On February 25th, virtual singer Upsilon released his digital single “Searchlight.” Released by MS Record, Inc., this is his second single since changing labels. The lyrics and music were written by Upsilon himself.You can listen to it on major streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music.
“Searchlight” was created as an answer song to the popular song “White Night.” While “White Night” is sung from the perspective of the “people who are leaving,” “Searchlight” is told from the perspective of the “people who remain.” Depending on which side the listener empathizes with, the two songs will tell different stories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oegiF8OHgA
The music was composed and arranged by sachi and sa_bass00, and mixed by Watanabe Yosuke. The music video was created by the same staff as “Byakuya,” with animation by Nomura Seitan and video editing by Amemaru.
✦ ••┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈•• ✦
Original song
“Searchlight”
RELEASE!!
✦ ••┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈•• ✦▼Streaming & Downloadhttps://t.co/n9jmYdGlZz
▼MVhttps://t.co/lpcSH8Ganz#拡散希望 #ユプシロン pic.twitter.com/1IyF4KqjU3
— Yupsilon🌙꧂ (@yupsilon_) February 25, 2026
Interview with Upsilon
*This interview has been provided by the agency.
Virtual singer Upsilon, an icon and creator who writes and produces all of his own music, has released his first song of 2026, “Searchlight,” digitally. We conducted an official interview to dig deeper into the work!
──Congratulations on the release of “Searchlight,” your second song since changing labels.
Upsilon:
Thank you! Actually, “Searchlight” was made before “Good Boy & Girl.”
──I heard that you were in a slump last year. Was “Searchlight” the song that helped you get out of that slump?
Upsilon:
That’s right. Since releasing the mini-album “Signifie” in June 2024, I’ve been making progress on writing songs for other artists, but with my own songs I’ve been writing and erasing them over and over again… It was my first slump, and I couldn’t finish anything for about a year and a half.
How did you get out of your slump?
Upsilon:
I think the solution was simply time. I posted my favorite songs on “cover songs,” watched movies, read books, went on trips, and relaxed while also taking in new information (laughs). Last May, my group “SODA KIT,” which I’d been active with for about three years, went on hiatus, and I was feeling burned out. Those three years had been so hectic… I wrote nearly 30 songs, and had live shows and events almost every month. I think I just needed some time to take a breather.
──30 songs in three years! In other words, it’s like releasing a full album every year.
Upsilon:
That’s right. Among the 30 songs, there are some that I wrote. I was given a lot of freedom to write the lyrics and music for both Upsilon and SODA KIT, so I was able to bring out a lot of the ideas I had in mind at the beginning of our activities, like “I want to do this kind of thing.”
──Did you feel like you had exhausted everything you had envisioned doing in the early days of your career?
Upsilon:
But, I was wrong. When I think back on the things I said I wanted to do in the early days of my activities, there’s still so much more. I’d been talking to creators from the beginning about wanting to shoot an image video in VRChat – and we were able to make that happen with this trailer video, but there are still other visual expressions I want to try. I’d also said that I wanted to release an answer song that connects the stories of the songs I’ve released so far… There’s so much more. When I think back on it, there are so many things I haven’t done at all.
──So you took the time to remember and you were able to get out of your slump.
Upsilon:
That’s exactly right. I took it easy and remembered my original intentions. Of course, I also took in some new things. All the songs I’ve written are important to me, so it’s hard to say which is better, but “Byakuya” has always been my favorite. I also wrote the story “Kotoba-ya-san,” and the song and music video for this song are linked to that story. Because I had a clear picture of the world in my head — the characters were moving around in my head — the joy I felt when I was able to finally put it out into the open was incredible. I wanted to create a sequel to that story, a story with the same worldview but from a different perspective, and that’s how I started working on Searchlight.
[MV] Byakuya
https://youtu.be/6DZJPeLIfsY
──So “Searchlight” is the answer song to “Byakuya.” Both songs start with vocalizations that seem to be speaking to the listener.
