Japan

Billboard JAPAN‘s “MONTHLY FEATURE” series presents various artists and works that have caught its eye. This month’s featured artist is Omoinotake, a three-person band that recently released their second major label album, Pieces.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

In January 2024, they released “Ikuokukonen,” which they wrote as the theme song for the TV series Eye Love You, which aired on TBS on Tuesdays. “Ikuokukonen” reached 2nd place in Billboard JAPAN‘s “JAPAN Hot 100” song chart. It became one of the big songs of 2024, staying in the charts and taking 3rd place for the whole year in the annual chart released in December. The band steadily expanded the scale of its activities, leading to its first appearance on NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen at the end of the year. Omoinotake had long vowed to create a hit song and perform in the Kohaku Uta Gassen, so 2024 was a tremendous year for the band—the year in which it achieved both of these dreams.

Their latest album, Pieces, contains 10 songs, including some previously released singles like “Ikuokukonen” and “Tsubomi,” the ending theme to the seventh season of the TV anime My Hero Academia. We talked to the three members of the band about this richly varied album full of songs that will make listeners want to dance and will bring tears to their eyes.

Trending on Billboard

Your goal in the past was to perform in the Kohaku Uta Gassen. What was it like actually standing on the Kohaku stage?

Leo Fujii (vocals and keyboard): We’d always talked about how we wanted to become a fixture in the Kohaku Uta Gassen, so it really meant a lot to us. I don’t usually get nervous during shows or TV appearances, but I have to say, I was super nervous during Kohaku. Having appeared on the show, my resolve to keep appearing year after year has only gotten stronger.

Before going on stage, did you talk to each other about what kind of performance to put on?

Fujii: The song we performed, “Ikuokukonen,” has a straightforward message, so we didn’t talk in particular about how to convey that message. We just wanted to do the song justice.

Tomoaki Fukushima (bass): I was so glad that this stage, which we’d longed to play on for so long, turned out to be such an excellent place. Taking that first step was a hard one, but it felt like I’d finally started moving forward with my life.

You achieved huge success in 2024, including the release of a hit song with “Ikuokukonen” and your appearance in the Kohaku Uta Gassen. How would you sum up the year?

Fujii: I’d say “whirlwind.” That’s really the only word for it. There was always this mountain of things that we needed to do in front of us, but personally, I was really glad about that. For a long time, the past 12 years, we’ve always had to take the initiative to get things going. We were able to maintain a high level of motivation through all of 2024, so it was a whirlwind year for us.

When did you start working on your latest album, Pieces?

Fujii: In around October.

Fukushima: Right. We’d first started talking about making a new album back in summer, though. We began by deciding on the album. Our basic concept was that, as a band, we can’t do anything if even one of us is missing. It’s when we each bring our own strengths together that we truly become Omoinotake, this solid, unified presence. That was really palpable in 2024, which is why we started out by deciding on the title Pieces.

So it’s an expression of the nature of the band.

Fukushima: There’s a lot of variation in the songs on the album, so we also looked at each of them as pieces. No matter what, we wanted to create a “Pieces” title track, and if possible we wanted to base the other songs on the album on the title, as well.

Fujii: We’ve focused on making songs you can dance to and songs you can cry to, so once we decided on the title Pieces, we wanted to make an album of songs to dance or cry to.

Hironoshin Tomita (drums): As one of the members of the band, I found the creation process really satisfying—I feel like I did everything I could in the making of the album. Everything from sound production to performing. When Leo made the demo, he left some space to work with. He was like “go ahead and do what you want with this.” I’m very satisfied with the riffs I wrote and how I performed them.

I know it may be hard to choose, but if you had to pick a song that you felt especially satisfied with, which would you pick?

Tomita: The part of “P.S.” before the second chorus.

You picked a really pinpoint spot (laughs). Did you start out planning for this to be the first song on the album?

Fujii: Yes, but we didn’t finish the lyrics until the very end. But, yes, we wrote it to be the first song.

How is it structured?

Fujii: We wanted to try something we’d never done before. We looked around a lot and came across this jungle beat, and were like, “Let’s try this.” Usually, jungle would have bass and synths and be more like dance music, but we didn’t want to do straight jungle. Instead Emoaki (Fukushima) played the root notes with a pick, rock-style, so we made it into Omoinotake’s own style of jungle. Then we were like, we should also mix in some pop-punk, which we’ve always been big fans of, so the last chorus has a pop-punk beat. It’s a really playful song.

The use of pop-punk in the song is really interesting.

