Earlier this month, one of the biggest musical moments of the year was honored with the No. 2 spot on the year-end ranking of New Words and Buzzwords Awards. The word, “usseewa,” translates as “shut up” in English but, when you nail the accent right, can sound more like “shut the f--- up,” and it was the title of a song by teenage musician Ado.
For a society still in the throes of a pandemic, the track served as a roundhouse kick aimed at, well, whoever was closest. It was released in late 2020 but rose to prominence in 2021 as COVID-19 robbed Japanese youth of everything from gainful employment to wild nights out in Tokyo. Forgive them for the need to let off some steam.
J-pop in general didn’t quite follow Ado’s call to rage against the routine. But as COVID-19 cases shot to record highs thanks to the delta variant, the industry was left to figure out how to live with the “new normal.” Festivals like Fuji Rock and Supersonic held scaled-down shows, while the majority, like Rock in Japan, had to cancel for the second year in a row.