\n\tYu Sakai has recently released his eighth album, PASADENA<\/em>. The album\u2019s title comes from Pasadena, a city on the outskirts of Los Angeles where he lived when he moved on his own to the U.S. to become a musician. Four of the songs on the album were recorded in L.A., which he has such fond memories of, and the other four songs on the album were created in Tokyo and produced by Shingo Suzuki (Ovall), a musician whom Yu engaged in friendly rivalry after returning to Japan. There are also three bonus tracks, which he recorded in New York last year and which have only been available on streaming until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn October of last year, Yu celebrated the 15th anniversary of his debut. Billboard JAPAN talked to him about his hopes for his new album, which represents a return to his roots. He also spoke about his recent performance on Tiny Desk Concerts in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat led you to start working on the new album, and when did you begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt was after we\u2019d finished all of our work on my best hits album (Yu Sakai\u2019s Playlist [White and Black]<\/em>). I finished the album tour in March of last year, and then beginning in the summer, I starting recording in both L.A. and Japan.<\/p>\n \n\tCould you start by talking a bit about recording in L.A.?<\/strong> The producers and songwriters on the new album have worked with world-famous artists like John Legend, Usher, TLC, and Anderson .Paak. Did you co-write the songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWe co-wrote everything from scratch.<\/p>\n \n\tSo it started with you going into the studio and playing the piano?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tRight. Maybe I shouldn\u2019t say this, but the tracks that they\u2019d prepared for me just weren\u2019t what I was looking for, so I ended up rejecting all of them. They\u2019d created the songs with me in mind. They were all really cool songs, but they didn\u2019t have clear features that shouted \u201cYu Sakai.\u201d Trying to add those features to the songs they\u2019d already made would have just resulted in a confusing jumble, so I thought it would be faster to start from scratch. We co-wrote the four songs from the ground up.<\/p>\n \n\tWere there any creators involved in the L.A. recordings that particularly stood out?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tSam Barsh, who co-wrote \u201cAmakunai Kikenna Kaori,\u201d is a great pianist. I just wanted to hang out with him for a whole day, playing piano, just the two of us. His good qualities really come across in the song. It has this funky, jazzy, urban harmony with a solid beat.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat kind of song were you going for with \u201cPASADENA,\u201d which you digitally released as a single?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tL.A. It\u2019s not the kind of song you could make in New York (laughs).<\/p>\n \n\tSo it has that crisp, fresh groove because you wrote it in L.A.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tExactly. From the start, I\u2019d decided three things: I wanted the listener to be able to picture the scene the moment they heard the music, I wanted this song to be the first song on the album, and I wanted to end the album with a ballad. I decided on the album title, PASADENA<\/em>, on the same day when we co-wrote the song. I was like, \u201cThis album\u2019s got to be called PASADENA<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYou released the song \u201cPASADENA\u201d last December, and this January, the city of Pasadena was hit by wildfires.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI never expected to see anything like that.<\/p>\n \n\tThe whole situation is so heart-breaking. But the song \u201cPasadena\u201d starts with the line \u201cI\u2019m back,\u201d and then in the chorus, you\u2019re singing \u201cPasadena Beautiful,\u201d so it\u2019s also like a song of encouragement for the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, you\u2019re right. I\u2019m still worried about Pasadena, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by the fires. It\u2019s become an unforgettable song for me.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat is the theme of \u201cWhat About You?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPolitics. It\u2019s asking \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d My own stance is one of active resignation, and my way of thinking can be summed up with \u201cAmakunai Kikenna Kaori\u201d and \u201cGotta Get Up.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSo the message you were trying to convey was that people should get actively involved with politics?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYes. Even if you choose to have no interest in politics, you can\u2019t choose to live a life unaffected by politics. Both \u201cWhat About You\u201d and \u201cGotta Get Up\u201d have the same message. I think there are a lot of people who are faced by this impossibly huge foe and can\u2019t imagine any way to solve the problems we face, so they feel powerless and they give up engaging with politics. They feel that there\u2019s nothing that ordinary people like us can do. But even if politicians lie, I don\u2019t think government data lies, so one thing we can do is keep a close watch on the data and speak up. Even simply doing that will shine a little light on them.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat were you thinking about when you wrote \u201cAmakunai Kikenna Kaori?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI wrote about all the nonsense in the world, putting it in song form for people to have fun with. There\u2019s this strange smell all around us, you know? Something you can smell, but you just can\u2019t see. But people are fighting about it. \u201cLook, I told you you could see it!\u201d \u201cWhat?! Why can\u2019t you see it?!\u201d That\u2019s what the song is about. Arguing is fine, but they\u2019re creating division so we fight each other. We\u2019ve all got to come together.<\/p>\n \n\tThat ties into \u201cUnderstanding\u201d and its theme of mutual understanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tExactly. \u201cUnderstanding\u201d is also about politics and history. I guess that\u2019s the mindset I was in with this album.<\/p>\n \n\tChanging topics, this March you recorded a Tiny Desk Concert in Washington D.C.<\/strong> Honestly, how was it?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt was and will always be one of the most fun trips I\u2019ve ever taken. It was three nights and six days, though, so it was hard (laughs). I was so nervous and excited that I didn\u2019t catch a wink of sleep the night before. I wanted to keep my vocal cords in good condition, so I didn\u2019t talk to anyone. I just lay in bed thinking, \u201cI\u2019m looking so forward to this. I wonder what it\u2019s going to be like. It\u2019s an office, so does that mean the sound is going to be deadened? Whatever, I get to sing along to Nate Smith\u2019s drumming. I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhich songs did you perform?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cGet it together,\u201d which is a song I recorded in L.A. a while ago. It\u2019s a laid-back song, but we upped the tempo a bit to make it a good fit for a set opener. I also wanted to do a J-pop medley, so we performed a medley of \u201cStory,\u201d \u201cGaze, Daydream,\u201d and \u201cRose & Rhodes,\u201d featuring about a minute and a half of each song, and then we ended with \u201cSinatra, The Darkness Of Cherry Blossom.\u201d The song is about New York, but Washington is famous for its cherry blossoms, so I wanted to perform it. It was like a 20 minute show. Those 20 minutes went by in the blink of an eye, though.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat should people watch out for when they see your Tiny Desk Concert?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPlaying J-pop in an office right there in Washington D.C. I hope true music fans in America will feel the joy of listening to J-pop.<\/p>\n![\"Yu](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/02-Yu-Sakai-bbjapan-2025-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")