After their first studio album as a duo; PEACE (ใใผใน), an album with no pretensions beyond enjoying the music and opening a new door to hope that despite the stumbles the show can still go on and take an unexpected turn, on 14th October 2024 in digital format and two months later, 11th December of the same year in physical, King & Prince released what would become their 6th studio album. It is also the group’s first concept album and its release, being first in digital and then in physical format represented a challenge for Kaito Takahashi and Ren Nagase; a challenge that, in view of their tour of the tree main domes of the country, they have far surpassed it!
Ren himself had the idea of including “Re” in the title, as had been done before in the “Re:Sense” album and expressing a clear desire to start a new era (ERA), but without forgetting the past that had led them to the point where they are now. To start a new stage but without losing their essence, without denying who they have been and the meaning that this path has for them. A new era in which they are willing to contemplate many different scenarios.
While Ren Nagase was in charge of the title, Kaito Takahashi has been in charge of being the main producer of the concept, where each of the 16 tracks included in the album tell a story and inspire the creation of a specific character designed by Kaito himself. This work includes of course the latest singles of the duo: “halfmoon“, “moooove!“, “Itoshi Ikuru Koto” and “MAGIC WORD“.
The main song that opens our eyes to this new world drawn directly from the imagination of the two members is “WOW“, whose lyrics and musical composition were written by Daichi Miura, who was quick to accept the project as soon as it was proposed to him. Together with music producer UTA and Kaito Takahashi, the song was finally completed and became an unprecedented hit. In addition to participating in the very creation of the song Miura and Kaito developed together the characteristic choreography, taking into account very important elements of the character that this song represents: “Are-X” (pronounced “Alex”).
This song was available from September 20, starting a new way of promoting this new musical work in social networks, because the more times you played the preview of the songs on the official website the egg containing the hidden character would evolve until it hatched, finally revealing the mascot that would represent each piece of music. A video was also released on September 30, called “Re:ERA beginning“, which was part of the prologue to the story of the “Re:ERA” project, being the main focus of this work.
The story of Re:ERA begins in 2018, when two young researchers let their imaginations run wild and talking about their shared grand project while sitting in the seats of a colorful cafe and gives just a glimpse of the teaser of the “Re:ERA” concept. The “WOW” MV teaser was finally released on November 10th at 20:00H and a few days later, on November 13th at 20:30 the full version. In this way the full content of the project was revealed along with the 16 characters finally discovered participating in the music video that immerses us in the story of two scientists who seek to make their dreams come true and show the world that nothing is impossible. The duo also performed a Youtube live to commemorate the full unveiling of the complete concept of their new musical work.
As curiosities of this album we can highlight that Ren Nagase‘s solo song “Shimi” features the participation of his two inseparable friends from Kansai; Masakado Yoshinori (Ae! group) and Daigo Nishihata (Naniwa Danshi). Daigo wrote the lyrics and sung the chorus of the musical piece while Masakado played the guitar and sang the backing vocals. The title of the piece “Shimi” was chosen in commemoration of the day the three friends met, April 3rd, and the song narrates all their memories and the unbreakable friendship that united them from the very first moment until the longed-for debut they had always pursued, It also contains references to both groups. Meanwhile, Kaito Takahashi‘s solo “POPSTAR in the KINGDOM” is a collaboration with the artist SKY-HI, as the two became close friends after appearing together on a TV show; thus SKY-HI wrote the lyrics and composed the song at Kaito‘s request, with a hip-hop base and full of rhymes created by Kaito Takahashi himself, it is a unique piece of music that you need to put in your playlist!
To commemorate the release not only of this work but also the beginning of this new era, different pop-up stores were opened throughout Japan under the name “King & Prince POP-UP store 2024 Re:ERA“, reaching 5 different cities: Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. The store keeps the inspiration of the world created in “WOW” MV and both Kaito Takahashi and Ren Nagase were attentive at all times of its design to not miss a single detail, they were responsible for choosing the design of both the floor and walls as the arrangement of the goods.
The decoration also included colorful exhibits, original drawings of the characters, older and recent photos of the two members and items that evoke Planet Age (where the story of the Re:ERA project takes place and where we can find all these cute characters). Also the items for sale were produced by the members, including the patches that were used in the recording of the MV, the figures of the 16 characters of the project, collectible cards and sportswear with UNIVERSAL MUSIC logos that Ren wanted to include and for which he had to ask permission expressly. To end this incredible project, an animated series was released on King & Prince‘s YouTube channel called “PLANET AGE” featuring the 16 characters designed by Kaito; it was produced by ODDJOB and written, directed and starred by both members, that even donated their voices for two of the characters (ARE-X and B.J)
New horizons open up in front of King & Prince, with this project that has taken them on a tour of arenas all over the country; they have also managed to return to the three main domes of Japan in a tour that will end this coming July 21, putting a period (or maybe just a comma) to a project that has occupied practically a full year.
If it is well known that the future is uncertain, at Dumpling Box, we are sure that whatever King & Prince have to offer us, they are already working on it, and it will be something unprecedented that can illuminate even the darkest corners of the earth!
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