TOKYO TEFUTEFU – “I can confidently say that TOKYO TEFUTEFU, which some people mocked in the past, has become incredibly cool now” (May 2023)
Last March, TOKYO TEFUTEFU continued their activities as a five-piece, and after a tour consisting of joint concerts with other artists, the girls have further developed their sense of unity as a group and now they are about to release their fourth single, “LYCORisALIVE.” TOKYO TEFUTEFU is a group that has been appealing with the fleeting, shimmering tenderness that lurks in the gap between days, expressed through their delicate voices and the body language of their dancing, but this time they have put strength and determination into their songs to reach out and take their fans with them so that together they can break through the harsh realities of life. This is the anthem that TOKYO TEFUTEFU are only able to perform now, after strengthening themselves through many live performances. The spirit of this song is so strong. After their first solo concert of the year in April, they’ll be going on a solo tour across the country, but in the meantime, we asked them to tell us about their new songs and their mood for the future.
– On April 8th, you had your solo concert at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM and it was your first solo concert in a long time. Tell us how it went.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: We’ve been completely focused on our joint concert tour and this was our first solo concert in a year. Also, we hadn’t performed with the band in a long time, so it felt like everyone was having a lot of fun.
Chimura Shifumi: It was a lot of fun. We haven’t performed in such a big venue since our LIQUIDROOM show last year, so it was pretty epic (laughs). We rehearsed thoroughly and the people came out many times more than before, so it felt like we were able to reach our potential.
– The situation at the concerts has changed from a year ago because now it is possible to place more people in the venues and the fans are allowed to sing along. Since TOKYO TEFUTEFU started during the pandemic, you didn’t have many shows where you could get a lot of audience response, right?
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: During our tour last year, the restrictions were gradually lifted, and when I heard so many people shouting at our solo concert, I was very impressed.
Chimura Shifumi: From the stage, I saw everyone jumping up and down with excitement, shouting “Lust!”, “Nonno!” and so on. And I realized that this is how concerts should be.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Last year there were still some tight restrictions, but this year there was an area where fans could move around a lot, and seeing all those frolicking people made me realize that it’s very different from a year ago.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: We debuted in the middle of a pandemic, and there were partitions between us and the audience all the time…
Chimura Shifumi: It was like being trapped (laughs).
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: So when the various restrictions were lifted, we changed our approach to performances from having the audience mostly watch to having fun with them.
Chimura Shifumi: It felt like the audience was becoming more and more involved in our performances.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: I think at the April performance at LIQUIDROOM we were able to show everything we had been able to achieve through trial and error over the past two years.
– During the tour and the solo concerts, were there any songs that you thought were even better at the concerts, or ones that gradually changed?
Chimura Shifumi: There were many such songs.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: And with the release of our second album “Hyperphantasia,” we also had new songs that we didn’t have last year.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: At the end of our LIQUIDROOM show last year, on the second encore, we had our first performance as a five-piece with the song “ash.” But then the audience heard that song for the first time, and it was impossible to sing along, but this time we performed “ash.” as the first song, and everyone immediately raised their fists and started singing along, and it touched me a lot.
– The first song at your April solo concert at LIQUIDROOM was “ash.”?
Chimura Shifumi: Yes. At our LIQUIDROOM show last year, we performed it last, so you could say it’s a continuation of the story. But unlike last year, we’ve definitely grown, and I think it was interesting to watch us perform looking back at what we did a year ago.
– And yet, is there a reason why you refrained from solo concerts for such a long time?
Yuzuriha Ouhi: We debuted during the pandemic, so we had few opportunities to show ourselves to people, and so both to show ourselves to others and for our own growth, we felt that we needed to absorb many different things. We ourselves suggested to the director and the staff, “We want to see things we haven’t seen before. By performing with different artists, we want to absorb different things”.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: And, like, since we’re doing joint concerts, it’s better to hold off on the solo concerts.
Chimura Shifumi: Before that, we hadn’t performed with anyone outside of our agency. Having seen a lot of artists perform, there were many who actively involved the audience in their performances, as well as those who, on the contrary, skillfully got the audience involved themselves, as if saying, “Let’s follow me!” I thought, “This is amazing!” and at the same time I didn’t want to lose, and I think I learned a lot.
Mary Lust: I learned a lot.
Tokanai Nonno: I’m in charge of choreography, so I watched a lot of artists perform, and I was able to learn a lot from them. I was able to absorb a lot of things that will be reflected in the future of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, and it was a time when I went through a lot of trial and error, such as changing the choreography of our songs. And I think our solo concert in April was a natural continuation of all that.
