The past 12 months were pretty good for chelmico! They’ve started getting more commercial tie-ups, which is always important in the realm of J-pop, and the rap-pop duo put out their second full-length album via major label Warner Music Japan, and showed how charisma tied to catchy musical ideas can go a long way to establishing a character all one’s own. It’s great, and if you haven’t spent some time with Fishing you really should, it’s one of 2019’s finest.
Anyway, from that, chelmico are moving on up once again as 2020 approaches. They have provided the opening theme song for Masaaki Yuasa’s new anime Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na!, another sign of the project moving on up in the world of Japanese music. Listen to a bit of new tune “Easy Breezy” below as part of this trailer for the show itself.
I’ll leave it to the other writers here at Otaquest to write about Eizouken, as I’m not nearly well versed enough in anime to offer interesting insights based off a YouTube trailer. Yet I can wring something out of a just-over-a-minute preview of a song that is mostly submerged over dialogue! “Easy Breezy” sounds like it falls in the category of chelmico songs that sprint rather than chill out, placing it in the same zone as “Player” or “Summer day.” Based on (again, an obscured) snippet of “Easy Breezy,” this one sounds even swifter, finding the duo dashing ahead over a bouncy beat. Tune in to NHK early next year to get the whole thing!
In terms of “what does it all mean” for chelmico, this is sure to introduce their music to an even wider audience, in particular, one they haven’t necessarily courted as of yet or even been put in front of. It’s a tale as old as J-pop itself — young group makes strides, lands opening or ending theme, and suddenly shoots up to a new level. Let’s see if they follow the same path.