FEMM

FEMM (short for Far East Mention Mannequins) is an electronic pop duo from Tokyo, Japan. Their debut album Femm-Isation was released on October 1, 2014.^[1]

Career

2013: Formation and early work

In October 2013, the group launched an YouTube channel and uploaded a teaser. The video showed RiRi and LuLa walking around the streets of Japan, talking about their quest of rescuing mannequins.^[2] This teaser was used to launch FEMM's website, which uses interactive elements to communicate with their fanbase.^[3] Despite the initial lack of popularity at the time, FEMM released their first EP "Astroboy". It contained two digital singles; one of the same name and "UFO".^[4] "UFO" is a cover of a song originally recorded in 1977 by Japanese pop duo Pink Lady. "Astroboy" was the first original song by the group.^[5] The videos were directed by creative unit IKIOI, who had previously worked with other Japanese artists.^[5]

2014: International success and Femm-Isation

FEMM released their first single "Wannabe" on April 12, 2014.^[6] The group started to progress their attention to international production teams, and "Wannabe" was handled by Dreamlab. Their second single "Kiss the Rain" followed one week later, and was co-produced by Swedish producer Andreas Carlsson. In mid-May the third single of the group, "We Flood the Night", was released.^[7][8] The group started to achieved more tecognition with their fifth single, "Kill the DJ", which amassed almost 200,000 views on Youtube. The "slick, high-concept music video" was directed by IKIOI, and continued their trend of incorporating song lyrics inside the music video. Kaiho recognized "Kill the DJ" as one of her favourite music videos to portray RiRi and Lula.^[9]

In June 2014, FEMM uploaded their sixth single "Fxxk Boyz Get Money" onto YouTube, and released it a month later on iTunes.^[10] The video achieved positive commentary from music critics, and became a minor viral video.^[11] Some critics differentiated FEMM from other internationally known J-Pop acts, because the group is "practically unknown" in Japan. Other critics found it weak, and dissected the public image of FEMM more than their music.^[11] However, popular figures including Perez Hilton and Youtube personalities started to praise the songs as a "life anthem".^[12] Due to its popularity, the song was featured on the TWERK EM' ALL compilation in July. As of December 2014, the song has surpassed 500,000 views on Youtube and is FEMM's most viewed video.^[13]

After the success of "Fxxk Boyz Get Money" and "Kill the DJ", FEMM started to work with more producers from North America and Europe.^[9] FEMM collaborated with American producer and songwriter Dan Book and Alexei Misoul on "Party All Night", the seventh single of their first album.^[14] Their eighth single "Dead Wrong" was produced by New Zealand-born Australian musician Leah Haywood, Daniel James, and Kevin Ross. FEMM's next releases "Unbreakeable" and "Whiplash" were the final singles to be featured on their first studio album. Femm-Isation, the debut album of the group, was released digitally in October 2014.^[1] The instrumental version of the album was released on December 24. On the same day, FEMM uploaded a video entitled "DANCE IS NOT A CRIME". This video was a pronouncement against the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law, which states that dancing at public venues in Japan is illegal after midnight.^[15][16]

Artistry

Musical style

The group cites synthpop, EDM, eurodance, rap, and Otaku culture as their major influences.^[17][18][19] FEMM has been compared to Americanized music, including Hip-Hop and club culture.^[19] The group has explored themes of girl power, feminism, and freedom of speech in their music. The FEMM singles "Fxxk Boyz Get Money" and "Girls Night Out" have lyrics which discuss female empowerment, and not relying on male labor or assistance.^[20] For their single "Unbreakable", the entire production relied on actual orchestral instruments, and was considered a "versatile" move by both fans and critics. According to W-Trouble, the song relies on human feelings rather than of a mannequin."^[21] W-Trouble commented "["Unbreakable”] is probably the song that expresses those feelings the most. The other songs are pretty rigid so I think they’re closer to the image of mannequins."^[21] The group relies on autotune and vocoder, and are against releasing their music in physical formats such as compact disc or DVD.^[21]

For their first EP "Astroboy", both members did not yet have any professional experience in singing. The duo stated that the first time recording and appearing in a music video as their agents was challenging.^[20] FEMM expressed that they would be honored to collaborate with any producers and songwriters who understand their message.^[20] Jacque from Arcadey.net commented that "[FEMM]'s music mostly consists of regurgitated American EDM, dance-pop, and hip-hop, all of which is just as enjoyable as it is generic. I’m guessing it’s supposed to be some kind of meta commentary on mainstream music and manufactured pop stars or something [...]"^[22]

Molly Osberg from Vice noted that FEMM combined Japanese fashion and music together. She commented "At least, that's how I imagine we get acts like FEMM, the mesmerizing J-pop electro duo with a backstory more inventive than anything on the SyFy channel right now."^[23] Osberg praised the producers and songwriters for being hidden pioneers in order to popularize the group, as she felt producers now were more "the frontmen".^[23] Corynn Smith from MTV Iggy was impressed by their English language skills and commented "The pair’s overwhelmingly English discography has something for everyone with electronic taste, whether you’re feeling like a romantic trance trip a la [We Flood the Night], craving a techno remix of ’70s J-pop hit [UFO], or in a twerk-tastic, rubber-maid-outfit-clad [Fxxk Boyz Get Money] kinda mood."^[18]

Image

FEMM are portrayed as plastic dolls, known as a mannequin.^[17] Both Riri and Lula are "identically-different", although FEMMs are categorized by their attributes, such as: military, pilot, medical, maid, spies, Riri and Lula are exclusive-attribute and exclusive-rank FEMM without any of the attributes and that is indicated in their serial numbers 000000.^[20] According to FEMM, their tagline "Do Dolls Have Feelings? Do Their Songs Move People?" represents their virtual goal is to free all mannequins from human oppression.^[17] FEMM recognizes their fanbase as "agents" of the group. Riri and Lula's agents are Honey-B and W-Trouble respectively.^[17] The agents are known as the "voices" of Riri and Lula, as the mannequins are portrayed with the inability to talk or vocally communicate. Honey-B stated "For the musical nuances, it’s listening that’s important: the key is to match the sound and flow. If the nuance reveals a kind of attitude, it’s partly due to the songwriting and partly due to [Honey-B]."^[19]

MTV has listed FEMM as one of their "Artists to Watch".^[24]

Members

FEMM

• Riri (also known as MS-00000)

Real name: Emily Kaiho

• Lula (also known as SW-000000).

Real name: Hiro Todo

Agents

• Honey-B
• W-Trouble

Discography

Albums

EPs

Remixes

Singles

• "Wannabe" (2014)
• "Kiss the Rain" (2014)
• "White Noise" (2014)
• "We Flood the Night" (2014)
• "Kill the DJ" (2014)
• "Fxxk Boyz Get Money" (2014)
• "Dead Wrong" (2014)
• "Unbreakable" (2014)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook
• Official Twitter
• Official Instagram