– Because the choreography was the only thing you could do together with the audience and achieve a sense of unity with them in the period when shouting was not yet allowed.
Tokanai Nonno: Yes. When the audience repeats the choreography and dances with us, it’s wonderful, and a sense of unity is born. I realized that during this tour. And I started trying to make my choreography simpler, so to speak, so that it would be easier for the audience to repeat and memorize.
Mary Lust: And there were more free sections without choreography.
Tokanai Nonno: I added more free sections. With strict choreography, there are times when you don’t have time to look at the audience, but I wanted there to be more moments where we meet with our eyes. Before, I was always working on the choreography to impress the audience, but now that has changed.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Adapted to the current times (laughs).
Chimura Shifumi: By adding moments like this to “daybreak” and other songs with intense dancing, it’s quite the opposite, they’ve become even more charming. Before, the emphasis on dancing was natural for TOKYO TEFUTEFU, but I think we were able to get people even more drawn into the choreography created by Nonno.
Tokanai Nonno: I’m glad~ (laughs).
– It was obviously a great tour that you had a lot of fun on. Listening to you now, I thought that this experience of yours was also reflected in your new single “LYCORisALIVE.” It’s a song in which you clearly look at your audience and listeners, and even more clearly proclaim that you intend to move forward with them and take them with you.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Yes. I think that before TOKYO TEFUTEFU’s songs were interpreted and perceived differently depending on the listener, but now it feels like this song is a message from TOKYO TEFUTEFU to our fans (“Mirages”).
Chimura Shifumi: It feels like a kaleidoscope, so to speak…
All together: Kaleidoscope (laughing)?
Chimura Shifumi: When I sing this song, I think of everything that has happened to us in the past two years. Like, a lot has happened, but let’s hold hands and keep going! And the moment when Nonno reads the poetry really touches me.
Mary Lust: It’s a beautiful moment. It’s incredibly moving.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: When we recorded it, Nonno was even asked to perform it in a more restrained way.
Tokanai Nonno: I put too much emotion into it. And syva-san, who was recording it, said to me, “Let’s have a little more restraint” (laughs). So that is the restrained version.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: But it’s really good.
Tokanai Nonno: It’s just an explosion of emotions.
Chimura Shifumi: I’ve never heard that trembling in her voice, or rather such an explosion of emotions in Nonno’s voice before. I was astonished.
Tokanai Nonno: I’ve never wanted to cry during recording sessions, but this time I cried a little.
– It’s probably not the kaleidoscope that was mentioned earlier (laughs), but you had a lot of feelings inside, didn’t you?
Tokanai Nonno: Yeah. It’s exactly the memories of the past that came back to me.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: But I think it’s a song that really proclaims that we want to take everyone with us. It’s a song about grabbing the hands of our “Mirages” and taking them with us, and I’m glad we have a song like that now.
Chimura Shifumi: There’s the line “Kawari wa Inai” (“No one can replace us”) in the lyrics, and I heard that GESSHIRUI-san had never dared to say that in his lyrics before. But after receiving those lyrics, I felt determined to be the one who could fulfill them – I felt responsible, so to speak.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: It was the same with “ash.” – I call it “entrusting a commitment” (laughs).
Chimura Shifumi: That’s exactly how I feel (laughs).
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: We felt that we had to become people worthy of singing such things. And even if it takes time, I think we have to prove it.
“All the unnecessary things went away. I really felt that I wanted to continue being with all of them”
– There’s obviously a special meaning to the fact that this is the time when you received such a lyric. It’s like a proclamation of what kind of group they want you to be, that you’re really becoming that kind of group. I think it’s because your listeners feel that kind of reliability that it’s all been able to come to life in the form of this song.
Mary Lust: It’s been two years, we’ve done a lot of concerts together and performed at LIQUIDROOM – I think that’s why we can release this song now.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: You could say it’s a song about the five of us deciding to move on after the solo concert at LIQUIDROOM.
Chimura Shifumi: It wasn’t all smooth – we didn’t talk about it, but there were hard times, but I’m happy that the five of us could sing this song, and it motivates me to try even harder from now on. I’m determined to live up to those expectations.
Mary Lust: Kawaguchi Junta-san, the author of this song, is the one who wrote “ao,” and “LYCORisALIVE” also has a youthful feel to it, and it has a lot of sudden transitions. I feel that this music is also a continuation of TOKYO TEFUTEFU’s past and creates a kind of story.
