In the Randomised Record series, I take us both on an adventure to (re)discover my record collection. Fate decides: whether it be that obscure grunge album I bought recently or that emo rap record from 2017. Nothing is safe from the hands of the randomiser! I will listen to the entire album and highlight my favourite song off of it here on the blog. Do I still enjoy my records as much as when I bought ‘em? Let’s find out. Today, episode 19: ‘PINK’ (2017) by CHAI.

For the story behind this record, we have to go back roughly 6 years in time. Let me take you back to… 2019!

…because that shall be the year my partner showed me this Japanese band she liked called CHAI, a group consisting of twins Mana and Kana who partnered up with their high school friends Yuuki and Yana to kick some kawaii-ass. ’N.E.O.’ was the first song I heard, its story being something along the lines of redefining the meaning of ‘kawaii’ (or: ‘cute’ in English). Gave it a spin, liked it, moved on. Nothing special, until I noticed this specific Japanese act was playing a festival I was soon to attend. Now, this is where the story gets interesting. Fast forward to… the end of 2019.

Location: Paris. Occasion: Pitchfork Music Festival. Attendees: me, my mate, and CHAI. Playing a small but picturesque room during this rare November festival, the stars seemed aligned for what would be an iconic gig. I settled in for a God-knows-what-to-expect kind of performance. Seeing the quartet enter the stage in the most colourful outfits dancing away in the most entertaining choreography, it didn’t take long for a smile to appear on our faces. A smile that would last, all the way ’til the final note had been played. What we just witnessed was simply fantastic. One of the happiest, most joyful gigs we’d ever attended. My mate and I turned to each other and we instantly knew: it wouldn’t get any better than this.

And it didn’t. In fact, it only got better. After we pulled ourselves back together, we noticed the Japanese band lining up for a chat and a picture with whoever was interested. Even though I usually am not, we instantly knew this is a must-do: now or never. So, we did. We had a chat which included the words ‘Amsterdam’ (where we lived at the time) and ‘Yay!’ many times, before snapping an iconic picture with me, my friend, and the fully dressed in pink CHAI. Kind of starstruck, we left to find our two friends who weren’t bothered in seeing CHAI, something they’d quickly come to regret since we continued raving on about it for the rest of the weekend. The picture we took went on to live a life on all our friends’ and colleagues’ phones since we couldn’t stop sharing this epic pic we snapped with what was the best ever band at that specific time for us. My partner has never really forgiven me for meeting this band she loved so dearly: she wasn’t able to make the festival since she was on holiday and never managed to catch CHAI play live (the band split up in 2024).

Seen an amazing gig, met the artists. The only thing missing is a piece of vinyl, a trophy to take home. Since CHAI didn’t have any merch on display I figured to make my life a bit easier: I jumped onto their website and as soon as all this magic had unfolded, I ordered myself a copy of ‘PINK’ and follow-up album ‘PUNK’. One in transparent pink vinyl, the other in white. A week later, my records arrived and as the peace had returned, the realisation kicked in: CHAI had just become iconic. A band I would never ever forget due to that one gig on a legendary evening in Paris.