FAKY is a Japanese pop-alternative dance and vocal girl group under Avex. The group is comprised of 5 members, Lil’ Fang, Mikako, Hina, Taki, and Akina. FAKY debuted back in 2013 with their debut song “Better Without You,” they have gone on to release several singles and an EP before undergoing a few lineup changes.
FAKY came back stronger than ever with the release of their dance trilogy “Girl Power” in 2019, which included the singles “GIRLS GOTTA LIVE”, “ANTIDOTE”. and “NEW AGE”. The music videos on Youtube for the trilogy has exceeded 7 million views in total. Following the trilogy, FAKY went on to release two more singles in 2020, “half-moon”, which was met with great response and their latest single, “Darling (Prod. GeG)”!
Congrats on the release of your latest single, “Darling (Prod. GeG)”. Tells us your thoughts on it!
Akina: Darling is actually one of my favorite song of ours. When I first heard the demo I was so anxious and excited to hear how we can make the song our own. It’s so different from what we usually put out so I’m glad that we were able to show a more vulnerable side of our individual selves!
Taki: When we were first told about the way we were gonna record this song by using auto tune, we were all in shock. But after hearing the way GeG gave us directions, it all made more sense.
Mikako: Thank you! I’m honestly happy that we can release it in this way because we can have staff and fans who always support us. In the new song “Darling,” it was my first challenge to sing with all the focus on love, so I think I was fascinated by seeing another side of us.
Hina: I’ve always loved GeG’s songs and listened to them a lot, I was really happy and honored to be able to make a song together this time. Thanks to GeG’s production, I think we were able to see another side of FAKY.
Lil’ Fang: I have always respected GeG’s songs, and this time it was a collaboration that fulfilled my wishes, so I was very happy. I think that GeG’s personality and FAKY’s personality was able to be combined and expressed in the best way possible.
Darling (Prod. GeG) brings out a different side to FAKY and the lyrics stand out a lot because of the storytelling. Can you talk more about the lyrics?
Akina: The lyrics tell a story of a broken love, which is such a new topic for us to sing about. In most songs, even if there is a deeper message to convey, we always try to find the light at the end of the tunnel to help uplift our fans. But in this case, the song is through and through focused on almost feeling manipulated into wanted to get back together with someone who you know isn’t right. With no particular lessons to teach, this song, to me, is more like reading a broken-hearted persons diary. I think this rawness is really what people can relate to.
Taki: The lyrics are what it is, the way they were written could be interpreted in a lot of ways. I like how in some part of the lyrics, it’s like the words are meant for you. The way it is written inside the song makes you feel like you are having a conversation.
Mikako: When I first see the lyrics, I thought they were straight love lyrics. To be honest, I haven’t had a lot of love experiences until now, but the love I’ve been doing one by one is important, and the first love was a big thing for me, so I song by conveying my thoughts to the person who was in love with at that time.
Hina: This song is a straightforward love song, but each of the lyrics contains the delicate emotions and expressing it a step further. Personally, it’s perfect for the evening, and I often listen to it on my way home from work!
Lil’ Fang: I sang it by thinking of the feelings for my old lover. I think it’s frustrating that the feelings that I want to convey but cannot convey are spelled out in a diary-like sentence, and I hope that everyone can sympathize with them.
I always found choreography with slower tracks to be interesting, how does Darling’s choreography compare to one of your more up-beat songs?
Akina: Our choreography is heavily pop influenced so as you would imagine, we really had to talk over what type of direction we wanted to take with this single. We wanted to keep value to the lyrics so took a lyrical/R&B approach with simple movements. We had to make sure the choreography wouldn’t overpower the intentions of the song itself, so we were all pleased and relieved of the final choreography.
Taki: Shockingly this a slow song but the beat is very present, like most of our songs, the choreography in this song was made by CHALI. He made sure to keep FAKY’s imagine by continuously putting dance steps that are very current, steps that people can learn and dance with us. Even if the song is slow, he made sure our integrity was intact.
Mikako: There was a move that seemed to really matched with the lyrics, and I think the choreography was so emotional that I felt like crying when I was dancing. There are also catchy moves, so I’d be happy if you could dance with it!
Hina: There are many choreography that matches the meaning of the lyrics, making the dance very
easy to empathize with. Most of the songs I did so far have been focused on energy and power.
So for this song, I’ve found a way to express my emotions through little nuances, line of sight,
and angle.
Lil’ Fang: Hip Hop elements are included in the lyrical choreography that I haven’t really tried before. The dance also expresses the culture and the world of the music.
Now about the music video itself, I found it aesthetically pleasing with the color scheme and moving paintings. What scene was your favorite to film?
Akina: I particularly enjoyed shooting the music video’s opening shot with the moving paintings! The director told me that the moving painting chosen for me was of LA’s landscape. I felt like I had a piece of home with me in my shots. I was also able to convey the feeling of “longing for something/someone you can’t have” (described in the lyrics) through these scenes being reminded that my hometown is not somewhere I frequently can visit.
Taki: I like all scenes I took but one of my favorite is indeed the last one we took. The whole music video is very deep in it’s ‘own world’ up until the very end. It’s very short but you can see the 5 of us sitting and just talking and laughing on the rooftop. It is a metaphor that no matter where you are, what you feel, at the very end all you need is your friends and family.
Mikako: I really like the scene where the five people are laughing and talking at the very end. Until then, there were many scenes where each member had a sad expression or a heart-throbbing feeling, but at the end I can see the usual FAKY, but when I see the MV, the last scene became very dear to me.
