How do you relax in a good way during a stressful period? How do you fall asleep in the best way? Some people use ASMR videos for this. In a previous article it was discussed the situation with ASMR and its diversity, it’s not just tapping with the nails.
But what is it like to be scolded by your Visual Kei boyfriend while he is cleaning your ears? Visual Kei band POIDOL started off a while ago with an ASMR video series on the YouTube channel of GOEMON RECORDS, their record label, where each band member makes a separate ASMR video with the hope that this is soothing for their fans. In the first four videos, the bandmen in their recognisable outfits, which belong to the single パライゾ (Paraiso), are busy cleaning the ears. These should be your ears.
While guitarist Souta, bassist Ran and drummer Takuto are very careful with a bonten (a Japanese fluffy ear pick), vocalist Nana is too rough in the (thankfully silicone) ears to poke. Maybe he’s a bit too enthusiastic, but maybe it’s good to know that you shouldn’t go to him for the so-called mimikaki.
It is also known that you don’t have to go to Ran for a haircut, unless you want to have a very special haircut, because in an ASMR video he knows how to screw up a blonde wig with long hair by cutting it a bit randomly. He doesn’t know how to handle the scissors very well either. But the result is a video full of cutting sounds, which is very popular in the ASMR world. So the mission is successful?
While the bandmen in the first videos are still a bit uncomfortable with how to handle an ear pick, at a later stage they seem to know more about what they are doing. In later videos, where other objects are used to create soothing sounds, the band members seem to have more fun making these kinds of videos.
A must-see in the series is Souta who enjoys playing with a lot of bubble wrap. While he carefully tries to pop a bubble of air with a smile by pressing on it, he seems unprepared when there is finally one popped. It’s a fun activity for many, it’s also a good distraction. At the end of the video, Souta doesn’t settle for one pop at a time anymore and he twists parts of the foil for several soft pops.
It is clear that someone has done good research on the popular ASMR videos, because so far videos with objects that are popular in the ASMR world have been published, including ear cleaning and cutting sounds with the scissors.
GOEMON RECORDS and POIDOL made the right choice to make such ASMR videos of all band members for the fans. It gives a different view of the band members, who normally make themselves heard on stage in a loud way. Whether it is soothing or not is different for everyone. But as the popularity of ASMR videos seems to be growing, this was a very good move. The videos are not too long in duration, between 9 and 13 minutes, and are therefore good to watch and listen to in between. In addition, the videos can be watched for the free and if you are not familiar with the music of POIDOL, then perhaps this is a surprising way to get acquainted with them.
It looks like the ASMR series has ended by now, since the very last ASMR video got published on 13 July and POIDOL has recently started promoting the new single IDOL. On the same day, 13 July the full version of パライゾ (Paraiso) was published, totally the opposite of the ASMR videos.
Source: GOEMON RECORDS
