Kohaku Uta Gassen, broadcast on Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, is the annual music program in Japan which has continued to be the most popular TV program each year for the past 70 years. With an unprecedented viewership of over 40%, it has long been
viewed as the true barometer of status for domestic artists with an unrivalled influence on an artist's profile, status, and sales in Japan.
In light of the difficulties faced by people all over the world in 2020 and with a pressing desire for togetherness, NHK intends to conclude this year’s broadcast with a special performance featuring the show’s biggest artists playing
X JAPAN's hit song
Endless Rain, which was composed by
YOSHIKI.
NHK has invited
Queen’s
Roger Taylor and
Brian May to perform.
Taylor and
YOSHIKI co-wrote
Foreign Sand in 1994, and they have been friends ever since. Also,
YOSHIKI opened the 2015
Classic Rock
Awards in London with a performance of
Queen’s hit
Bohemian Rhapsody, which was praised by
May, who attended the event.
NHK has also invited soprano
Sarah Brightman.
Brightman chose
YOSHIKI’s composition
Miracle to be a single and featured it in her 2018 album. They also previously joined each other on stage for selected dates during her recent world tour, as well as on
YOSHIKI’s
classical tour and at
Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2018.
YOSHIKI has also been confirmed to appear on the upcoming TV show. Ever since the impact of COVID-19 in February,
YOSHIKI has remained in L.A., and will join remotely from there for this year’s performance.
Furthermore, this year’s
Kohaku Uta Gassen marks
YOSHIKI’s sixth consecutive performance and eleventh appearance in total, including eight performances with
X JAPAN and three consecutive performances as a solo artist.
YOSHIKI commented: “I am very honored and grateful to be performing
Endless Rain at
Kohaku again
this year. I wish I could go to Japan but with the global pandemic, I have remained in Los Angeles since February. Therefore, I will perform remotely this year. I feel honoured and grateful to be performing with
Queen and
Sarah Brightman and all those
Japanese superstars. I hope that through the music, we can give everyone courage. Please look forward to the performance.”
71st Kohaku Uta Gassen will be broadcast on General TV, BS4K, BS8K and Radio 1 on December 31st from 7:30pm to 11:45pm (JST). Details on the show are available
here (in Japanese).
