Salasa (さらさ), the singer-songwriter from Chigasaki on the Shonan coast, released her new song Sobaniite (そばにいて, also written Soba ni Ite) on 14 October 2026. It is her first new song since Live Bluesy, the EP that marked her major label debut with Epic Records Japan in August.
It is an R&B song made for autumn, and it lands a fortnight before her Live Bluesy Tour 2026 opens in Nagoya, her first tour with a new band.
Sobaniite, an Autumn R&B Song Written with Kota Matsukawa
そばにいて means “stay by my side”. Salasa wrote the lyrics and composed the music with Kota Matsukawa, the bassist in her band, who also produced her 2025 song Thinking of You. Japanese radio stations began playing it in October, ahead of the release.
Her label describes it as a gentle groove that drifts with the bittersweet stillness of leaves turning in autumn, carried by the jazzy melodies and melancholy voice she is known for.
You can stream Sobaniite on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music.
Live Bluesy, Salasa’s Motto and Major Label Debut EP
“Live Bluesy” (ブルージーに生きろ) is a phrase Salasa made up herself, and it has followed her since her first single in 2021, when a limited run of 20 Live Bluesy T-shirts went on sale at the release party. It comes from the blues, a music born out of sadness and hard times. Her idea is to stop hiding from low moods and turn them into songs instead, so the sadness becomes something she can use.
She explained it in a July interview with Real Sound, in Japanese. She had tried to write Thinking of You as a song with no shadow of sadness at all, and found she could not, so the darker feelings stayed in. Of YOU, her first drama theme song, she said she finds something beautiful in holding on to worry while still trying to believe in a bright light.
Live Bluesy came out on 5 August 2026. It is billed as a mixtape EP, because it gathers songs released at different times alongside two brand new ones, Kaze ni Naru (風になる, “becoming the wind”) and KAMINARI, which she wrote at a songwriting camp with her band and producer. The tracklist:
- Kaze ni Naru (風になる)
- KAMINARI
- Thinking of You
- YOU
- Aoi Taiyou (青い太陽)
- Thinking of You (MURO’s KG Remix)
- Thinking of You (uin Remix)
- YOU (Stones Taro Remix)
Kaze ni Naru is the lead track, and her label says it reached number 2 on J-WAVE’s SAISON CARD TOKIO HOT 100 chart in Tokyo. Thinking of You looks back to the late 1990s, when R&B singers moved to the centre of J-Pop, and YOU is the ending theme of the MBS drama Tomei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Mienai Koi wo Shita. The three remixes come from MURO, the veteran Tokyo hip hop DJ, along with uin and Stones Taro.
The music video for Kaze ni Naru, the lead track from Live Bluesy.
From Chigasaki to Fuji Rock and Taipei: Salasa’s Story So Far
Salasa grew up in Chigasaki, a surf town on Sagami Bay along the same stretch of coast as Enoshima and Kamakura. Her mother danced hula, and she acted as a child before joining her school’s light music club, where she started mixing 1970s soul, Showa era kayōkyoku, rock and 2000s R&B into her own songs.
She released her first single, Nail no Shima (ネイルの島), on 7 July 2021, and played Fuji Rock Festival about a year later. Her first album, Inner Ocean (2022), grew out of the time she spent on her local beach during the pandemic, which changed how she felt about the sea she had grown up beside. A second album, Golden Child, followed in 2024.
2025 was the year more people noticed. Thinking of You caught the ear of Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars, who is also from Chigasaki, and he put it at number one in his best 20 Japanese songs of 2025 on his radio show. Her label says its video has passed 2.1 million YouTube views from audiences outside Japan, and her Thinking of You Tour 2025 was her biggest yet. In 2026 she played a solo show in Taipei and a band set at Summer Sonic.
If her mix of soul, jazz and melancholy appeals, Nao Yoshioka is another Japanese soul singer worth knowing, and she spoke to Japan Nakama before her Ronnie Scott’s debut in London this year.
Record Day Vinyl and the Live Bluesy Tour 2026
Salasa is the ambassador for Record Day 2026, the Japanese vinyl event organised by the record pressing company Toyo Kasei, and the campaign photos were taken at BRANDIN, a record café in Chigasaki. On the first Record Day, 3 November, four of her releases come out on vinyl: Live Bluesy, Golden Child, Inner Ocean and Nail no Shima. The second Record Day falls on 5 December.
Her Live Bluesy Tour 2026 is her first since the major debut and her first with a newly formed band: Kiichi Arimoto on guitar, Kota Matsukawa on bass, Ryuju Tanoue on drums and Koki Furukawa on keys, all of whom have played with her since the start. Each night has a guest act, and tickets cost ¥5,800 plus a drink charge.
- Thursday 29 October: UPSET, Nagoya, with NakamuraEmi
- Friday 30 October: Umeda Shangri-La, Osaka, with Tohko Miura (band set)
- Wednesday 4 November: LIQUIDROOM, Tokyo, with AAAMYYY
Doors open at 6pm and the shows start at 7pm, local time. From the UK, Live Bluesy and Sobaniite are both streaming now.