– It has a fast rock tempo, it’s melodic, but it also has poetry reading and rapping, so it has a lot of interesting elements.
Tokanai Nonno: It’s really fun to listen to.
Chimura Shifumi: There’s a moment in the last chorus when the music is muted and Kagari is the only one singing. In the beginning, Kagari wasn’t that emotional – she seemed so carefree, and even on stage she was cute and fluffy, but during our solo concert at LIQUIDROOM, at that moment the spotlight shone on Kagari, and when I saw how passionately she sang from her heart and soul, I was ready to cry. Or rather, I cried. It was so intense.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: At that moment, Kagari came to the front of the stage. And the four of us were watching behind her back, but it was so cool that it really made me want to cry.
Chimura Shifumi: She grew up so much.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: “LYCORisALIVE” is just a song about us. When we sing something else – we have a lot of cool songs, so we try to sing them cool, and sometimes we show off, but this song I sang without trying to show off – I sang it the way I am.
Chimura Shifumi: It felt really good, and I think the mirages felt it too.
– We touched a little bit on how Nonno-san was recorded, but how did the rest of you handle the recording? Was there anything you paid special attention to?
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: “Tada, Junsui de Irarenai Machi de” (“In this city, where it’s impossible to remain pure”) – I sang that line from the last chorus while imagining myself on a huge stage singing in front of our “Mirages.”
Yuzuriha Ouhi: There’s a moment when I sing along with Nonno: “Kiseki wo Tomo ni Ayumu Imi wo, Kimi to” (“So there’s meaning in our path together”). And Nonno and I are the leader and the sub-leader, and so by singing this line together… How can I put it…
Tokanai Nonno: Yes, I understand. When Ouhi is around, I feel so relaxed.
Mary Lust: It suits both of you to sing together.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: It’s hard to put into words – there’s a feeling of supporting each other, and I like that a lot.
Tokanai Nonno: I’m glad.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: And also, that rapping moment is something that ‘Tefutefu’ almost never has, so I was looking forward to it.
Mary Lust: Probably the only time we’ve had rap parts in a song is in “siscatharsis.” Before you go on stage together at a concert, you want to show the full power of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, don’t you? That’s how I felt when I sang that moment. Like “Look!”
Chimura Shifumi: In the last chorus, after the English phrase, there’s the line “Omoi wa Boku ni Butsukete?” (“So pour all your feelings into me!”), but I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment in my parts where I address the audience like that. I feel like I’m better at expressing my feelings to the audience now, and every time I sing this part, I get tearful and warm in my heart. I sing because I want to save all the people in the world, so I really want people to pour out all their feelings to me.
– The fact that you feel this warmth is probably a result of actually seeing the scene that unfolds in the song?
Chimura Shifumi: Yes, I saw that scene.
Mary Lust: I was the last one to record, so I think I got to enjoy the process a little bit more than the others. It’s a song that brings back a lot of memories, but at the same time it’s a song that looks into our future, so it’s a lot of fun to sing. I sang it thinking about different things: the future of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, what stages I want to perform on, what interesting things I want to do. And my last line was “Boku to, Ikite?” (“Let’s live, together with me”) – that’s also the kind of thing you don’t normally just say. But I was entrusted with that part of the song, so I took everyone else’s feelings on my shoulders and sang “Boku to, Ikite?” (“Let’s live, together with me.”)
– That phrase – “Boku to, Ikite?” (“Let’s live, together with me.”) – also reminds me of your agency senpais, Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, and it’s also very touching. It feels like TOKYO TEFUTEFU are, if not inheriting the will of the “Zenkimi,” at least going to put those feelings into their songs in the future.
Chimura Shifumi: Yes, that’s true. “Zenkimi” is on an indefinite hiatus right now, so we are filled with a strong spirit to take it all on our shoulders.
– So it’s taken you a whole year to be able to sing this song. Of course you grow a lot at concerts, but by getting new songs and recording them, you can feel your own growth, can’t you?
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Yes, I think it allows you to feel that growth that you can’t feel at the shows. I feel my own growth, but at the same time I feel the growth of the other members very much.
Mary Lust: I get that. Like, wow, she can sing like that!
Yuzuriha Ouhi: I listen to the recording and I notice more and more new things in it and I’m like, “Oh, this is cool!”
