After absolutely rave reviews from many of us (the people who truly matter), EMPiRE returns a week later with their second teaser track, “TOKYO MOONLIGHT”:
I feel like I should be more surprised that it’s a Kenta song than the fact that the lyrics were penned by a member, but, frankly, very little surprises me anymore, except in kayfabe, which I would never, ever break, except when I do.
You can rip it right off of Soundcloud if the idea of Watanabe Junnosuke doing his best Jay Kay impersonation sounds great to you, or take the free download straight from EMPiRE’s website. Either way, you are a masochist!
So I guess this is a much closer approximation of what they meant by “cool style.” I nominally approve. Bitchin’ guitar solo kind of randomly tacked onto the song aside, I think this moves EMPiRE away from regular features, no? Like, they’re fine and all, and in fact are probably the actual inheritors of the kind of sound that SiS was likely to have, but I’m missing really any homi- in these idols.
For what it’s worth, they’re launching an official fan club before ever having done anything, just like real major-label idols!
【オフィシャルFC設立決定！】
EMPiREオフィシャルファンクラブ『EMPiRE CORE』の設立が決定。
FC入会で11/23のお披露目ライブに無料招待！10/15にメンバー本人による電話入会受付を実施致します。詳細はこちらhttps://t.co/LoEYRn23Jd pic.twitter.com/rjTpRy2wcR— EMPiRE OFFiCiAL (@EMPiREIDOL) October 12, 2017
If you sign up, maybe you get a slight head start on hearing the actual members performing their songs, so there’s that.
So are we certain this isn’t a Trap idol group? They don’t look like it at all but I guess the inclusion of lyrics like “Trap or die” and the usage of Boku in this latest song has me wondering if it’s not some kind of Watanabe shenanigan.
Oh lord, heaven help us all if trap idols become a thing.
“Boku” is in probably more than half of all the songs BiS(H PARADE) have ever released so it’s not really remarkable, but “trap or die” is a funny one because it’s the title of a mixtape by RAU DEF, with whom DiS started a beef back in 2011. As much as I doubt EMPiRE’s first publicity stunt will be to revive a lyrical war with a has-been rapper from half a decade ago, it’s enough to make you wonder whether MAYU had any say in that line or not.
Ahhh thanks for all this info!