hi hello im dia (they/vi/it) 🏳️🌈 i'm 20 years young and i am proudly autistic over love live <3 i adore nico and liella!! i like to draw and play video games and listen to music! i yumeship with vivian banshee (ZZZ) and idm doubles. i usually post/rt art from love live, uma musume, animal crossing, zenless zone zero, mlp, or anything else i enjoy at the moment (●'◡'●) my favorite artists are lemon demon and coaltar of the deepers, my favorite animals are red pandas and whale sharks, and my favorite characters are nico yazawa, sumire heanna, and vivian banshee!! feel free to dm me, i hope im not unapproachable (∩^o^)⊃━☆
doodle requests: open!
"It (Hyper Glowing!) Gave Us a Chance to Discover a Whole New Side of Liella!"
Liella! is the eleven-member school idol group born from Love Live! Superstar!!, the fourth main installment in the Love Live! multimedia franchise.
Even after the third season of the TV anime finished airing, they have maintained an energetic live schedule, headlining solo concerts at venues like Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 1 and Yokohama Arena while also taking the stage at anime events, idol festivals, and numerous rock fests. Now the group, known for the sheer heat of its live performances, is set to make its first appearance at Lucky Fes 2026. What kind of stage will they bring? Starting with their newly released mini album, we sat down with Date Sayuri, Aoyama Nagisa, and Yuina to hear how they are gearing up for Lucky Fes 2026.
──The "Liella! to Musubu Project" has kicked off. What kind of project is it?
Date: The Liella! members (characters) live around Harajuku, Shibuya, and Omotesando. We've always treasured the word musubu, "connecting," throughout our activities, and we thought it would be lovely if fans stepping into those neighborhoods could feel that much closer to the girls, like, "wait, they might have been standing right here." It's a project that ties the members, the town, and everyone together. That's why the jacket art this time has Harajuku as its backdrop.
Yuina: Telling the story of your bond with your home turf through song is something only school idols based around Harajuku could pull off. So I'm full of this feeling of wanting to liven up Harajuku even more, right alongside the member I play.
Aoyama: This time, our fans voted to split us into three groups. Members who didn't interact much in the TV anime or from our usual units get to show brand new dynamics, and that makes me really happy. There were fresh discoveries too, like "oh, so she actually talks about this kind of stuff with her," even with members who barely shared a scene in the anime. It gave us a chance to discover a whole new side of Liella!, so it's something I want to treasure.
──The title track "Hyper Glowing!", sung by all eleven members, rides a cutting-edge beat unlike anything you've done before.
Date: When I first heard it, I thought, this is seriously difficult, because all of us have to match each other's breathing. Unless we cast members truly became one in spirit and deepened our bond even further, it would end up sounding like we were just... singing it. On top of that, the lyrics speak about where we're headed and where we've been, so in that sense too, I felt it was a song that demands a lot.
Yuina: So thoughtful! I didn't think about any of that, I just went "this sounds fun!" (laughs) It felt like all the best parts of Liella! so far, packed tightly into one song, it got the coolness of "Aspire" and "Jump Into the New World," the sparkle of "Star Sengen"...And the moment I realized the word "Liella!" is in the lyrics, I went "yay!" Until now, the only place I'd ever heard people shouting "Liella!" was in the encore calls, so being able to shout "Liella!" together with everyone makes me so happy. I'm already so excited just thinking about it.
Aoyama: What struck me was how much of the lyrics rhyme. It makes the song easy to sing and easy to remember. And then there are spots where words you'd normally write in katakana are deliberately written in hiragana for a pop, adorable feel. You can really tell from that that the Liella! girls live around Harajuku, Shibuya, Omotesando, and Aoyama, and it made me love the song even more.
──Which lyric made you feel that way in particular?
Aoyama: The way "panchi da" is written in hiragana felt so high-school-girl to me. I bet they'd stop writing it that way once they hit college. Exactly because they're high schoolers, I couldn't help imagining them working out the lyrics going, "wait, isn't this way cuter?"