Chimura Shifumi: At the very beginning of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, the director told me, “You’re the one who will lead the TOKYO TEFUTEFU songs!” I agreed and never forgot it, but lately the others have become so good at singing, and they’ve also become so good at putting emotion into their singing. So I’ve been hustling (laughs), but I’m trying my best not to lose.
– So you stimulate each other. I felt that before, most of TOKYO TEFUTEFU’s songs and melodic lines were very technical, but “LYCORisALIVE,” like you said, just portrays you as you are, and it has an incredibly emotional side to it. There’s a good energy in it, like “they can sing like this,” “it turns out they were such a group”.
Tokanai Nonno: The days when we were just trying to sing well are gone (laughs). The same goes for the performances: we used to try to impress everyone with our dancing, but now our performances are softer and I guess you could say we’ve come out of our shells?
Yuzuriha Ouhi: That’s what we are.
Tokanai Nonno: I used to show off a lot. But after I sang “LYCORisALIVE,” all that weird pride and other unnecessary things went away. I really felt that I wanted to continue being with all of them. I took over the choreography for that song on a whim. And in the second half of the part we sang with Ouhi, I unconsciously counted to five on my fingers.
All together: Wow, really?
– Speaking of which, what do you think of the choreography for “LYCORisALIVE”?
Tokanai Nonno: I wanted it to have a fun beginning – so that the audience could have fun with us, too, so in the beginning we’re running from one corner of the stage to the other. And also in the verse it’s more like no choreography, we just clap our hands freely and so on, and in the chorus we don’t do anything technical either, we just spread our hands out. “There’s no need for all that!” – I thought. I came up with the choreography for “ash.” based on the image of broken wings. But in this song you could say I’m exposing myself. Also, a very important point is that the song starts with the scene where we open the book and turn the pages, and ends with the scene where we close the book and look into the future.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Like this is where our story begins.
Tokanai Nonno: The song ends with the proclamation, “Let’s join us in the world of TOKYO TEFUTEFU – let’s go into its future!”
– What was the audience’s reaction when you performed this song for the first time?
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Even though we sang it for the first time, it felt like we had sung it many times before.
Chimura Shifumi: It felt like we’ve known the song for a long time.
Tokanai Nonno: And the audience started running and dancing with us in the chorus from the very beginning.
Mary Lust: That’s probably because it’s a song that represents the past and future of the TOKYO TEFUTEFU’s story, so everyone understood it right away and started having fun with us.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: It’s so exciting to see what happens next, isn’t it? I feel like this song is getting better and better every time we perform it.
– I think this song will become the new anthem of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, proclaiming that you are gaining momentum and moving forward. The second song on the single, “houyou,” is also emotional, but in a different way.
Chimura Shifumi: It has a kind of nostalgic melody in a visual-kei style, a kind of melancholy, so to speak. There’s a lot of Ouhi-san in the chorus, and I think her voice fits it very well.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: I’m glad.
– Yeah, she gives off a bit of a dark flavor.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: During the recording, on the phrase of the second chorus – “Mune ni Sumu, Batsu wo Negau” (“It has settled in my chest, craving punishment”) – syva-san said to me, “Let a parasite settle in your chest!” And I was like, “A parasite? What?” And so I sang, imagining the image of a parasite consuming me.
Chimura Shifumi: The phrase that comes next, “Subete Yogoshiteshimae” (“Come on, taint everything”) is really good, isn’t it? That parasite is there.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: I felt like I’d become an incredibly bad girl (laughs).
Mary Lust: “LYCORisALIVE” is a song that says “Let’s live, together with me,” and “houyou” is also a song that says “Let’s live, together with me,” but in a different sense.
Chimura Shifumi: This song is more like a cry from deep inside. Surely everyone feels things in it that they never show to anyone. For example, the feeling of possessiveness that lurks in the deepest parts of your heart – for me, this song is about those feelings that no one usually shows.
Tokanai Nonno: I understand. Both “houyou” and “LYCORisALIVE” talk that “one shines because there is another”. Somewhere in “houyou” I felt an atmosphere similar to “Zenkimi,” so I tried to use their choreography as an example (during one of the livestreams Nonno said that it was the choreography of “Infantry dystopia,” “AntiIyours” and “Natural Born Independent”) and combine it with the choreography of TOKYO TEFUTEFU to create something of the best of both worlds. I wanted to pay my respects to the senpais, but at the same time I wanted to surpass them.
– Both songs came out very rich with different nuances.
