After I saw Otome Shinto at for the single “Kimi to Piikan☆NATSU Sengenn!! “, I decided to stick around for another promotional event that the boyband ZOLA was having.
You are probably asking, who is ZOLA?
That is what I am asking myself too. There isn’t a lot of information about them on the web, According to the Victor Entertainment site, ZOLA was started in 2014 as the “ZOLA Project”, a Yamaha vocaloid project that employed three male models-turned-singers. Nanokkusu, Maui, and Tokito released their first single, “Tokyo Generation / BORDERLESS”, in the summer of that year. Some time after that release, DJ 3G joined the group as ZOLA changed concepts, ditching the vocaloid, pop sound for a more urban, club boy band feel.
The event I went to was to promote their new mini-album “Loop”, which they co-released with another band, DOKUMO BOYS!&GIRLS!. Truthfully, I never heard of either band before this event. When I was leaving the Otomo Shinto event, I looked at the store’s event schedule and saw that they were having another event a two hours later. So, I just wandered around Kintetsu Passe and read some Harlequin Books in Japanese at the book store to pass the time. Trust me, I was a bit bored.
I went back to Tower Records around six-thirty to see how would the staff let people into the event space. The event staff came onto the small stage shortly after and started to let anyone who pre-ordered the album into the area first. It wasn’t until about fifteen minutes later that they let everybody else in. However, there wasn’t a lot of people at the event, so finding a great spot to see the guys was a breeze. I was about four rows back from the stage, surrounded by a lot of teenage or young adult girls.
ZOLA came onto the stage at around seven o’clock. They sang three songs, including their new song “Join Us!” (じょいなす!) while doing a little conversation with other and the audience once in a while. Though the live was short, the members seemed to have fun as they were joking off, singing, and performing. I enjoyed the live a lot because of the energy they had. It was so delightful.
I have to say that, from watching the event, my favorite member of the group has to be Tokito (時人). He is a pretty good rapper and seems like a fun person to be around. When he was doing his self-introduction, he was slamming those lyrics down smoothly and with such passion. I love this guy.
If you like boybands, especially the pretty K-Pop ones, then you must check out ZOLA. Their sound is pretty much the same as any group from Johnny’s or Korea. But, “Join Us!” (じょいなす!) is a pretty catchy song with mediocre vocals, a fantastic rap section, and an upbeat chorus that you can celebrate summer with. You should also try to see one of their lives (they will be at near Yokohama this summer) because they have such lovable, fun personalities.