Yuina: My favorite is the rap part. The line that goes, 《オリジナルなジャンルなの 全部正解！》 ("We're each our own original genre, every one of us is the right answer!"). It feels like it captures how all eleven of them affirm each other's individuality, each one standing here with real confidence. Hearing it gave me strength... it let me feel like I'm fine just the way I am. I really love that lyric.
Date: The lyric 《できるの？できないの？とかじゃないの もっと光りたい、笑いたい、それだけでいいんだ！》 ("It's not about whether you can or can't... I want to shine brighter, laugh harder, and that's all I need!") is exactly right, I think. It's the very first message I received when I joined Liella!, and even now, having the girls tell me this feeling matters most makes me happy. Liella! is back-to-back Love Live! champions, superstars who might look completely out of reach, but when people like that tell you this is what matters most, it gives you courage. It's a really fast-paced part to sing, but it's a lyric that makes me want to work hard, so it comes across as pure fun.
──And you sing the line 《最強！》 ("invincible!") with your chests puffed out, like true superstars.
Yuina: Even in the recording booth, I was singing it thinking, "I AM invincible" (laughs). I must have been positively glowing.
Aoyama: You always are!
Date: Always sparkling.
Yuina: Ahaha. When I record upbeat songs, I like to turn the studio lights up bright, and for this one, I had them at maximum, singing with my chin up the whole time. I think the confidence really comes through.
Aoyama: The sound on this track is intense, with a beat that just pounds through you, and it was so much fun that during recording I deliberately had the instrumental turned up and sang along, riding the groove. That fast-paced section in the middle especially... I felt I couldn't ride it properly unless I let my emotions out, so I had it absolutely blasting. That said, Ren-chan (Hazuki Ren) is a girl who sings gracefully and elegantly, so...
──You don't exactly picture her dancing to two-step and trance beats.
Aoyama: Exactly. Arashi Chisato and Onitsuka Natsumi are the ones I can picture really getting into it, so I sang while trying to edge closer to their vibe, all the while thinking about how to keep Ren-chan's signature elegance. I took it on doing little steps and dancing along, never forgetting what makes Ren, Ren.
Date: I was surprisingly torn over how to sing this as Kanon (Shibuya Kanon), too. Should I go with her usual sparkling, smiley feel, or with her brows set and serious? I couldn't decide which was right, but since this is the title track of the "Liella! to Musubu Project," I settled on singing it as the one pulling everyone forward. So I dialed the smile back a bit compared to usual. Kanon has that image of leading with a smile, but when she shifts into an even higher gear, I think she's the type to trade the smile for full seriousness, so I sang carrying that tension... with just a little room to breathe in there, too. It was a genuinely tricky part, but I think I found a new side of her.
▲Date Sayuri
──Now, this time you're split into three teams, so tell us about each one. What kind of team is Team Kodomo?
Date: It's a team that needs nothing but smiles, basically. What children need is a pure heart, a smile, and hope. The members are all high schoolers, and high schoolers are still plenty young, but even so, there's a childlike innocence you inevitably lose somewhere along the way, right?
Yuina: Ahaha. So true.
Date: Life keeps you chasing after things, and stuff you used to do with a smile becomes stuff you can't do as an adult because you worry about how you look, or you stop being able to express yourself freely... We were always the ones learning about that from the high schoolers Kanon and the others, but this time it's Kanon and the girls learning it from kids younger than them. It's such an essential mindset for chasing what you want in life. So I sang "Tokubetsu ja Nai Mahou" while recalling scenes from when Kanon was little. Imagining present-day Kanon singing together with her tiny childhood self. Thinking, maybe this is how she used to sing, with that pure smile, before she came to carry her trauma.
Yuina: It's such a cute song. It makes you want to wave your hands along, and I really do think even tiny kids could sing it together. The team is full of members with adorable voices, so just listening is healing, and I think it's become a song that lets everyone remember being little, whatever their age. Before you know it, your heart's gone all floaty and the corners of your mouth are turned up. It was just lovely.
Aoyama: The lyrics use so many genuinely simple words, don't they? Word choices even a kindergartner could listen to and fully understand. I found it wonderful how they take plain, honest feelings like "let's sing" and "this is fun" and put them straight into words, just as they are.
Yuina: The line endings are gentle, too.
