The J-pop wave has reached North American shores as Psychic Fever returned to the States last week for their very first SXSW showcase performances. This comes on the heels of their first American tour- a venture that drew sold out crowds across the country and has fans already clamoring for more from the seven-member group. Atlas had the chance to sit down (virtually) with Tsurugi, Ryoga, Ren, Jimmy, Kokoro, Ryushin, and Weesa to discuss their love for Texas, the experience of their first tour and what they’re hoping is up next. The group is charismatic, energetic and eager to show off their slick denim fits (with Tsurugi proudly lifting his feet to showcase his newly acquired cowboy boots to match his shiny new hat). Their performances after our chat drew large SXSW crowds and has them ready to come back to meet even more fans on their next tour.
This interview was assisted by a translator and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Atlas Artist Group: You’re in Texas this week for SXSW- how are things going? How’s your first SXSW experience?
Weesa: We went to our SXSW concert and that was good vibes- we can’t wait for performing there. We love Texas vibes- I love this city.
Jimmy: We walked around yesterday- it was a great experience. We could watch the technology and artists and street performers as well. It was so fun and I can’t wait to perform there. I believe it’s a great chance for people all over the world to know about us, who we are and what kind of music we make. We’re really excited to do it!
Atlas: You also just finished up your first North American tour- what was that like for all of you? What was the best part of touring and did you encounter any unexpected difficulties with being on the road?
Ryoga: It was a wonderful experience and I was so happy to share our dancing and singing with many people. It became truly such [great] memories!
Kokoro: I felt relieved to finish safely and had a really happy time. It made me realize our music is reaching people worldwide.
Atlas: The tour gave you a chance to perform so many songs for your fans. What’s your favorite song to perform live and did you notice a song that the fans really seemed to love?
All: “Just Like Dat”!
Jimmy: I would say “Just Like Dat”. The song went viral last year on TikTok so everyone knows about us by this song. It was so loud and everyone sang our song in Japanese as well and we really had a great time with the audience.
Atlas: Now that you’ve had all of these new experiences and traveled to meet so many of your fans around the world, how is that inspiring your creativity these days?
Tsurugi: It’s been very exciting to meet and interact with fans from all over the world and that has helped [us] broaden [our] vision and [we’re] very excited about expanding into different genres and reaching more people in the future.
Atlas: How do you approach making music in the studio- do you focus on the music first and then the lyrics follow or do you prefer to write the story and then structure the music around the lyrics?
Jimmy: We have a production team and we discuss a lot of things with the staff [like] what kind of music we need right now and what kind of music we’re really into right now. It kind of depends on the period- like right now we’re preparing for the next show so we need songs that can hype with the audience. It depends but we really love to make R&B [and] hip hop songs…so we really enjoy combining totally different genres into our songs.
Atlas: On that note, which artists are you all inspired by when you’re making music?
Ren: My favorite artist is Keshi! I love his singing style and I love his voice.
Tsurugi: This is a tough question- I really like R&B songs. [Translator: he really enjoys the good vibes of early 2000’s dance songs.]
Ryoga: G-Eazy! I really like his rap style and personal style and I’d love to work on a song together [with him] someday.
Jimmy: It’s kind of tough to choose but I’ll say…Ty Dolla $ign. He’s worked with a lot of artists and released [songs] in a lot of genres and I want to be like him- collaborate with a lot of artists no matter what genre they do.
Ryushin: Eminem! I’m a rapper and he is so cool.
Kokoro: I like Bruno Mars! He’s the singer I respect the most- I like his music and listened to it a lot before I became a vocalist. I want to be an artist who sings and dances with emotion like him.
Weesa: I have so many favorite artists but I really like Mac Miller because he’s one of the reasons why I started making music- he’s amazing.
Atlas: You’ve reached so many incredible milestones since your debut- international touring, winning awards and so much more. What are your goals as a group now after accomplishing all of these things?
Kokoro: So many! We have so many.
Jimmy: We have a lot of goals. The biggest goal is reaching number one on the Billboard Global 200 and this year or next year we really want to do a world tour. There’s a lot of places we haven’t performed before like Africa and Europe and Australia so we can see the audiences there.
Atlas: Are there any spoilers or upcoming plans you can share?
Jimmy: We’re going to release our third EP called Psychic File III and we have more new songs in there so please look forward to it. I’m sure we’re going to perform those songs on our new tour. I’m not sure but we’re going to make new choreography and perform [the songs] in the show for the first time.
We only [announced] the Japan tour but we’re going to expand to all over the world so please look forward to it.
Atlas: Is there anything else you want people to know about you as a group or is there anything you wish you could talk about more that people may not ask you?
Weesa: First, we want [fans] to listen to our newest singles- please listen to our songs!
Jimmy: Ryoga is doing the DJ thing right now and he just released a remix song called “Highlights” and it was so good. Please give that a listen!
Tsurugi: [I’m] so excited to see other cowboys here in Austin, TX!
Check out all the photos from Psychic Fever at SXSW, courtesy of Aya Shimizu!
