“Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” performed like you’ve never seen it before.

Piko Taro first took the world by storm when his viral hit “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” appeared on YouTube back in August last year. Since then, the original video has received more than 124 million views online, spawning a number of different versions that saw the animal-print loving star hamming it up with characters from Sesame Street, a computer-generated movie star, and even the Mayor of Tokyo.

Now Piko Taro is back on our radar again, this time thanks to a new version of the catchy tune performed with one of Japan’s most famous rock stars: Yoshiki from X Japan.

After undergoing emergency surgery in the U.S. to replace a cervical vertebral disc in May this year, Yoshiki is back stronger than ever, recently posing for the cover of Japan Vogue, and now returning to the limelight with Piko Taro by his side in a new and touching version of PPAP.

Click on the picture below to watch the soulful performance:

Yoshiki clearly enjoyed the performance, grinning and laughing throughout as Piko Taro poured his heart and soul into the song, which built up to a climactic ending. Who would’ve thought a song about fruity stationery could be so moving?

Entitled “Forever PPAP“, the unique cover of Piko Taro’s original upbeat version of “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” featured piano accompaniment from X-Japan’s 1996 release “Forever Love“, which was written and composed by Yoshiki.

To see the similarities – and the differences – between the two songs, take a look at “Forever Love” below:

The unusual tie-up is part of a number of collaborative performances to mark the two-year anniversary of Yoshiki’s official channel on Japanese video platform Niconico Video. Piko Taro’s performance on 4 September was held on day three of the eight-day long celebrations, which saw guest stars joining Yoshiki on his channel for exclusive live performances.

Piko Taro was equally thrilled to be working with the legendary rockstar, posting photos of their meeting on his social media accounts.

He even reposted Yoshiki’s video with a heartfelt “Very very very Thank you” message, complete with emojis.

Despite being over a year since Piko Taro’s “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” first appeared online, the song, which was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the shortest ever to appear on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, still shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon. We can’t help but wonder who will be next to appear with the star as he continues to ride on his successful journey.

Source: Net Lab
Featured image: Instagram/yoshikiofficial