Arab News Japan

DUBAI: Highly acclaimed Japanese artist Vicke Blanka released a song titled ‘Sad in Saudi Arabia’ as part of his EP WorldFly, which was released on Oct. 25 last year.

The album is composed of songs that incorporate all of the inspiration Vicke Blanka received from his overseas performances into the sound, which also allows the listener to experience a variety of new worlds outside of the everyday.

‘Sad in Saudi Arabia’ portrays Vicke Blanka’s love and heartbreak he experiences while he visits the Kingdom.

He filmed clips for his song ‘Sad in Saudi Arabia’ in several locations across the Kingdom, including the desert.

The Japanese artist has also announced his first-ever headline tour of North America, titled ‘Vicke Blanka North American Tour 2024.’ The tour will include a total of 10 shows, launching in Vancouver on Jan. 31 and closing in New York on Feb.20.

In 2023, Vicke Blanka performed at a number of overseas events, drawing a peak attendance of over 5,000 fans per show. 

In May, he played at Jeddah Events Calendar 2023 Anime Village at City Walk in Saudi Arabia. In July he performed at Riminicomix in Italy and at Japan Expo 22nd Impact 2023 in France (as Music Guest of Honor), before returning to Saudi Arabia again in August for Gamers8 Cosplay Cup Supported by WCS.

In December, he also performed at Magnificon Expo 2023 in Poland, and at Manga Barcelona 2023 in Spain.

In addition, his opening theme tunes for the anime series ‘Black Clover’ continue to be ongoing hits: His Season 3 opening theme song “Black Rover” has now been played over 170 million times, while his season 10 opening theme song “Black Catcher” has surpassed 200 million plays, ranking in Spotify’s Top 10 chart of songs by Japanese artists played by overseas users for the third consecutive year since 2020.

“I’m so happy to finally get to meet everyone in North America.  I’ve often got DMs from US/Canadian fans like ‘Come do your show here too’ and ‘We’ll be waiting for you.’ Guess I’ll take my DJ set and guitar with me. Let’s make an awesome tour together,” Vicke Blanka said.