Tokyo-based singer-songwriter Ako steps into 2026 with ‘Turn It Up’, a sharp, genre-melting single that doubles as the ending theme for the upcoming TV anime The Darwin Incident. The track marks a confident new chapter for an artist already known for blurring musical and visual boundaries.
Sung in both English and Japanese, ‘Turn It Up’ draws together jazz, rock and pop into a restless hybrid that mirrors the anime’s moral complexity. Written from the perspective of the series’ antagonist organisation, the song questions entrenched values and the meaning of life itself, channelling the tension and ambiguity at the heart of Shun Umezawa’s original manga. As a long-time fan of the source material, Ako approaches the project less like a commission and more like a dialogue with the story.
“I wanted to reflect the different backgrounds of the characters by mixing music with very different roots,” Ako explains. The title’s call to “turn it up” works both literally and thematically, urging listeners to lean into the noise, contradiction and urgency of the ideas at play.
Mixed by Nathan Boddy (Olivia Dean, PinkPantheress, NewJeans), the track expands Ako’s sonic palette while retaining the intimacy of her signature whisper voice. It’s pop music that resists easy categorisation, polished but pointed, playful yet politically aware.
