On October 31, the dance and vocal unit Atarashii Gakko! released their new song HANAKO via 88rising.

Atarashii Gakko! made their world debut last year through the record label 88rising. This year, the group held a successful solo concert at Zepp DiverCity in May, followed by two sold-out solo concerts in the U.S. and a five-show U.S. tour including an appearance at the Head in the Clouds festival organized by 88rising. In a relatively short time, Atarashii Gakko! has become a smash hit with fans abroad.

The new song HANAKO is based on the classic Japanese school horror story Hanako-san. The urban legend tells the story of a young girl who haunts school toilets. Manny Mark produced the song, following his involvement in the group’s previous tracks. The lyrics were written by Atarashii Gakko! themselves and the track has a bizarre yet cutesy vibe.

The lyric video for HANAKO was released at midnight on October 31, with the music video dropping at 13:00 on the same day. The unintentionally chilling, ghost-story-style video set in an elementary school is also sure to make an impression with audiences.

<Member Comment>
“HANAKO is the perfect spooky song for Halloween and we’re happy to release it on October 31.

The song was actually being made concurrently with SNACKTIME, which we released last year! (With Money Mark, of course.)

The four of us would have meetings about the melody and lyrics while we were in LA. We stopped working on the song when it was still in the demo phase, but when we went to LA this summer, we worked with Money Mark to evolve it into something new. As we continued to build it, it became creepier and creepier.

It’s a ghost story. It’s all about being terrified, but also being curious. Hanako is a popular urban legend in Japan about a ghost that haunts school bathrooms. In the legend, if you say the ghost’s name three times, it might respond…or even appear in front of you.”