Photos: Haruomi Hosono Releases New Single SINCERELY Ahead of YOURS SINCERELY LP
The track reimagines a 1954 Moonglows doo-wop hit with new Japanese lyrics by Hosono.
Haruomi Hosono has released a new single titled SINCERELY, offering another preview of his forthcoming album YOURS SINCERELY, set for release via Ghostly International. The track follows the previously shared song NOTE OF MOTHERSHIP and marks the latest output from the 79-year-old musician, producer, and composer as he prepares his 23rd studio album.
Photo Credit: , MASAHIRO HANDA
Speaking about the new single Hosono shares, 'The original is a doo-wop hit from 1954 by The Moonglows, the group in which the song's writer Harvey Fuqua was a member. It was later covered by The McGuire Sisters, a white vocal trio; released in 1954, their version became a major hit the following year and quietly found its way into the mainstream. Sincerely means 'earnestly' or 'from the heart,' but the word is most commonly used as a closing phrase in letters: 'Yours sincerely' in British English, 'Sincerely yours' in American English. Since the theme of this album itself is the spirit of sincerely—a closing salutation—I could hardly leave this song uncovered. The original lyrics, written by Alan Freed, are a love song expressing intense yearning. But for this Sincerely, I wanted to return to the word's original meaning—'from the heart'—so while paying my respects to the generous spirit of the 1950s and to this beloved song, I chose to write the lyrics in Japanese.'
Hosono's work has shaped pop, indie, and electronic music and beyond globally for over five decades, predicting entire lanes of music before they existed. Frieze has proclaimed him as 'probably the most significant artist in the history of Japanese popular music.' Now at the age of 79, Hosono is entering his next chapter with his 23rd studio album.
Hosono will be heading on The Yours Sincerely Tour in North America this September, headlining Radio City Music Hall in NY and the Greek Theatre in LA as his first US shows in seven years. Toro y Moi will support both performances.
Across arrangements spanning tender, exploratory folk and bubbling avant-pop, Hosono contemplates a maternal force that envelops the Earth, 'humanity's understanding of the unconditional love possessed by those who give us life,' he says. Songs tap into a collective current, the 'deeply buried instincts—maternal compassion and mercy, things we rarely engage with in our daily lives.'
Yours Sincerely was shaped over two years. Hosono shares, 'It started with a simple question: how do you express the Japanese ideas of omoiyari (思い遣り), jihi (慈悲), or boseiai (母性愛) in English? I searched, but no word felt quite right. Each came close, yet carried a slightly different nuance. Perhaps the nearest was 'compassion.' It is often translated as 'omoiyari' in Japanese, but its original meaning is 'to suffer together.' It tends to carry a sense of sympathy or pity—something that feels distinct from the Japanese sense of omoiyari. In Japanese, omoiyari also includes the feeling of 'rejoicing together.' In that sense, it may even seem like the opposite. The perspective, the emotional angle—subtly but fundamentally different. For that reason, I chose not to use 'compassion.' Instead, I turned to a more familiar word often used to close a letter: 'Sincerely.''
Shaped by mid-century American music, Hosono's work now reverberates back through a new generation of Western artists—a remarkable circular exchange. Hosono has been cited by an acclaimed list of contemporary artists, including Mac DeMarco, Cameron Winter, Ginger Root, Vampire Weekend, and Harry Styles. Harry Styles named his chart-topping 2022 album Harry's House directly after HOSONO HOUSE (1973), Mac DeMarco has called him his 'hero,' and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig sampled his work on the Grammy-winning Father of the Bride.
A founding member of Happy End and Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Hosono helped establish Japanese-language rock in the 1970s and pioneered electronic music with YMO—whose 1979 album Solid State Survivor topped the Japanese Album Chart, sold over two million copies, and became foundational to synth-pop, techno, and hip-hop.
Tour Dates
16/09/26 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall*
20/09/26 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre*
* = with Toro y Moi
Tracklist
Note of Mothership
Sincerely
Ayurveda
M for Mandala
Rojiura
Happy Holiday
To a Wild Rose
Humming 'Dream of Love'
Figlio Perduto
Anemo Wheel
Hosono is scheduled to headline Radio City Music Hall in New York and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles this September as part of THE YOURS SINCERELY TOUR, marking his first US shows in seven years, with support from Toro y Moi at both performances.
Photo Credit: , MASAHIRO HANDA
