Japanese mannequin rap duo FEMM unveil new track ‘Sit Down’

Posted by Ashley Williams

Japanese mannequin rap duo FEMM have released an epic new video from their latest EP ‘404 Not Found’. An extended version of ‘Sit Down’ comes to life with a mind-blowing “How did they do that?” video that throws digital and analog elements crashing together – and shot entirely in one take. The video is available now on FEMM’s official YouTube channel.

Sit Down’ was produced by super-spicy Japanese bass duo HABANERO POSSE. The unsettling combination of tough female rap vocals over a fiercely raging industrial track feels startlingly fresh. In the new accompanying video, the track’s intense drop that rattles the eardrum and shakes the brain is beefed up even further by visuals on an epic scale.

The video was produced by 2ndFunction, who captured the video’s performance in one take with a fixed-angle single-camera shot. With AVC as the tech organizer, CG for the video was handled by BRDG members Scott Allen, Takayuki Miyatake and Kakuya Shiraishi, with lasers by Yamachang.

The video shows a live performance in which the members of FEMM interact in real-time with massive screens and other objects. On a stage 25 meters wide by 15 meters high, huge 3D objects fitted with LED screens move around and disappear or reappear, controlled via a technical production system called KINESYS. In the video’s multifaceted multimedia world, concepts such as size, dimensions, area and even gravity seem to deviate from the laws of physics, creating a new analog performance work where the lines between virtual and real are kept deliberately unclear.

As a girls’ anthem with a darkly humorous message, mannequin rap duo FEMM’s acclaimed breakthrough single ‘Fxxk Boyz Get Money’ found an audience with teens and influencers in the United States, quickly spreading around Europe, South America and Asia. FEMM’s debut album ‘Femm-Isation’ brought Japanese female rap to a whole new audience, reaching the Top 10 of Billboard’s World Albums chart in the US. 

Their latest EP ‘404 Not Found’ was released in November 2020. Its title is a reference to the error code that appears when a web page cannot be accessed, repurposed to imply “brand-new music that doesn’t exist (yet), no matter how hard you search for it”. As the title suggests, the EP combines dark trap tunes with a low center of gravity and videogame-fueled digital hip-hop to deliver a unique “hyper pop” style.

The EP’s sound was crafted in collaboration with producers such as Danny L Harle (Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama) and Star Boy (DaBaby, Lil Uzi Vert), while on the visual front FEMM have leaned on artists such as Weirdcore, a regular video collaborator of Aphex Twin who has also worked with Radiohead and The 1975.

This exciting approach continues with the clip for ‘Sit Down’. Check out FEMM’s new video to experience a world that has never before existed, a world that blurs the lines between humans and machines, borders and languages.