ザアザア (XAA-XAA) was initially formed as SAA-SAA SESSION in 大阪 (Osaka) in October 2014, before changing to an official band in December of the same year. The original lineup consisted of vocalist 一葵 (Kazuki), guitarist 春芽 (Harume), bassist 零夜 (Reiya) and drummer ロ弍 (Roji), who left the band in 2017 before being replaced by 亞ん (An) shortly after.
The group combines intensity and lyricism in their music, describing a unique worldview with a strong narrative quality – essentially creating short stories with their songs. As they explained themselves, their concept is a combination of wanting to sing sad songs, but they also want to have the roughness of a punk atmosphere and the sadness one feels when it rains.
Their own description also applies to their latest digital single “ちぎれちゃう” (Chigirechau), which was released on June 9 of this year. Coming from the term ‘千切れる’ (chigireru), which means ‘to be torn off’ or ‘to be torn to pieces’, we can already see that we’re dealing with a sad story. And while this one isn’t as intense as, for example, my deep dives into the works of リリカ (Lyrica), I do want to point out that we’re covering a メンヘラ系 (Menhera Kei) group today. This means there might be topics that some of you might find disturbing. If this is not something you want to deal with, then please stop reading now.
With that warning out of the way, I want to repeat one more time that these articles look more into the lyrics and the stories they tell than the musical compositions of these songs. And with that being said, are you ready to dive into the world of ザアザア (XAA-XAA)? Then let’s go!
A puppet left behind, tattered and all alone
“ちぎれちゃう” (Chigirechau) combines a familiar carnival-esque rhythm with a heavier undertone, setting the scene for the story the lyrics are about to tell us. The story we’re being told is about a group of dolls, but mainly focuses on one of them.
“Come on over and take a look! Please enjoy these adorable dolls dancing so gracefully!”
The opening verse invites us to come and see the adorable dolls dancing, followed by inviting us to touch them, smile and search for them, but also asking “do you hate them?”
Throughout the song we see one doll taking the foreground in terms of narration, only realizing for the first time that she’s a human figure, while screaming over and over again that she’s not. She also says she’ll dance wildly for us, but she’s also asking for affirmation on being beautiful. Though the mental decline is clearly visible, especially through “Kiss me, quickly, quickly. Give me your vibrant lips. Your distorted face is so cute. It’s so beautiful, I want to destroy it.”
She repeats her words throughout the final verses of the song, the decline of her sanity slowly progressing. “The puppet continues to move, move, move, clatter, even today. From its sealed mouth, the cry of ‘help me’ will never be heard again…”
The music video shows the band wearing doll-like outfits while they perform the song and are wrapped in ropes, connecting the story of dolls even more with their visual performance. The video even starts with shots of all of them in a completely still position, much like (mechanical) dolls who have finished their routine and were left in that position until their next use, followed by the opening verse of “Come on over and take a look! Please enjoy watching these adorable dolls dancing so gracefully!”, which also launches our band-dolls to start their routine.
Throughout the video we see the members in different scenes, like the open area of a building (where we see them both as a group and as individual shots), but other scenes include some kind of altar and mannequins wearing wedding outfits, special effects like a movie reel and a pile of old televisions. To solidify the doll-theme even more we also see shots from a doll house here and there throughout the video.
In terms of transforming the lyrics into a visual story, the band didn’t have too much they could grasp on to. Even though I personally think there were options to create something closer to the lyrics than what we can see now. Regardless, the band has tried their very best to convey the main parts of their theme by performing the song while wrapped in ropes like puppeteer dolls, and the mental decline of our narrator doll has been represented very well by the different vocal styles from 一葵 (Kazuki).
Conclusion: The two of us are connected by a bright red thread
It is undeniable that ザアザア (XAA-XAA) have created a song with a very strong story that’s not hard to find within the lyrics – much like their concept of combining intensity with lyricism promised. Combined with a familiar rhythm to set the scene even more the song by itself is extremely accessible for fans of different styles of music. And while the music video left some to be desired for me personally, it doesn’t take away from the experience of the story they’re trying to tell.
The group uses a slogan that returns frequently in their social media posts, at the end of music videos and even on the original image for their look for this single:
If you have read my reviews in the past, you might have noticed that I don’t cover artists in the メンヘラ系 (Menhera Kei) genre very often. I’ve always felt like the deep dives into these works result in content that might be too ‘graphic’ or ‘disturbing’ for you, the readers. However, ザアザア (XAA-XAA)’s slogan turned out to be true for me personally, and I would love to tell you more about their world in the future, as well as other artists in this genre.
More about ザアザア (XAA-XAA)
 (XAA-XAA)       |  (Kazuki)  |  (Harume) |
 (Reiya) |  (An)  |