I’m super excited to announce that Watashi Wa are returning in a big way here in 2026. The band reunited back in 2022 with their last album “People Like People” on Tooth & Nail Records. While that album certainly had some good moments this new track is the band’s return to their classic sound from the “The Love of Life” and “Eager Seas” era. The band just announced they have signed with Lost in Ohio for the release of the new single “I Am”. The single drops next week on June 5th and it’s one you absolutely don’t want to sleep on. Kudos to Lost in Ohio for breathing new life into this band and for the band themselves for staying true to that classic sound while exploring what made them great in the first place. Watashi Wa 2026!
For most bands, a twenty-year gap between their commercial peak and a new single would require a lot of explaining. For Watashi Wa — or more precisely, for Seth Roberts — it requires almost none at all. The music has simply never stopped.
Roberts built Watashi Wa into one of Tooth & Nail’s most beloved acts across two albums in the early 2000s, then kept making music without pause — as Lakes, as Eager Seas, as a touring member of punk institution MxPx. The 2022 return to Watashi Wa delivered a warmhearted, melodically rich record, but in many ways “I Am” is a true return to form.
Closer in spirit to The Love of Life than anything Roberts has written since, it’s unabashed power pop at its most precise. The title, of course, is also the literal translation of the band’s name, Watashi Wa, into English.
The single drops in the midst of Watashi Wa’s tour with long-time friends Anberlin and Emery on a 20-date tour, three former labelmates on stage together. For the first time.
