From the neon-lit heart of Tokyo to the quiet bedrooms of ALPHAZ across the globe, JURIN, the iron-willed leader of XG, stepped out of the septet’s constellation and into her own galaxy as JURIN ASAYA with the thunderous solo debut single “PS118 (feat. Rapsody)”. What began as a cryptic XGALX teaser on October 24, simply reading “DEBUT SINGLE ‘PS118’”, has detonated into one of the most anticipated cross-border, cross-generational rap collisions of the year: a Japanese trailblazer who taught herself English through hip-hop verses trading bars with North Carolina’s Grammy-winning lyrical titan Rapsody over a beat that feels like cruising through the cosmos at warp speed.
The track is pure propulsion. Built on a cavernous old-school hip-hop foundation, dusty drums, a menacing bassline that rumbles like distant thunder, and atmospheric synths that shimmer like nebulae, “PS118” is the sound of two women claiming their own orbits. JURIN’s delivery is surgical: every syllable razor-sharp, every breath perfectly placed, her flow slicing through the mix with the same fearless precision she brings to XG’s center stage. When Rapsody enters, the temperature rises another ten degrees. Her verses are vintage Snow Hill scripture: dense wordplay, unapologetic Black woman wisdom, and the kind of effortless authority that only comes from two decades of mastering the craft. Together they overlap like twin stars in a binary system, distinct yet magnetically locked, trading boasts and revelations over a hook that declares, “I’m on my own wave / bet your life I’m never lost.”
For JURIN ASAYA, “PS118” is more than a song; it’s a manifesto. “To me, ‘PS118’ is a song about exploring and pioneering my own universe,” she says, eyes gleaming with the same fire fans first saw when she commanded the 2023 Kōhaku Uta Gassen stage. “Working with Rapsody, we connected over the idea of ‘cosmic exploration and navigation’, and during the production process, it honestly felt like we were flying through space together. It was just pure fun.” That joy is palpable. This is not XG’s polished X-POP sheen; this is raw, unfiltered hip-hop, the kind JURIN grew up devouring on late-night YouTube sessions, memorizing every cadence of Kendrick, Nicki, and Lauryn until English became another weapon in her arsenal.
Rapsody, still riding the high of 2024’s universally acclaimed Please Don’t Cry, heard something undeniable in the young leader’s demos. “I was truly blown away by JURIN’s sharp lyricism and performance,” she marvels. “The fact that English isn’t her first language and yet she can express herself like that, nothing but respect. I really felt like, ‘She’s the real deal.’ Sharing the mic with her was an absolute joy. To all the fans out there, get ready for some real rap, wordplay, and bars. There’s no fluff, just straight Jedi-level power.”
The music video, directed with stark, nocturnal beauty, is a visual declaration of independence. Shot in a rain-slicked metropolis that could be anywhere and everywhere, JURIN ASAYA strides through empty streets in minimalist black, her usual high-glam armor traded for raw presence. Towering LED billboards flicker behind her like distant galaxies. Rapsody materializes in flashes of gold and grit, the two women circling each other like planets on a collision course until their paths finally converge under a UFO’s blinding beam, an overt symbol of ascension. The final shot: JURIN bathed in extraterrestrial light, head tilted to the stars, no longer just XG’s leader but a solo force claiming her own corner of the universe.
This is historic on multiple fronts. “PS118” is the first-ever official solo debut from any XG member since the group’s explosive 2022 arrival with “Tippy Toes,” and the first time XGALX has opened its doors to an outside feature. Yet it never betrays the collective’s DNA. The fearless attitude, the boundary-pushing ambition, the refusal to be boxed in by language or geography, all of it screams XG, even as it carves out new territory. It’s the perfect prelude to the group’s debut full-length album THE CORE – 核, slated for January 23, 2026, and their second world tour XG WORLD TOUR: THE CORE, launching in February across arenas that already feel too small for their growing empire.
For ALPHAZ, the moment is seismic. From Jakarta to Los Angeles, fans who once camped outside XG’s 2024 Manila show chanting JURIN’s name now watch their captain launch a solo rocket. On X, #JURINASAYA and #PS118 trended worldwide within minutes of release, with Thai ALPHAZ posting reaction threads at 3 a.m., Brazilian fans translating every bar, and American hip-hop heads discovering XG through Rapsody’s co-sign. One viral post from @XGLOBAL reads simply: “She said ‘bet your life I’m never lost’ and then proceeded to find a whole new galaxy. JURIN ASAYA is HERE.”
This is liftoff. With “PS118”, JURIN ASAYA doesn’t just step into her own universe; she claims dominion over it, and the stars themselves seem to realign in celebration. Stream it now. The cosmos will never sound the same.
Adreena is a writer from Nagano, Japan, but is now residing in Singapore. She mostly writes music news and reviews, but in her spare time, she likes writing fiction and poems.