I wanted to make an idol song and a music video. Once I started thinking about it, I wanted to show the day leading up to the stage, too.
What if the group had three members who kept their day jobs and worked on their idol act on the side? Akari works in an office, Mio in a warehouse, and Ruka in a café. They spend their days in different places, then meet up in the same city to perform. That was the starting point for Barely Thriving! (『ギリ好調！』).
The Japanese-language MV is now on the official かるぴんmusic YouTube channel.
The day keeps going after a mistake
The opening lyrics bring up oversleeping, sending an attachment again, and getting the left and right steps mixed up. These three do not always have everything under control.
After “good work today,” the song starts running toward the stage. I wanted their working lives and their performing lives to belong to the same people. The live show happens after the tiredness and the small mistakes of the day.
The track has hard hits and a driving beat. The rush into the chorus suits the move from their everyday routines to the stage.
Soft outlines and a slightly nostalgic palette
I was looking for an illustration style that belonged to these three and their city. I was not trying simply to erase every trace of how the images were made.
The colors have a slightly retro feel. Outlines are faint or sometimes absent, while larger shapes of color and shadow carry the figures. Akari’s pink, Mio’s blue, and Ruka’s yellow help you recognize them in both work clothes and stage outfits.
The audience changes with them
The chorus brings the three singers close to the camera. Their story, though, does not begin with a packed venue.
The first live show has visible empty seats, and the video they post has only a small number of plays. Then a message arrives: “I’ll come again.” The audience grows one person at a time. The numbers, the empty seats, and that short message all need room in the frame.
A good still can become a strange movement
Some problems only appeared once a still image became a moving shot: the angle of a notebook, the way a person stood up, or the order of footsteps. In one running shot, the ground looked wet even though the scene was dry.
I shortened the usable parts of those clips or changed shots. I also checked whether similar chorus images repeated too closely and whether very brief inserts made the video flicker. The lyrics, movement, and cut points needed to carry the story together.
Audio and lyrics: Japanese recording · English recording.
They meet after work, sing, and take one person’s words home with them. That is the small continuation of their day I wanted to put into the song and video.
Industrial / Japanese idol pop / pop-punkギリ好調！Open the song page for audio, lyrics, and notes.Explore this song →Thank you for reading.
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