Fujii: I was listening to Thundercat, and one of his songs had a kind of pop-punk beat. It really opened my eyes seeing someone who wasn’t from the pop-punk scene using this kind of rhythm in his music.

How did you write the lyrics?

Fukushima: We’d finished writing the title track, “Pieces,” and we wanted to write lyrics that connected to it, while at the same time conveying the concept of the album to follow. We wanted the song to be an introduction to the album, but just serve as a pointer of the direction it would take. Then that theme would really resonate with the last song, “Pieces.”

Of all the songs on the album, do you think ‘Pieces’ is the most tied to that theme?

Fukushima: I think so. For “Pieces,” we decided to start by writing the lyrics. We already had a few singles lined up, and we’d already decided on the album’s title, but we knew that we needed to write a song that expressed where the band is now to close off the album. I think we succeeded in making a song that conveys the message of the album’s title.

Fujii: Actually, “Pieces” is the only song on the album that we wrote the lyrics for before writing the music. A few of the songs are tie-ups, but when we wrote the lyrics, we wrote them based on aspects that we and the tie-ups had in common. “Pieces” was different, though. Emoaki wrote the lyrics focusing purely on us, just writing about the band. We wanted to really treat the song right, and since the song is about us, we wanted to directly communicate our message. So we wanted to take great care when writing the lyrics, and then set them to music.

Tomita: When Emoaki sent me the lyrics, I thought they were wonderful. And then when Leo added the melody and completed the song, I was impressed again by how difficult it must be to divide up the roles of writing lyrics and writing music between two people. That balance felt like a testament to our band’s history.

You started out as junior high school classmates, and you’ve been together for over a decade. Do you plan to keep this same style of having different people handle the lyrics and the music?

Fujii: Yes, I think that’s the best approach for Omoinotake. For example, at the start of “Pieces,” there’s a line that goes “In this ash-colored town/I saw a black-and-white dream.” Those expressions, “ash-colored town” and “black-and-white dream,” have this shared meaning, so just by looking at the lyrics, you can be like “well, then, the melody’s got to be like this.” I think this vision for the music based on the lyrics comes from the fact that we have this shared history.

I’d like to talk a little about “Better Half (feat. JEONGHAN of SEVENTEEN) -Japanese ver.” I’ve heard that this collaboration came about because JEONGHAN’s team reached out to you. What did you think when they contacted you?

Fukushima: It was totally out of the blue. We were like, “You mean, that SEVENTEEN?” But the timing was really important for JEONGHAN, so we were overjoyed.

What back-and-forth was there between you about the song itself?

Fukushima: At first, I wrote it as more of an emotional, Omoinotake-like song. They got back to us asking for it to have a brighter feel. I was like “Wow, I’m really a downer, huh” (laughs). But we wrote a song with a really strong protagonist, which is pretty rare for an Omoinotake song, so that was very new for us.

Fujii: JEONGHAN sings with a really sweet voice, which made me feel like I could try a new approach in the way I sing, too. There’s some interplay in the bridge, and I’m very happy with the song, because I was able to create a melody that wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for this collaboration. We also thought about JEONGHAN’s voice a lot during the sound production. The finished song has a mellow feel. We also went with a dry drum sound, creating a good balance.

Tomita: Like Leo said, the overall atmosphere of the song is soft, but the drums are kind of crisp. It’s the kind of song that you can’t afford to underestimate. The simplicity of the song is the reason we were able to perform so tightly. For a drummer, it required a surprisingly stoic approach.

JEONGHAN released his own version of the song, “Better Half (feat. Omoinotake),” in Korean.

Fujii: That’s right. I sang on it in Korean, too. I don’t know the first thing about Korean, so I got pronunciation training to sing it.

I hope the song will further grow your listener base. The last time we interviewed you, you said that your goal for 2024 was to get into the top 10 in the hit charts. Right after that interview, you broke into the top 10 of the “JAPAN Hot 100” song chart. What is your take on the business side of music, like hit charts and sales?

Fujii: We’ve only released one hit song so far, so there are a lot of people who know our song but don’t know Omoinotake. That’s frustrating. I’m confident that we’re writing lots of good songs, but they’re just not reaching listeners. So we still have this powerful desire to create a lot of hits and have people listen to a lot of our music.

