Hurricane Lyrics - Death Note

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Solo for Light Yagami from Death Note: The Musical - a pivot where he embraces the Death Note’s power.
• Music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Jack Murphy, book by Ivan Menchell; early English demo sung by Jeremy Jordan.
• First English demo tracks surfaced online in early 2015; later English concert premiere landed in London in 2023.
• Multiple language versions exist in licensed productions; Portuguese staging titles it “Furacão.”
• No official single initially – covers and concert renditions helped the song travel.

Creation History

Wildhorn’s score leans into heightened stakes and propulsion, and “Hurricane” is the cleanest distillation of Light’s leap from bright student to self-anointed judge. The English demo session that featured Jeremy Jordan was recorded at the end of 2014, with several concept tracks posted publicly in early 2015. Years later, the show’s first full English-language concert played London, keeping the song central to Light’s arc.

The video most fans share is the New York demo cut with Jordan at the mic. It’s a studio-forward mix - piano and rhythm section punching accents while the vocal rides a steady crescendo. On stage, productions usually push a rock-orchestral color: low strings shadow the verse, kit and brass punch the chorus, and the sustained high line at the close lands like a verdict.

Key takeaways:

1. Verse-to-chorus lift mirrors Light’s moral slide - curiosity to conviction.
2. Reprises return as attitude checks, underlining the cost of wielding the notebook.
3. The metaphor is the engine: a weather system as cleansing justice, then as hubris.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Placed after Light’s first kill, “Hurricane” catches him mid-adrenaline. He tests the rules, feels the shock, then reframes the notebook as a tool for cosmic housekeeping. By the final chorus he declares himself the storm - the one who will scour “human stains.” The music moves from wary, almost clinical observation to declarative swagger.

Song Meaning

It’s a power ballad in the theatrical sense - not a love song, but a love of power. The hurricane image doubles as both cleansing and catastrophe. Light casts himself as purifier and savior. The tension is the seduction of righteousness: moral certainty that hardens into theocracy. You hear it in the rhythmic insistence, the climbing tessitura, the “I am” language. He isn’t describing justice anymore - he’s branding it.

Annotations

“Light is referring to the fact that the criminal he had written into the Death Note had just died of a heart attack.”

Right - the lyric turns a clinical rule into zeal. Cause-of-death defaults and timers become doctrine, and the distance of the act - pen, paper - feeds his illusion of purity.

“Writing is the gun, I only have to aim.”

That line nails the song’s genre fusion: rock pulse plus music-theatre declamation. The “gun” is bureaucratic - paperwork as weapon - which is scarier than a blade. It sounds cool; it’s chilling.

“The more Light uses the Death Note, the more its power ‘devours’ him and his sense of justice.”

The lyric teases this with appetite words - “devour,” “bring the pain” - and the arrangement obliges, thickening textures each chorus. You can hear the conscience thin out as the band fattens up.

“‘The human stains’ shows his superiority complex.”

Dehumanizing diction is the point. Storms don’t negotiate with stains. Once you accept the metaphor, the rest - fear, spectacle, collateral - feels justified.

“‘I am the God of a brave new world.’”

Aldous Huxley’s title is a neat echo here. Light isn’t just promising order; he’s promising engineered perfection. That’s the trap that makes “Hurricane” land as both rallying cry and red flag.

Production & instrumentation notes

Common staging keeps Light isolated center stage - notebook, desk lamp, or a stark cyc behind him - while percussion and low brass carry the weather metaphor. The groove locks around a straight four with a driving subdivision, letting the vocal paint in big strokes. In several licensed versions, tempo sits in the high 120s, which keeps the diction crisp and the phrases rideable without pushing the breath past comfort.

Key Facts

• Artist: Frank Wildhorn - Jack Murphy - Ivan Menchell; featured vocal on early English demo by Jeremy Jordan
• Featured: Solo number for the character Light Yagami
• Composer: Frank Wildhorn
• Lyricist: Jack Murphy
• Book: Ivan Menchell
• Producer: Concept demo - not commercially credited; later London concert album produced by Nigel Wright
• Release Date: February 27, 2015 - first English demo tracks surfaced online
• Genre: Musical theatre, rock-influenced
• Instruments: Voice, piano, drums, bass, guitars, synths, brass/strings (varies by production)
• Label: Theatrical producer HoriPro Inc. (stage); no initial commercial single
• Mood: resolute, vengeful, grand
• Length: about 3:30–4:10 depending on arrangement
• Track #: 5 on Death Note: The Musical (2015 running order); reprises later in Acts I & II
• Language: English in demo; licensed versions in Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (“Furacão”)
• Album: Death Note: The Musical - demo selections; concert album later announced for the 2023 London cast
• Music style: verse-chorus build with rock cadence and theatrical modulation
• Poetic meter: mixed - iambic and trochaic lines with emphatic end-stops

