Towa Tei -- Brand Nu Emo

Came across this video featuring this song by enigmatic and charismatic Towa Tei（テイ・トウワ）a few nights ago. It's called "Brand Nu Emo" and although it has been listed as a single in Tei's J-Wiki profile, the YouTube video has branded it as Towa Tei as METAFIVE. I'm not sure whether this was meant to be Tei designing the song in the METAFIVE style or he's merely being cute with the prepositions.

But the supergroup that he is a member of is well represented in the video and song with the robotic version of fellow bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）centering the Mizuhara Sisters and the soulful voice of other bandmate Leo Imai helping out. As for those Mizuhara Sisters, they are Kiko Mizuhara（水原希子）, who is a popular young actress and model, and her younger sister Yuka（佑果）who is also a model.

The whole "Brand Nu Emo" thing comes off as being a mix of a European fashion ad and a rumbly ditty by an updated version of YMO. I kinda wonder with the sisters spelling out emo, if this was yet another shoutout to Takahashi's old unit from the late 70s and early 80s. METAFIVE has done this in the other two songs I've covered, and I believe I heard yet another old Yellow Magic Orchestra excerpt in this song. And there was even a visual tribute to a classic YMO album.

The single came out in March 2017 and is also a track on Tei's 9th album "EMO" which has so far gone up as high as No. 34 on Oricon.