—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard JAPAN

Billboard Japan’s Women in Music initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work, in the same spirit as Billboard’s annual Women in Music celebration that has continued since 2007. This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

The eight members of CUTIE STREET sat down with writer Rio Hirai for the latest installment of the series. The J-pop girl group’s debut single, “Kawaii dake ja dame desu ka?” (which roughly means, “isn’t it enough to just be cute?”) took off on social media and hit No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s Heatseekers Songs chart, then went on to peak at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100. The members — Risa Furusawa, Aika Sano, Kana Itakura, Ayano Masuda, Emiru Kawamoto, Miyu Umeda, Nagisa Manabe, Haruka Sakuraba — come from different backgrounds, including not only those who aspired to be idol performers from the beginning, but also those who started off being an influencer, actor, dancer, and student. The women shared their thoughts on the message of their debut single and what it means to be an idol.

You all come from different backgrounds. Why did you decide to become an idol performer, and what does being in this line of work mean to each of you?

Trending on Billboard

Risa Furusawa: I’ve wanted to be an idol performer since I was eight years old. I loved AKB48 and would dance along watching TV and buy their CDs to show my support. My mother knew this and encouraged me to go in for auditions, but even though I took part in many, I couldn’t get a chance at becoming an idol for quite some time. I worked as a model and influencer before making my debut as a member of CUTIE STREET, so it feels like my wish has come true and the second chapter of my life has begun. Being an idol is something I’ve always wanted that I’ve now miraculously achieved.

Kana Itakura: I’ve been taking dancing lessons since I was little and think that’s where it all began. Dancing led to doing modeling gigs and I used to upload videos on YouTube. Before becoming involved in CUTIE STREET, there was a period when I was a bit worried about what I should do in life, but was given a chance to take part in the audition just as I was thinking about what I could do with the dance experience I’d gained up to that point. I have friends who work as idol performers, but being one had never crossed my mind until then. So being a member of CUTIE STREET is a challenge for me.

I always aspired to “be cool” (before joining the group) and “cute” (kawaii) was something I looked at from the outside to find comfort. After becoming someone who expresses “cuteness,” I realized that there were many elements packed into that one word. Everyone is cute, but they all have different colors. Right now, I’m trying to find what my cute is.

Emiru Kawamoto: I began longing to become an idol who sings and dances on stage after seeing the anime Pretty Rhythm when I was little. AKB48 was also popular at the time and idol groups were all the rage in Japan. My dream has always been to be an idol performer, and I’ve lived my life determined to not give up on that. In reality, stanning your favorite someone or something isn’t essential for life, unlike things related to food, clothing and shelter, but it’s something that colors your world. It was for me, so I do what I do hoping that I can add color to someone’s life too.

Miyu Umeda: I was already an idol performer before joining CUTIE STREET. I got involved in this line of work after being offered the position and became more passionate about it as I kept at it. It was really fun. But that group disbanded before I could do work that satisfied me. I couldn’t give up on my dream of being an idol, so I took part in the CUTIE STREET auditions. After actually trying it, I thought, “This might be my true calling!” I think being an idol is meaningful if someone sees what you do and becomes motivated, like, “I’ll hang in there tomorrow too.”

Nagisa Manabe: I’ve always liked singing and dancing, but never really took the plunge. But the COVID pandemic made me take a fresh look at my life and I decided to try doing things I really want to do. That’s when I encountered CUTIE STREET. I’ve always been the curious kind and the things I wanted to do have changed a lot over the years. Now that I’ve started my idol career, it feels like it’s something that allows me to express the things I want to express and also the core of who I am. I’m totally hooked on it. Being an idol performer is the first thing that’s made me feel strongly, “I really I want to do this!”

Aika Sano: I used to perform in plays and musicals. I discovered the joy of singing and dancing there, and thought, “I want to do more of this,” so I took part in the CUTIE STREET auditions. Now that I’ve actually started working as an idol, I sometimes think, “I didn’t really understand idols before.” I’ve discovered how fun it is and now want to work even harder at it. As an idol, you have a closer relationship with your fans, and you might hurt them with your actions but you can also make them happy. Being able to directly feel that you’re being a support for someone or that you make them happy is encouraging.

Ayano Masuda: I also belonged to the same idol group Miyu used to be in. I met many fans during my time in that group and when we disbanded, they told me things like, “I was happy (to support you)” and “Let’s hang tough together from now on, too.” Because of those fans, I wanted to do better at my performances and work harder on social media posts so that more people got to know us, and I changed a lot. Being an idol performer is really fantastic and my life became a lot more fun.

Haruka Sakuraba: I think being an idol requires strength, both mental and physical. Being drawn to the strength of other idols has personally saved me in the past. Idols have the power to help people, to be a source of inspiration for someone, to give someone the energy to live, so I want to be an idol like that.

What’s the message being conveyed by your song, “Kawaii dake ja dame desu ka?” (“isn’t it enough to just be cute?”)

