RADWIMPS to release 'Suzume feat. Toaka' ahead of new Makoto Shinkai anime movie

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RADWIMPS to release 'Suzume feat. Toaka' ahead of new Makoto Shinkai anime movie

RADWIMPS is giving us yet another reason to be excited over director Makoto Shinkai's first feature film in three years. On 30 September 2022, the J-rock band is releasing 'Suzume feat. Toaka' on all digital platforms.

Featuring the vocals of TikTok star Toaka, the track is the theme song for the new anime movie Suzume, which follows a girl of the same name who goes on a journey to close the "doors of disasters" found in unlikely places all over Japan.

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The single was also written together with Kazuma Jinnouchi, a Seattle-based Hollywood film composer who worked on the score of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, and Jumanji: The Next Level. The collaboration did not end there, though, as RADWIMPS and Jinnouchi also worked together on the rest of the movie's soundtrack and score. Some recordings of the OST for Suzume was also said to have taken place in the historical Abbey Road Studios in London.

“The process of developing a sound that can coexist with RADWIMPS’ amazing mood and energy was simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking for me, but ultimately I believe we’ve stuck the landing on one of the answers of how that might sound," Jinnouchi revealed in a press release.

RADWIMPS first came to prominence in 2003 with their self-titled debut album. Since then, they have performed on big stages (headlining Fuji Rock Festival '21), released more music (most recently, their new album FOREVER DAZE), and scored a live-action film (The Last 10 Years). 

On The Record: The music that shaped RADWIMPS

This is the third time the 'Dada' act is teaming up with Shinkai, following their collaborative work on record-breaking movies Kimi no Na wa (Your Name.) and Tenko no Ko (Weathering with You).

"Almost as soon as I finished the first draft of Suzume’s screenplay, I shared it with Yojiro [Noda] without a second thought," Shinkai shared in the same press release. "I knew the musical demands of Suzume would be quite different from the previous two films, giving the audience a striking musical experience. RADWIMPS was one of the few musical talents that I could count on to help me make that discovery. I am confident we have achieved something worthy of calling a ‘theatrical music experience’ and hope that everyone gets the chance to experience the film in theatres."

Suzume is expected to hit theaters in Japan on 11 November 2022.

Watch RADWIMPS' 前前前世 (Zenzenzense) from 'Your Name.' here: