At a time when the word is so frequently overused, Yoshiki is perhaps the modern era’s first true multi-hyphenate. A once-in-multiple-generations musical talent from Japan—Yoshiki is both a prodigious classical pianist and former frontman of epochal 80s glam rock band, X Japan. Decades removed from the tragedies that plagued the ill-fated group, it’s still difficult to overstate—or even metabolize—Yoshiki’s lasting impact on the musical history of his country, and consequently, the cultural landscape of the world at large. Now a lauded philanthropist, vintner, and owner of Y by Yoshiki, as well as clothing designer for Maison Yoshiki Paris and Yoshikimono, Yoshiki extends himself to all of his pursuits with a nonpareil zealousness. But the focus, the majority of the time, is music. 

His journey began very young, displaying savant-like ability, writing a classical song at the age of 10 to the surprise of his mother.  Following the tragic, sudden death of his father, Yoshiki parlayed his grief and innate musicianship into a penchant for drumming: he started a rock band with bosom friend Toshimitsu Deyama (Toshi)  and played in front of his school. “People kind of freaked out,” Yoshiki reflects. 

The rest is very rich, nuanced, and heavily mythologized musical history.

In 1982, Yoshiki and Toshi formed X Japan. Lasting roughly 15 years, the band was one of the first Japanese acts to achieve mainstream success on an independent label. They’re credited as being pioneers of the Visual Kei movement, an onstage aesthetic with pyrotechnical qualities and makeup similar to that of Western glam rock. In their heyday, X Japan sold 30 million copies, played sold-out stadiums to crowds of tens of thousands, and put out a consistent stream of radio hits.

This was until 1997, when Toshi left the group because he’d been brainwashed into the cult “Home of Heart.” The band played one final legendary stadium show. The following year, the guitarist, Hide, committed suicide, causing a wave of copycat suicides among fans. The band remained apart until 2008, after which Toshi reintegrated from the “Home of Heart” cult—X Japan was back together, and played at Coachella in 2018, before going silent once again. 

In 2023, Yoshiki was the first Japanese artist to be honored with a hand and footprint ceremony in nearly 100 years at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. He was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2025, and he has played sold out shows as a concert pianist at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and alongside the Tokyo Philharmonic. 

Yoshiki’s mysterious yet solid presence has been carved out of decades of hard work. Although he has a natural ability, he says that ability would not matter if it weren’t for dedicated practice at his craft. “You need to go through years or decades of practicing to get to the point where you can play somewhere like Carnegie Hall,” Yoshiki says, his voice soft and full of an honest-to-goodness humility not often found in someone so lauded. “For instance, the first year they asked me to play Carnegie I went through hell. Whenever I had time, whether it be five minutes or five hours, I just practiced piano.” Note: this dedication hasn’t changed. “I have another show coming next year, so when I have 30 seconds or one minute I just practice piano. And I believe that kind of effort, people feel it, and appreciate it, they appreciate that dedication to the art. And that applies to every art form; film, fashion, anything.” So, in order to be a great musician, it takes natural ability and work ethic? “Also,” he adds, “the musician puts their entire life into the art.” 

Yoshiki is deeply intelligent and thoughtful. He thinks often about the state of music currently, and where it’s going—notably, what human music looks like with the addition of artificial intelligence. Yoshiki, always the forward-thinking creator, responds to AI in music with laughter and curiosity. “Well, we can have a piano robot. And it plays by itself as amazing as people can play, but at the same time, will people appreciate it the same way?” Yoshiki then expands, “If, with just one button and five seconds, you can create art, who cares? People want to be impressed with art and appreciate it, and I think it’s the process of creating the art that is very important, as important as creating the art itself.”

Yoshiki’s creative process is a necessarily intuitive one. “When I compose music I just use a pen. I don’t use musical instruments, I compose everything in my head.” The process is made all the more interesting because, currently, Yoshiki is producing new albums from three different genres: classical, EDM, and rock. “The most important part of my process is about making a great melody. Sometimes the same melody applies to every genre. To me the genres are not that different.”