Kawamoto: The phrase “Isn’t it enough to just be cute?” might sound a bit pushy and harsh, like, “It’s good enough to just be cute, isn’t it?” In fact, we’ve received comments saying, “Of course just being cute isn’t enough” and “That’s not acceptable in society.” But I think that what “isn’t cute” for one person may be cute for someone else, and that the lyrics convey the message, “Let’s accept and love all the things about ourselves that aren’t cute.” There are lots of positive phrases in the lyrics, like, “I can be really cute if I go all out” and “play up your strengths” and “compared to my big dreams, these mistakes are small.”

How did you feel when the group received this song?

Kawamoto: Our concept is “KAWAII MAKER,” a group that has come together to create “kawaii” and share it with the world. This song conveys the message that there are many different kinds of “kawaii,” so I thought it was perfect as our debut single.

Being a woman is one of the central themes of this interview. How does being a woman affect your life?

Itakura: I preferred cool things over cute things since I was little. That’s probably why I don’t like being told what to do because I’m a woman… I don’t think that just because you’re a woman you have to be cute, and that just because you’re a man you have to be cool. I think people who pursue what they like regardless of gender are wonderful, and I’ve come this far thinking it’s fine to do what you want to do and be who you want to be.

How have you resisted conforming to values that tell you what to do because you’re a woman or a man?

Itakura: I think I’m the type who doesn’t get swept away easily and have stuck to my own beliefs. When I used to upload videos to YouTube, there were more male YouTubers than female, but I thought that women can do it, too. Even now, I belong to a female idol group, but I want to make an effort to compete equally with other groups, regardless of gender.

Sano: I’ve always wanted to be born a woman again in my next life because I enjoy the variety in makeup and fashion, but nowadays it’s normal for men to get their nails done and gender differences are becoming more irrelevant in that sense. 

When considering your future career, is there anything you’d like to see happen to make it easier for women to thrive in your line of work?

Masuda: If being a woman is affecting how I work now, I think it’s probably my physical strength. Men tend to be bigger than women and I admire the power and impact of their performances. Even off the stage I sometimes have to ask male crew members to carry heavy loads, but I want to be able to carry them myself. Maybe I should start doing some strength training. [Laughs] Improving our strength is one of the issues we’re facing as a group, actually.

So not only will CUTIE STREET “just be cute,” but you’ll also be stronger from now on as well! Are there any women who give you courage and empower you?

Manabe: There’s a calligrapher, Shoko Kanazawa, who I recently learned about in class at school. She has Down’s syndrome, but became completely independent at 30 years old and has a career as a professional calligrapher. I think she’s someone who also personifies the advancement of working women in society. After learning about her, whenever I feel that I can only do something up to a certain point, I now think maybe it’s not my own abilities that are holding me back, but that my own preconceptions are making me feel that way. Although it’s not as prevalent as before, the idea that “a woman can only do so much” still exists, so I hope I can change that through my own actions and words.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

On Friday (Jan. 31), ASH DA HERO released New Chapter, the first album to feature the band’s new lineup. The rap-rock quartet, made up of vocalist ASH, bassist Sato, drummer WANI, and DJ Dhalsim, celebrated its third anniversary in September and was reborn with a new lineup. On November 29, it put on its first solo overseas show, ASH DA HERO LIVE 2024 in Taipei, and it has steadily been bringing its sound to a growing circle of listeners.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Billboard Japan spoke to the band about their mindset as they set out with their new lineup, the creation of their new album and what they focused on when writing new songs, and their upcoming February 1 show at Zepp Shinjuku (TOKYO), titled ASH DA HERO LIVE 2025 “New Chapter,” which will be their first solo show in Japan with their new lineup.

To start off with, could each of you introduce yourselves?

Trending on Billboard

ASH: I’m ASH, and I’m the vocalist. My specialties are rapping and singing. My roots lie in punk, hip-hop, and reggae.

Sato: My name’s Sato, and I play the bass. My specialty is brewing coffee. We don’t have a guitarist, so I also play bass in the guitar’s pitch range.

WANI: I’m WANI. My specialty is playing the drums. My roots are in punk, and I’m especially skilled at drumming with a rap-rock feel. I also sing, and I’m working on getting in shape, so I’m really into weight training right now.

Dhalsim: I’m the DJ, Dhalsim. My specialty is high-speed scratching. I also program music on computer. I’m responsible for the overall sound design of our songs. We don’t have a guitarist, but we’re taking advantage of that to do all the things that we couldn’t have done if we had a guitarist. We’re completely shifting over to that composition style, so right now we’re in the process of rebuilding our sound.

What advantages have you found in becoming a quartet?

