PRESS RELEASE DECEMBER 12, 2025
Artist Reimagines Old School Phone Tech With a Global Heartbreak Hotline
Interactive hotline uses retro telephony to collect anonymous breakup stories from around the world
(Vancouver) — Tokyo-based artist RIKII, working alongside a Vancouver rooted creative team, has launched the FINE Heartbreak Hotline, an interactive audio experience that repurposes old school phone technology to collect, rotate, and replay anonymous stories of heartbreak from callers worldwide. The hotline is now live at +1 (888) 652-FINE (us/canada toll free).
The hotline accompanies the release of RIKII’s new single “FINE” and stands on its own as a tech-enabled installation. Instead of relying on apps or streaming platforms, the project uses traditional phone-call infrastructure, rebuilt with custom routing and voicemail handling, to create a living, community-driven audio archive.
Callers can anonymously share their own stories, listen to others, and interact with a continuously evolving pool of global submissions, turning a simple phone number into a participatory piece of interactive media.
A Vancouver Creator Blending Retro Tech and Modern Storytelling
RIKII, who grew up in Vancouver before relocating to Tokyo, has been developing cross-media storytelling projects that merge music, visual direction, and technology. The hotline is his first large-scale use of telephony as an artistic medium.
“There’s something powerful about using old tech to connect people in a new way,” says RIKII. “The hotline creates a shared universe around the release; built from real voices, real stories, and a technology everyone already understands.”
How the Hotline Works
The FINE Heartbreak Hotline uses retro phone infrastructure paired with modern telephony tools to create an interactive system that:
accepts anonymous voicemails
archives and categorizes submissions
rotates selected messages to new callers
updates dynamically as new stories come in
builds a shared audio environment driven entirely by voice
Designed to work globally, the experience is accessible to anyone with a phone, no apps, no accounts, no sign-ups.
About RIKII
RIKII is a Tokyo-based artist whose work blends contemporary R&B, melancholic pop, and visual storytelling. Across 27 self-released singles, he has built a growing international audience with more than 10 million streams and listeners across the United States, Taiwan, Japan, and Southeast Asia. His creative team includes Alvin Ryze, Aaron Fung, and Gert Taberner, with visual direction led by RYM (@rym_drownyou).
FINE Heartbreak Hotline
+1 (888) 652-FINE (US/Canada Toll Free)
Carrier rates will apply if calling from outside
MEDIA CONTACT
Neil Saini
604-724-8281
CONNECT WITH RIKII
Press Photos here