Josh Cumbee and Japanese Artist Vicke Blanka Unite for New Single: "Sound of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)"

Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter Josh Cumbee and popular Japanese artist Vicke Blanka have united for new single "Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)" which dropped worldwide today!

"Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)" is an acoustic version of Cumbee’s debut smash "Sound Of Your Name" freshly re-recorded in collaboration with Vicke Blanka, a breaking Japanese musician whose songs have been used as the theme tune to hit anime "Black Clover" and on a TV spot for Spotify Japan. The pair first met when Cumbee mixed "Bakashi Hour Night" by Vicke Blanka VS Taiiku Okazaki, which was released on October 28, 2020. The new collaboration is a natural extension of their friendship, born of mutual respect between two artists.

Vicke Blanka added his heartwarming vocals and new arrangements to this ephemeral acoustic rendition of "Sound Of Your Name", exposing a new side to this song that sings of the deep wound that opens afresh whenever the singer thinks of his lost lover. The magnificent final chorus, sung by both musicians in unison, is a particular highlight.

The track instantly racked up "New Music Friday"; one of the most influential official Spotify playlists compiling the hottest and most notable recent releases, in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. In addition, the track made its way into Spotify “Acoustic Melodies Tokyo” playlist in Japan.

“New Music Friday Japan”
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXc57cuGAMEkA?si=784b0d0e47da4955

“Acoustic Melodies Tokyo”
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWXYO300IYLDB?si=8a58b3adc7a94339

The song is accompanied by a lyric video, which expresses the melancholy of the lyrics with a selection of cute emoji. Some of these emoji will be especially familiar to Vicke Blanka fans, so be sure to pay close attention.

"Sound of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)" Lyric Video

Cumbee made his debut as a solo singer in February 2020, after having built his career as a producer and songwriter for world-class artists such as Madonna, Chris Brown, Kygo, Rita Ora and Adam Lambert, and recently writing the worldwide hit "Wondering" for Olivia Rodrigo and Julia Lester. He has demonstrated his unique musical sense again and again through his production work, while his singing voice has been widely acclaimed since even before his singer-songwriter debut, when he was a guest vocalist on the hit single "Sunny Days" by veteran Dutch DJ/producer Armin van Buuren.

Having worked in genres including ballads, dance music, rock, K-pop and C-pop, Cumbee is a songwriter of exceptional talent. Be sure to check out "Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)", his first collaboration with another artist as a solo singer-songwriter.

Comment from Josh Cumbee
“I had the honor of mixing ‘Bakashi Hour Night’ for Vicke Blanka and Taiiku Okazaki a little while back – a super fun record to work on, and a very collaborative mixing process during which I got to know a small fraction of Vicke’s incredible talent. A little while later when I put out the acoustic version of my first single ‘Sound of Your Name’, I was surprised and thrilled to hear that he wanted to try it out as a collaboration. While sitting on a layover at the airport in Amsterdam I sent over the parts, and a few weeks later got back an incredible vocal from Vicke. He had some very inspiring harmony ideas that pushed me to add some additional creative touches for the new version… And just like that, the song was born.”

Comment from Vicke Blanka
“When I first listened to ‘Sound Of Your Name’, I instantly had the urge to collaborate with Josh, and so I contacted him. I’m grateful that things worked out so quickly. I hope you enjoy our dynamic chorus arrangements. We will definitely be working together again in the future.”

‘Sound Of Your Name (with Vicke Blanka)’ download and streaming links:
https://createmusic.fm/soyn

Josh Cumbee Profile
Singer/songwriter/producer Josh Cumbee was born in California (with roots in Georgia and Alabama) and raised on John Mayer, Coldplay and U2. It all started when Cumbee enrolled in the music business program at University of Southern California. A career on the creative side of music seemed all but impossible up until landing his first TV placement as a composer, and shortly after he was taken under the wing of songwriting legend Toby Gad, who mentored Cumbee and began collaborating with him on projects. 

As a songwriter and producer, Cumbee’s credits list includes names such as Madonna, Adam Lambert, Kygo, Chris Brown, Olivia Rodrigo, Mat Kearney, Lindsey Stirling, Take That, Janet Jackson and many more. 

In addition to multiple international Gold and Platinum record award recognitions for his work, Cumbee’s accolades include Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations (Best Reggae Album for Sean Paul and Album of the Year for Natalia Jiménez), No.1 songs in South Korea, China, the Netherlands and Italy, a World Dance Music Radio Award nomination as an artist alongside the legendary Armin Van Buuren, and recognition from key industry societies such as BUMA NL. 

Josh’s success in Asia as a writer/producer has been astronomical. With multiple No.1 songs in South Korea and China under his belt, Josh has collaborated with K-Pop superstars BoA, NCT, Hyoyeon, and Yuri and Taeyeon from Girls’ Generation (with a No.1 hit), along with C-Pop icons Chris Lee, Roy Wang and Cai Xukun. These collaborations stack up to tens of millions of album sales and stream-sale equivalents worldwide. 

As an artist and performer, Cumbee’s debut song ‘Sunny Days’, a collaboration with electronic-music megastar Armin van Buuren, went to No.1 on radio in the Netherlands, charted in dozens of countries and has amassed over 150 million streams worldwide. 

Van Buuren invited Cumbee to tour with him, culminating in a performance for over 70,000 fans at Untold Festival in Romania. Josh has performed on TV for an audience of over 1 million on Holland’s ‘RTL Late Night’, as well as a performance for millions of viewers in North America when he sang the national anthem live for the LA Dodgers.

Vicke Blanka Profile
Vicke Blanka is a versatile songwriter and composer whose songs are best characterized by his individuality, catchy melodies and his beautiful falsetto voice. He started composing music when he was in elementary school, and with the aim of pursuing music as a career, he attended university in Tokyo. 

Since his debut in 2016, his performances have garnered a wide audience. After entering the spotlight with his 2018 single ‘Masshiro’, which was featured on the TV series ‘Weakest Beast’, Vicke Blanka topped Japan’s domestic charts on both YouTube and subscription services. ‘Masshiro’ was then covered in Chinese by female singer-songwriter LaLa Hsu, who has over 3 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. This led to Vicke Blanka landing a successful headline show in Shanghai. 

The following year, the track ‘Ca Va?’ was featured in a TV advert for Spotify Japan; the track also featured on his 2020 album ‘Devil’, which hit the No.1 spot on the J-pop chart. His tracks ‘Black Rover’ and ‘Black Catcher’ were selected as the theme songs for the anime series ‘Black Clover’, which brought him the attention of fans around the world. 

Vicke Blanka’s catalogue has now accrued 250 million streams on music streaming services, while his achievements continue to grow. His music has been freshly featured on a Japanese TV drama series; meanwhile, he has released collaboration singles, composed tracks for other artists, and performed live extensively. Outside of the music world, his talent includes radio hosting, modeling and eSports streaming.