Fujii Kaze’s third album, ‘Prema’, arrives three years after ‘Love All Serve All’ and makes good on a long-held ambition: a record sung entirely in English. Across nine tracks clocking in at a brisk 39 minutes, he trades the ornate turns of his Japanese writing for plainspoken lyrics and a pop palette wired into the late ’80s and early ’90s. After stretching one language as far as it would go, Kaze, among Japan’s most decorated pop artists of the last five years, sets himself the challenge of another, and does it without losing himself.
‘Prema’ is built on love in its widest sense. The title comes from the Sanskrit for “pure, unconditional love”, and Kaze leans into a vocabulary of reassurance and faith that’s been part of his songwriting since ‘HELP EVER HURT NEVER’. Rather than burying the songs in cryptic metaphor, he keeps things simple, giving them the feel of timeless reminders rather than passing trends.
Production-wise, the record draws from R&B, funk, and glossy pop, with an affectionate ear for bygone detail. Korean producer 250 shapes most of the album, and the cues are easy to spot — Elton-style piano, New Jack Swing drums — but never slipping into retro cosplay.
RELATED: Fujii Kaze drops Euro romance single ‘Love Like This’ as North American tour begins
Kaze teed up the album with two lead singles. ‘Love Like This’ landed in August like a lost ’80s movie theme, all plush synths and coastal-Europe melancholy. June’s ‘Hachikō’, co-written with Tobias Jesso Jr., is the record’s most modern cut and its clearest statement of intent: gratitude, loyalty, and the everyday devotion that runs through Kaze’s music as surely as any hook.
The rest of ‘Prema’ fills in between the lines. ‘Casket Girl’ twists its coffin imagery into a metaphor for destructive romance, piano flourishes and a tight rhythm section pushing the song toward eventual escape from toxic love. ‘I Need U Back’ goes full ’80s melodrama, complete with rock guitars and orchestral stabs, Kaze sounding like a one-man boyband as he begs for reconciliation. The title track pairs buoyant piano with hip-hop-brushed beats, mixing spiritual affirmation and casual asides (“sweeter than my mother’s cream pie”) into a pop hymn about higher love.
Kaze pares things back with the gospel-tinged ‘It Ain’t Over’, with its soft-shuffle percussion and piano circling a refrain about homecoming that turns parting into continuity. ‘You’ rides supple bass and sparkling synth lines that nod to Michael Jackson’s ‘Rock With You’. Its devotional message, “I can see the God in you”, toes the line of heavy-handedness, but Kaze sells it with enough warmth to stop it sounding like sermon time. ‘Okay, Goodbye’ flips the breakup song template, framing closure as freedom over a breezy, upbeat piano-led sound. ‘Forever Young’ brings the album to a close with springy bass, retro synths, and layered harmonies, turning ageing into a celebration and signing off with a vow that joy doesn’t have an expiry date.
RELATED: Fujii Kaze live in London: Intimate UK debut from Japan’s biggest pop star
Context matters with a record like this. Kaze’s rise beyond Japan accelerated with the global breakout of ‘Shinunoga E-Wa’, leading to high-profile sets from Roskilde to Lollapalooza and a guest spot at Billie Eilish’s Saitama Super Arena show. Now signed to Republic, home to The Weeknd and Ariana Grande, Kaze is moving in the biggest pop circles, but ‘Prema’ doesn’t feel like a copy-and-paste bid for chart real estate. Instead, it comes off as a clean entry point for a new fanbase, with clear choruses, steady grooves, and a worldview that places kindness front and centre. For UK listeners used to tidy pop writing and the bite of classic soul, there’s plenty to latch onto.
Kaze isn’t ripping up his playbook, just shifting the furniture around. Same house, different feng shui. The songs are taut and retro-leaning, his performances have an unfussy confidence, and the themes land without slipping into preachiness. If you’re after fireworks, this might feel understated. But as proof that his music carries across language and market lines, it does the job, and hints that there’s plenty more to come.
