The highly coveted song of the summer needs to cut across demographics and unite one nation under a beat. Think Len's "Steal My Sunshine" in 1999, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" in 2013 or Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" in 2017. Who'd have thought that, in 2018 Japan, the uniting beat would be Eurobeat?
The breakout hit of the season — and the most unexpected smash of the year — comes courtesy of pop outfit Da Pump, which had its heyday in the early 2000s and saw all but one of its founding members split by 2008. The group's newest track, "U.S.A.," finds them semi-covering Italian artist Joe Yellow's 1992 song of the same name.
Expectations didn't seem particularly high, while group leader (and only original member) Issa Hentona has told Japanese media that when "U.S.A." was presented as a next release, he was mostly confused. That the release events for it took place at shopping malls and Mega Don Quijote outlets only reinforce the low expectations.