ASH: I think there are more and more bands without a guitarist, especially among younger musicians, but a rap-rock band with a DJ but without a guitarist is still a rarity. I think that’s a major strong point for our band from a global market perspective.

So how does it feel actually having started the next chapter of your band’s history without a guitarist?

Sato: We were originally a five-person band, and now there are four of us, so we each do our own part to make up for the change. That means that we’re each playing more. Looking at it from another perspective, it also means we each have more possibilities to let our own individuality shine. We’re overhauling everything—our makeup, our costumes, our playing styles, and our instruments—based on our own core essence and our roots. Through that, we’re redefining ourselves and becoming a new band, which is an incredibly fun process. We’re creating something new that doesn’t fit into the “rap-rock = guitar” pattern, so all of us can take on lots of new challenges, which is really gratifying.

WANI: At first, I was worried about what would happen. I was sure that we’d lose some fans because the guitar is the core instrument in a band. But the four-person arrangement felt a lot better than I’d expected, and I realized that the fans had their hopes up for this new incarnation of ASH DA HERO, which was tremendously encouraging. We want to live up to everyone’s expectations with the music we create and with our live performances, of course, but Sato and I are also thinking about following up with what ASH and Dhalsim are doing.

ASH: When we were a five-piece band, there was a lot of “this is what a rock band should be like.” Now that there are four of us, there’s a much stronger feeling that we should take a freer approach. Now we’re doing what we want to.

New Chapter will be your first concept album. What kind of album will it be?

ASH: Right now we’re creating our freshest music, with a sound that we could only achieve as a four-person band. The title of the album, New Chapter, is the same as the title of our live show, and we picked it to represent that we’re starting a new chapter as a band, with a new lineup, starting on February 1. I also feel like the music that we’ve created is unquestionably unique in the Japanese rock scene, so the album’s name also represents the fact that we’ve invented a new way of making rock.

“Wrangler Beat” was your first release as a four-piece, and it carried on the feel of the ASH DA HERO of the past.

ASH: Right. It’s got a bit of a vintage rock vibe. It’s a little reminiscent of “Octave.”

After sweeping aside the by-the-numbers approach with this song, you then released “VANDALISM.” The rap lyrics in the second verse really resonate. I feel like the way you encourage people through songs like this is the reason that ASH DA HERO strikes such a chord.

ASH: In life, you’ll suddenly get sideswiped right when things were going well. That’s not just something that’s happened in my life, but something that I think happens to everybody. The question is, when that happens, do you look down in dejection, or do you keep your chin up? I’m the kind of person who’s like, “No, I’m not going to flinch, are you crazy?” So I put all those feelings into the lyrics.

And then you tie it all together with the absolutely wonderful closer, “I’m your rock star.”

ASH: That’s what a rock star is all about, right? It’s cool when someone’s in a hard spot but they’re like “No big deal.” For me, Jack Sparrow (of Pirates of the Caribbean) is that kind of character. Even in impossible situations, he just laughs it off. I put that feeling in words, like, “Don’t you even think about forgetting!”

What can you tell us about the sound production?

Sato: The main riff has a lot of repeating phrases, so I focused on how much swing I could put into those simple phrases. I really vibed on it.

WANI: The drums are simple but catchy. Our older songs had a lot of intricate fills, but on “VANDALISM,” I got rid of all that. I focused on that simple, cool sound. It’s got a really convincing rhythm. When you hear it live, you’ll realize that it’s not just a simple beat.

Dhalsim: I also stripped down my scratching to the limit. What influenced me in the early 2000s were songs with simple scratching. That, and intros.

That’s one of the cornerstones of the song.

Dhalsim: In the 2000s, Kanye West would speed up records and sample them, and I added that same flavor into the song. It was popular, especially in Japanese hip-hop, to record original material to sample in the studio, and then to sample that material and chop it up. I hope that playfulness and historical background come through.

Another song on the album is “BDC.”

ASH: That’s the one where we just shout “botanical dance club.” It’s the kind of song where you clear your head and you just shout and dance.

Dhalsim: The chorus is sung by scratching, which is new. Those are the kinds of new things we’re doing. We’re taking advantage of the lack of guitar to try out all kinds of new ideas.

What can you tell us about “Break Free?”

ASH: Drum and bass has come full circle, so we wanted to see what it would sound like if a rap-rock band without a guitar tried its hand at the sound of groups like Prodigy, which we are huge fans of. Sato’s vicious bass riff loops through the song. Then on top of that there’s rap with a U.S. hardcore vibe, and an emotional chorus.

The rap is super aggressive.

