Meiyili Buds: Break the dimensional wall

Some people describe the status of this song in the two-dimensional world

"The Most Dazzling National Style", which is equivalent to the legend of the phoenix in the field of square dance

The lights suddenly came on, and on the stage, a petite female singer dressed in a Chinese costume began to dance to the music. As soon as she spoke, her rich singing voice attracted attention, and in less than two minutes, she held the microphone, sang and danced in Japanese, stepped on the rhythm precisely, and when the last note fell, she showed a sweet smile in the camera, looking at ease. After such intense dance moves, she is still calm and relaxed, and even her hair is not messy.

This is the broadcast video of the variety show "Riding the Wind 2023" on May 5, 2023. After the performance aired, the name of singer Mei Yi Liya quickly made social media headlines. Many people were infected by her excellent singing and dancing ability and vitality, and her work "Pure Land of Bliss" began to spread more widely.

Even so, most Chinese still don't know the origin of Meiyili Buds. The 31-year-old has been debuting in Japan for many years and is the lead singer of the Japanese duo GRARNiDELiA. Previously, she became popular once on the Internet in China. In April 2016, a video of Mei Yi Liya and two "Maimi" (video website dancers) dancing with the background music of "Pure Land of Bliss" suddenly went viral, and her dance step "Butterfly Step" became a classic move, and since then, people have often posted their flip "Pure Land of Bliss" online for sharing. Some people describe that the status of this song in the two-dimensional world is equivalent to the "most dazzling national style" of the phoenix legend in the field of square dance.

After becoming popular again with her performance in Riding the Wind 2023, Mei Yiliya is now performing around China with her band partner, composer Toku, as she prepares to tour. Starting September 22, 2023, their group GRARNiDELiA will host a series of shows called "Stella Ship" in four cities: Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing and Shanghai, and tickets are currently sold out.

In Japan, Mei Yi Liya was originally a well-known singer in the field of two-dimensional and has been singing songs for anime and animation, so her two popularity in China is inseparable from the support of the two-dimensional fan group who is familiar with her. In addition to the background of two-dimensional audience support, Mei Yi Liya's personal story is actually not bizarre. She started as a small singer and honed for ten years to find a stage that suits her. In the end, her unswerving and always-positive attitude towards opportunities made her a success.

Screenshot of the promotional video of Mei Yi Li Bud participating in "Riding the Wind 2023".

Represents the shock brought by the second dimension

Now, recalling the first time "Pure Land of Elysium" became popular in the Internet world in 2016, Mei Yiliya still feels unreal. "At that time, I didn't feel real at all." Huh? Are you sure? It feels like that. She told China Newsweek. And until now, she is still not very comfortable with this popularity. In July 2023, when a Japanese TV station interviewed Mei Yi Liya and her partner Teku, mentioning the status of their songs as household names in China, Mei Yi Liya recalled the moment when she was recognized on the streets of China, still wondering: Is this true?

No matter what the singer himself thinks, China's two-dimensional group must remember the first popularity of "Pure Land of Bliss" in 2016. That year, it was they who, with their own strength, raised the popularity of this song. Two-dimensional group refers to the fans of virtual world spiritual products such as animation, comics, video games, and online novels, these people may be quiet, introverted, and not good at communication in real life, but many of them have their own unique hobbies and talents. This group has also spawned many interesting subcultural hobbies, such as "house dance". Around 2008, this kind of dance video called "house dance" began to appear on the Japanese video website NICONICO, which is generally based on the soundtrack in anime, animation or game works, and netizens design their own movements at home, perform, shoot, and upload by themselves. "Otaku dance" has been popular for many years, spreading from overseas to China, and it is also performed at anime exhibitions around the world.

In 2016, "Pure Land of Bliss" became popular all over the world as a performer of "house dance" works. At that time, almost all Chinese two-dimensional teenagers who were still in junior high school and high school had memories of being "brainwashed" by the strong rhythm of the song on video websites, and they were also deeply attracted by Mei Yi Liya's costume styling and dance steps. Seven years later, their memories were inspired by Mei Yi Liya's performance in "Riding the Wind 2023". In order to help Mei Yi Liya, who is also a "two-dimensional little friend", increase the popularity of the show, many netizens began to organize relatives and friends to vote for her. In this way, Mei Yi Liya has attracted the attention of the media and the public as a popular king.