Aoyama: Like it's speaking softly to you. It's a song that leaves you feeling warm inside.
▲Yuina
──Thank you. Next up, what about Team Sports?
Yuina: Their teamwork is incredible. Say we have to deliver the same phrase in unison on the radio: these four will absolutely nail it clean on the first take, and it feels so good. Cheering someone on is all about becoming one in heart, and I feel like this group is packed with exactly that.
──It's the team that cheers on people giving their all in sports, right?
Yuina: That's right. But while the athletes are obviously the stars, I think the people cheering them on are stars too. That's actually the thing we've come to feel most strongly through our own activities. If the people supporting us ever dropped to zero, there's simply no way we could keep going, so we feel the sheer power of that support every single day. We're always hoping to deliver smiles and energy through song, but being able to deliver a phrase as direct as "you've got this" is something only Team Sports can do, I think. It's a group that wants to send everyone energy and let them know they're not alone.
──"Winds of YELL" has also turned out to be an anthem everyone can sing along to.
Yuina: The track even has everyone's "wow oh oh oh oh oh" voices in it. To me, it felt like a song that stays close by your side and gives your back a gentle push, like the wind. It's one of those songs where, strangely, power just quietly wells up inside you, so I'd be really happy if it reaches people who are actually out there doing sports.
Aoyama: It has such a refreshing feel, doesn't it? I think it pushes people forward in a way that says, "we know how much work you've put in, so believe in yourself." For people already trying their hardest, it never piles on pressure; it just leaves you feeling positive, like, okay, let's do this. It struck me as the kind of song you'd want to hear when starting something new or taking on something you're not good at.
Date: First of all, the members singing it are girls who genuinely look at home drenched in sweat. It's a cheer song from girls who are always sweating it out, giving everything to what's right in front of them. You know how Olympic athletes sometimes go on to become coaches? It reminded me of that. They know an athlete's pain and their joy, and that's exactly what makes it convincing. It's not just cheering, it carries the power of being cheered on by people who've been through the hard parts themselves.
Yuina: That makes me happy to hear. I love the lyric 《見えないところで重ねてきた日々ひとりぼっちな気がしちゃう》 ("all those days of effort no one ever sees... it starts to feel like you're all alone"). Every time I hear that part, my chest tightens and I nearly cry. The four of us have a LINE group, and the first time we all listened to it, everyone was messaging, "oh no, I'm gonna cry." I think it hits each of us somewhere personal, so I'll do my best to deliver this feeling exactly as it is.
▲Aoyama Nagisa
──Lastly, please introduce Team Midori.
Aoyama: It's a team of three calm, collected girls. The type who look at things with a cool head, and they're always researching different ways to raise plants. On the radio and in all sorts of places, the story unfolds with these three together, and they hold conversations using seriously difficult vocabulary.
Yuina: Right? It's amazing.
Date: I can't even follow what they're saying (laughs).
TL Note: Girl me too...
Aoyama: Even the katakana terms are hard, like, "people actually use these words in daily life?" You can really feel these three are the brainy ones. And the song they sing, "Mebae," is this track with a stylish piano sound, but before recording, the three of us were going, "isn't this insanely hard?" The melody is difficult, and there was a request for us to come into the chorus in our natural (chest) voice. It's a really high note, but I practiced so I could sing it crisply, smoothly, gently, in step with the music.
Yuina: It looked like a real struggle. (Ookuma) Wakana recorded right before me, and that's where I heard the song for the first time. There are so, so many chorus layers. I thought, this is something only these three could do. But if they ever had to do those harmonies live, that would be tough. Wakana was saying, 'Nagi, you've got this. Nagi can harmonize, after all.'
Aoyama: Hey, you sing them too! (laughs) There are tons of harmony parts, and all three of our voices sit in this calm register, so part of me thinks harmonizing live would be a blast... and part of me goes, no, this is hard.
Yuina: But listening to it, it's so breezy you'd never guess how difficult it is, and the three voices blend together beautifully. There's this softness, like being wrapped up in it, that just feels good to listen to. It made me want to hear it while strolling through a forest.