ASH: The lyrics go for the throat, as they should for a rock band. The song is kind of a warning about the consumerism and idol worshipping of society.

How many other songs will there be on the album?

ASH: There’ll be two more songs, which we’re working on now. I think they’ll feature our new four-piece sound even more prominently. It all comes down to February 1. That’ll be a major milestone for us.

What kind of show do you think it will be?

ASH: The answer to the question of how we’re transforming as a band will be clear on February 1. That’s when the new chapter of our history will start. I know all the people reading this interview have their fingers on the pulse of music, so we’ll be seeing you on February 1 at Tokyo’s Zepp Shinjuku.

After you open this new chapter with the show, what are your plans for 2025?

ASH: We’ve already finalized plans for several overseas shows, so we plan to tour the world, while always staying attentive to our fans in Japan.

—This interview by Sachie Tojo first appeared on Billboard Japan

hololive VTuber and virtual idol Hoshimachi Suisei has announced her first new album in two years, SHINSEI MOKUROKU.
Ever since her debut, her slogan has been “A shooting star that appeared from diamonds in the rough,” and that slogan was embodied by her first album, a refreshing work with a true idol feel. She followed this up with a very different album that took her music to the next level, expressing the struggles and tumult she faced in her musical career. Now, she is releasing an ambitious third album with the theme of “revolution.” In an interview with Billboard JAPAN, Hoshimachi said, “Virtual artists have been seen as oddities. People don’t look at me as a person, but I sing my own songs and I dance my own dances. Gaining recognition for that is, to me, a revolution.”

Her appearance on a massive billboard in New York’s Times Square is a sign of the steady progress she is making in that revolution. The Spotify advertisement is unusual, as the company has done few collaborations with Japanese artists, and it is their first time collaborating with a Japanese indie artist. When Hoshimachi first heard about the project, she thought they were talking about an advertisement on Shibuya Scramble Square.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Hoshimachi says she ultimately decided on the concept for the new album around the time she released the lead single “BIBBIDIBA” in March 2024. The theme of the song, written by Vocaloid producer Tsumiki, is a strong-willed woman—a Cinderella who isn’t content to sit back and wait for her prince to come but who goes out to seize her destiny herself. It became the first-ever VTuber song on the Billboard JAPAN charts to reach 100 million streaming plays. That same concept was also part of “AWAKE,” a Hoshimachi song written by the team of Giga and TeddyLoid, whose other credits include Ado’s “Odo.” “Modern women are drawn to and want to become strong women. I’m particularly fond of the lyrics ‘Clichéd storyteller, don’t pass the mic.’ I don’t like falling into clichés, either. I want to explore my own way of doing things. I’m singing about how people can’t leave the direction of their own lives to others who just live cookie-cutter lives.”

Trending on Billboard

The music on the album was written by a wide range of artists at the vanguard of J-pop and rock, such as Soichiro Yamauchi (Fujifabric), Enon Kawatani (indigo la End, Gesu no Kiwami Otome, etc.), Deu (PEOPLE 1), Natori, and Haruno. Hoshimachi discussed how she chose these artists. “A lot of the artists on my second album were creators active in the online scene. That’s because I’ve also always been heavily online, and those were the artists I was listening to. With this third album, I decided to take a step outside the bounds of the online scene.”

The music videos for the album’s songs are also unique. The videos for “BIBBIDIBA” and “AWAKE” combine anime and live action. Hoshimachi explains, “I really want to break into the real world. I thought about how I, as a virtual figure, could get closer to 3D people, so I went with this approach of fusing our worlds.” The entire video for “Venus Bug” is live action, a rarity for a VTuber.

“Kireigoto,” for which Hoshimachi wrote both the lyrics and music herself, is of particular note. This marks her first time writing her own lyrics and music. “I wanted to do that on my second album, but I ran out of time. Or, I guess I should say, I had a hard time getting myself going. When I was talking to someone on the staff, I mentioned that for sure I wanted to do it on my third album, and they started making concrete deadlines and plans, like ‘okay, have this done by that time’ or ‘let’s have these folks work on the music video.’ That’s when I knew I simply had to make the song, and I set my mind to it. I ended up going way over the deadline, though.”

