‘Bride Hard’ cast including Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Colleen Camp, Gigi Zumbado, Da’Vine Joy Randolf with the members of Bi-Ray
Courtesy of A List Media Entertainment
Yoshiki is stepping into the director’s chair once again as the rock icon behind X Japan shares a new video that merges the future of J-pop with major Hollywood names like Rebel Wilson and Academy Award winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Premiering exclusively here first on Forbes is a special “Narrative Version” video for the newly unveiled acoustic version of “Butterfly,” the debut single from the teenage Japanese-pop group Bi-Ray that is also the theme song for this summer’s action-comedy flick Bride Hard. Released in a slow-burning ballad with bare instrumentation today, the “Butterfly (Acoustic Version)” allows members Emi, Hinata, Cocomi, and Michelle’s vocals to truly shine on the track produced, composed and written by Yoshiki.
Bi-Ray and Yoshiki all perform and act in the video with most of the main cast of Bride Hard including Rebel Wilson, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Anna Camp, Colleen Camp and Gigi Zumbado. In a mini Pitch Perfect reunion, we get Wilson’s signature comedic stylings telling Camp how she wants to help the Bi-Ray girls with their “attitude” and finding a “simmering look that says, ‘I’m the baddest bitch in town.’”
Watch until the end, where Bi-Ray teams up with actresses for a singing, grooving, and attitude-filled runway walk. The new scenes blend with clips from Bride Hard, which tells the story of a maid of honor who has to balance wedding duties with her job as a secret agent.
Gigi Zumbado, Anna Camp, Bi-Ray and Rebel Wilson
Courtesy of A List Media Entertainment
This new video is the latest step in Yoshiki’s directing career and cross-genre collaboration. In 2023, he made his directorial debut with the feature documentary Yoshiki: Under the Sky, an intimate and globe-spanning concert film that paired him with collaborators like The Chainsmokers, St. Vincent, Sarah Brightman, Scorpions and Nicole Scherzinger to showcase the rock star as international curator and film director.
Now looking to develop new superstars in Japanese pop, Yoshiki personally handpicked the four members of Bi-Ray and is producing and mentoring the quartet.
“The moment I heard their voices, I knew they were something extraordinary,” Yoshiki says in a statement. “Each member has a unique sound and together they’re a force ready to change the future of J-pop.”
Released globally via Yoshiki’s U.S. label Melodee Music with stateside distribution by Virgin Music Group under Universal Music Group, the new version of “Butterfly” continues the global promise for the multicultural group who have origins in Japan, Canada, Russia, and the Philippines.
Bi-Ray’s “Butterfly (Acoustic Version)” is available today, September 5, as is the seven-and-a-half-minute, star-studded “Narrative Version” video featuring Rebel Wilson and her Bride Hard co-stars. Watch below.