According to the barrage comment often posted by netizens, the popularity value of tens of millions is only a "small two-dimensional shock" brought by the two-dimensional group. "Pure Land of Bliss" is a good memory of their carefree youth, and now that they have grown up, they have really broken the dimensional wall. As film critic Tan Fei said: "Mei Yi Liya and her "Pure Land of Bliss" have become a special cultural symbol with emotional memory on the global Internet in the long-term subcultural discussion, creation and change. In this way, Pure Land of Elysium has been thoroughly expanded into the realm of reality. Now in the videos of social networking sites, people can even see that middle-aged and elderly people dancing in Shanghai have begun to dance with "Pure Land of Bliss", without the slightest sense of discord.

"Hardship is inevitable"

What few people know is that Mei Yili Bud, who is young and cute in appearance, is not the kind of idol singer who has been strictly trained by large companies. When she was not yet famous, she was once just a little lonely little singer, although she was quite talented and debuted since childhood, but she failed to catch fire several times. Over the years, she often left her hometown alone to participate in performances, and she had few memories of her hometown, and she was used to solving problems independently.

In January 1992, Mei Yi Liya was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, and has been outgoing and lively since childhood. At that time, she liked to watch the cartoon "Sailor Moon" the most, and she loved to imitate the transformation part of the film. At the age of 11, when she was still in school, she began to sing episodes for cartoons as a member of a girl group. At the age of 13, she joined a jazz singing group "Harajuku BJ Girls". Although she debuted early and was also talented, and even sang the ending song of the well-known TV animation "Pokémon: Diamonds and Pearls", after several turns, her work still failed to stir up a splash.

It wasn't until 2010 that Mei Yi Liya met a real like-minded partner. At that time, the composer Teku was introduced to Mei Yili Bud, who was still using the original name Mizuhashi Dance at that time. Teku is a standard "two-dimensional" person who has been writing songs since he was 18 years old and has created many animations and anime soundtracks. When he met Mei Yi Li Ya, Teku urgently needed to find a lead singer suitable for forming a group with him, so they exchanged works for each other. Teku quickly sensed that this female voice was what he was looking for, and he firmly believed that the two of them would have chemistry in music.

The two-person group was eventually named GRARNiDELiA. This awkward name, which comes from the French "Le Palais Garnier de Maria" ("Le Palais Garnier de Maria") and the name of an asteroid discovered the year of Teku's birth, is a combination of these two words. Mei Yi Liya also changed her name to MARiA, which is a combination of the initials M of her name and the title of her first song released on the group, "ARiA". The name MARiA transliterated to Chinese, became known as "Mei Yi Li Bud".

From the perspective of the complexity of the group's names, Mei Yi Liya and Teku have a strong two-dimensional personality color, and they are both people who care about their interests and hobbies. Mei Yi Liya, who likes hot-blooded, passionate-style anime, has a warm and cheerful personality, and Terku, who loves Miyazaki's works, is quiet and rational. They have very different personalities and age differences, but they are unexpectedly harmonious together. Many of the songs were composed by Teku and lyrics by Mei Yi Li Bud. Teku feels that Mei Yi Liya is very capable and cute, and Mei Yi Liya feels that Mei Yi Liya is very knowledgeable and sincerely appreciates his dedication to music.

Although the two people worked together tacitly, at the beginning, the development of the entire group was not smooth. GRARNiDELiA has published a lot of works and accumulated a certain fan base, but there has been no fire for several years. In Japan, the high standards of the music industry make many singers strict with themselves, dare not slack, and have been exercising their singing and dancing ability. Meili Bud is also one of them. In addition to singing, she also started doing "Maimi" (video site dancer) on the NICONICO website, recording "house dance" videos with the group's songs. This is not Mei Yi Liya's business, but she also does it very seriously, and can even design beautiful dance costumes to attract the audience's attention with visual effects.

