Japanese pop group UQiYO has dropped a collaboration single with Malaysian singer-songwriter Froya titled ‘invisible’. The release is ahead of the band’s full album, slated for release later this month on March 26.

UQiYO, the J-pop group known for collaborating with various local and international artists, has released a cross-border collaboration track with Malaysian singer Froya.

The single, titled ‘invisible’, is now available across all streaming platforms, ahead of UQiYO’s full album due later this month on March 26.

Also read: INTERVIEW: We transcended through the interweaving layers of ‘lo V er’ with UQiYO

The creative forces met up together in Niigata, Japan for a co-writing session, in which the song is about the snowy city itself.

UQiYO frontman Yuqi Kato shares,

“Having many important people including family and friends from and currently living in Niigata, I was very familiar with the city. This time, I tried to see Niigata through Froya’s eyes as it was her first-time experiencing snow, and the city. I wanted to express this experience in an infinitely detailed and deeply layered manner like a snowflake-like superstring theory where all particles and fundamental forces of nature are in one theory, but with many branches. If the colour of sound is a ray of light, then all the tones combined create white, nothingness, a dream, dazzlingly transparent, which became of this song.”

Froya adds,

“The single signifies the hidden strength and potential inherent in everybody waiting to be uncovered, rising from the surface, just like flowers blooming in the springtime.”

UQiYO is a Japanese music project started in 2010 by Yuqi Kato (vocals) and Satoshi Shimada (drums). Known for their mix of genres in rock, ethnic, and jazz, the group has had more than three million streams on Spotify, and have collaborated with in various projects with Chitose Hajime, Zooey Wonder, Keito Sakai, Pt. Ajay Pohankar, among others.

UQiYO’s brand new album, loom is slated for release on March 26, 2021. The album will include prolific collaborations with Southeast Asian artists.

Froya is known for her experimental yet accessible indie pop/electronica sound. Her album, Panic Bird, won ‘Best Engineered Album at Malaysia’s Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) in 2016.

The Malaysian singer has performed in many prestigious music festivals in Asia such as Aliwal Urban Art Festival, Fukuoka Asian Picks, Good Vibes Festival, St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Baybeats Music Festival, and Music Matters Live Singapore.

She has shared the same stage with international artists including Lorde, Alt-J, Ellie Goulding, Glass Animals, Aurora, NAO, Banks, and Nick Murphy (Chet Faker).

She is currently working on a new EP and album due for release later this year.