Billboard Japan caught up with ORANGE RANGE for its Monthly Feature interview series spotlighting currently noteworthy artists and works. The five-man J-pop band is soon celebrating its 25th anniversary and showering fans with a string of releases both nostalgic and new.
On July 2 — a Japanese numeric pun, as “7/2” can be read as “natsu,” meaning summer — the band hailing from Okinawa dropped a brand-new music video for one of its signature hits called “Ikenai Taiyo”（”Naughty Sun”). The updated “Reiwa”
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version visuals star the popular comedy duo Mayurika, who previously referenced lyrics from OR’s hit “Shanghai Honey” in their routine, and feature 72 Japanese throwback pop-culture references from the aughts, a period that falls under the country’s Heisei era. The comic video resonated with Japan’s thirty to forty-something demographic that grew up on the pop band’s hits, topping the Billboard Japan’s video views metric for two consecutive weeks and continuing to chart in the upper ranks today.
Additionally, the group’s “Oshare Bancho feat. Soy Sauce” is going viral on TikTok, with numerous influencers, idols, and other celebrities posting dance videos set to this song from 2008. ORANGE RANGE’s current resurgence in mainstream popularity, where people from all generations are responding to the band’s highly addictive pop music, can be attributed not only to the strength of the songs themselves but also to the success of Sony Music’s strategy after reuniting with the band.
Back in July 2010, OR established its own independent imprint called SUPER((ECHO))LABEL, continuing its music activities independently in recent years. The band returned to Sony Music Records in May and dropped its first CD single from the label in about 12 years called “Maji de sekai kaechau 5 byou mae.” Currently promoting its Natsui Natsu★Project (roughly meaning “Summery Summer Project”), the band is hyping up the summer of “Reiwa 7” (2025) with signature party tracks including “Hadashi no ceccoli.” The members and label staff chatted with Billboard Japan about their thoughts behind the band’s latest project with SMR and series of releases in this latest interview.
“Ikenai Taiyo” from 2007 was featured as the theme song for the TV drama series Hana-Kimi and became one of your signature tracks, partly due to the popularity of the show. How do you view its resurgence in the summer of 2025?
RYO: Looking at the comments on YouTube’s THE FIRST TAKE and our music videos, I think the core audience is probably in their 30s, and it really hit home just how many people were listening to our songs. Then the teenagers and 20-somethings who see those comments realize that those were the people who used to listen to ORANGE RANGE back in the day, and that’s a very modern phenomenon. It wasn’t really a thing when we first made our debut, so it genuinely makes me happy.
NAOTO: I have a personal anecdote related to this. I got a LINE message out of nowhere from a relative, a kid in high school, who hadn’t spoken to me at all until last New Year’s. And this kid was like, “I never knew ‘Oshare Bancho feat. Soy Sauce’ was a song you did, Uncle.” I didn’t want to pry too much, so I just replied, “Thanks.” [Laughs]
YAMATO: Honestly, I’m really happy about it. But we haven’t really changed what we’ve been doing. We’re currently riding the wave and experiencing firsthand what it means to go viral, but intend to continue doing what we do and should do, as we always have.
HIROKI: While it wasn’t just a sudden, spontaneous phenomenon and there was definitely a strategic element to it, we never expected it to reach this level. I think we were incredibly lucky. But I also genuinely want to give ourselves credit, since the fact that we’ve been doing this until now and strength of our songs have something to do with it, too. Receiving renewed attention means we have a better chance of getting more people to listen to our future releases, and I’m really happy this whole chain of events was successful. Of course, this isn’t the end goal, so I’m excited about what to do with our next song and so on.
You left gr8!records, a label within Sony Music where you’d been for nine years, and rejoined Sony Music Records in May. There was a strategic intent behind that move as a band, right?
YOH: Let’s say the band is a robot. It started out as a small robot with just the members. But by the time our songs started reaching more people, it had grown massive, and it was like our weapons kept changing too. Then, to go back to basics, we decided to operate it on our own again, which meant leaving the company. There was always plenty to learn, no matter the environment, and we’ve taken steps in building our careers. So personally, I was eagerly waiting for the moment to use those super-powerful weapons and high-defense shields we used before. It wasn’t a decision made in the past year or two, and was always in the back of my mind. I’m glad we got good results, and think we’ve taken the first step towards next year’s 25th anniversary.
Did you have any conflicted feelings when you left the major label?
YOH: More and more people got involved as we rose to stardom, which meant the members were talking to each other less and it became harder to know what everyone was thinking. It felt like tension just kept building up inside the group. That was incredibly stressful for me. After going back to the indie scene, I got to hear stories from people I probably never would have connected with otherwise, and had all kinds of encounters. Sometimes people looked at us in a biased way, so being able to shed that was huge. I’m pretty sure each of us has our own experiences. It feels like all of that has come together and connected to created this good flow we have today.
