How long ago was the Showroom or whatever live recording of the newly reformed Ladybaby’s first single hit the Idolnet? It’s been a few weeks, right? I’d nearly forgotten about it save for those wondering aloud online if the release had happened (soon!) and if there was video (also probably soon!). Me, like how I’ve been avoiding the new PassCode single like the plague until something official arrives*, I stayed away from recordings of all types because I wanted one, pure, this-is-what-we’re-doing-now full-on multimedia assault. And today, Ladybaby finally delivered:

What a weirdly put-together song! The way that thing was going, I thought it was going to crescendo toward something other than an idol death pop kind of chorus; I also expected less … pick-me-up lyrics. The overall sound (minus the harsh vocals) reminds me of something that OG Himekyun Fruit Can might have done; structurally, is anybody going to get mad if I say that I thought of Kamen Joshi? Yes? Great. “Growly days” for the win, then!

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this iteration of Ladybaby. The first made its mark largely on the Beard/Miss iD thing and a kitschy, campy cultural connection; the second was ostensibly more serious, more sober, going so far as to gain street cred from the work with Oomori Seiko. The whole thing could have been scrapped when Rie and Rei fell out, and it sure seemed that way (what with Rie’s solo project and all), but I guess the lure was still there to give it one more go by embracing chika-trendy looks and sounds and sticking with the fun-emphatic approach.

*Yes, you can in fact listen to it now if you want