and mixes his tracks as well. That gives us the image about him “Doing whatever he wants”.

It appears that he splits some portion of his work with other producers nowadays, but putting the right people into the right spot takes a lot of knowledge and experience, which is exactly what Yonezu has been doing for the recent years.

I believe that this is where Yonezu’s strength is coming from.

His lyrical theme resonating with today’s generation

The unique atmosphere of Kenshi Yonezu’s music has stayed relevant to many listeners. Music listeners in general have the desire to understand complex music.

At the same time, however, some people argue that they cannot process the complexity of such music, even if they wish they understood it.

That is the perfect time for producers to release a catchy song to fetch all the attention and blow up as artists.

Normal songs written by an enigmatic person

I guess many people have had the impression that Kenshi Yonezu appears as a strange, mysterious and enigmatic person, given the way he has been displayed in the media.

With all due respect, the type of social presence that he has is key to creating the artist’s over-the-top persona which separates artists like Yonezu from other musicians.

After all that Yonezu has accomplished as a musician, his enigmatic presence is what represents his style more than anything.

But how about his music? Although there are a lot of commercial shifts and features on TV programs/anime/advertisement, artists from the mysterious side usually succeed from creating “normal music”, which means that they pushed their egos aside a bit to reach wider audiences. In most cases, enterprises in the Japanese music industry are reluctant to feature unique tracks.

Mysterious people have more opportunities to blow up by writing a normal, radio-friendly song. Actually writing such songs takes a lot of talent. Yonezu surely had that talent, which not many could have.

Summary

How was this article? Personally, I am very happy for his success, and I like that his music is now spreading to other countries.

Although a musician’s success often depends on the eras and trends, it is great that Yonezu has been powerhousing the traction towards Japanese music from listeners from overseas. I really respect him for that.

I highly recommend you look out for Yonezu’s future projects and commercial moves.