The Internet does bring new opportunities. After the first round of "Pure Land of Bliss" exploded in the two-dimensional world, GRARNiDELiA began to perform more overseas. China, with a large population and a large base of two-dimensional people, has become an important market for them. In addition to comic book performances and tours, they have participated in large-scale concerts held by "Station B" on the birthday of the website many times, and each appearance has been very popular. Although the global tour became difficult in the years when the pandemic hit, and the two spent a period of time without a chance to perform, fortunately they are still waiting for a new opportunity.

Perhaps because of her early experience, Mei Yiliya has already had a normal mind for everything. "The current environment is a networked society and competition is fierce, so how to show individuality and find what only you can do has become an important issue. But as far as the music industry is concerned, I think it's not just Japan, it's the whole world. There are many people who are pursuing the same goal, so I think that the hardships of this road are inevitable. She told China Newsweek.

Sing "I love you" with Chinese

Facts have proved that Mei Yi Liya's success in China is not a flash in the pan, and her understanding and affection for China, and the efforts to integrate into Chinese culture, are more than people think. Later, she and singer Gong Linna teamed up to sing the bilingual Chinese and Japanese version of "Sea of Flowers", and in this performance, people were surprised to see that Mei Yi Liya, Chinese whose pronunciation was not very standard, memorized complex Chinese lyrics in a short time, and injected deep emotions into the singing.

This is due to the fact that Mei Yi Li Bud has been learning about Chinese. She is proficient in Chinese pinyin, and she can roughly pronounce many words even if she does not know the meaning. She and Teku regularly post fun videos of learning Chinese vocabulary, and the two even learned the pure Northeastern dialect of "look at you". In 2018, in order to thank Chinese fans for their support, the two also specially created the Chinese-style song "Taoyuan Love Song". Among them, Mei Yiliya specially wrote a Chinese lyric "I love you", and Teku incorporated erhu performance into the arrangement. And in the version of "Pure Land of Bliss" that she sang in the Chinese program, there is also a specially modified Chinese lyrics.

Through the lens of the reality show, the audience was surprised to see that this exotic girl can always open her heart and release her enthusiasm even when she does not understand the language. In the show, the partners competing in the competition come from different countries, some speak Chinese, some speak Korean or English, and some speak Vietnamese. But Mei Yi Liya has no social pressure, if she can't understand when chatting, she either cooperates with each other with a smile, or "gestures" with her body, making everyone laugh with her straight strength. Chinese cuisine has also unexpectedly become the "language" of Mei Yi Li Bud in China. Her taste has always been heavier, and she likes Chinese spicy food and baijiu the most. Every time she eats, her eyes will shine, and when her stomach bulges, she will humorously show her little belly to the audience.

This strong communication ability across languages may be due to Mei Yili's slightly depressed childhood life. She mentioned that when she was a child, she was often home alone because everyone in her family had to go out to work. "I know the loneliness and sadness of being alone, so hopefully everyone around me will laugh. It was because of this that I began to actively talk to everyone, and I could not ignore those who were depressed or distressed. Mei Yi Liya told China Newsweek.

Through vigorous and heart-to-heart communication, Meiyiliya has gained more opportunities and new friends in China. In July, in a music variety show in China, Phoenix Legend collaborated with GRARNiDELiA to combine "The Most Dazzling National Style" and "Pure Land of Bliss" into one song, and Phoenix Legend's lead singer Linghua learned her signature "Butterfly Step" with Mei Yi Liya on the spot. This performance was ridiculed by netizens as a wonderful combination like "sashimi with Sichuan hot pot".

Singing and dancing is Mei Yili's heartfelt love, and the unrestrained space in the two-dimensional world provides a talented and interesting person like her with the opportunity to publish works and change reality. As she wrote the lyrics in "The Pure Land of Bliss": "Like a dream, you still can't tell the difference, there is no virtual and real world, go to the Pure Land of Bliss together." Now, she has really realized her ideal, and can swim in the real world and virtual world at the same time with those friends who also have unique souls and two-dimensional worlds.

(Thanks to Japanese translator Yang Yahong for their assistance in this article)

Reporter: Qiu Guangyu

Source: China Newsweek