RYO: I definitely felt conflicted. It felt like we were just charging ahead. Back then, I believed that was the right thing to do. Now, we’ve come to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we’ve achieved a good balance because each of us has our own role. Next year is our 25th anniversary, and I think we’d be unbeatable if we all became proficient in every area by the time we reach our 35th.
Do you feel you were able to team up with a major label again and create the situation you’re in today precisely because the band has become tougher now?
RYO: Oh, for sure.
YOH: Personally, I discover a lot of new stuff when we go head-to-head (with the label staff). There are more sections now than back then and everyone analyzes things deeply, so it’s really interesting to hear what they have to say. I mean, they all graduated from good universities. [Laughs] You’ve got to hand it to them.
What are your thoughts on your performances on THE FIRST TAKE? You released “Ikenai Taiyo” on July 18 and “Hana” on July 30.
RYO: I was nervous.
YAMATO: Maybe I came across as being nervous because my recent stance has been to take things a bit too seriously. But I’ve also noticed that I’ve become more sensitive to tension over the past few years.
Is that so?
YAMATO: I’ve grown older and I’m not as mobile as I used to be, so I’ve started using my mind more. I’m someone who used to just go with the flow, relying on instinct. After I stopped doing that and started trying to think things through as much as possible, I realized over the past few years that I hadn’t been doing what I should have been doing. I’ve become more aware of all sorts of things, and feel like I’ve started putting more pressure on myself. Maybe that’s what made me seem nervous.
NAOTO: About that young relative I mentioned earlier — I got a LINE message saying, “I watched THE FIRST TAKE, too.”
So you’re reaching that demographic! Are there any aspects you consciously focused on or paid particular attention to that are unique to THE FIRST TAKE?
YAMATO: I thought I’d do it like I always do, but noticed there were a lot of parts that I sing on the recording, but don’t sing them live. We had discussions like, “Should we try sticking closer to the recording here?” Maybe we could incorporate that as a nice accent in future concerts too.
Tell us about “Ikenai Taiyo (Reiwa ver. Music Video).” How did that project come about?
HIROKI: That was also something we started preparing months ago. It started as a suggestion from the team, so I’d actually like to ask them about it now. I imagine there were individual steps they could visualize, like “Let’s do this, let’s do that,” and others where they were like, “Is this such a good idea?” All those dots connected to get us to where we are now, and I’m curious about the extent that they had planned ahead.
SMR Staff: We had a lot of ideas, but the biggest factor was probably that not just me, but the entire Sony Music Records team was incredibly happy to be working with ORANGE RANGE again. So there was this shared passion among the staff to really get things going. I also felt that many people within the company still felt grateful for the band’s conduct and musical activities during their previous tenure here, which made us feel we had to carry that legacy forward in a proper way.
That’s very interesting.
Staff: I think I first said to the members that we wanted to revisit past songs, knowing they probably wouldn’t like that idea. But (those songs) shined so bright to me. I believed that by polishing them further, there’d be a moment beyond that when the band’s new songs would reach people properly. That’s why I brought it up. So it really is like a starting point, a gateway, and I’m excited to create new things together with the band from here and release new songs.
Tell us about your latest single, “Hadashi no ceccoli.” What was the original concept behind its creation?
NAOTO: Our team asked us to write something like “an old-school ORANGE RANGE summer bop.” It was an idea that we wouldn’t have acted on ourselves, and decided to go along with it. So it’s more like a self-homage to the old ORANGE RANGE, rather than an attempt to create something new. But ultimately it gave us a fresh new feeling, and we realized this kind of thing definitely works too.
HIROKI: Over the past few years, we’ve been making songs entirely based on our own judgment. So this time, we consciously tried to absorb and incorporate different people’s opinions and ideas. That was probably our mindset for this production. We hadn’t really done stuff like the vocal chase in the A-melody (first verse) of “Shanghai Honey” in recent years. Even with the lyrics, we were deliberately going for that borderline cheesy feel, like “Remember how it used to be?” while we were making it. People don’t want to do the same thing over and over and want to try something different, you know? So we were like, “Maybe this will do, too,” and had fun with it.
Lastly, what are ORANGE RANGE’s visions and ambitions moving forward?
HIROKI: We released “Hana” on THE FIRST TAKE too, so I’m hoping people searching for the girl group HANA accidentally click on our “Hana” instead and it gets more views.
YAMATO: They both do come up on the search.
HIROKI: It’d be great if we showed up higher when people search for “Hana.” [Laughs]
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan
