"Before I Go" is a song by Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Coldrain Coldrain (stylized in all lowercase) are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are w ...

. Written by frontman

Masato Hayakawa (born December 17, 1986), known professionally as Masato, is a Japanese singer, musician, songwriter, producer and model. He is known for being the bandleader and vocalist of the Japanese rock band Coldrain since their formation in 2007. He was ...

and lead guitarist Ryo Yokochi, and produced by

Michael Baskette Michael Elvis Baskette is an American music producer who has worked with artists such as Sevendust, Alter Bridge, Projected, Tremonti, Chevelle, Limp Bizkit, Falling in Reverse, Coldrain, The Classic Crime, Temple Agents, Clint Lowery and Sl ...

, it was released as the third single from the band's seventh studio album ''

Nonnegative In mathematics, the sign of a real number is its property of being either positive, negative, or 0. Depending on local conventions, zero may be considered as having its own unique sign, having no sign, or having both positive and negative sign. ...

'', on 8 June 2022. On 10 May 2023, the band released an official live music video for "Before I Go" from their performance at

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

on 16 October 2022. It was released as part of the promotion for their fifth live video album '' 15x(5+U) Live at Yokohama Arena''.

Background

On 6 June 2022 the band first teased "Before I Go" on their social media platforms as part of

Sapporo Breweries is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo, the oldest brand of beer in Japan, was first brewed in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1876 by Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo. The co ...

' latest product ''Saporro Beer Gold Star'' promotional campaign, of which a teaser including the song for the advert was made available on YouTube as well as Japanese television. The band later released the song alongside its accompanying music video two days later on 8 June. The band starred on the cover for

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's "Big in Japan" playlist which featured "Before I Go" to promote the newly released single on the platform.

Composition and lyrics

"Before I Go" has been described by critics as a

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

, and an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

song. The song runs at 170 BPM and is in the key of

A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...

. It was written by frontman

and lead guitarist Ryo Yokochi and produced by

, and runs for four minutes and 6 seconds. Paul Brown of ''Wall of Sound'' noted that the song had an "uptempo drum beat that’ll have you bouncing around the room in no time", while George Knight of ''Thunderchord'' pointed out that the verses were almost "

dance rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disc ...

like in terms of grooviness." Speaking to ''V13.net'', Hayakawa explained the meaning of "Before I Go":

Track listing

Music video

The official music video for "Before I Go" was released on 8 June 2022 and was directed by Inni Vision. The video features the band performing the song on the cliff-face of a

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

with a full set of studio lights. They perform the song during the day and transition to them performing during the nighttime towards the end of the song where they release a bunch of

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

into the sky surrounding the set to culminate the climax of the song as it ends. As of August 2024, the music video for "Before I Go" has over 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. Coldrain *

– lead vocals, lyrics, composition, arrangements * Ryo Yokochi – lead guitar, programming, composition, arrangements * Kazuya Sugiyama – rhythm guitar, arrangements * Ryo Shimizu – bass guitar, arrangements *

Katsuma Minatani Coldrain (stylized in all lowercase) are a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, who were formed in 2007. The band combines melodic singing with screams typical of the post-hardcore genre. Although the band is Japanese, all of their songs are w ...

– drums, arrangements Additional personnel *

– producer, mixing, arrangements *

Brad Blackwood Brad Blackwood is an American audio mastering engineer. He has mastered albums for artists such as Maroon 5, Against Me!, Lamb of God, Black Eyed Peas, Sara Bareilles, and is an 19 time Grammy nominee and 3-time winner, as well as having multiple n ...

– mastering * Jef Moll –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

* Joshua Saldate – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Coldrain Coldrain songs 2022 songs 2022 singles Warner Music Group singles Songs written by Masato Hayakawa Song recordings produced by Michael Baskette Post-hardcore songs Metalcore songs Japanese hard rock songs Alternative rock songs