Hina: The scenes of each person and the dance scene in front of the LED were very emotional, and I was very happy that all the members were able to put out the parts that they wouldn’t normally show. At the very end I saw the scene where all five people were laughing and I really love it. That’s the only scene where there is a moment when everyone is laughing so hope everyone can pay attention to it too!
Lil’ Fang: I like the scene where each member is in a different room and doing lip sync. We were all deeply immersed in our emotions and it was transferred to the lyrics. I was very particular about how my eyes move, so please take a closer look.
Were there any memorable or funny moments while filming the music video?
Akina: This music video has a lot of individual shots compared to our other videos, so we all had time to sit behind the monitor and watch each other’s solo takes for the first time. We are all very expressive and loud so whenever someone had a good take we would make sure to let them know with embarrassing loud compliments!
Taki: The music video took a whole day to shoot, the one moment I preferred the most was the moments where we were in stand-by areas and just talk and eat all the snacks that were in the pantry. To be honest this music video was the most we ever chatted during a shoot compared to the other music videos.
Mikako: It was at the last location which was outdoor and all five of us were waiting in the car. Everyone was laughing all the time while watching an interesting video. It was a strange tension because it was already very late in the evening, but waiting at the FAKY site was very calm and peaceful.
Hina: I was shooting a video for my YouTube channel that day, but as the shooting progressed, I went too far into the world of MV and forgot to shoot halfway. I suddenly realized that this making this music video really immersive for me that I focused so much about it and forget about other things.
Lil’ Fang: At the end, the scene where five people are sitting and laughing, we were talking about our very private and personal story. The atmosphere in which we are usually together came out as is, and it was a lot of fun! I hope that I can remember this in the future and laugh again by saying “That time was very fun.”
Recently, FAKY performed on ‘a-nation 2020’, which was fully online! How was the experience?
Akina: We were so grateful that we could be a part of a stage where so many Asian artists are recognized. This was our first a-nation experience without a live audience so we definitely had feelings of anxiousness of whether or not our energy would be felt through the screen. We worked hard to form a set list making sure we could deliver a performance that is still true to us but also comfortable for the people watching from home.
Taki: We knew that a-nation 2020 was online so we were ready and thankful for it but it came to our surprise when we saw the venue. There was a pop up stage and usually where the audience would be was replaced with blue light and it really felt like there was an audience. We gave our best but the looks and smiles from the audience was very missed but happy to know that we can still be together in a way thanks to online.
Mikako: Summer is a-nation! You can’t go through summer without this! I have a great image of that, so I was happy to be able to perform this year as well. It’s a time of the year, so it’s lonely that in this year’s a-nation, we can’t share the same air directly with you through the screen, so I hope I can spend the summer with you next year!
Hina: First of all, I was happy to be able to perform on such a big stage for the first time in a long time. There was a light in the audience seats, and it looked as if the customer was actually waving a penlight, and I almost cried during the rehearsal.
Lil’ Fang: Right now, I can’t communicate directly with the fans, but I was careful to express the world’s perspective that can only be seen online. It was a stage where I was able to get a lot of energy from the fans even if we are far away.
If FAKY were to hold their own one-man online live show, what would you guys do different compared to other concerts? Example. Unit performances, covers, etc.
Akina: The exciting thing of FAKY is that we are unpredictable. We can never tell exactly what is next to come but we are certain that whatever the next move is, it will have 100% of our heart and soul poured into it. We all have different strengths to show our audience so unit performances could also be a possibility!
Taki: If FAKY ever were to have an online one-man show, it would be our first ever show as 5. I can only say that I would like to show everyone our stories, how our songs are connected to us personally!
Mikako: I haven’t realized the dream of doing a one-man live with the five of us yet, so I think I’m very happy if I can do it. Even just by imagining it makes me really want to do it. I really want to sit down and sing on the piano ver. Of our songs. What’s more, I hope our songs, for example Last Petal and other dance numbers songs, can be into piano ver. Ah..I really want to try it!
Hina: What I want to do at one-man live someday is to show off the original music as an acoustic ver. I think it’s possible because it’s a one-man live, so I’ll do my best to make it happen as soon as possible.
Lil’ Fang: There are too many things I want to do and I can’t talk about it, but I want to create a space where we can share our own world perspective. I want to make time to face each and every fan directly through our song.
The “Girl Power” trilogy was well received, and ‘half-moon’ has done great as well, what would be your next goal(s) as a group whether it’s music, performances, etc?
Akina: Our goal is to continue surprising people with the content we put out. Our music, style, fashion, etc. is almost impossible to label or buy in a box. We really like trying out new sounds and hope we can reach more audiences doing so as well as keep our loyal fans satisfied.
Taki: If I can be frank, our goal is to be able to reach more ages; from young to elderly. We may be young but our songs can be related by all ages and our songs could also be heard anywhere from clubs to road trips. Our goal with FAKY was always to give you something you can relate to as well putting out something new all the time. We never put ourselves in one type of music, we like discovering and adding our own flavor and of course sometimes knowing what’s in at the moment.
Mikako: FAKY delivers music as a dance vocal, so I want to dance and sing songs again! Please look forward to our next releases!
Hina: Since the one-man live scheduled for May has been canceled, the one-man live has not been realized yet. So now, my goal is to realize a one-man live with 5 people. And on that stage, I definitely want to perform so that everyone can think that it was a good time for everyone to power up even during the period when I was refrained from doing a lot of things due to corona.
Lil’ Fang: There are too many things I want to do but sadly I can’t talk about it yet.
I’d like to thank FAKY for taking the time to answer all of these questions in detail. Was there something awesome or new that you found out about them and what are your thoughts on their latest single “Darling” Leave your comments down below! “Darling” is available on multiple streaming sites!
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Lil’ Fang / Hina / Taki / Mikako / Akina