Though he dabbles in genre, Yoshiki operates primarily in classical modalities. His favorite composers are Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff because “After 200 years people still play and listen to them.” If he had to listen to a singular song for the rest of his life, it would be ‘Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.’ It’s a long song,” he says laughing, “It’s not like two minutes that you would have to repeat for the rest of your life. It’s like 30 minutes or so.”

What if it was a rock song? “I gotta choose a long rock song. I composed a song called ‘Art of Life.’ It’s like 30 minutes long. So, I would listen to my own song.”

That difference between listening to a long classical song as opposed to a shorter one catalyzes within us the unavoidable ritual within the industry today: a conversation regarding the ever-shortening human attention span and what it means for the business. The musician versus the algorithm, the industry versus the platform. These days, it seems hard to find a song longer than two minutes. 

“It’s because of the streaming format. The algorithm.” Yoshiki says. “All you have to do is get people to listen to more than 30 seconds and that is considered a whole listen. From a business side, even if you compose something that is five or 10 minutes, technically only the first 30 seconds matter to the algorithm.”

But we didn’t just wake up one day and find ourselves here, Yoshiki notes. The interplay between medium and profit has been an engineer of change in the industry for as long as it’s existed. “The CD was born [to hold about 70-something minutes.] Because Sony—who contributed a lot in creating the CD—wanted to have something with a symphony on it without going from A side to B side.” He continues, “My point is that the distribution systems influence people who compose music. Right now, obviously streaming is the main thing, so that’s affecting it. Unless we change how artists make money for whatever the format, it will stay very short. Also, consider social media like TikTok shortening music. I’m not saying these are bad—it just is what it is.”

Yoshiki’s career has outlasted a handful of musical medium mutations. He’s been rocking for decades now, but when asked about his nostalgia for other eras, he responds “I like where we are. Obviously I don’t know what will happen 100 years from now. But I’ve seen all of it, from when I was born going from vinyl to CD, then from CD to download, then from download to stream. I got to deal with all of those format changes. When I started music there was no internet or anything. I’m a positive person. It’s a very challenging time, but I don’t hate it.”

There is a quality to Yoshiki that feels incredibly grounded. It is funny to speak to him when you think of the way he expresses himself sartorially: Yoshiki, the rock legend, is a vibrant mononymous entity boasting both feminine and masculine qualities—his clothes vibrant, his aura curated from years of studying punk rock. But he remains working and eschews any sort of legend or grandiose status. “As of now I don’t have a life,” he says, “I just work like 16 or 18 hours a day. As soon as I wake up I’m working. Practicing the piano in the morning. Then going to a recording or a fashion thing or tasting the wine [Yoshiki speaks of his own wine brand Y by Yoshiki]. But at the same time I feel grateful. I love what I do. It’s all creating art.”

As for being a legend? “I say, ‘Wow, that’s kind of cool people say that,’ but I don’t feel like that at all.”

Yoshiki is confident, not only about where his music is going but also the future of music. Alongside creating his own albums, he produces various bands: a new girls J-Pop group called Bi-ray and a boys group XY, as well as keeping the flame alive for future classical musicians, an art form that one could say may be waning in the world of short-form music. “It’s a whole package with classical music,” he considers. “How to make things exciting? The visuals. The stage. But classical music has a good side, where it can be very strict-ish or conservative-ish, but last time I played Carnegie Hall I brought my drums and I played one drum solo with an orchestra. I also played Royal Albert Hall, and with that I made classical music flashy. Either way, I’m making classical music right now… I hope I can contribute and incentivize people to make classical music.”

Yoshiki is vast. That may explain why he can be hard to find at times, or, figure out how to categorize him. Why would you want to do that, anyway? But, what does he have his hands on? His famous drum set? His famous piano? Or is he diving into his passion as a philanthropist, as an entrepreneur, as a clothing designer.

Or. Or. Or. 

Maybe he can make a melody out of that one day.

Until then:

Yoshiki rocks. Yoshiki rolls.

With the hardcore nature of a headbanger.

And the beautiful grace of an orchestra.

Photographed by Yanran Xiong

Styled by Chris Chidi

Written by Augustus Britton

Hair: Virginie Pineda at the Visionaries Agency

Makeup: Carolina Ballesteros at Opus Beauty

Production Assistant: Rachel Lee

Flaunt Film: Simon Gulergun