Aside from the massive paychecks we receive as members of Team Homicidols, we occasionally have some other nifty perks that come our way! In particular is this instance where we were honored with a bonafide press-release (Very kindly provided by a certain western dealer of chika goods whose name rhymes with Erik. Thanks!) that allowed the Team to have a look at the MV for Yoneko‘s new single, a fiery tune called “SET FIRE TO NOW”!  *

Please understand that this MV isn’t going to be unveiled until the 22nd, so sorry, I don’t get show it to you or anything, but I can sure as heck tell you about the song, and believe me, I’m very, very eager to talk about it!!

“Set Fire to What Now Exactly?” would be an appropriate question to ask at this point, and Yoneko gave us a quote that summed up pretty well what this new song seems to suggest for her career…

“I’ve stopped calling myself an idol.There’s nothing there for me anymore. There is nothing I feel like doing as an idol or feel.”

And there you have it! In a move that isn’t terribly surprising, and also in many ways, quite welcome, Yoneko will no longer be identifying as an idol. She’s already shown evidence of this with much of her recent material, and she’s considering her career to officially be that of a singer-songwriter. I’ve stated my thoughts on this with idols before: Idol has evolved into a nebulous term that doesn’t fit any standard definition. I’ve tentatively taken to applying this new breed as “Neo” or “Post” Idols, but also I believe that if an artist wants to be an idol, or chooses to reject the term, that’s entirely their right. Yoneko has proven that she’s able to be anything she wishes, and Team Homicidols will support her in any capacity.

So how about this song from the new rebirth of Yoneko?

It’s weird to write about something I can’t actually let you hear yet, but…..wow. There was a unanimous declaration by the whole team that “Set Fire to Now” is beautiful, stunning,  maybe a little terrifying, and a few other superlative accolades. I absolutely loved this song and I’ve decided that I’ll make no effort to describe it further cause like, no spoilers man. No really, I want to you to be surprised like I was and hear it with no preconceptions.

I’ll hint only that there’s a lot of emotion and heart in this wonderful four minutes and thirty-eight seconds of gutsy expression. And I’ll let you know that Yoneko did indeed write and compose this on her own, with an arrangement provided by Kageyama Shōtarō (Studio Caribe). If you don’t love this song, well… go check your pulse, that’s the most diplomatic way to put it.

I’ll go ahead and strongly recommend that you camp out near your computer on January 22nd so you know early on what everybody’s going nuts over. I’m earnestly excited to hear about what you people think.

As far as the single itself, as of right now, there are only plans for a digital release, but who knows, maybe that will change later. I don’t know yet how that’ll be distributed, (as of press time, it was undecided.) but our well-known provider of chika goods will likely to be able to guide us, and who knows, maybe if enough people ask, he’ll convince Yoneko to consider another format as well. I know I’d sure as heck buy this on disc.

So hey, January 22nd.

New Single.

“Burn Now”.

Yoneko.

Save the date!!! 

* ed. This is an updated article after receiving further information from the artist including a correction to the song title.