HALCALI is a Japanese hip-hop/rap/pop duo formed in 2002, made of members Halca (aka Haruka) and Yucali (aka Yukari). The duo debuted with their album Halcali Bacon, which reached #5 in the Oricon music ranking and made them the first female hip-hop duo to make the top ten in Japanese history. Their musical style was most known for its fast-paced, quirky feel and lyrics, though it's shifted into something more mature and streamlined over the years.
The duo released 5 studio albums, with the last being HALCALI no Okawari in 2012, after which both girls have appeared to move on to other careers.
Discography
Albums
- Halcali Bacon (2003)
- Ongaku no Susumenote (2004)
- HALCALI MIX (2005)
- Cyborg Oretachi note (2007)
- TOKYO GROOVE (2010)
- TOKYO CONNECTION (2011)
- HALCALI no Okawari note (2012)
Singles and EPs
- Tandem
- Electric Sensei
- Girigiri Surf Rider
- Strawberry Chips
- Marching March
- BABY BLUE!
- Tip Taps Tip
- Twinkle Star
- LOOK
- Toogenkyou / Lights, Camera. Action!
- It's PARTY TIME!
- Long Kiss Goodbye
- Re: Yasashii Kimochi
- Konya wa Boogie Back
- Endless Night / Yes
- You May Dream
- Roman Hikou
Tropes:
- Album Intro Track: HALCALI Bacon, Ongaku no Susume and HALCALI no Okawari all have them, with Bacons being more of an instrumental while Ongaku and Okawaris intros are short introductory raps.
- all lowercase letters: "endless lover's rain".
- Anime Theme Song: They've provided themes for Naruto Shippuden ("Long Kiss Goodbye"), Eureka Seven ("Tip Taps Tip"), Powerpuff Girls Z ("LOOK") and Getsumento Heiki Mina ("Lights, Camera, Action!").
- Beach Episode: "Girigiri Surf Rider" (though the music video seems to be set at a pier rather than a beach) and "Otsukare Summer".
- Break Up Song: "Long Kiss Goodbye" is from the perspective of a girl who realizes too late that the boyfriend she's broken up with she loved all along.
- While it's a bit more indirect, "Strawberry Chips" is implied to be about someone trying to get over a recent breakup during the holidays.
- Broken Record: "Oboroge Copy View".
- Call-Back: If you look at the different sides of the Rubix cube in the video for "LOOK", you can see Halca and Yucali dressed in their Christmas tree outfits from "Strawberry Chips".
- Cerebus Syndrome: While their discography doesn't get overly dark, their music from Cyborg Oretachi onwards starts taking on a more emotional and mature vibe in both themes and sound, but still keeping their signature sense of pep. Just compare "Tandem" to "YES", "Mabataki" or "Long Kiss Goodbye".
- Childhood Friends: Halca and Yucali have known each other since elementary school and went to the same dance school together before becoming HALCALI.
- Christmas Songs: "Strawberry Chips".
- Hip-Hop
- Medium Blending: "Electric Sensei"'s MV switches back and forth between live-action and animated cartoon versions of Halca and Yucali.
- Motor Mouth: While the speed of their rapping tends to depend on the song, they get particularly fast in "Electric Sensei", "BABY BLUE!", "LOOK ~Special Edition~", and "Long Kiss Goodbye".
- Never Bareheaded: A recurring element of Yucali's style of dress is some kind of hat, ranging from baseball caps to mini top hats.
- Performance Video: "Strawberry Chips" mainly focuses on the girls dancing in their Christmas tree outfits with assorted shenanigans during the bridges.
- Portmanteau: The group's name is Halca and Yucali's names combined.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Especially in their early years, Yucali portrayed herself with a more energetic and childish image (red) in contrast to Halca's more mature one (blue).
- Re-release the Song: HALCALI no Okawari features several songs from previous albums as part of its tracklist.
- Silly Love Songs: "BABY BLUE!" and "Giri Choco" are standout examples.
- Singer Namedrop: They seem to enjoy doing this a lot, particularly in "Ah HALCALI Sensation" "Halcalism CANDY HEARTS".
- A unique example is in the lyrics for "Twinkle Star", where one verse actually contains "Haruka" and "Yukari" as words.
- Singer-Songwriter: Averted in their early days, but from Cyborg Oretachi onwards they started writing their own rhymes and producing tracks themselves.
- Spoken Word in Music: "Shibafu" features a short poetry verse recited by Japanese poet Shuntaro Tanikawa.
- Stage Names: "Halca" and "Yucali" are stylized versions of their real names, Haruka and Yukari.
- Title Track: "Cyborg Oretachi" for Cyborg Oretachi.
- Vocal Tag Team: Of course.
