First Solo EP from MIKA

Pop singer-songwriter MIKA (aka Mika Hashizume, a former member of boy groups INTERSECTION and INTO1) released his debut solo EP on December 21st.

bleached contains five tracks. The lead track, So I Don't Forget, was produced by Patrick "J.Que" Smith, who was one of the co-writers of Joji's Die For You. Combining R&B and alternative elements, the song is said to carry a sense of nostalgia and evoke a feeling of transience.

Links to download and stream the EP on various music platforms are available here. 

MIKA commented:

"In the beginning stage of creating the EP, I didn't have a fixed concept, except for the fact that I wanted each song in the EP to represent styles and genres that I fell in love with after starting my songwriting journey. It was only after I assembled the five songs of the EP, and the title and theme bleached, captured the moment I embarked on the journey I'm currently on, and the moments my career changed courses.

Though the process, one of the best moments of my life, came with difficulties, like everything else. The one aspect that could visually capture this beautiful yet painful period of my life was bleached."

Born and raised on Honolulu, Hawaii, MIKA embarked on a music career in 2016, moving to Tokyo to enter the Japanese-American boy group INTERSECTION. Debuting in 2018, they released their self-titled album INTERSECTION in 2019. Two years later, MIKA appeared on the Chinese audition show “CHUANG 2021”. MIKA was one of the 11 winners, earning a place in the boy group INTO1, which was active in China for a limited period of two years.

A video featuring MIKA singing So I Don't Forget in the studio can be viewed below, followed by a clip of MIKA singing in Chinese from “CHUANG 2021”.