HALCALI Reflect on Viral Hit, 14-Year Hiatus, and Music Comeback with Billboard Japan

HALCALI spoke with Billboard Japan for the latest installment of its Women in Music interview series. The initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and entertainment and inspired other women through their work, following the footsteps of Billboard’s annual Women in Music honors. This series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project.

HALCA and YUCALI of HALCALI picked up the mic again for the first time in 14 years, after “Otsukare SUMMER,” a track from their 2003 album, went viral outside of Japan 22 years after its release. Now mothers, the two laugh as they describe that stretch of time — the one society labels a “career gap” — as nothing short of the best. Billboard Japan spoke with the pair, who opened up about the recent comeback and the years in between.

In the spring of 2025, when you found out that “Otsukare SUMMER” had gone viral overseas, where were you and what were you doing?

HALCA: Someone at the record label was the first to catch that the streaming numbers were moving. I think I was just at home, living my normal life. Then I got a LINE message like, “Hey, your play count is blowing up.” [ Laughs ]

YUCALI: My first reaction was, “Huh,” like it was someone else’s news. It wasn’t something that started in Japan and we hadn’t promoted it ourselves, so hearing that it was bubbling up organically from outside, I remember texting HALCA, saying, “Feels strange, doesn’t it?”

Was there a moment when it really hit you that this might be something huge?

HALCA: For me there were two. One was opening social media on my phone and having my feed fill up with people dancing to our song. I didn’t even have to go looking for it, it just came to me, and I thought, “This is really going viral!” [ Laughs ] The other was realizing how many people around me knew “Otsukare SUMMER” without knowing HALCALI at all. Knowing the song was being heard that widely around the world made me really happy.

“Otsukare SUMMER” wasn’t a single, and it never had a music video — it was a track on your first album.

YUCALI: At the time it came out, it was just a song on the album, but it was one we loved, so we kept putting it in our concert setlists almost every summer. It makes me happy to have a song that still holds up after all this time, one we can offer with real confidence. And because we’re now in an era where so many people can hear it through streaming, rather than one where you had to buy the album to hear it, people around the world discovered how good this song is. I’m really proud of that.

On Sept. 2, you released the new song “Guin Guin Guin,” tied in as the September “Song of the Month” for the TV show Synapshooo .

YUCALI: “Otsukare SUMMER” got us thinking about what we could do if we did something new as HALCALI. Since we’ve both become moms, we used to chat all the time about shows like Synapshooo , which our kids loved when they were babies, and about how nice it would be to make a song kids would enjoy. So I was really happy about that coming true.

HALCA: I’d always wanted to do something connected to children’s education. And if it could be through music or art, that would make it all the more meaningful for us to be the ones doing it, so I was really glad to receive this offer.

This reunites the two of you with O.T.F (RYO-Z and DJ FUMIYA of RIP SLYME), who are also now dads. Was the studio atmosphere different from the old days?

HALCA: Talk naturally turned to our kids, and what obviously changed was our working hours. We’d get together early, wrap up recording by evening, and head off to pick up the kids. Back in the day there were no limits, even late at night, but now everyone’s life revolves around their children. It was busy enough that it practically matched the lyrics. [ Laughs ]

YUCALI: The recording schedule itself was really tight too — we’d wrap a take after just a few tries, like, “OK, that’s it, let’s go pick up the kids!” [ Laughs ]

The hip-hop scene when you made your debut was even more male-dominated than it is now. What did that world look like through the eyes of two teenage girls?

HALCA: I was still in junior high at the time and stepped into the music industry not knowing which way was up, so honestly, that landscape just felt normal to me at the time. We were also lucky with the people around us in that we could trust the ones on our team, so I didn’t think about it much. But looking back now, yes, there really was a gender imbalance. It’s just that back then, it was simply “how things were.”

YUCALI: Some of the staff were like a second mother, staying close and looking out for us, and we were in such a fortunate environment that the topic of, “Isn’t it scary being two girls by yourselves?” never came up.

HALCA: We were a female duo and had each other, so I don’t think it bothered us that much even when most of the staff were men.

How did you feel about being boxed into a category like “female rapper”?

YUCALI: We were called “girls’ hip-hop.” But I don’t think it bothered us at all at the time. More like, “Oh, I guess that’s just how it is.”

HALCA: But I do think the term “female rapper” reveals that male-centered norms are treated as the standard. Japanese terms for female announcers, doctors, and actresses all have “woman” in them, separate from the generic words for those professions. It shows that women being in those positions still isn’t treated as a given.

