chelmico

chelmico (チェルミコ cherumiko) is a rap duo from Japan composed of Rachel Watashiga and Mamiko Suzuki, known professionally as Rachel and Mamiko, respectively. 'chelmico' is a portmanteau of the duo's names.

chelmico
Origin	Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Hip hop, J-rap, J-pop, Electropop
Years active	2014-
Labels	TREKKIE TRAX Cupcake ATM unBORDE
Members	Rachel Mamiko
Website	chelmico.com

Career

chelmico formed in 2014 after Rachel Watashiga and Mamiko Suzuki met through a mutual friend at a McDonald's in Arakawa, in Tokyo, Japan.^[1] The two bonded over a love of music, particularly over Japanese hip-hop group Rip Slyme, and soon became regular friends. At the time, Watashiga did some modeling work and appeared in the background of music videos for Ōmori Seiko. When one of her friends offered her 10 minutes during a music event they were organizing in spring of 2014, Watashiga invited Suzuki to rap with her.

The next step came a year later, when they were given another offer to perform at another show for fifteen minutes. The two reached out to rapper PAGE, then known as Holly Page, to provide a track while they wrote lyrics. The end result was Labyrinth '97, their first single. Their first self-titled album was released in October 2016 under the Cupcake ATM label. In 2018, they released their album POWER under unBORDE, a division of Warner Music Japan, who they have been with since then.

Their single, Easy Breezy, (released January 17, 2020) was used as the opening theme song for the anime adaptation of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Later that year, they appeared on the m-flo single RUN AWAYS.^[2]

Two singles, milk and Disco (Bad dance doesn't matter), were released in July and August (respectively) preempting their third album, maze. The album released on August 26, 2020.^[3]

On March 14, 2021, Rachel announced she would take a hiatus from performing due to her marriage and pregnancy. She expressed a hope to return to music by the end of the year.^[4] Rachel announced she gave birth to her first child on June 7, 2021.^[5]

The duo released their third EP, 'COZY' on April 16, 2021, following the release of their single of the same name earlier that month.^[6]

On November 19, 2021, the duo released a single entitled '300 Million Yen'. This was followed by another single on March 17, 2022, titled 'Meidaimae'.^[7] Both of these would feature in their next studio album, 'Gokigen', which released on June 1, 2022.^[8]

Members

Rachel

• Name: Rachel Watashiga (渡賀レイチェル)
• Birth date: (1993-07-04) July 4, 1993 (age 30) ^[9]
• Birthplace: Kanagawa Prefecture

Mamiko

• Name: Mamiko Suzuki (鈴木真海子)
• Birth date: (1996-06-26) June 26, 1996 (age 27) ^[9]
• Birthplace: Tokyo

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak positions
		Hot 100 ^[10]	Oricon ^[11]
chelmico	Released: October 19, 2016 (CD), March 7, 2018 (LP) Label: Cupcake ATM Formats: CD, LP	—	117
Power	Released: August 8, 2018 Label: Warner Music Japan, unBORDE Formats: CD	41	55
Fishing	Released: August 21, 2019 Label: Warner Music Japan Formats: CD	27	49
Maze	Released: August 26, 2020 Label: Warner Music Japan Formats: CD	40	40
Gokigen	Released: June 1, 2022 Label: Warner Music Japan Formats: CD	41	36
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart

Mini-albums

List of mini-albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak positions
		Hot 100	Oricon ^[11]
Love Is Over^[12]	Released: June 8, 2016 Label: Trekkie Trax Formats: FLAC	—	—
EP	Released: August 18, 2017 Label: Cupcake ATM Formats: CD, LP	—	90
Cozy	Released: April 16, 2021 Label: Warner Music Japan, unBORDE Formats: FLAC	—	—
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Peak positions		Album
		Hot 100	Oricon
"ラビリンス'97"^[13]	2015	—	—	chelmico
"JuneJuly"^[14]		—	—
"Oh, Baby!"^[15]		—	—
"ラビリンス'97" (Night of Garage Remix)^[16]	2016	—	—
"Summer Holiday"^[17]		100	—
"Labyrinth'97" / "Night Camel" feat. FBI	2017	—	—
"ママレードボーイ" / "Love Is Over"		—	—
"OK, Cheers!"^[18]	2018	—	—	Power
"Banana"^[18]		—	—
"爽健美茶のラップ"^[19]	2019	—	—	Fishing
"Switch"^[20]		—	—
"Easy Breezy"^[21]	2020	—	—	Maze
"Limit"^[22]		—	—
"Milk"^[23]		—	—
"Disco (Bad Dance Doesn't Matter)"^[24]		—	—
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart

Additional music work

• Trekkie Trax The Best 2016–2017 (2018)^[25]
  • 1. "Love Is Over"
  • 19. "Love Is Over" (Tomggg Remix)
• Onigawara – チョコレイトをちょうだい (2015)^[26]
  • 2. "YOU×3"
• Ken Hirai – Half of Me (2018)^[27]
  • 2. "Holic"
• Back Street Girls – Idol Kills (2019)^[28]
  • 8. Why
• m-flo – "Run Aways" (2020) (as m-flo♡chelmico)

Cast

Radio

• chelmico - But It's Still Saturday (Scheduled to air from January 4, 2020 - the end of March on TBS Radio)
• Ogi Yahagi no Meganebiiki (January 3, 2020 on TBS Radio) (Mamiko only)
• All Night Nippon 0 (ZERO) (May 18, 2019 on Nippon Broadcasting)

References

1. "Chelmico Charts Their Own Path | Music | Metropolis Magazine Japan". Metropolis Magazine. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
2. "m-flo and chelmico Join Forces for "RUN AWAYS"". ARAMA! JAPAN. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
3. "chelmico 3rd アルバム「maze」 – チェルミコのオフィシャルサイト" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-07-08.
4. "Rap Duo chelmico's Rachel Takes Break Due to Marriage, Pregnancy". Anime News Network. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
5. "Rap Duo chelmico's Rachel Announces Healthy Birth of Her Child".
6. "COZY - chelmico official site" (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 May 2021.
7. "chelmico - Meidaimae [Lyric Video] / track by tofubeats". YouTube (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 March 2022.
8. Soo, J. X. (2022-06-01). "Hear Japanese hip hop duo Chelmico's fun-loving new album, 'Gokigen'". NME. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
9. "超マイペースな2人組♡ '90s生まれのラップデュオ、chelmicoがいま気になる (1/5)". Elle Girl. 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
10. Peaks on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums:
    • Gokigen: "Billboard Japan Hot Albums: 2022/06/08 公開". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved June 8, 2022.
11. "chelmicoの作品" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
12. "chelmico - Love is Over by TREKKIE TRAX". SoundCloud. 2016-06-06. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
13. "ラビリンス'97 by chelmico". SoundCloud. 2015-05-17. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
14. "JUNEJULY by chelmico". SoundCloud. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
15. "Oh, Baby! by chelmico". SoundCloud. 2015-10-25. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
16. "ラビリンス'97 (Night Of Garage Remix) by chelmico". SoundCloud. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
17. "chelmico - SUMMER HOLIDAY (Prod. Mikeneko Homeless) by Mikeneko Homeless". SoundCloud. 2016-07-07. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
18. "chelmico、新曲「OK, Cheers!」&「BANANA」配信リリース". リアルサウンド. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
19. "chelmicoが出演・テーマソングを歌う「爽健美茶」テレビCMが本日より放映開始". Qetic. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
20. "chelmico、たこ焼きパーティーやリムジンパーティーで盛り上がるMV「switch」公開". Rolling Stone Japan. 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
21. "アニメ「映像研には手を出すな！」OPテーマはchelmico、EDテーマは神僕が担当". 音楽ナタリー. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
22. "chelmico × JOYFIT コラボソング「Limit」". Youtube. 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
23. "chelmico「milk」【Official Music Video】". YouTube. July 17, 2020. from the original on 2020-07-20. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
24. "chelmico「Disco (Bad dance doesn't matter)」【Official Music Video】". YouTube. August 6, 2020. from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
25. "TREKKIE TRAX THE BEST 2016-2017". Bandcamp. 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
26. "ONIGAWARA チョコレイトをちょうだい". Lastrum. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
27. "平井堅、新シングル表題曲「half of me」 MV公開 "半分に遮られた世界"を表現". リアルサウンド. 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
28. "ゴクドルズのデビュー盤にHAN-KUN、最上もが、chelmico、YUC'eも楽曲提供". 音楽ナタリー. 2019-02-01. Retrieved 2019-02-15.

External links

• Official website
• YouTube channel
• Twitter account
• Instagram account