Yesterday morning, one of our reporting teams made their way down to Orchard Parade Hotel, Antica III to meet Chelly, the singer of EGOIST, for an interview. As the team was informed beforehand, we were not surprised to find a veil separating us from our interviewee, and the interview began without much ado.

(The interview was done via an interpreter, hence why Chelly is referred to in third-person.)

What’s the best concert experience you’ve had so far?

“It’s very difficult to decide on which is the best concert experience so far, but as of now, it’s the most recent fan club concert at Tokyo, Kawasaki.”

How do you feel about the upcoming live tour?

(Chelly gets a bit louder and more excited) “Compared to the previous live tour, there are more places that she will be going to, and she is looking forward to meeting more people in the different areas.”

What does it feel like working with the ‘Virtual Live’ technology and doing your concert via hologram?

“It’s like putting on a veil over her face, and she can actually see the audience while performing as well.”

Which song do you like to sing the most and why?

(Chelly laughs) “Very difficult. It is one of her new songs, ‘Door’. She liked the atmosphere of the song the second she listened to it, and its a little bit jazzy, and it will be included in the new single, ‘Reloaded’, that is going to be released in November.”

When you think of ‘Virtual Live’ technology concerts, do you have any new ideas to be used on the screen which you are willing to make happen?

“The ‘Live’ system has improved over the years, whenever she wants to do, like, jump, and things like that, the people who made the ‘Live’ system manage to do it for her, and now she has more control over the system. As for new ideas, I think she’s out of new ideas at the moment.” (Chelly laughs)

What are your feelings about the anime that you have lent your voice in, like Psycho Pass and Guilty Crown?

“She actually watches a lot of anime very often, and she’s usually on the side that watches anime, but being able to be part of the production of the animation is very different, and she gets very excited when there’s development in the story as well. And of course, she also sings, and she also feels empathy with the characters she portrays.”

Lastly, do you have any message for the fans out there?

“She says that since she’ll have a new song released and she wants to have many more performances overseas, please continue to listen to her music.”

After the interview, we thanked her for her time and wished her the best of luck with her concert later in the evening and her upcoming live tour. We were very pleasantly surprised when we were handed a signed EGOIST postcard personally addressed to us and a free CD of her recent single, ‘Great Distance’, which feature the intro and outro songs of the Japanese role-playing game ‘Bravely Second: End Layer‘ after the interview.

EGOIST’s Chelly performed her first solo concert in Singapore, ‘A Live is Worth A Thousand Pix’, at University Cultural Hall, located at the National University of Singapore, at 7 pm that evening. Prior to that, she has performed as part of Anime Festival Asia 2013. J-Network’s report on that concert will be released shortly, so do stay tuned!

Source regarding ‘Great Distance’ – http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SRCL-8814