Aoyama: The lyrics are positive, but there's a slightly darker side to them, too. At the start, the flower has wilted. But the story is that if you tend it with care through the seasons, it will bloom again. I thought, I might never have heard words this melancholy in a Liella! song before, so it felt a little fresh.
Date: All three of their voices are so gorgeous, like 200% purity, that I wanted to sit down and analyze every one of their timbres. Absurdly beautiful. And yet these three can handle more than just gentle songs, so you feel that range, too. The lyrics give you a little nudge forward, but honestly, my heart got completely stolen by the voices themselves. It's stylish, too. Team Kodomo's lyrics were the simple, direct kind, so I liked how this one just casually slips English into the lyrics.
Aoyama: All we say is "Round and Round" (laughs).
Yuina: Ahaha. True, in "Tokubetsu ja Nai Mahou," even the "la la la la" is in hiragana.
Date: Kids don't say "Round and Round," you know! Everyone on Team Kodomo sang more clearly enunciated than usual, which is exactly why it's so easy on the ears, but Team Midori has this slightly loosened, flowing quality. The soft, supple way they use their tongues is so stylish it's soothing to listen to, and there's even a bit of an ASMR quality to it. It was great.
──With all four songs together, how do you hope they reach the fans?
Aoyama: Every song differs in direction and theme, so even though it's just four tracks, I think it's turned out to be a really substantial release. As for me, I'm already looking forward to the live shows. I can't wait to perform them myself, and precisely because we're on different teams, I couldn't help thinking I'd love to peek in on the other teams' rehearsals.
Yuina: There are songs here that will really hit home, not just for people who know the TV anime, but even for people who haven't met Liella! yet. Every track has a different flavor, so there's bound to be a genre in there you'll love. From kids to grown-ups, I hope it reaches the widest possible range of people, and I'm confident that when it does, something in it will hit home for them too.
Date: A while back, our units each toured regional fan meetings separately (TL Note: Unit Fan Meet). Honestly, I was worried we'd end up drifting apart after finally becoming eleven, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. When we all gathered again, our bond had deepened even though we hadn't seen each other. So this time too, I can't wait to see what "Hyper Glowing!" turns into after Team Kodomo, Sports, and Midori have each gone off and done their own thing.
──And on August 9, you'll be performing at Lucky Fes 2026. Could you tell us how you're feeling ahead of your first stage there?
Yuina: I can't wait!
Date: The acts before and after us are insane, right?
Aoyama: When the lineup was announced, I honestly thought, "are we... allowed to be here?" (laughs) That's how stacked the bill is; the members were literally having that conversation. We're truly grateful to be given such a huge stage. And really, without the people cheering us on, we would never get to stand on stages like this, so I want to convey our gratitude to everyone who supports Liella! day in and day out. I want to express that through our performance.
Yuina: It's true, the lineup overwhelmed me too, but since we've been given this chance, I feel it would actually be rude to step onto that stage without confidence. So until then, all eleven of us, all twenty-two of us, will pull together and work as hard as we can to build a stage worth being proud of. That day, that place, that stage happens only once, so I want to enjoy it to the fullest and give it everything we've got.
Date: You know, Liella! has girls from Ibaraki.
──The Onitsuka sisters commute from Ushiku all the way to Omotesando. The Liella! members have even visited their house in Ushiku.
Date: Exactly. That's one more thing to be thankful for, and I think it might let people feel close to the members from a different angle than usual. Beyond that, of course I want our fans to have a blast, but I'm sure the crowd will mostly be people meeting us for the first time, so first and foremost, I hope they walk away remembering the name Liella!. And it's a summer fest, so obviously we've got to blow the roof off, right? We don't know yet which songs we're bringing, but I want to properly express the spirit that Liella! and school idols hold dear: "enjoying this very moment." Of course we'll be nervous, but it'd be a waste not to have fun, so I want to take that stage without ever forgetting our gratitude.
Yuina: It IS nerve-wracking. But I'm pretty sure Margarete would just say, "With me here, we are invincible."
Date: True. We'll let Margarete drag us along.
Aoyama: (laughs) No no, Kanon-chan, we're counting on you!
Date: Her legs are definitely going to be shaking.
Yuina: Ahaha. But really, I can't wait. We'll give it our all!!