Chimura Shifumi: I realized how good everyone had become at expressing their emotions. But don’t think it’s a kind of looking down. When we first started, I couldn’t imagine that we would one day be able to sing in such a tear-jerking way – myself included. And I feel like there’s probably no one who doesn’t like TOKYO TEFUTEFU after listening to this release.
Mary Lust: I tried, but it was hard for me to put my feelings into my singing, but now I think there’s more conviction in my singing.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: And at the concerts, that conviction comes out even more – there’s something you can see with your own eyes, so I want you to see how we perform.
– And besides expressing your feelings, is there anything else you would like to improve or change?
Chimura Shifumi: I think that even though I wanted to change something before, I couldn’t do it. I thought that impressing the audience with our dancing and singing in beautiful formations was a characteristic of TOKYO TEFUTEFU, so I had a lot of ideas, but I was satisfied with what I had. But lately Nonno’s choreography has changed and I think I am doing more of what I want to do (laughs).
Tokanai Nonno: When I do choreography, I always draw and send everyone their positions, but lately there have been more moments where I have said, “Do whatever you want!”
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Like, show something cool (laughs).
Tokanai Nonno: There were more moments where I started to trust them.
Mary Lust: In the beginning we just tried our best to sing and dance. And I think as we performed, we developed an idea of what we wanted to be on stage and what we wanted our concerts to be like. And I think we finally got our hands on what we needed to do to make it happen.
– Looking back now, was there a concert that you think was a turning point for TOKYO TEFUTEFU?
Chimura Shifumi: Probably last year’s Christmas show in Nagoya on December 25th.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: It’s an annual free codomomental event held in Nagoya.
Chimura Shifumi: It was a joint concert with other groups from our agency, but we performed twice that time. And those concerts were so good that we were satisfied with them ourselves.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: At first we were only supposed to do one performance, but on the day of the show we were suddenly asked to perform again, and we immediately agreed. We didn’t want to waste the chance we were given, and I think that’s why everyone was determined to make a really cool show.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: This was the second time we performed at this event, but the first time not as many people came to see us as we wanted, and it was very annoying: “Why don’t you want to see us?” Both the first time and the second time, that event left a very strong impression on me.
Chimura Shifumi: I can confidently say that TOKYO TEFUTEFU, which some people mocked in the past, has become incredibly cool now, so I really want people to come and see us perform.
Tokanai Nonno: Because we have a tour coming up as well.
– You have a new tour starting in May. It will take different forms including in-store events and solo concerts.
Tokanai Nonno: This time we’re going to take the chance we’ve been given and get more companions. This is a tour that burns with our feelings to make TOKYO TEFUTEFU the best in the world!
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: (laughs). The main purpose of this tour is to make more companions and strengthen our bonds, so I hope we can bring more people into the world of TOKYO TEFUTEFU.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: This is a tour that connects us to the future, so we’re really counting on it.
– A solo concert at LIQUIDROOM, the release of the new single “LYCORisALIVE,” and now you’re getting ready to go on a tour across the country – it looks like this year won’t be the same for you as the previous ones.
Chimura Shifumi: Actually, we were taken to training camp before our LIQUIDROOM show.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: It was so sudden that you could tell we were being dragged there (laughs).
Chimura Shifumi: And before the camp, we had a nabe party together. And it started with the director asking us, “What do you want to be?” We had a serious talk with each other about what we wanted to be and what we wanted to improve, and when we shared those feelings with the director and said that we would try hard for TOKYO TEFUTEFU, he said: “Well, then let’s go to camp.”
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: It seems to me that after the nabe party, there was a kind of change in everyone’s minds. You can feel that our will has become stronger.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Our current goal is to perform with a fire at Makuhari Messe (laughs).
Chimura Shifumi: I want to do that. And I want to do this trick with the descent to the stage on a rope.
– So your horizons have expanded to such an extent.
Yuzuriha Ouhi: Yes. We’ve already had a meeting to move forward towards that goal.
Mary Lust: I want to have more “Mirages” on this tour that will move with us towards that dream.
– And that is another story that is reflected in “LYCORisALIVE.“
Yuzuriha Ouhi: So when I saw those lyrics, I thought, “Really?” This is really our story as it is.
Kagari Kohaku Sekai: That means that when we talk about “LYCORisALIVE,” we are also talking about TOKYO TEFUTEFU. It expresses our story so much that when we read the lyrics, we can literally say, “That was then, this is now.”