STRAY SHEEP

STRAY SHEEP

By the release of Stray Sheep, Kenshi Yonezu was ranked among J-pop’s top class, evident from the media outlets that commissioned his songs: “Paprika,” originally written for children’s vocal group Foorin, was used to promote the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. These song placements helped broaden the singer-songwriter’s musical palette as he expanded his sound to cater to films and hit TV shows. Stray Sheep shows that his music couldn’t be pinned down to a single style: He sounds at home in the drunken electro-funk of “Kanden” as much as the tear-soaked piano balladry of “Lemon.” He embraces the new while nodding at his own past, fitting the woozy punk of his early days alongside the clattering hip-hop beats that filled his previous album, Bootleg. Yonezu presents himself here as a pop chameleon, tailoring his voice to naturally fit into a variety of genres. The musical buffet featured on Stray Sheep demonstrates Yonezu’s magician-like ability to shape-shift into requested styles. But the title gestures at an appeal that taps into something deeper, reminding his intended core audience of his downcast music since his beginnings. Sorrowful ballads like “Uma to Shika” and “Spirit of the Sea” break down any pretensions of his status as a celebrity who has it all, showing him openly mourning a lost love. Even during the album’s livelier moments, like the funky “Flamingo,” he’s caught admiring someone from afar, wishing he could be more comfortable in his own skin like they are. The music feels larger than life, yet the humanizing lyrics keep the songs grounded. Stray Sheep is an album for lost souls, written by an artist who’s trying to find somewhere to belong.

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