The lyrics to “Kireigoto” include the line “I sing because I hate spewing platitudes.” It expresses a dilemma that Hoshimachi herself often confronts. “I’ve been online for a long, long time, and a lot of the people in the online communities I’m in live in big cities. That meant it was easy for them to meet up, but since I lived far from anywhere, I could never attend. Then, years later, after I finally made it to the city, I’d reach out to my friends from back then and they’d say ‘I can’t, I’m not young anymore, it’s just too tiring.’ These were people who were already adults back when I was a kid. It made me really sad to see that people changed like this as they got older.” Looking back on this experience, she spoke about how she always wanted to remain lively and young at heart, giving up as little as possible. “But I know that’s just painting a rosy picture. I hate platitudes, and I hate when I’m the one saying platitudes, so I just sing. That’s what the song is about.”

On February 1, she will put on a solo show at the Nippon Budokan. Back before she joined hololive, when she was on her own as an artist, she talked in her very first self-introduction video about her dream: playing at the Nippon Budokan. Reflecting frankly about her feelings at the time, she shared, “I was a little worried that if my dreams came true I’d lose my drive. I also worried that perhaps my listeners would be left with the feeling that they’d watched my story through to its very end and they’d drift away. But now, I’ve actually got my sights set on a lot of things after I play at the Budokan. I’m going to be really busy (laughs). My schedule is packed, so I don’t think there’s ever going to be an end. And I now trust my listeners to stick with me.”

The Nippon Budokan is known as one of Japan’s most prestigious concert venues, but the way Hoshimachi talks about it, it is just one point in her journey. She shared her vision for what lies beyond. “I’ve talked about this for a long time, but I want to create a world in which virtual beings are part of everyday life. I like science fiction set in the near future, like Coil – A Circle of Children. I hope we can see that kind of future in our own lives. That’s why I want to help bring in a new era.”

“There are a lot of people who speak negatively about virtual beings. Whenever I see that, I think ‘they’ve got low resolutions.’ People will say things like ‘all they do is push a button to dance or sing,’ and I just think ‘that’s not true.’ But if people are going to be that way, then, fine, I don’t care, I’ll just become even more active. I’ll force my presence down their throats, like ‘Here, eat up, this is the virtual world.’ If I do that, their resolution might just improve. That’s why I hope to create even more opportunities for people to be exposed to me.”

—This article by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan

BAND-MAID kicked off 2025 with a new digital single called “Zen,” released Jan. 13. The track is being featured as the opening theme song for ZENSHU, an original TV anime series produced by MAPPA. The collaboration between the all-women rock band and animation studio hailing from Japan with fans around the world is poised to gain a wide global audience suitable to celebrate the start of a new year.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

The five members of BAND-MAID chatted with Billboard Japan about the production process of the new single, the tracks on Epic Narratives, their first studio album in three and a half years, and their outlook for what is already looking to be a super-busy 2025 for the group.

“Zen,” your new single, has a different flavor from the songs on the Epic Narratives album. Did you start working on it after you finished the album?

Trending on Billboard

Miku Kobato (Guitar/Vocals): It was around the same time. We were asked to write it when we were still working on the album. KANAMI started off by coming up with a number that fit the requirements for the tie-in while also having a different feel from the album.

KANAMI (Guitar/Vocals): I was given the script for the main story and received quite specific requests regarding the music, so I simplified the image I had in mind to create the track.

MISA (Bass/Vocals): When I listened to the demo, I thought that this song had a strong melody, so I made the bass line feel solid to bring it out. I usually tend to play bass lines that move around a lot, but this time I tried to really focus on the melody and held back on being too technical. 

AKANE (Drums/Percussion): I was also very aware of making a melody-oriented beat. Since many of BAND-MAID’s songs have fast BPM, this one might sound a bit mid-tempo, but I tried to avoid making it sound simply like a chilled-out mid-tempo track by adding little details, like creating beats with fills, that would become the hook. Basically, though, I wanted people to listen to the vocals throughout the song, so it’s a simple beat that supports the vocals.

It might be a little simple for BAND-MAID, but when you compare it to songs by other rock bands, it’s not laid back at all.

AKANE: Right. [Laughs] When the melody line is extended like this and the drums are keeping a simple eighth-note groove, it sounds mid-tempo when our band does it. But I didn’t want to erase its speedy feeling, so was conscious of creating a beat that wouldn’t get boring. In terms of the anime, it’s like being reincarnated in another world. I added a furious drum fill before the final chorus, and had these two themes of another world and the real world in my mind when I recorded it.

Kobato: I’ve felt that there are surprisingly few songs with a simple feel recently, so I’m thinking of playing the guitar parts in our live shows [the band calls its concerts “Okyuji,” meaning “to serve”] in a way that would complement the catchy melody, po. SAIKI sings in a way that really brings out the story, so I tried to sing the chorus in a way that would support her from behind, changing the nuances and singing with a lot of range. The chorus work is rich, so I tried to sing it with that in mind, po.

