FAKY is a Japanese pop-alternative dance and vocal girl group under Avex. The group is comprised of 4 members, Anna, Lil’ Fang, Mikako, and Akina. FAKY debuted back in 2013 with their debut song “Better Without You,” they have gone on to release a few more digital tracks before going on hiatus and losing two members Tina and Diane. They came back stronger than ever in 2015, introduced new member Akina, and released three new singles, Afterglow, You, and Candy.
In 2017, FAKY released their first ever major debut release with Unwrapped and performed their first ever one-man live show in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. FAKY is currently working on their first full album in 2018 and recently released their first single of 2018, Who We Are!
Congrats on the release of your latest single, “Who We Are.” Tells us your thoughts on it.
Anna: Thank you very much. This song is about being the person that YOU are, and following your heart no matter what other people have to say about you. “Who We Are” means a lot to us because it has helped us build our self-confidence at hard times and we hope that it can help our listeners push through when they feel lost.
Was it a different experience compared to the more up-beat tracks you’re used to?
Anna: It definitely was, since it was one of the first songs we recorded with lyrics that let us be vulnerable. It feels very personal and it’s one of the only songs we perform without choreography.
Now for future releases, are you guys working on any albums to follow up “Unwrapped?”
Anna: Yes we are! We’ve announced at our one-man show that we will be releasing a full album sometime this year. There’s not much that we can say at this point, but we’re trying out new things and it will definitely be something different that you guys can look forward to!
Have you considered getting more involved with writing lyrics or composing your own music?
Lil’ Fang: It’s exactly what we’re challenging ourselves to right now. Since the very formation of FAKY we want to express our feelings with our own words and music so we’re working on delivering it to everyone in the near future. Please look forward to it!
What is a genre of music/concept that you would like to try?
Lil’ Fang: We want to do acoustic versions of our current songs or having live with a real band. Since the same live cannot happen twice, that makes me want to feel a sense of unity with the people who came to the concert even more.
For English releases, FAKY is currently signed to XVII Music Group. Is there any challenges when singing previous Japanese singles into English, particularly for Lil’ Fang and Mikako?
Lil’ Fang: Since English isn’t my native language, I spent the most time understanding the meaning of English’s lyrics and digesting it as my own words. Later I practiced a lot with a help of Anna and Akina until there would be no sense of discomfort with my pronunciation while listening to the song.
Have any plans to release original English tracks in the future as oppose to remakes?
Lil’ Fang: There are still no plans, but of course we’d like to try! Since we want our feelings and music to be understood by people from various countries, we want to sing in many languages, not only in English.
FAKY performed their first one-man live show last October and two more encore shows earlier this year. How was the experience to finally have your own live show?
Akina: We were so grateful to have been able to perform at Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka! Depending on the city, the people have a different and distinctive way of enjoying our shows, so that was really interesting to see from the point of view of being on stage. For example our fans in Osaka like to jump and get sweaty with us, and our fans in Fukuoka like to watch our performance quietly and carefully. It was really great to see familiar faces in the crowd that we don’t get to see as often as we would like.
What is your favorite part about singing and performing?
Akina: As a group, we collectively agree that being able to see our fans faces light up when we hit the stage is the best and such a heartwarming feeling.
What is your favorite song to perform?
Akina: Our favorite song to perform live is definitely Surrender. This song is unique from all of our other songs in the way it sounds and it’s choreography. Whatever struggles or stress we may be feeling at the time, this is the perfect song to let our vulnerability show through the power of the song.
Do you have any dreams or goals as a singer? For example, performing at a certain music venue or collaborating with another artist?
Akina: We would love to perform at Tokyo Dome one day. And then eventually tour outside of Japan as well and meet as many of our fans as we possible could!
If you could perform internationally, where would you want to perform?
Mikako: I want to go to Turkey with FAKY. The very first country that made our fanpage when FAKY was formed was Turkey and since they’ve been supporting us from then all the way till now I want to go there even as a gratitude. I also want to go to the UK since we’ve made a release there.
As a group or alone, what do you like to do for fun on your days off?
Mikako: I do a lot of stuff by myself in my free time. I go to shopping or watch a movie at home… I spend that time relaxing and at ease.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Mikako: We really don’t know. But in order to achieve goals of becoming what we want to be, we cherish the present and move forward in our own way every day.
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 newest single “Who We Are?” Leave your comments down below!
Yesss!
Myyy giirls