REIRIE, the most highly anticipated, and surprising, new unit of 2023 dropped their debut MV yesterday. REIRIE marks the reunion of two of the most highly revered talents in chika idol, Rei Kuromiya and Rie Kaneko, who first endeared themselves to the world with LADYBABY. The re-assembly of this well-loved duo was announced on New Years Day, which makes the title of their first single entirely appropriate for this Year of the Rabbit.

For those who haven’t been following this epic story since 2015, Rei and Rie made up two-thirds of the groundbreaking idol death-pop unit LADYBABY, and then the entirety of the post-Ladybeard formation, The Idol Formerly Known as LADYBABY.  Publicly, the two were believed to be the best of friends until Rei unceremoniously split with the group in November of 2017. This gave Rei more time to spend with her sister and focus on their awesome band BRATS. Meanwhile, Rie saw LADYBABY (who had reverted back to their original name) through to the end, graduating when the unit suspended activities in January of 2020. Rie then teamed up with Kenta Sakurai, the composer behind Maison book girl, for the extraordinary project, Ilie (which is now officially on hiatus).

So it was a bit of as shock when, more than five years after ending their association with one another, the two declared on New Years Day that they could not fight fate and wished to be together forever. They have created REIRIE to fulfill that destiny.

For those who are continuing passengers on this long journey, this new song may seem like a spiritual successor to “Lady Baby Blue,”  the duo’s standout, Seiko Oomori composed, single from 2017.  If you watch the two MVs back-to-back, it’s almost like no time has passed at all.

REIRIE will make their live debut on March 25 at Shinjuku BLAZE.