SAIKI, when you wrote the lyrics, what did you focus on in the work it accompanies?

SAIKI (Lead vocals): The title “Zen” was there from the demo stage, and the ZENSHU team were like, “Perfect, that’s great,” so we kept it. I was able to really get into the work by watching all the episodes as moving images, and picked out words from the story and incorporated them into the lyrics. ZENSHU taught me all kinds of things about being an animator, the profession of the protagonist, and thought it’d be nice to convey how creators like that feel. I think musicians and animators are the same in that we both create, so there were lots of parts I could relate to as a musician, and the lyrics in the chorus also reflect how we feel as BAND-MAID.

When (an anime) is based on a work that exists, you might already like it and be able to get into it right away, but since ZENSHU is an anime by MAPPA with an original story, I imagine it must have been difficult to grasp its worldview and reflect that in the lyrics.

SAIKI: It was. [Laughs] But I went over the plot and script and everything many times and worked on it after becoming a fan before anyone else. I felt that the song was “kayou [vintage Japanese pop music] rock.” We don’t often do songs in that style, and because of that, I figured my lyrics would reach people without sounding off, so I did pretty much what I pleased. As a vocalist, I recall recording it in a simpler way. In the first verse, I did simple chorus work, and from the second verse I tried to show off my own quirks, and added more and more harmonies to each chorus.

In terms of the performance, the descending part at the end of the chorus is memorable. What was the inspiration for that arrangement?

KANAMI: I wanted to create a kind of conclusion to the song. I also considered ending all together with the members, but since the work is about reincarnation, I wanted to include a fantasy-like image.

Your guitar solo, on the other hand, has an ascending, chaotic nuance that’s cool.

KANAMI: Thank you, I like it myself. It’s quite difficult technically, but I always want to play melodies that stick in your ears, and I think I’ve created a guitar solo that leaves a strong impression.

On the Zepp tour last year, you also performed songs off your new album Epic Narratives. How do you feel about the album now?

Kobato: After we “served” them live, we were like, “This album is really good after all,” and our masters and princesses [fans] have told us that that they felt the album was even more wonderful after hearing it live, so that made me happy, po.

SAIKI: It really struck me once again how much we love performing live, and felt that our music is something that is completed by “serving” it to the audience.

The music video for the song “Memorable” off your new album features scenery from overseas. It’s a song you feel strongly about, isn’t it?

Kobato: Yes, po. After COVID restrictions were lifted and we were finally able to go on another overseas tour, we thought it’d be a good idea to write a song about how we felt then, so KANAMI wrote the chorus during the tour. From there, we filled the song with memories of our U.S. tour, like including the English phrases we spoke on the stage and making it so that the people who came to see us at the time could envision the scenery when they listened to the song. The song turned out like that because we decided to write a straightforward ballad with a tempo we’ve never done before as BAND-MAID, po.

Lastly, please say a few words as a New Year’s greeting to your to your masters and princesses.

KANAMI: Happy New Year! I’m really looking forward to 2025, especially because we’ll be able to “serve” [play live] in lots of different places. I’ll write more songs this year and work hard so that we can entertain everyone. Thanks in advance.

SAIKI: This year we’ll be releasing not only the new single “Zen” but also an EP, and there’s more good news to come. I hope you’ll all stay healthy and look forward to it!

AKANE: Last year we were able to perform with some bands we respect, like Incubus and The Warning, and our dreams are steadily coming true. I hope we can continue to make the dreams of BAND-MAID as a whole come true again this year.

MISA: I think we’ll be able to “serve” a lot this year, so I plan on cherishing each show. I want to grow personally and grow as a group and make it a fun year.

Kobato: We’ll be “serving” in lots of different places this year, and there are also lots of things we haven’t announced yet, so I think the year will really pass faster than the last, po. I’m really excited about it, and think that 2025 will bring joy, surprise and all sorts of other feelings to our masters and princesses, so I hope you look forward to it, po. One of our strengths is that we work both in Japan and abroad, so we’d like to continue doing projects that our masters and princesses overseas can enjoy too. I’m looking forward to meeting lots of masters and princesses in 2025, po.

Anything else you want to add as a message to your masters and princesses outside of Japan?

Kobato: We’ve received lots of passionate requests from overseas for us to come and “serve” them, and we also really want to meet lots of people everywhere. We hope masters and princesses from outside Japan can come see us “serve” at Billboard Live this year, and we’ll be “serving” on many other occasions as well, so we’d love for you to plan a trip to Japan and come and see us, po!

—This interview by Takayuki Okamoto first appeared on Billboard Japan