Last Updated on 2025-09-15 by a-indie
Thai band KIKI has confirmed their Japan tour in September 2022.
They have already been featured on 88rising radio overseas, and have performed at Thailand’s largest music festivals including Big Mountain Music Festival and Maho Rasop Festival, showing high expectations for the band.
While Thai funk popularized by Khruangbin comes to mind when thinking of Thailand, who is KIKI that released their debut album ‘Metamorphisis: Final Stage’ influenced by French electro artists like Daft Punk and Phoenix?
This article is an English translation of what was published on BELONG Media on September 1, 2022.
Interview: Tomohiro Yabe Interviewer: yabori Translation: H.M
About KIKI
-I knew that Boss and Non were guitarists in the Thai band Somkiat. How did Helena come to join?
It was something that occurred during the pandemic where Non and Boss couldn’t participate in the majority of events, including other people from various industries due to social distancing and quarantine. Boredom finally kicks in and at some point Non asked if Boss wanted to do something fun together, and both of them didn’t really know how to sing, so that’s when Helena made an appearance with writing her first song ‘My World’ for fun. She initially wanted to be a songwriter more than a singer, but Boss and Non convinced her that no message could be well expressed and delivered as someone who wrote it. That’s when KIKI officially came together as one.
-Where did the band name, “KIKI” come from? Is there any story behind it?
We initially named our band as JUJU because we wanted our bands’ name to be easy to remember (hence the repeated letters), but in the end we found out that there is an existing famous band in Japan called JUJU already. Helena somehow recalled that someone used to call her name ‘KIKI’ because ‘Helena’ was too hard to remember. In the end we all decided that KIKI is a nice name, and the text also looks nice when written in capital letters.
-Parinam Music, which KIKI belongs to, has some bands we are interested in, such as Gym and Swim and FOLK9. Why did you decide to belong to this label?
As an indie band, we couldn’t really see ourselves fitting into other labels in Thailand. Parinam Music is where we’re planning to head to when reflecting upon the bands that they already have on the list. We think that the generosity and comprehension of Poom (label owner) fits very well with our chemistry. Poom was able to give us a lot of liberty in terms of making music and that’s what we needed. Having Parinam Music as a new home for KIKI is more than heartwarming for us, and we cannot thank them enough for the support they’ve given us.
-The recently released video of your live session was even better than the released track, with its clever use of synthesizers; KIKI has three band members, but the live performance was performed by six. Why do you increase the members to six?
We wanted our band to be seen as a complete band despite having only 3 members. We think that our music would sound better when played by real people and instruments while performing. We initially got 3 backups in our band; Prim from PARIM (Keyboard/Chorus), Tee from Door Plant band (Drum), Book from Telellama band (Bass) and we have just added another member to our team which is Mudmee from Gym and Swim band (Keyboard). We feel like the band sounds more fun, full of life and colors when there’s a real action going on on each instrument. We really appreciate everyone in our team as they work as hard as we do to bring out the best in KIKI.
Thailand’s Music Scene
-I would like to ask you about the music scene in Thailand, as Spotify’s Viral Hits Thailand mainly ranks songs that make it into the Billboard charts, is foreign music more prevalent than local music?
I think that streaming platforms in Thailand vary depending on different users. A lot of people who use Spotify as their main media will usually discover more foreign songs when compared to Joox or Fungjai, hence why it may seem conclusive that foreign songs are more prevalent than local music. To me, it is not true. Local music also flourish within Thailand, and they have done a great job. It has only been recently where foreign songs are becoming a trend as Livehouses and concerts in Thailand became a frequent occasion. Due to this, people are much more open with the songs that exist in the market. Different music from all around should be able to bring people together, and I am happy that it is now obvious that local and foregin music in Thailand can co-exist and flourish alongside each other.
-Related to the above question, where does indie pop (like you) position in your country?
I think that Indie Pop is now a rising group in Thailand, but also serves quite a specific group of people. Since people are now opening up to a lot of music genres, thanks to the growth of livehouse in Thailand and never ending concerts, Indie Pop bands are now able to have more space to perform and demonstrate their skills to the public much easier than before. So I think the position of Indie Pop in this country isn’t at the top or below anyone else because it serves a niche group of people and audience. Being at the right place with the right people gives an interesting position to the Indie Pop music scene in Thailand – of course a good and promising position.
-In Japan, you will be performing with えんぷてい(emptei) and Pictured Resort. Is Japanese music popular in Thailand?
Of course I think that Japanese music is quite popular in Thailand. A lot of Japanese influence has been embedded in Thai society, for example Thai people really like to eat Japanese food, drink Japanese beer, or even practice Japanese culture. BNK48 has already made a phenomenal impact within Thai society and since then people have acknowledged girl groups more than ever, even city pop songs are rising more and more to the surface of the Thai music scene. Japanese music and culture has been very adored by Thai people for a very long time.
