Last Updated on 2026-02-09 by a-indie
A Diverse Member Composition
Ido Kyo: Yeah, pretty strange. First, Miguel is Spanish, and for example, he was one of the people involved in the music for “METAL GEAR SOLID V,” and his job is creating music for games.
Mayu Baby: Miguel is interesting, but Hitomi is great too. He’s super clever. He’s younger than Ido and me, but the youngest is the most sensible one (Laughs).
Ido Kyo: Because of his work, Hitomi is skilled in legal and accounting matters, so when we’re doing band stuff and ask, “Is this okay?” Hitomi answers everything.
—Maririn: Having one person like that in the band is incredibly reassuring.
Mayu Baby: Especially since Ido and I can be a bit impulsive, in both good and bad ways (laughs). We’re the type to immediately do anything that seems like a good idea, so Hitomi’s cleverness is very helpful. He’s also the most calm and skilled in live performances. For example, when a passerby’s face appears in a music video, or when shooting in public places, we have Hitomi do a legal check. When we ask, “Is this okay?” Hitomi answers.
The Band’s Legal Department
—Maririn: It’s like the band has a legal department attached.
Mayu Baby: Exactly. Everyone has different areas of expertise and different work backgrounds, so we’re utilizing each person’s life experiences. Everyone can speak English, too.
Ido Kyo: It’s not perfect English, of course, but we can all speak English to some extent. What was really funny when we started the band was that Hitomi suddenly created this year’s revenue and expenditure plan (laughs). He sent us a spreadsheet saying, “This is how we’ll proceed.”
Mayu Baby: Even at band meetings, there’s like “Hitomi’s revenue and expenditure plan presentation time” (laughs). Everyone says, “Thank you.”
Ido Kyo: He created a flow of money showing how much we’re spending on expenses and where we’ll end up if we continue like this, which was incredibly helpful.
The Balance of Logical and Crazy
—Maririn: You can accomplish that much in one month.
Mayu Baby: It’s an interesting band. Everyone is super logical, but there’s also a bit of craziness.
Ido Kyo: It’s well-balanced.
—Maririn: Right. Otherwise, you couldn’t operate at this pace.
Mayu Baby: But we’re not forcing it. Simply put, given the length of each member’s music activities so far, each person’s parts and tasks are completed relatively quickly, I think. Yeah, we’ve all been doing this long enough, you know (laughs). Thanks to Miguel, we’re fortunate that song creation can be completed online, which helps. Also, like many musicians these days, we can record our own parts at home, which is really convenient. Even if we fail, we can redo it many times.
The Origin of the Band Name
—Maririn: So everyone has an environment where they can record at home. How did you decide on the band name GIRLFRIENDZ?
Ido Kyo: Before Mayu joined, when we were discussing “What should we name the band?” I suggested some candidates, and GIRLFRIENDZ was among them. Everyone said, “That’s good.”
Gothic Vibes and Cuteness
—Maririn: What was your reason for suggesting GIRLFRIENDZ?
Ido Kyo: I thought it would be nice to have some gothic vibes. There’s “Wednesday” on Netflix, right? That’s not a gothic name per se, but depending on how you present it, it can look gothic. I wanted a cute name with that kind of feel. The first manga I ever bought was “Sailor Moon.” I haven’t lived a life aspiring to masculine culture. I’ve never really aspired to masculine culture. I just like making everything cute. That’s why GIRLFRIENDZ felt right.
—Maririn: The artwork is really cute too.
Mayu Baby: The artwork is done by Baba, who handles design for Mei Simones. Ido does the merchandise and visuals.
Members’ Musical Roots
—Maririn: What music has influenced each member?
Mayu Baby: I listen to slightly older music than the other members, like Prince, and I originally really love The Rolling Stones. I’ve always loved women with a rock spirit—Cat Power, Sharon Van Etten, Warpaint—I’ve been listening to them for about the past 10 years. But since starting GIRLFRIENDZ, I’ve been consciously listening to music like Holly Humberstone.
Ido Kyo: I got into Sum 41, Blink-182, Korn, Limp Bizkit, then I got into Crystal Castles… and so on. When I was in college, I listened to post-rock because it seemed “cool and kind of smart,” but by age 25, I was like, “I’m done with that,” and started listening to Deftones and such. Around that time, I started getting into lo-fi type hip-hop. After that, I listened to bedroom pop and surrounding genres. That’s how it was until I started this band. One of GIRLFRIENDZ’s concepts that we talk about a lot is “Guilty Pleasure,” and that includes Holly Humberstone and Ariana Grande. That area is what I like now.
The Concept of Guilty Pleasure
Mayu Baby: Like pop that’s so embarrassingly good that you want to keep your love for it secret from others. Overseas, “guilty pleasure” has become a meme and it’s a term that often comes up in conversation as a joke, but it might be a slightly rare concept in Japan.
Ido Kyo: In the first place, I was heavily influenced by Korn when I was in middle school, so I personally want GIRLFRIENDZ to make music that really goes all the way in that direction.
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