Amazarashi is a major Japanese rock band. Their satirical yet poetic lyrics criticize today’s digital media, and address issues such as the darkness lurking in social media and the value of life in an advanced information society. Their passion has won the band many fans. Our mission was to translate the band’s values into an experience, to build solidarity, and to strengthen the connection between the band and its fans.

We focused on the word hypersensitivity prevalent on social media, where any radical comment or controversial opinion sparks an uproar, and where mutual surveillance suppresses freedom of speech. Our mission was to alert listeners to the dangers of hypersensitivity on social media, to communicate amazarashi’s faith in the power of lyrics and speech, and to build solidarity with its message of “taking back your words.”

The target audience was amazarashi’s listeners, and those with an interest in amazarashi’s music. By creating an interactive experience that highlighted the artists’ awareness of these social issues, our objective was to create an impact on the audience, and synchronize the band and its listeners.

First, we released a novel of the rock opera. It depicted a society that censored any controversial expressions, and the counteraction of the Resistance armed with smartphones.

We brought this dystopia to real life. We released a censored lead single and music video. Noise was added to the songs, making it impossible to comprehend the lyrics.

On the day of the concert, the artists and their stage were censored with a square cage and all lyric visuals were censored.

We gave them a hacking app that controlled the mobile flash and collectively generated giant light patterns capable of removing censorship.The united resistance of over 10,000 listeners led to the lead single finally being unveiled.

“Take back your words!” The message of the lead single flooded the mobile screens.This immersive and interactive experience strongly engaged the musicians and listeners, causing them to make the issue their own.

- Almost all 10,000-plus concert attendees installed the app and joined the anti-censorship resistance.

- Over 132K Tweets about this project

- The music videos were played over 1 million times.