hololive English VTuber Hakos Baelz took the time to speak with us on the heels of an incredible showing by her and other performers at hololive English’s third concert, All for One. The group’s embodiment of chaos put on a dance performance that brought literal deafening cheers from the audience. In addition to the talent for dance, Hakos Baelz has released plenty of music, including singles, an EP, and her first full album, ZODIAC, early last year. We chatted about her past, present, and future, going from original inspirations, to early touchpoints with hololive, to what she’s looking forward to in the next stages of her exciting career.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: To start, I wanted to talk about the All for One concert experience. I went last night and experienced it from the point of view of the audience, but I’d love to hear more about what the experience is like from the point of view of a performer.
A: It’s my third concert ever since joining Hololive, and every single time it’s just overwhelming. Really grateful to be able to stand on stage, because normally there is a level of — there’s a screen between me and the people who support me. My fans and also fans of hololive, they watch us on stream, but being able to stand on stage and actually seeing the people who support us is absolutely crazy, and I love performing on stage. It’s such a thrill, and I was really grateful that we were able to do it again this year.
Q: One thing I was curious about, because I know before the show, people always have different chants and memes they’ll reference and things they’ll talk about. Do you all see that, or are you only seeing the concert during the show itself?
A: Oh no, we see all that in the backstage as we’re waiting for the show to start. The camera panning to the audience, we all see that as well, and it always is such a great motivator before we perform to see the fans enjoying themselves. And a lot of fans always bring their merch or they do really cool cosplays, and being able to see that with all the other girls is amazing.
Q: What did the preparation and practice look like, especially when it came to things like dancing?
A: Ooh, so for me personally, I’ve been practicing for quite a while. I think everyone’s experience differs. For me, it was just a lot of rehearsal, practice, and then I was in the studio quite a lot with my dance teacher, working on the performance and stuff like that.
Q: Were you involved with coming up with the choreography, or was it mostly from your teacher?
A: So this time it was my teacher who did the choreography. Yeah, rough (laughs). Rough.
Q: What would you say was the most difficult aspect of it?
A: This time, I really wanted to do a dance intro, which is why we did a little arrangement of an original song that already existed, but it had a dance introduction portion to it. So that part was definitely rough. But then just in general, the entire song required — my center of gravity was quite low. So imagine being in a constant squat for three minutes. So that was rough.
Q: Stepping back a little bit, what inspired you to take those steps to become a VTuber and join hololive?
A: Oh, I’m thinking back. I think joining hololive was honestly just a series of events in good timing. I think there were people around me who were really interested in the whole VTuber scene. I didn’t really know much about it, but for me, I was just very curious about it because it was a technology and it was a scene that I’d never really seen before because it had just started blowing up. So I think doing that, doing a bit of research, and then I think just good timing, one thing led to another. And I auditioned and I was very lucky to have made it. I’ve always loved performing, even as a child. And I just thought this would be an amazing dream come true if I was able to get in. And now here I am.
Q: As a child, did you ever envision you’d eventually be performing to a large audience or was it more like a hobby back then?
A: Oh, no, it was a hobby. I think my family always made a joke that I loved being the center of attention when I was very young. And dancing was always a hobby. I really liked singing, but it was more like the singing in the shower type. So everything was always a hobby that I really enjoyed. Now looking back and seeing that the things that I loved doing are now something that so many people around the world enjoy as well is crazy. Very grateful.
Q: Looking back at your debut, you finished out that stream by singing a song from the anime K-On! Has anime always been tied to your interest in music?
A: Yes, I’ve always really been a fan of J-pop and anime music. I actually listened to more anime and J-pop than English songs growing up because I have an older sister and she was always really into anime as well. So anything that she listened to, I listened to. I always wanted to be like her. So that’s always been a close tie to my love for music.
Q: What were some of the first ones you watched and what are some of your overall favorites?
A: The first ones I watched would have been — I think Inuyasha was my first one that I watched properly. And that’s also one of my favorites. Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, a lot of the goodies, the oldies but goodies I watched as a child. Naruto was also one that I watched very, very young, not understanding anything. And then I think overall favorites now — Inuyasha hasn’t changed. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Saga of Tanya the Evil. I think a lot of the favorite anime I’ve listed even from my debut have not changed and always will be my favorites.
Q: Very good picks. And speaking of anime, you’ve also shown off your own voice acting skills through 《BAEWATCH》. How did the idea for that come about and how did you learn to develop so many unique voices like that?