Canonical Entities & Relations

• Frank Wildhorn - composed - Hurricane.
• Jack Murphy - wrote lyrics for - Hurricane.
• Ivan Menchell - wrote book for - Death Note: The Musical.
• Jeremy Jordan - recorded demo vocal for - “Hurricane”.
• HoriPro Inc. - produced - 2015 Tokyo world premiere.
• London Palladium & Lyric Theatre - hosted - 2023 English concert productions.
• Griffin Puatu; Gerónimo Rauch - released cover recordings of - “Hurricane”.

Questions and Answers

Where does “Hurricane” sit in the story?

Right after Light tests the Death Note and realizes it works. The song marks his pivot from shock to mission.

Is there an official single?

Not at first. English demo tracks circulated online in early 2015; the song’s profile grew through concerts and later covers.

How does the Japanese version differ?

The Japanese staging retitles and rewrites text, softening or removing the hurricane metaphor. The dramatic function stays similar.

Did the musical get an English premiere?

Yes - a star-cast concert at London’s Palladium in August 2023, transferring to the Lyric Theatre in September.

Any chart action?

No mainstream charts for the demo. Later covers live on streaming platforms rather than radio charts.

What keys are typical?

Published arrangements appear in A minor and G minor depending on edition and singer.

What tempo works on stage?

Most arrangements sit around 126–132 BPM - brisk enough for diction, slow enough for breath.

Are there reprises?

Yes - a short reprise later in Act I, and a climactic reprise in Act II that reframes Light’s resolve.

Notable covers?

Griffin Puatu released a streaming single in 2024; Gerónimo Rauch included a studio cover in 2025.

Who has performed it live outside Japan/Korea?

Jeremy Jordan featured it in Frank Wildhorn & Friends concerts; Adam Pascal performed material from the show during promo events.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song itself hasn’t been singled out for major awards or charts, but the musical’s 2022 Korean revival earned top honors, which boosted the song’s profile in licensed stagings.

How to Sing Hurricane

Vocal range & key: Published PV arrangements circulate in A minor and G minor; typical Broadway baritenor sits from about A2/B2 up to E4–G4 with optional higher tag depending on production. Tempo: plan around 128–130 BPM. Feel: straight four with rock attack - articulate but let the line bloom on sustained verbs and “I am” phrases.

Step-by-step

1. Tempo & pulse: Practice with a click at 126, then 128–130. Lock eighths on the setup bars before verse one.
2. Diction pass: Consonants ride the beat - “hardest rains,” “coldest winds.” Keep “h” unaspirated to avoid losing air.
3. Breath mapping: One low breath per two lines in the verse; top up before each chorus. Save a deeper prep for the final “hurricane.”
4. Flow & phrasing: Treat verse one like testimony - measured. Chorus one is a ruling. Chorus two escalates - add vibrato width, not volume alone.
5. Accents: Lean on verbs - “bring,” “shake,” “scream.” Let nouns land clean; verbs sell intent.
6. Ensemble & doubles: If you’ve got backing voices, put a tight double on “I am” phrases, then widen the spread on the last chorus for size.
7. Mic craft: Stay close for the verse, pull back half a hand on the chorus, and a full hand on the final tag to avoid squash.
8. Common pitfalls: Don’t rush the pre-chorus - the power is in the release. Avoid over-darkening vowels; it kills intelligibility.
9. Practice materials: Work the PV chart in A minor first; transpose down a whole step if you carry more weight in the middle.

Additional Info

According to Playbill, the English-language concert premiere in 2023 packed the Palladium and extended to the Lyric for extra shows, a rare fast-track for a manga-based musical in the West. And as reported by Gizmodo back in 2015, those first English demo drops lit the fuse for the song’s online life long before the London concerts. In later years, studio covers kept the track in rotation - a steady drip that suits a cult musical finding new markets.

Two practical notes for singers: published PV editions exist in both A minor and G minor. That flexibility is deliberate - the number works best when the climactic line rides your upper-middle, not your ceiling. Also, if you’re staging a concert cut, leave eight bars of vamp before the final tag so the audience can sit in the dread a second. It makes the last word bite.

Sources

Wikipedia; Playbill; LW Theatres; Nimax Theatres; Gizmodo; Sheet Music Plus; Tunebat; Chordify; YouTube; Spotify; Apple Music; Death Note Wiki.