HIRAIDAI Concludes 2020 Digital Singles Streak with a World-First Starbucks Collaboration Song!

“Starbucks, Me and You” Jacket Cover

Singer-songwriter HIRAIDAI has released a new digital single every fortnight since May. Now, the 14th and final track in this ambitious series is available, titled “Starbucks, Me and You”. The new single is a holiday-flavored holiday 2020 celebration released in collaboration with Starbucks – the first time Starbucks has worked directly with an artist in this way. Based on personal holiday stories collected from Starbucks customers and baristas, HIRAIDAI wrote the music and lyrics, sprinkling in references such as “Red cup with a melody” and “carrying my favorite latte, the special one with the ginger aroma”. The result is a song as rich and warm as coffee, filled with joy, family connections and the cozy feelings we all love to share during the festive season. 

A lyric video shot on location at Starbucks has also been released, with the words in English and Japanese. It’s a great way to soak in the merrymaking spirit while learning the holiday-related lyrics to this heartwarming new song.

And that’s not all – “Starbucks, Me and You” will also be played in selected Starbucks stores all around the world from December 18 through December 25. Be sure to unwrap this special Starbucks holiday song – the perfect winter gift from HIRAIDAI!

Be sure to check out the lyric video for “Starbucks, Me and You.” along with the digital streaming link for the track here!

Ken's Ongaku Go For September 2020!

Another month down from 2020 and we at Ongaku to You would like our readers to know what was filling our ears for the past month. Each track is available across all digital music streaming platforms with Apple Music being featured on this site.

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“Slow & Easy” by HIRAIDAI

With the summer season ending I find myself going back to this track every so often. As miserable as this season was for me with the ongoing crisis, putting “Slow & Easy” on my rotation helped me to take things one day at the time, and that’s most important with everything going on. While his latest releases “Sayonara” and “GIRL FRIEND” have been great, it doesn’t have one two punch of emotions that is attached with Hirai’s greatest hit.

Be sure to check out the music video below, along with the streaming link here!

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“Life” by TENDRE

This one was a fairly recent addition as while it was originally dropped digitally back in April, and was featured on his latest mini-album Life Less Lonely. While not giving it any notice the first time around, having it on the latest release helped it out a whole lot more. This song featured a lot of what I just love about TENDRE, with his amazing vocals and outer-worldly composition. The hint of sax throughout its melody brings that added zest that had missed from other tracks from the mini-album which brought my love for it even more. 

Check out the streaming link for “LIFE” here along with the music video below!

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“I’ll Go To The Moon” by Naz

Naz is an artist that I’ve kept my eye on for the longest time after her debut single, “Fare” last year, and she is an artist that changes her style with every release. Hitting a more grunge style with a splash of modern R&B might sound like a peanut butter and pickle situation in regard to compositions. This unusual blend ends up becoming a fresh of breath air with Naz’s luxurious vocal range. 

Be sure to check out the music video along with the streaming links here!

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“Romance no Kamisama” by Kohmi Hirose

Occasionally I get a retro itch for songs that I heard when I was a kid or from an artist that I knew previously and “Romance no Kamisama” has filled that niche very nicely. It balances all that 90’s J-pop goodness with its high energy and simplistic composition that I can’t help but move to the beat. While I did drop it halfway through the month to prioritize other artists that I had found, I had enjoyed going through my nostalgic trip with it. 

Check out “Romance no Kamisama” on streaming platforms here along with a snippet of the music video below!

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“Trouble” by LUCKY TAPES

After doing the Music Corner Round Up Episode a couple of weeks back, I’ve been on a huge LUCKY TAPES kick. Their latest track brings up a part of the band that I had loved when when I first had discovered them. The song brings up a relaxed and jam feel that guitarist Kensuke Takahashi just shreds on, with an amazing melody that listeners can’t help but get lost in.  

Check out the music video below along with the steaming link here!

Dai Hirai Tries to Get Over his Summer Love with Latest Hit!

“Girl friend” Jacket

Vocalist Dai Hirai announced that he released a brand-new track, “GIRL FRIEND” across all digital music streaming platforms. This is the latest release from the artist since his "summer2020" instrumental mini-album back in August and is his seventh digital single release overall. “GIRL FRIEND” is a painful love song that bitterly describes the end of a relationship and promises that, once you listen to it, the haunting melody can't leave the listeners head with its impressive pop tune.

Hirai has also released the lyric video for the track on avex’s YouTube channel which is available below along with the digital streaming link here!

Dai Hirai Shows that Life can go on by the Beach with Latest Music Video!

Vocalist Dai Hirai released the music video for his track “Life goes on” on avex’s official YouTube channel. Released across all digital music streaming platforms, this is part one of a two part release. Taking a more summer feel, “Life goes on” jams out on an amazing ukulele rhythm by showing off his out of this world vocals skills. The track is played while showing waves crashing upon a picture perfect beach. The accompanying artwork for the release was designed by Hirai himself. 

Be sure to check out the “Life goes on” on all digital music streaming platforms and check out the music video in question below!

Dai Hirai Announces A New Album!

Popular ukulele vocalist Dai Hirai announced his new album. However, no name has been assigned to it as of yet. Releasing on July 4th, it will have ten songs and two different editions: one regular edition and one edition with both a CD and DVD. The DVD will include Dai's performance from the Odaiba Hawaii Festival from earlier in the year.

You can preorder your copy here