Meet the mannequins reinventing J-pop yet again!

Our favourite mannequins are back with a brand new album! In the past their combination of EDM and pop has us dancing in the HYPER JAPAN office (not to mention HYPER JAPAN Festival), and their ever-evolving music videos have glued us to our screens whenever a new track drops.

Now FEMM have upgraded to version 2.0, bringing a brand new attitude and a big helping of hyperpop. A new album, Tokyo Ex Machina, has just dropped out of nowhere, and the recent video for their gagaku trap track “Mental Health” blew up online. To get more info for you about the world of mannequins and music, we sent your questions to FEMM in Neo Tokyo and they very kindly sent their answers back.

Questions from TWITTER:

🌸lemon..maiid 🌸 💗 TGA 💙

@maid_lemon

What is FEMM’s favorite 2.0 song ?

RiRi: My fav is “Peach” and “Outta the Clouds”. I feel like “Peach” is really me, cause it’s so energetic and passionate. We chose “Outta the Clouds” from over 100 demo tracks and it was my fav back then, and still my fav. The MV is awesome too. We could really express our feelings.
LuLa: “Sugar Rush” and ”Tokyo Girls Anthem” is my fav right now!

dani

@KaiAsagao

How came the idea to write the avant-garde gagaku-trap “Mental Health”?

RiRi: It is a pretty crazy song. We received the track made by RHC, our goto creator. We got into the booth with Yup’in and came up with the melody and lyrics. We are expressing dark emotions that prob everyone has, but hiding. I think it was a necessary mental process for us too.

MEI｡ ’22

@meiyamazaqueen

what are RiRi and LuLa’s resolutions for this year? ❤

RiRi: We wanna travel around the world and perform for our agents (fans)!!
LuLa: Same as RiRi! We need to go see our agents!! Both in Japan in overseas!

Eden Prince 👑 🐼 🐱💙❤🐹🐰🌙

@EdenxPrince

Which artist would FEMM like to collaborate with? I would love to see a collab with @rinasawayama  🥺

LuLa: rinasawayama is so cool! It would be awesome to do a collab:) Charli xcx, Doja cat are my fav too!

Faun *giggles*

@fav0riteramen

What are your favorite styles/outfits that you’ve worn?

RiRi: LuLa designed a latex outfit that’s like a space wear, and it’s really cute! Recently, I loved all the outfits we wore in our MV “We Got Each Other” and “Tokyo Girls Anthem.” So colorful and fun!!

Daily FEMM | Tokyo Girls Anthem

@FemmDaily

Hi RiRi, does it take you guys long to learn new songs?

What kind of song would you like to do next?

Hi LuLa, you’ve really been getting into styling yourself and RiRi for the music videos. What’s a look or concept that you want to try out next? Lots of love from Daily-chan  💖

RiRi: I can learn a new song in like 20min, if it’s just singing. To learn it deeply, maybe I’ll need like a week. It might be cool to do a ballad like one of our earlier song “Unbreakable.”
LuLa: Thank you, always! Fancy dress would be cool to wear:) Like a mature ver of FEMM.

Questions from FACEBOOK:

Pao

How many new tracks will we expect to be released this year?

LuLa: We just released an album “Tokyo Girls Anthem” end of last year and another album “Tokyo Ex Machina” in Jan. We got 8 new songs in there all together! Since we’ve been making music in the studio for so long and now we got to release it, we are so happy!!! We are looking forward to new songs for this year as well!

Vix Yee

Hi RiRi and LuLa! You’ll be releasing music videos for Lolly and ID:T1G3R in the future which I’m so excited about. Which music video was your favourite to film?

RiRi:  It was a great experience to shoot “Outta the Clouds” to really dig deep into our feelings. Shooting “We Got Each Other” was just pure fun! Girl Time!!
LuLa: Tokyo Girls Anthem!! Also shooting Astro boy in the past was so memorable.

(Here’s the link: Femm – Astroboy feat. Honey-B & W-Trouble)

Questions from HYPER JAPAN:

FEMM 2.0 has been active for a while now. What has changed between your last release, Tokyo Girls Anthem, and now?
RiRi: Actually these two albums were meant to be one, but since we were making so many different kinds of tracks we decided to divide them. First album “Tokyo Girls Anthem” was released at the end of 2021 and was kinda like finishing up our rap, hardcore vibes. Second album “Tokyo Ex Machina” released at the beginning of 2022 is full of emotion. This is really taking us to the next level, both as mannequins and artists.

FEMM were famously robotic, how do you enjoy creating really emotional music?
RiRi: We’re not trying to be robotic, but always natural as living mannequins:) Since it’s been years of learning human behavior, we are getting closer to them. We are starting to be able to feel more deeply and move smoothly. It wasn’t easy to get to this point, but we are enjoying every moment of it!

What were FEMM doing during the state of emergency in Tokyo?
LuLa: While staying home, staying sage we were making music! We were imagining our agents and how to please them.

What are your favourite things (music, food, media, fashion, power spots etc) for 2022?
RiRi: Gaming! I’m longing for the sequel to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “Persona 6.”
LuLa: Live performance! New Album! Meet and Greet!

Tell us about your new album, Tokyo Ex Machina.
RiRi: There are 4 new songs on our new album:) We Got Each Other, Crystal Ball, Outta the Clouds and Crawl Away. These are all really emotional songs and we thought it was important to deliver this message through these hard times. My personal Fav is Outta the Clouds.

Do you have a message for all of your Agents around the world?
RiRi:  We love you, agents!! Hope to perform in your country soon…!!!! Until then, plz enjoy our new album, just for you:)
LuLa: Thank you for always supporting us! We hope you enjoy our album!! We LOVE you!!!

Check out the links below to find all the FEMM content that you’re craving – don’t forget to like and follow them on SNS!

For more news and interviews from Japanese artists by HYPER JAPAN, just click here!

Official Website：https://femms.jp/
Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/femm____/
Twitter：https://twitter.com/FEMM____
YouTube：https://bit.ly/2THLXBn
TikTok：https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSJ14XWfX/
‘We Got Each Other’ music video:https://youtu.be/_FEBK7xZOEA
‘Tokyo Ex Machina’ Download and streaming links: https://avex.lnk.to/TokyoExMachina
‘Tokyo Ex Machina’ Download and streaming links (Europe and the UK): https://jpurecords.com/products/femm-tokyo-ex-machina