okazakitaiiku

okazakitaiiku is the stage name of Oka Akitoshi, a Japanese indie musician and voice actor who has earned a huge fanbase with his humorous songs and videos. ∙ Inspired by the music of Eminem, Queen, and Deep Purple, he first learned to play piano and write songs while in elementary school. ∙ After releasing five albums, okazakitaiiku finally broke through with 2016’s Basin Techno, which reached No. 9 on Japan’s Oricon Albums chart. ∙ “Music Video,” a popular Basin Techno track that parodied typical Japanese music videos, won the Entertainment Division New Face Award at 2016’s Japan Media Arts Festival. ∙ XXL, okazakitaiiku’s best-selling album to date, peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon Albums chart and No. 2 on Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums chart in 2017. ∙ “Natural Lips,” an acclaimed track from XXL, featured Ray Parker, Jr., of “Ghostbusters” fame on guitar. ∙ Several of okazakitaiiko’s songs, including “Pose” and “Kimi no Bouken,” have been prominently featured in the anime series Pokémon: Sun and Moon.