Upsilon:
Yes, I kept that in mind when I wrote them! “Byakuya” is sung from the perspective of the “one who is leaving,” and “Searchlight” is sung from the perspective of the “one who is staying.” However, some listeners might hear it the other way around. I wanted to create two songs that would inspire all sorts of imaginations depending on which side the listener can empathize with.
──I think that’s been done very well. “Searchlight” is more up-tempo, but I felt that the sad sections really stood out.
Upsilon:
Thank you. I think the melody and lyrics came out of the struggles I’ve experienced over the past few months, including SODA KIT’s hiatus, members’ graduations, slumps, and breakups. We all experience breakups, don’t we? And not just heavy ones, like when you graduate from school and suddenly realize you don’t see your friends anymore. You don’t realize it right away, but rather, you start to feel lonely after a few months. I wanted to portray that kind of loneliness that suddenly hits you, and blow it away. Even when you’re separated from people and your environment, you still have to keep moving forward, you have to find the light in your life.
──At times like that, Upsilon says, “I put on my favorite headphones.”
Upsilon:
Yes, that’s true for me. I think music is the only thing that exists, both for listeners and creators. I think that “searchlight” is different for each person, but for me it’s completely music (laughs). I hope that this song, video, and story can become a searchlight for someone. This song is what helped me take a step out of my slump, so I couldn’t move forward unless I got this song out! I made it with headphones on.
──The beat changes right in that section, making it a very impressive scene.
Upsilon:
This was a completely spontaneous idea, but I thought it’d be interesting to suddenly go for a triplet. I created this song with the melody first, so I told my co-writer and arranger, Sachi, that I wanted it to be like this after the second chorus. I asked him to come up with several connecting arrangements for how to connect to this scene, and after discussing it between the two of us, we came up with this. In the end, I didn’t add any unnecessary bridges and went for the most straightforward triplet structure.
──There are many key changes, such as in the second verse’s A-melody and the chorus, and it feels like a lot of drama is packed into these roughly three minutes.
Upsilon:
Thank you! I wrote the second verse’s A-melody myself, and at first I didn’t realize it was a key change (laughs). It came out so smoothly. Sachi said to me, “The key change in 2A is amazing!” and I thought, wow, it really is a key change. I wanted to create an open feeling for the chorus, so we discussed the key while writing it.
──The sound and composition are dramatic, but the music video is also a very dramatic animation.
Upsilon:
Just like with “Byakuya,” we asked Nomura Seitan to do the animation for the music video, and Amemaru to edit the video. Before Nomura drew the illustration, we explained the story behind “Searchlight,” sent him artboards, and discussed various things over the phone. We wanted monsters to march through the city, and we wanted a cosmic feel. The animation we received was even more beautiful than we imagined! Amemaru and I were both very moved (laughs). Amemaru paid particular attention to the light of the searchlights emanating from the city, making it even more beautiful.
──Since there is a story behind “Searchlight,” does that mean that a story will also be written for Searchlight, like the “word shop” in “White Nights”?
Upsilon:
It may not be released anytime soon, but I would like to release it eventually. It’s still just a synopsis, so I want to write it out thoroughly. In the music video, there are many similarities between “White Night” and “Searchlight,” so it might be fun to try and find them. If you read both lyrics, I think you’ll see the connections.
──Finally, “Good Boy & Girl” signals the start of a new chapter, and “Searchlight” kicks off 2026! Will there be many new works released this year?
Upsilon:
Yes, that’s the plan! I have a lot of ideas for the work I want to create, so I’ve already made a few demo songs. I want to put out a lot of output while also paying attention to the flow of the release and the sense of story. I think this year we’ll be able to deliver a lot of Upsilon’s worldview – both “typical songs” and “unexpected songs.” Please look forward to it!
This article is an English translation of an original Japanese article, translated by the Mogura VR editorial team.
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