Fujii Kaze

Overview

Fujii Kaze (藤井 風, born June 14, 1997) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and pianist from Satoshō, Okayama. He began uploading piano covers to YouTube at age 12 and debuted through Hehn Records under Universal Sigma. His first album, Help Ever Hurt Never (2020), reached number one on Billboard Japan's Hot Albums chart, and his second, Love All Serve All (2022), topped both the Billboard Japan and Oricon album charts and was certified platinum. He is often regarded as one of Japan's leading artists and became the first Asian artist to debut a song on Spotify's Daily Viral charts in 73 countries. In September 2025 he released his first English-language album, Prema.

Career

Early years and YouTube (before 2019)

The youngest of four siblings, Fujii began piano lessons at three and grew up on jazz, classical, pop, kayōkyoku and enka. From January 1, 2010, at age 12, his father began posting videos of his piano playing, filmed at the family's café. He arranged everything by ear, from classical to J-pop and Western songs, and gained views with works such as his 2012 piano version of "Senbonzakura". He also plays Electone and saxophone. After middle school he entered the music course at Okayama Johto High School through a special entrance exam, pausing uploads during that time and resuming after graduation. In August 2017 he sang for the first time on camera with a cover of Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do", and piano-vocal videos became his focus. In September 2018 he released the West Japan flood relief song "Inori Soshite Negau" with Chisato. That summer, Disc Garage's Tomonori Kawazu visited the family café to offer a major-label deal, and Fujii and his parents were moved by his passion and signed.

2019–2020: Debut and Help Ever Hurt Never

Fujii moved to Tokyo in February 2019 and in May traveled to New York, negotiating in English and performing impromptu. His first solo concert in July sold out before any original song was released, leading to a radio show on All Night Nippon. His LINE CUBE SHIBUYA show on November 17 also sold out, and on November 18 he released his debut single "Nan-Nan", followed by "Mo-Eh-Wa" on December 24. In January 2020 he was named in Spotify's Early Noise 2020, and he became the first Japanese artist chosen as YouTube's Artist on the Rise. The Nan-Nan Show 2020 tour was cancelled due to COVID-19, and he turned to livestreamed piano performances.

His first album, Help Ever Hurt Never, arrived on May 20, 2020. The title means "always help, never hurt", a principle he learned from his father, and the label name Hehn Records comes from it. His first Nippon Budokan show on October 29 was released as a concert video that took number one on Oricon, a first for a male solo artist's debut video release. On October 30 he released "Hedemo Ne-Yo" and "Seishun Sick". He won Best R&B Video at MTV VMAJ 2020 for "Nan-Nan" and Best New Asian Artist Japan at the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards. His first national hall tour began December 25, 2020, with 12 performances in 11 cities through January 31, 2021.

2021: "Kirari", Nissan Stadium and Kōhaku

In January 2021 he wrote "Tabiji" for the TV drama Nijiiro Carte, releasing it on March 1; the same day he made his first live TV appearance on Houdo Station, and the song hit number one on the Oricon Weekly Digital Singles chart. He won Best Breakthrough Artist at the Space Shower Music Awards 2021, the Popular New Artist award at the 33rd Music Pen Club Music Awards, and the CD Shop Awards Grand Prize Blue. "Kirari", written for a Honda Vezel commercial, was released May 3, debuted at number one on Billboard Japan's Download Songs chart, and passed 100 million streams in August 2021, driving his popularity at home and abroad. GQ named him among the most exciting young musicians in the world. On September 4 he held the free livestreamed "Free" Live 2021 at Nissan Stadium, watched simultaneously by about 180,000 people, and released "Moeyo" that day. The Help Ever Arena Tour followed in October and November, and its Blu-ray ranked number one, making him the first solo artist with two consecutive number-one concert videos. On December 31 he made his first NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen appearance, performing "Kirari" and "Moeyo", then accompanying MISIA on piano and chorus for "Higher Love", the first song he composed for another artist.

2022 onward

Love All Serve All was released in March 2022, led by "Kirari", which peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum for streaming. Singles that year included "Matsuri", "damn" and "grace". In 2023 he released "golden hour (Fujii Kaze Remix)", "Workin' Hard" and "Hana", followed in 2024 by "Michiteyuku" and "Feelin' Go(o)d", and he toured outside Japan. In 2025 he released "Masshiro", "Hachikō" and "Love Like This" before issuing Prema, his first English-language album, on September 5, 2025.

Musical style

Raised on jazz, classical, pop, kayōkyoku and enka, Fujii builds his music around piano playing and piano-vocal performance, with arranging skills honed through years of by-ear covers. He writes in Japanese and, with Prema, moved fully into English-language songwriting.