Thank you for sharing this video, Alexsis.
Wow... I mean where to even begin with this dumpster fire of a video. It's kind of surreal for me, and so many others here who've been waiting for the better part of a decade for the new album to finally see ONE video where Yoshiki tries to address it. First, I think he's had a little too much wine leading up to this clip as he's not very coherent. To me it sounds as though other members got tired of his gruelling perfectionism and usual dictatorship over absolutely everything and got bored of nothing substantial ever happening. I think there's some truths to that rumour of legal issues with each members' management as well.
I still stand by my theory that Yoshiki was/is looking for a 'perfect storm' of events and timing to release the album; a perfect storm that may never come. I think he's in some fantasy mindset where he'll make some big splash into the US market and become huge in the West. As an artist, you don't wait for those scenarios, you create them because your music/art is so captivating and so cathartic, just as all great artists/bands have done in the past. Yoshiki should damn well know this after X's history from 1987-1997. He literally changed the music scene in Japan! Otherwise, just look at The Beatles to Nirvana to Ed Sheeran (and many others in between). I truly don't think Yoshiki is OK with only being a success in a niche market today. I think he's scared of releasing the album and it not having any substantial impact in the USA, which ties into my final thought...
That Yoshiki has become a sellout, and it's so painfully obvious in everything he's done for the past 10 years. Let me just state that I don't expect every major rock star, especially from a 'punk rock' background to just continue living in the ways they started, but when it comes to stringing along the fans that gave you all of this fame? That's where I draw the line. He literally says in the video, after wryly asking us to trust him, to just "let me enjoy these other things as an artist, the YoshikiMono, wine, credit card..." and then he even admitted he's a sellout! "I was like a rebel as a teenager so pretty amazing I have my own credit card." Who the fxck cares about your Rakuten Mastercard. It's probably a shitty signup bonus and redemption anyway...
Real talk, no X Japan fan is trying to stop you from having activities outside of the band but it's been a DECADE. Entire bands form, reach their peak of success and disband in less time. I should just have the guts to let it go and not care anymore...and there's months that go by where I don't care, but as a true fan, the enjoyment of X's music always comes rushing back and when it does, so does this torrent of intense frustration with Yoshiki. I have to learn to somehow lower my expectations.