A: Oh, wow. 《BAEWATCH》. That’s nostalgic. It’s been years. So I think before I joined Hololive, I wanted to become a voice actor. Growing up, I always loved putting on different voices. I’d never learned professionally or taken classes. It was just a funny little thing that I could do. Just putting on different voices and making people laugh. So I thought, hey, maybe I could do something like that where it’s just six different people and I tried it and yeah, that’s where 《BAEWATCH》 came from.
Q: Among those voices, was there any kind of character that you especially had wanted to play?
A: I think the one that I had the most fun with was probably Murasaki, who had a deeper, sultry voice. I think it’s just because it’s such a difference between the way I normally talk and also just how I normally am. Personality-wise, Murasaki is quite different as well. I’ve always really liked playing the more mature onee-san characters.
Q: Obviously you speak multiple different languages. How long have you been learning different languages and what inspired you to advance those skills so far?
A: Ooh, so Japanese, I’ve been learning. It must’ve been, I think it’s probably been over a decade now. When I first started, it was because I wanted to watch anime without subtitles (laughs) and then I think gradually it just became more of a, well, I really want to be fluent and the culture has always been so interesting to me. So I just continued that through the years until it got to a point where I suddenly realized, “Oh, wow, yeah, I can understand. That’s great.” Other languages — Chinese is the language I’ve always been able to speak because of family and stuff like that. Korean I started learning a little bit, but then I kind of fell off that because I just thought it was too hard. So I can go by basic, basic Korean. But that’s about it. And English, doing my best, doing my best.
Q: Switching gears over to your music, I want to talk a bit about your first EP. That EP has varying energies. The first song is dark and intense. Second is a bit softer. Why did you opt to combine songs with different feelings to them as opposed to having one consistent kind of song throughout the entire EP?
A: For my first EP, Pandæmonium, the original idea was to show different facets of chaos and also the different me’s that I wanted to show my audience. I think the beautiful thing about chaos is that it means something different to everyone and there isn’t one “right” or only one interpretation of chaos. And that’s something I really wanted to be shown through that EP. So the first song, “PSYCHO,” was, in my idea, the first image that I had whenever someone says “chaos.” It’s the dark, chaotic craziness that comes with chaos.
And then the second song, “DROWN,” talks about the stillness and solitude when it comes to chaos. For me, I’ve always felt like chaos has been around me. And I’m sure in my streams — there’s a constant joke that I’m not really chaotic, it’s just that chaotic things happen around me. If you take a look at that from the other perspective, there are lonely times when it feels quite dark and quite still. And I thought that was a beautiful contrast between some of the other songs. So it was to show different aspects of chaos, but also different aspects of myself.
The third song, “BOOM,” was about the performer aspect, causing a riot, getting people hyped, how chaos can really motivate and get people in high spirits. And then the last one, “MESS,” it was to show the everyday kind of chaos-ness that is my life. It’s quite a personal song and reflects a lot of real life events and feelings that I have. But at the end of the day, it was just to show everyone that as long as you’re having a good time, it doesn’t matter how chaotic your life is, just to enjoy and smile.
Q: Has chaos always been something that’s resonated with you or is that more of a recent thing?
A: Chaos has always been in me. I am chaos (laughs). But honestly, I feel like everybody experiences chaos in their life. It’s something normal. It’s what makes life fun. The unpredictability of life has always — trying to find control in everyday life, it’s not possible. So my motif has always been to live happily and just to let life take the reins; wherever you end up, it’s meant to be.
Q: And now can you talk about the inspiration behind ZODIAC? Obviously it fits nicely with the rat theme, but I wanted to hear more about the themes and ideas behind it.
A: ZODIAC was a shower thought. In the middle of creating my EP, I was already jumping to the next idea and ZODIAC was more of a — the EP was more of a personal project. I think ZODIAC to me just seemed like a really good idea. I always loved the twelve zodiac, the astrology and the tales behind it. And also being a rat, it did fit as well. And then I was thinking, oh, twelve zodiac signs. And then plus the secret thirteenth zodiac astrological sign. That could be a really cool album idea. And then we kind of just took off from there.
Q: What went into the choice to make the very first song, “R×R×R,” the very first song?
