.CHAIofficialJPN talks NEO-Kawaii and their music ahead of their tour with whitneytheband.
It all goes downhill midway through CHAI's music video for"CHOOSE GO!" The four members are in the middle of an intense game of American football — well, as intense as it can get on a set. Kana, the band's guitarist, throws the ball to vocalist Mana, also her twin sister. Mana gears up to catch. Instead of a ball, however, in her hands lands a doll — one of those blonde-haired, blue-eyed plastic beauties that cry haplessly when you put them down — and a switch flips.
"Kawaii is the best compliment [for a woman] in Japan. Usually, that means long legs, small waist, skinny, pale skin, small face, big eyes. That is typically Kawaii," explains bassist Yuuki, as the band — Yuuki, drummer Yuna and sisters Kana and Mana — congregates around a computer for a Skype call on a Sunday morning. Getting ready to fly to their next tour stop with Whitney, the girls are dressed in matching outfits, makeup-free, and much too chipper for this time of morning.
Pop idol Seiko Matsuda all but became the unofficial trademark of Kawaii culture in Japan for the better part of the '80s. Her immense popularity — between 1983 and 1988, all of her 23 singles hit No. 1 on the Japanese charts — only amplified the perception of Kawaii.
"Everyone has a different complex, but they all have these insecurities," Mana says."Once we started the band, we realized that maybe this was not only us, that there were a bunch of people feeling like us. That was the point. We wanted to spread the word— you can be who you are, even if you are not in that category. You are okay. You are beautiful."To the members, the visual language of this message is of the utmost importance.
This repositioning extends into their sound, where love-letters to gyozas, body hair and catchy English phrases — a residue from the early commercialization of Kawaii — blend in with their voraciousness to never quite stick to a genre. They alternate between frenetic post-punk and sweet, slow funk, pop, and traces of R&B. Collectively, they've named this melting pot of sounds CHAI."We want to pick the best of them and create a new way," Mana says."A CHAI way.
While CHAI's largely independent status has assured them a greater level of creative freedom, the rise in their popularity presents newer challenges. Outside of Japan, press has been quick to catch on to, and embrace, the group's new philosophy, but back home the nuances of NEO-Kawaii are often lost on interviewers.
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