-I heard that Thai is more dominant than English in Thailand. Why does Helena sing in English and not in Thai?
Helena is much more comfortable with English when she writes. Of course using a language we have more flexibility will reflect on how eloquently things can be written. She once tried to write a song in Thai and she wasn’t satisfied with the result, so KIKI has decided that their songs will be in English.
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Metamorphisis: Final Stage
-I thought it was very interesting that “Back In The Game” ended with a break in the middle of the song. Why did you choose to end the song in that way?
The ending of the song ends with not finishing the sentence after saying ‘all you ever do is’ because the toxic relationship that I was in, all he/she ever says is something bad and not constructive. I was trying to depict that this situation is never ending regarding his actions, his words, so it’s time to end it the way I choose it. He no longer has the right to hurt me any longer.
-I was impressed by the appearance of the mantis, frogs, and other creatures on the album cover. Why did you choose this type of album cover?
We gave the liberty of album design to our artist JAHFLAME who is my highschool friend from Phuket. We gave him our album demo to have a listen and let him decide what he saw in us, and he came up with the frog idea since our album name is Metamorphosis. We think that frogs are something that a lot of people are scared of and they despise it, but they are very crucial to the ecosystem, they can also be very colorful, easily preyed on but also poisonous.
-What’s the meaning behind the album title, 『Metamorphisis: Final Stage』?
We think that KIKI is a new beginning for us and it’s a very big one as well. The reason behind the name is we think we have developed ourselves from a very small and weak stage to something mature and ready to finally see the world in our full form – hence the ‘final stage’. Even though this name might depict that we’re already reaching the mature form, we haven’t stopped growing since, and we plan on creating something bigger and better. In the end the cycle is never ending for us, at one point we might have to go back to the beginning to start our growing process in a different form.
-We know that you would love everyone to listen to your album, but is there any particular listener or person are you aiming for? Who do you want to reach if you had a choice, and why?
We haven’t really thought of who our songs are made for, we only focus on creating them and let the audience decide whether we’re what they’re looking for or not. There is no particular group of people that we’re targeting since to us, music is for everyone. No boundaries should be made when it comes to music – at least that is how we see it.
KIKI’s Roots
-Could you name three albums that influenced KIKI’s music? Also, could you explain what part of the album you especially get influenced in each album?
What is common between Boss, Non and Helen is all these three bands and the album is our favorite. Because of this, making music and agreeing with the arrangements of the songs was never a big problem for us because we all have the same chemistry.
-Including us, there are fans of yours in Japan. Would you give a message to them?
Thank you so much for supporting us. It’s more than a dream come true to have fans from such a wonderful country, let alone having a tour in Japan during September! Your support means everything to us, and because of this we were able to continue doing the things we love. Please greet us if you ever meet us! Biggest love from KIKI.
KIKI Album Works
1st Album『Metamorphisis: Final Stage』
Release Date: May 19, 2022 (Mp3), July 13, 2022 (Vinyl)
Tracklist:
1. Beginning
2. Metamorphosis
3. Back in the game
4. Don’t forget me
5. Can you feel my love?
6. Inside my head
7. Without you
8. Next to you
9. Harder
10. I am
11. Other Side
Format：Mp3, Vinyl
View on Amazon
KIKI Profile
“Formed in Bangkok, KIKI is a trio where various sounds blend together under lead singer-songwriter Helena’s bitter R&B voice and the rock heartbeat of Boss and Non. In the midst of heartbeats, a maze-like journey begins. Like the taste of ice cream, good and bad things are always coming and going. Whatever the taste, it’s part of life’s sensation. KIKI, as the villain in the midst of madness, grabs their guts and tells honest thoughts that barely exist in us who move carelessly. This is something precious gathered to be expressed in some special form. KIKI dares to probe you.”
KIKI Songs (Youtube)
- KIKI – My World
- KIKI – Blue
- KIKI – Metamorphosis (Official Lyric Video)
Writer：yabori
Editor-in-chief of BELONG Media. Since 2010, he has been writing for the music blog “Timeless Masterpieces,” which became the predecessor of BELONG.
After writing for “only in dreams” hosted by Masafumi Goto, vocalist of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, he specialized in music business at a music vocational school.
He has been writing articles about Japanese and international music for over 10 years.
In the past, he worked at a music CD rental shop with over 100,000 album titles, handling garage rock, psychedelic rock, and Japanese indie rock.
Using these experiences, he has published 26 issues of the music magazine “BELONG Magazine” themed around “roots rock.”
Currently, he writes articles based on SEO strategies learned at a web production company. His hobby is watching “Kaiun! Nandemo Kantei-dan” (a Japanese TV appraisal show).
Articles he has written so far are available here
Twitter：@boriboriyabori
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