Four years after its debut, Psychic Fever built its second full-length album around a simple idea: none of its seven members sound, look or think alike, and that’s exactly the point.
The members of Psychic Fever – Kokoro, Weesa, Tsurugi, Ryoga, Ren, Jimmy and Ryushin – released their second full-length record, “Different,” July 10 through Warner Music and 10K Projects, four years after the band’s 2022 debut album, “P.C.F.” Across 10 tracks, the album pulls from Y2K-inflected R&B, U.K. garage, Afrobeats, trap and ballads, with production from Grammy-nominated Rykeyz, who has worked with Chris Brown and H.E.R. Every one of the group’s seven members had a hand in writing the songs this time, something the band has called its most personal work yet.
“‘Different’ is more than an album title as it represents our mindset,” Ryoga tells Variety. “We believe that everyone’s differences are their strengths. As a group, we each bring different personalities, styles, and backgrounds, and together that creates something unique. We don’t want to fit into a box.”
That mindset extends to how the group talks about its place in a conversation about Asian pop still dominated internationally by K-pop. “We have a lot of respect for K-pop, and the incredible impact Korean artists have made globally,” says Weesa, who is half-Moroccan and half-Korean. “Rather than comparing ourselves, we’re inspired by how they’ve shown that music can transcend borders. We are proud to represent Japan and hope to contribute to the growing global appreciation of Japanese music.”
