On March 13, LIPxLIP, the male idol of HoneyWorks' production unit consisting of Yujiro (voiced by Koki Uchiyama) and Aizo (voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki), released their second album, Umarete Kita Koto Ni Kansha Shinasai! (“Be thankful you were born!”).
To celebrate this release, the unit's first album in nearly four years, Billboard Japan interviewed HoneyWorks composer Shito and illustrator/animator Yamako, who talked about the new album and what they think is yet to come. more important than buzz.
How do you usually divide your songwriting duties?
shito: Generally, both Gom and I write our own songs, and whoever writes the song decides the theme of the lyrics. Then we both work on the lyrics together. Once we're done with the lyrics, Yamako creates the music video. HoneyWorks is all about writing songs for specific characters, so while we're working on the lyrics, we check them with Yamako to make sure we're staying true to the character. We try to choose lyrics that draw from the personalities of the characters and ensure that the song leaves a lasting impression.
Yamako: Not only do I do the illustrations for the songs, but I also oversee most of the creation of the music videos. I control the scripts, illustrations, video editing and the like.
When people think of HoneyWorks, I'd venture most people think of songs that make listeners' hearts flutter and songs with a youth-focused aesthetic.
shito: I started reading shojo manga (“girl comics”) after I was already an adult and I was like “I never knew there was a world like this!” This is what got me into shojo manga. That's when we created HoneyWorks. Yamako's designs had a shojo manga feel, so the decision to go in that direction, making songs about romance and youth, was only natural.
On LIPxLIP's second album, Umarete Kita Koto Ni Kansha Shinasai!i feel like you guys were trying new things, musically.
shito: Until now, LIPxLIP's music has been created with the idea that the duo are princes and their fans are princesses. On this album, however, we went a little further to create something more artistic. It defies fan expectations, in a good way, as our idea for the new album was to produce the LIPxLIP music we really wanted to make.
“ABSECRET” has an Arabic feel and “Meoto” is a rock song with traditional Japanese elements. Both are new styles that you didn't hear in previous LIPxLIP songs.
shito: That's right. For “Meoto”, when I asked Yamako what kind of song would be good, she said “Japanese rock”.
Yamako: I wanted to have LIPxLIP wearing beautiful, traditional Japanese clothing that evokes fantasy, so the idea was to make it rock with a truly Japanese feel. In my case, I think of ideas based on the types of clothes I want the characters to wear in the music video.
shito: Yamako is the main producer of LIPxLIP, but also their biggest fan, so I trust her.
Yamako: Sometimes I create concept presentations for shito and GOM that reflect the fans' feelings.
In a sense, you can create work that resonates with fans because you are fans yourself. Is there a reason you decided to take a more artistic approach with LIPxLIP?
shito: I'm usually there and directing when the voice actors for LIPxLIP (Koki Uchiyama and Nobunaga Shimazaki) do their recordings, so we've worked together for a long time. I feel that we have developed strong communication skills, based on a common understanding, that make it easy to convey what kind of expressive approaches to use. Both Uchiyama and Shimazaki understand LIPxLIP's expressive approach and have also grown up a lot. In the past, we on the production side made the decisions completely on our own, but now we talk to the voice actors to create even better expressive approaches and nuances.
Which songs on the album stand out for you two?
Yamako: For me, “Meoto”, which Aizo sings differently than any of LIPxLIP's previous songs. I was amazed that he had developed the ability to sing like that! Also, I really want people to hear “Last Stage”, which is connected to the future of the group. It conveys what LIPxLIP feels like in a raw, real way.
shito: The standout for me is “Oshi no Maho”. I wrote it starting with the idea that I wanted to make a really crazy song. The voice artists had expanded their range, so I wanted to try a song that was unlike anything LIPxLIP had done before.
It has the most vocal chorus parts of any LIPxLIP song.
shito: HoneyWorks does audio production for the “real” idol groups Karen Na Ivory and Takane No Nadeshiko, so we've been featured in a few idol events. The way the crowd screams and the energy that comes from the crowd is really fun. We wanted to put it in a LIPxLIP song.
How did you write the lyrics for the parts with the vocal sections?
shito: We used as our template the things that male fans shout at female idol shows. There is a specific format, with fans substituting parts of the names of their favorite idols or teams. We'd go to real shows and listen, we paid a lot of attention to what people were shouting and we looked at that template when we were writing the lyrics.
In “Julieta”, whose title comes from the name LIPxLIP fans call themselves, you can feel the unit's love for their fans. I feel the song is also connected to another one of LIPxLIP's iconic songs, “Romeo”.
Yamako: “Julieta” is the sequel to “Romeo” and has the same concept. With “Romeo,” we didn't know how to convey that aesthetic. We had to figure that out as we went along, exploring how to portray this world of princes and princesses, where to find materials to use, and how to decide on that aesthetic. When we were writing 'Julieta' though, we already had an idea of LIPxLIP's characters and what kind of fans would enjoy the 'princes'. I think we were able to project an even more complete and polished image of the two as princes.
In 2023, HoneyWorks' “Kawaiikute Gomen (feat. Kapi)” ranked number 1 on Billboard JAPAN's year-end “TikTok Songs Chart”. The music video features Chu-tan (Chizuru Nakamura), a character Heroines run the show! The Unpopular Girl and the Secret Taskand people loved how it showed her cheering for LIPxLIP while beaming in her own way. This song reaches the global audience. Are you thinking of turning your attention abroad in the future?
shito: The fundamental attitude of LIPxLIP is that of creating songs that we want the characters to sing, not creating songs with the aim of generating buzz. This attitude has not changed. Within these limits, however, we would like to do a virtual show abroad. They can go anywhere (laughs).
I'm sure some people discovered LIPxLIPs by watching them in the “Kawaikute Gomen” video.
shito: Ever since “kawaikute gomen” went viral, when we were making character songs, we focused even more on how the characters would move and what they would think, not the buzz.
Yamako: These are, at heart, character songs, so they tell a story within the world the characters inhabit. It's like we think about how LIPxLIP would be successful in this world — how they would work hard in this world — and we act on that. In the real world, Chu-tan's song went viral, but in the world of HoneyWorks, she's just an ordinary fan. We will continue to create great work while continuing to draw that line between the real world and the world our characters inhabit.
—This Mio Komachi interview first appeared on Billboard Japan