There’s also the example of kanji with the “woman” radical. Words like “slave,” “entertainment/pleasure,” “marriage,” “jealousy” all use that radical. When you dig into why, they’re words born out of a male-dominated society that are still being used today, dragging those old values along with them.

People using those words, men and women alike, feel no discomfort or guilt about it, which is what makes it so deep-rooted. Society as a whole is what created words like that. But then again, the fact that a question like, “How do you feel about being labeled a female rapper?” gets asked today makes me think that maybe things are changing, little by little.

When you listen to your old songs from today’s perspective, do you notice anything?

HALCA: We were just talking about this the other day, actually. HALCALI’s songs back then had lines like “silky smooth hair” and…

YUCALI: ”Big boobs passing by,” stuff like that. [ Laughs ]

HALCA: Right. Lookism baked right into the lyrics — women with big breasts are good, women with silky hair are good, that kind of thing. Back then we may have meant it as playful wordplay, but looking at those lyrics now bothers me. I didn’t notice it at the time, but I was unconsciously accepting that kind of thing. I think being able to notice it now is because society is starting to require that we update ourselves.

Women’s life stages tend to have a big impact on their careers. What are your thoughts on that?

YUCALI: During HALCALI’s break, we went through things like marriage and motherhood, and raising kids brings up all kinds of feelings. We’ve gotten to taste that kind of happiness too, so I don’t think it’s been nothing but hardship.

HALCA: Becoming a mother really changed how I see society. Looking at society from the standpoint of “what can I do for my daughter,” I gradually came to think “what can I do for this society?” Doing what I do in HALCALI is one option available to me for the sake of the future my daughter will live in, so in that sense, it’s had a huge influence on me.

To the outside world, these 14 years are a “gap” in your career. What kind of time was it for the two of you?

HALCA: It was the best. [ Laughs ] The time people might consider a gap was the best in the sense that it let me face both myself and society. I think a life with some room to breathe is really wonderful. Doing what you love, looking for a hobby, or just not thinking about anything at all. It was fun.

YUCALI: The time we weren’t active as HALCALI never felt like a gap to me. Our lives went on as usual. As an extension of that, we learned all sorts of things and raised our kids, which feels like it enriched us. What’s more, we didn’t initiate this comeback. People wanted us back, and that’s what allowed us to do HALCALI again. I remember thinking how lucky we were for that to happen. Getting to show our kids what we’re like when we’re enjoying ourselves also makes me really happy.

Is there a difference between your expression 14 years ago and now?

HALCA: I’m now able to naturally empathize with how women feel, and stand in solidarity. I think there are things you only truly understand once you’ve become the person actually living them. Since I’m a woman and a mom, I might be able to empower people in the same position. That’s something I’ve become conscious of.

YUCALI: Back then it was nothing but fun, and I was only thinking about myself, but now I have kids and there’s a sense of responsibility that comes with having something to protect. My kids are watching too, wondering what kind of message their mom is going to put out into the world.

HALCA: I always try to be someone I wouldn’t be ashamed to have my daughter see.

What do you think is needed for women artists to shine even brighter?

HALCA: Women are beautiful as they are and already “shining,” so I don’t think there’s any need to try to “shine more.” That said, if “shine” here means career advancement or greater participation in society, then what’s needed isn’t something from the women themselves — it’s a fundamental overhaul of the social system, like increasing the proportion of women in decision-making positions. That would make it easier to return to work after becoming a mom, and would create a system where women can work and take leave more easily. There are things you can only understand once you’re the person actually living them. In that sense, I do think it’s pretty unnatural that decision-making spaces around policy are still so dominated by older men.

YUCALI: For me, it’s about women artists being able to keep their own pace. This time around, even after such a long break, so many people warmly welcomed us back into the media after 14 years, and getting to know that made me truly happy. It’s become fuel for what we do going forward, and I’d love for people to look at us and think that’s what “shining” looks like, as we enjoy things at our own pace while protecting what matters most to us.

What advice would you give to yourselves in your debut year, back in the days of “Tandem”?

HALCA: I’d want to tell her, “It’s OK to say whatever you’re thinking.” This is true even as adults, but especially for younger generations — they might want to speak up but often give up, thinking, “Mine might be the only minority opinion here, so never mind.” Saying what you actually think is hard, but trying to express it in your own way really matters. I hope that’s something she can carry with her.

YUCALI: We’ve really had so much fun doing this, so I want to say, “Just be yourself, and keep having fun exactly as you are.” [ Laughs ] Because 23 years later, a time will come when so many people are listening to our music. So I’d tell her, “Be confident and go for it.”

This interview by Rio Hirai first appeared on Billboard Japan

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/halcali-interview-otsukare-summer-viral-women-in-music-1236350120/)._