- Words Solly Warner
Japanese mannequin rap duo FEMM release an avant-garde video for their sweet-as-candy song, "Sugar Rush”.
Mannequin rap duo FEMM, made up of RiRi and Lula, found acclaim with their song “Fxxk Boyz Get Money” which found an audience of teens and influencers in the US, quickly spreading around Europe, South America and Asia. FEMM’s debut album ‘Femm-Isation’, released in 2014, brought Japanese female rap to a whole new audience, reaching the Top 10 of Billboard’s World Albums chart in the US.
FEMM’s love of internet culture marked them as trendsetters, receiving praise for their reinterpretation of 80s and 90s J-Pop. In 2020, the duo released their six-song EP ‘404 Not Found’, whose title refers to the error message that appears when a website cannot be found – alluding to FEMM’s brand-new sound that would be difficult to find anywhere else.
The mannequins from New Tokyo have now returned with their brand-new single “Sugar Rush”, taking one step closer to a hyper-pop utopia. With a bright 8-bit electronic hook that is offset by FEMM’s cold and digitised vocals, the track refers to being stuck in love and losing all grip on reason and rationality.
“Sugar Rush” is accompanied by avant-garde visuals, with a video adopting a film-noir style that evokes the darkness of love. The video also features a performance by droid-like Sugarbots, better known as the world-class unicycle dance troupe MIRACLE, of the Kawasaki Watarida Unicycle Club, dressed in sweeping ankle-length skirts and fishbowl helmets fitted with stardust fairy lights.
With a combination of deathly cool and dark humour, FEMM are attracting attention not only from FEMM fans (known as Agents) but from music fans and media around the world.
