It isn’t uncommon for hololive Vtubers to take part in concerts and performances. After all, there’s the concert every year at the Super Expo in Japan. However, it is a special occasion when a region or group gets their first one. The hololive English 1st Concert: Connect the World was held on July 2, 2023, for example, and it featured some members of the Indonesian branch as special guests. To learn more about what goes into preparations for and a performance like this, Siliconera spoke with hololive ID Vtubers Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Pavolia Reine.
Jenni Lada: How do you feel about being able to participate in hololive English 1st Concert: Connect the World?
Ayunda Risu: It was very exciting! It’s really an honor to be invited!
Moona Hoshinova: It was an honor, I was so happy when I’ve got the invitation to participate. I hope everyone enjoy our performance.
Pavolia Reine: I was really surprised when I heard the news and beyond excited to perform!
How do preparations work for a concert like this given the difference between timezones?
Ayunda Risu: It was kinda tough at first due to different timezones. But we managed to get used to it with the help of all the staff related to the event, especially on giving us clear and understandable schedule and instructions.
Moona Hoshinova: Sometimes we have to wake up pretty early because of the timezones, but I think we managed it pretty well. All the staff really nice and helpful that makes every work easier.
Pavolia Reine: I think it’s normal and I’m personally used to getting together or having to show up at probably unusual hours from past collabs and events. That made it easier for me, not to mention the staff were very accommodating so I’m very grateful.
What kind of input do you, as performers, get to have when preparing for appearances during concerts? For example, do you get to help with music arrangements or choreography for dances?
Ayunda Risu: I usually take parts on lyrics and music arrangement. I usually give most of my inputs in that aspect. I give ideas on how it would sound nice later during the concert and how I want to sound like when singing.
Moona Hoshinova: I usually give my inputs on choreography, like the dance and the formation of our choreography, make sure everything looks good.
Pavolia Reine: I get to discuss with other performers on song selection, and usually more of the detailed stuff. Why are we choosing this song, how are we singing it, as well as how we’re performing; I think it’s nice that we get to have a degree of freedom to do this.
All three of you have performed original and covers songs solo, as well as for ensembles. What kind of vocal training and preparations do you each do before preparing for recording and an event like this?
Ayunda Risu: I do a lot of singing practice by myself behind the scene especially before a concert like this. I think it’s just to lessen the nervousness when I know I will perform on the stage hehe.
Moona Hoshinova: Whenever [I’m] on a recording or performance, I always do a vocal warm up around 20 mins, like humming, lip trills, tongue trills, Eh intonation, Diaphragmatic Arpegio and Vowel modification. To make sure my voice is heated enough so I won’t get any trouble on singing.
Pavolia Reine: Don’t eat weird stuff that will mess up your vocals before performance! I always get tempted though…
All three of you also performed at the hololive 4th fes Our Bright Parade concerts. How does preparation for a show like that compare to one for hololive English 1st Concert: Connect the World?
Ayunda Risu: I was quite familiar with the flow of preparation for live concert thanks to the experience of participating at the 4th Fes [hololive 4th fes. Our Bright Parade Supported By Bushiroad]. And I think the preparation were pretty similar and everything went way smoother because of that.
Moona Hoshinova: I think because I was already familiar with the flow of holofes. I was able to do all the preparations for this event pretty well.
Pavolia Reine: Fes was my first appearance in a big concert, and I definitely learned a lot from it. I think I’d be so much more nervous otherwise!
hololive English 1st Concert -Connect the World-
Song 12: "夢見る空へ (Yume Miru Sora e") by Tokino Sora, Hoshimachi Suisei, Hoshou Marine
Song 13: "id:entity voices (JP Ver.)" by Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Pavolia Reine
Stream Ticketshttps://t.co/u6Z5MhfTLJ pic.twitter.com/bSfFvdamhY
— hololive production (English) (@hololive_En) July 3, 2023
All three of you are incredibly versatile performers who stream and talk with people online in multiple languages. How do you determine which language might be appropriate for one of your streams or performances?
Ayunda Risu: It usually depends on the time I stream. I usually have certain time of the day where I can decide which language that I will mainly use in a stream. But most of the time I just wing it and translate what I said to other languages (English/Japanese) whenever needed.
Moona Hoshinova: It usually depends on the viewers that I talked to, I sometimes talking in both Bahasa Indonesia and English, but when my viewers talked in English I will also talk in English. Vice versa with Bahasa Indonesia. But when I do collab, mostly when collabing with Indonesia members, we mostly talk in Bahasa Indonesia. I’m not fluent in Japanese so I barely talk in Japanese language.
Pavolia Reine: Usually I do a mix of English and Indonesian and a little Japanese when applicable — I think it just depends on what topics we come across/think of in the middle of stream, so a lot of it is just on-the-fly stuff. I would tell the main story with the language most relatable to the topic, and summarize in the other languages, and so on.
How difficult is it to arrange collabs between each other, both for streams and performances? Do you find events like the festivals, conventions, and concerts affect how easy it is to work with other VTubers within hololive production?
Ayunda Risu: Due to difference of personal schedule, it’s not uncommon where we need to plan collab months ahead. It’s a very nice chance and experience to have if there’s a scheduled event where I can collab / meet with other hololive production members and get to interact with them better.
Moona Hoshinova: It’s very difficult to arrange collab less than a month, because of [how] our schedule sometimes collide. So having a scheduled event where I can meet with other member is really helpful because that’s the time we can talk and know each other better.
Pavolia Reine: Since everyone has their own plans, it’s very important to plan collabs ahead of time. This applies even to regular collab streams, not just big events. It feels really nice to be able to connect with other members through official projects, so I love events very much!
Now that all three of you participated in hololive English 1st Concert, what would each of you like to do next? Do you have any additional goals for worldwide performances going forward?
Ayunda Risu: It would be great if I can get to do more lives like this! Hopefully me, or even hololive Indonesia, will be able to have our own live as well one day!
Moona Hoshinova: I really hope hololive Indonesia can make our own concert like this too! And also I really hope in the future I can also make my own concert where I can invite a lots of member to sing together
Pavolia Reine: I want to perform in front of more people! I hope hololive Indonesia will have a chance to perform in more events and reach many—maybe perform our own concert one day?
People can still buy tickets for and stream hololive English 1st Concert: Connect the World until August 2, 2023 via SPWN.