A: Well, I wanted the first song to be the rat, obviously, because it was my first album and, as the rat, I needed to be number one (laughs). And the song, “R×R×R” — I wanted every single zodiac sign to be the inspiration behind each song it became. So for the rat I was touching into my chuni side as a rat. There was a very specific storyline that the song followed that is shown in the music video as well, and it’s to not be afraid of who you truly are and stepping into the light of accepting your true self. But the overall story was following an underground artist who was just a normal high school student by day and rocks out by night. But the meaning behind it was to not be afraid to be who you are. And I feel like that’s also something that I try to embody every day.
Q: Speaking to the collaborations on the album, how did those come about?
A: I just thought they were a good fit. Out of the zodiacs, which animal senpais do I have. We have dog or rabbit and sheep or goat. And I just thought having a couple of collab songs on the album would also be really fun. It was more of a question of whether it could fit into their schedule, just timing wise, would it be possible? I’m just really grateful that it all was able to go through. And I’m just really happy that I was able to collab with my senpais on such an amazing album.
Q: As far as lyrics go, when you’re writing lyrics for songs, what’s your typical process? Do you tend to hear the track first to come up with lyrics or the lyrics first, then a track? What does that usually look like for you?
A: So I’ve actually never written a song from scratch before. I’ve always had help. I’m working on an old secret project, maybe in the future, where I do write my lyrics from scratch. I think recently I’ve had more experience with that. And I think having a very strong theme or idea behind the song is very important. Having a clear message of what you want the song to express is very important. And then from there you just keep listening to the track over and over again. And I think for me recently, when I write lyrics, I just write down trains of thought and then I just rearrange it into something that can be used and that has musicality. We just kind of do a mix and match, maybe move some things here and other things there.
But it normally comes from random trains of thought. On my notes app on my phone, just random phrases here and there that eventually become a song.
Q: Do you typically have ideas for music kind of floating in the back of your head throughout the day? Is that just a constant thing for you?
A: It’s where most of my ideas come from. If you ask me to sit down and come up with an idea, it normally never works. But I’ll have maybe a thought suddenly just come to me and I have to remember to write it down or else I’m going to forget it. And I feel like passing thoughts and those kind of ideas end up becoming my most fun projects.
Q: You’ve mentioned before the fact that you took lessons and classes for music and dance growing up. Now that you’re performing professionally, how do you feel being a part of hololive has affected your growth as a musician overall?
A: I never imagined myself as a musician. It’s crazy. Before joining hololive, I never had any confidence in singing. I never liked my voice. I didn’t think there was any potential in it. But I think joining and being able to work with such amazing other musicians — and EN is just overflowing with talent — and being surrounded constantly by such talented people has been such a great motivator and a source of inspiration. And I think I have grown musically. I mean, I never thought I’d be able to put out an album or an EP, which is crazy. But I really have to credit a lot of the amazing people who are around me every single day. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now. And it’s really exciting to see in, I don’t know, five years, ten years where we will be. But that’s just the excitement for the future.
Q: Speaking of the future, what is something that you want to do as part of your musical career that you haven’t done yet, whether it be doing a certain kind of song or a certain kind of collaboration or anything?
A: Solo live, solo live, solo live, solo live. I want a solo live (laughs). That’s always been my big dream and I’m working hard towards it every day. So hopefully one day I’ll be able to put on a show by myself. But yeah, getting there one day at a time. That is a dream, the dream of my career in hololive. So hopefully one day that’ll come true. And I think with other collabs, I don’t really have specific “I want to collab with this person” or “I want to have this.” I think being able to just grow in this company with all the girls around me is already a goal that I have. And being able to spread happiness and be able to reach more people around the world is probably the long-term goal that I have.
I can definitely imagine during a solo live. I saw you posted that picture of people at the pizza place over the weekend. I’m picturing that same crowd, but multiplied by 20, just taking over every pizza place in New York. I can definitely picture that happening.
A: That would be amazing.
Q: And my last question to close, do you have any words you’d like to share with fans?
A: First and foremost, thank you for the support. As always, not only for me, but to all of hololive EN and all of hololive — without the fan support, we would not be able to do what we do. We would not be able to live our dreams. So thank you so much. I hope that everyone who was in New York or back home watching the live enjoyed themselves. We all did our best to put on a great show and I hope, for future shows, we will be even bigger and better. But that’s something to look forward to. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Can’t say thank you enough. And I’ll see you in the next stream!
We’d like to thank Hakos Baelz for taking the time to speak with us and thank all of hololive for putting on such an incredible concert with All for One. You can find Hakos Baelz on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter).
All images courtesy of hololive.
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