Presented by CURE,
Papillon was at this year's PMX in Los Angeles to promote CURE's new indie idol magazine, CURE Mani. We were able to sit down with them the night following their first overseas performance to ask the two girls a few questions about themselves, their shows, and the indie idol scene. The answers we got in response from the seemingly cute and stylish girls ended up being quite surprising.
Please give an introduction of yourself and Papillon.
Nagi: My name is
Nagi, but my nickname is “
Nagi-tea.” I am the singer on the right side of the stage or the left side to the audience. We usually drink on stage, but this time we couldn’t do it because the audience was underage, so our performance was very toned down. Our music is very pop and fun.
Miri: My name is
Miri and my nickname is “
Miri-tea” and I am the singer on the opposite side of her. We are idols, but our music and performances are actually more aggressive and not cutesy-girly. It’s more masculine. (laughs)
Why did you choose the name "Papillon"?
Nagi: It's French for 'butterfly.' Actually, we used to work as hostesses in a club. In Japan, a hostess is also known as “Butterfly of the Night,” so we chose butterfly from this and used the French word.
Did you both meet while working or was it in some other way? What attracted both of you to each other in becoming working partners?
Nagi: We met through mutual friends. We both like visual kei music and would go to lives together. I was an idol before
Miri and had a partner, but that girl wasn’t very good. So, I thought of separating from her and finding a new partner. Since I was always with
Miri, going to lives and hanging out together, I asked her to be my partner.
Besides going to lives together and hanging out together, are your characters similar as well?
Miri: Our biggest similarity is that we both like the same band.
Which band?
Miri and
Nagi:
Nightmare.
Miri:
Nightmare was our biggest common ground. Also, Japanese people care about blood types and believe that if you have the same blood types, you have good chemistry. While
Nagi and I have the same blood types, our characters are different.
Nagi is more outgoing and friendly, but I’m more shy.
Nagi: Yes, that’s true. While our characters are a bit different, we’re still doing everything together at the same time. Sometimes we even say the same words at the same time. We complement each other.
Miri: Sometimes I start to sing a song from the radio, then unconsciously
Nagi will sing the same song at the same time.
So it makes singing together easier on stage?
Nagi and
Miri: Yes, exactly.
Can you please explain the meaning of ‘idol’ to overseas fans? What is the idol scene like in Japan?
Nagi: A couple of years earlier, an idol was just any cute girl, but now the idea of an idol has evolved, and an idol can do more that just look cute. Now an idol is expected to do more things like have the ability to sing, dance and do other things. An idol is like the perfect figure of a woman.
Miri: Idols usually have some kind of specialty or unique characteristic. Since we drink a lot, we are called ‘sake idols’ or ‘sakedo’ by our friends. There’s some who like worms and bugs, so they’re called ‘mushido’ (bug is ‘mushi’ in Japanese).
Nagi: An idol's lifestyle used to be a bit more restricted, but now it's more relaxed and an idol can pretty much do whatever she likes to stand out. For
Papillon, we drink.
What’s your favorite drink?
Miri: We always drink beer, but...
Nagi: But if we want to drink quickly we would choose tequila or soju. We drink because we get nervous on stage. Drinking alcohol is just part of the show. First we drink, then we sing and dance.
What influences Papillon?
Nagi: We are inspired by visual kei bands and their style. We were actually never really interested in idols before, so our performances on stage are more like those of visual kei bands and not like regular idols.
Miri: After we started as idols, we started to watch other idols more. Our fans would also give us suggestions on what to do next time.
How long does it take to put together your performances?
Miri: We already have the music composed; and as for the lyrics, sometimes
Nagi or I write them. As for the dance routines, we have someone teach them to us. We’re still trying to perfect and improve our performances each time.
Nagi: We try to be interactive with the audience.
Like how the audience dances along with you?
Nagi: Yes, the audience starts to dance with us together. We even start to make up new dances along with them.
Miri: Also, sometimes the Japanese audiences scream out our names. Sometimes those boys are even louder than we are! (Everyone laughs) So they are all really excited, sometimes even more than us on stage.
Nagi:
Nagi!
Nagi!
Nagi!
Nagi!
Nagi-tea!
Cure Media USA: They actually had some fans fly out from Japan to see them.
Nagi: Yes, one even bought thirty or forty Cure Mani magazines to give away to his friends or other fans as presents!
What can fans expect from Papillon performances in the future?
Nagi: In Japan, we are already involving the fans more in performances. In America or other countries, we would like to get the audience even more excited and show more passion. Our CD is just a CD, but especially in Japan our lives are more exciting, loud and fun. We want our audiences to enjoy our lives more.
Miri: Like our stage-diving.
What? Really?
Miri: Yes. At our lives, we have moshing and stage diving. However, we couldn’t do that here as we weren’t sure what to expect.
Nagi: Our audience members would even try to break the security barrier and climb on the stage to sing together with us. They’re so excited, so we have a lot of fun.
Is this really surprising to you or is it something you’re expecting?
Nagi: It depends on where we go to perform or who comes to the show, but it’s usually the same people doing the same things.
Miri: Then sometimes they’d even take the mic from us and then try to sing.
Or do things like try to flash us, but those fans are guys.
Even though it was so toned down, how was your live at PMX compared to your lives in Japan?
Nagi: This was our first time showing
Papillon to America. Usually, American fans are really quick to get excited, and while they had never seen us before, they were still very keen. Usually Japanese fans like to observe us the first time, and are more enthusiastic when they see us again.
Finally, please give a message to our readers.
Miri: It was our first time performing outside Japan, so I was a little worried because I didn’t know what the reaction of the American audience would be. But the audience was so eager, and everyone was very nice, so I had a great time. If I had another chance to return to America or go to Europe or other countries, I would really love to perform, so please support us.
Nagi: I am the head editor of the new Cure Mani magazine, so I am doing things such as live reports and interviews for this idol magazine. Since I am doing this, I know a lot about indies idols; even though they are not very well-known in Japan, it’s still a part of Japanese pop culture. I really want people to know more about idols because they can sing, they can dance and they have a lot of talent. I want people living from around the world to know more about Japan’s indie idol scene.
Papillon's MySpace page can be found here. Their single infinity will be available at the Cure online shop.
JaME would like to thank Papillon, Akie for translating, and Cure Media USA for the opportunity to do this interview.
