Takanori Iwata Joins I Don’t Like Mondays. on ‘1989
Takanori Iwata has finally made a song with the friend he grew up with. The actor and musician, credited as GAN, features on “1989,” the most personal track on “FRIDAY,” the sixth studio album from I Don’t Like Mondays.
It is the first time Iwata and the band’s vocalist, YU, have ever performed together, despite a friendship that goes back more than 30 years. The two co-wrote the lyrics themselves, with GeG handling production.
The song is not waiting for the album. “1989” arrives Sept. 7 with a music video, while “FRIDAY” follows Sept. 25.
Three Decades of Friendship, One Song
Most guest features are business arrangements. This one started in childhood, and the record simply caught up to it.
YU brought Iwata in himself, which is why the track sits at the emotional center of the album rather than at its edges. Three decades of history had to be condensed into a few minutes of music.
That is what makes the collaboration unusual. Two people who knew each other long before either had a career finally put that history on tape, and they wrote the words for it together.
What Else Is on “FRIDAY”
Seven guest artists appear across the record, spanning genres and generations. Alongside GAN, the album features claquepot, ZEN-LA-ROCK, NAOTO of ORANGE RANGE, GeG, SHO-SENSEI!! and m-flo’s ⭐︎Taku Takahashi.
“GENIUS” pairs a guest verse from ZEN-LA-ROCK with production by NAOTO, while the dance cut “ODORE” brings in SHO-SENSEI!! over a ⭐︎Taku Takahashi beat. “ODORE” arrives Sept. 16, a week after “1989.”
The album ends by closing a loop. “DON’T WANNA DIE” is a self-cover of a song YU wrote for another artist in 2019, sung by YU himself for the first time seven years later.
In all, “FRIDAY” runs 14 tracks, five of them newly recorded, with the rest drawn from previously released singles going back to “jealous.” It is the widest the band has ever opened its Tokyo City Pop sound to outside collaborators, after a decade spent building it alone.
The album then rolls straight into “FRIDAY MOOD JAPAN TOUR 2026.” The run opens Oct. 3 in Sapporo and closes Dec. 5 at Tokyo’s Zepp DiverCity.
None of this is happening quietly. The band has spent the past year selling out rooms and festival stages across Asia, and it was back in Bangkok just last week for NIPPON HAKU BANGKOK 2026.
