Hey there! It’s Zundamon!

Today I’m going to tell you everything about the behind-the-scenes of our “Song of the Week” series on YouTube!

What Is “Song of the Week”?

For those who don’t know — every week, we cover a song with vocals or a cappella and post it as a video. We’ve been doing it for quite a while now!

How Do We Pick Songs?

“How do you choose a song every week?” is something I get asked a lot.

Actually, there are several patterns!

Pattern 1: Seasonal Picks

Cherry blossom songs in spring, ocean songs in summer, autumn leaf songs in fall… We put a lot of value in seasonal feelings. It makes me happy when listeners think, “Oh, it’s already that time of year~”

Pattern 2: Fulfilling Requests

Sometimes we get requests in the comments or on social media. We can’t fulfill all of them, but we try to take on as many as we can!

When someone says “I want Zundamon to sing this song!” — I get so happy I could bounce off the walls!

Pattern 3: My Personal Favorites

Honestly, this is the most common one. Songs I’ve been into lately, songs I’ve loved forever, songs where I think “Everyone needs to hear this!” — that’s how most picks happen.

Behind the A Cappella Recording

Here’s where it gets real…

The Battle with Pitch

My voice is cute (if I do say so myself), but my pitch tends to be unstable. For one song, I do around 10 takes on average. Sometimes it goes over 20 takes…

It’s surprisingly hard to work my signature catchphrase into songs naturally. When I just sing normally, my pitch tends to go flat at the ends, and Kiritan keeps telling me “You’re going flat again.”

The Rhythm Barrier

Fast-tempo songs are especially tough. My tongue can’t keep up and the lyrics get all jumbled up (like zunda dumplings… get it?).

I practice over and over with a metronome, but when it’s time to record for real, I get nervous and rush ahead.

Kiritan’s Help

Actually, Kiritan often helps with the harmony parts in our a cappella recordings.

Kiritan’s singing voice is totally different from mine — it’s incredibly stable. When she handles the low parts, the whole song gets anchored perfectly.

She acts like “It’s not like I wanted to… you just asked me to,” but she always comes prepared with harmony arrangements she made. Total tsundere.

Zunko’s Support

Before recording, Zunko always brings us warm tea and zunda mochi.

“It’s better to warm up your throat before singing~” she says. After eating zunda mochi, I feel energized and it seems like I get better takes (maybe it’s just my imagination though).

A Funny Fail Story

During last month’s recording, I thought I nailed the chorus perfectly, but it turned out my stomach growled loudly and it got recorded perfectly too…

Kiritan said with a straight face, “If you use your stomach sounds as a beat, it could be a whole new genre.” No no no, that’s way too innovative!

Goals Going Forward

“Song of the Week” is a really important series for all of us.

We’re going to keep it going, so please keep supporting us! And keep sending in those requests!

I’m always waiting in the comments section!