A Chat With Hyde, Japan's Biggest Rock Star
Hyde is arguably the biggest rock star in Japan. For over three decades, he has navigated the shifting currents of rock, pop and visual culture with remarkable fluidity. In the early 90s, as the enigmatic frontman of L'Arc-en-Ciel, he helped define the visual kei movement. For most artists, that alone would be a career-defining achievement — but for Hyde, it was just one chapter in a life defined by reinvention and experimentation. From fashion design to film, he's a boundary-pushing force, continually challenging himself through new creative ventures.
I first discovered Hyde in a Japanese 101 course during my freshman year of college. I was working on an assignment where we had to translate a Japanese song to English and present the lyrics along with the music video to the class. It had been well over 20 years since L'Arc-en-Ciel debuted, and when I first heard the group's soaring melodies and distinctive vibrato and saw its members' punk getups and spiky bleached hair, I didn't quite know what to make of it.
It didn't seem, at first, particularly my style. But it left a lingering impression on me — one strong enough that I found myself listening to that same song later that week, and then a few more songs the following week, then the entire album the next. Before I even knew it, Hyde's unmistakable voice and L'Arc-en-Ciel's style had won me over.
As I followed Hyde's career over the next decade and a half, what struck me most was his constant evolution — from emotionally charged ballads to hard rock anthems to pop hits and anime openings, from frontman to soloist, director to actor. So perhaps it's only natural that his latest endeavor takes yet another unexpected turn: a bespoke vodka brand, eye-catchingly called Psycho Love.
On a recent afternoon in Tokyo,
Tokyo Weekender
met with the legendary rock star to discuss his artistic path, his newest project and what's next for him.
List of Contents:
A Life Without Regrets
Hyde's Psycho Love
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A Life Without Regrets
Born Hideto Takarai in Wakayama Prefecture in 1969, Hyde initially had a strong interest in design and drawing. In fact, before he was selling out Tokyo Dome and playing to hundreds of thousands of adoring fans, his earliest aspiration was to become a manga artist. He still cites
To-y
, a manga about an underground punk rock band aiming for fame, as having had a strong influence on his music career, particularly his style.
L'Arc-en-Ciel was formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist Tetsuya, with Hyde joining shortly after. As lead singer, he was all razor-sharp cheekbones, smeared eyeliner and gothic romance — a striking, androgynous figure who blurred the lines between beauty and danger. Over time, L'Arc-en-Ciel became one of Japan's most commercially successful rock bands, and Hyde's image matured. He went on to establish himself as a solo artist and later co-founded the darker, harder-edged project Vamps, pushing his sound and image into more provocative territory: leather-clad, vampiric and raw, drawing from Western hard rock influences.
Across his career, Hyde has proven himself to be endlessly adaptable. He's played sold-out domes, collaborated with international artists and cultivated a fiercely loyal fan base both in Japan and abroad. Hyde himself admits that constantly venturing into new sounds and styles can be challenging; there's always a risk in drifting away from one's niche and leaving fans feeling isolated. But to never attempt anything new would be a greater risk.
'Given that life happens only once, I want to try all sorts of things. Deciding on just one thing and having your life end with only that feels regrettable,' he says. 'I want to live in a way that when I come to the end of my life, I have no regrets.
'When I try new things, there's a little bit of pressure,' he continues. 'Personally, I'm already thinking about what I want to do next, and if I lose fans because of it, I think that's just how it is … Challenging myself with new things is essential for me to have no regrets in the end.'
Hyde's Psycho Love
For Hyde, new ventures aren't just meant to be a departure from the familiar. Rather, they're a way of carrying forward what's always defined him — taking the elements that resonate and reworking them into something new, yet unmistakably his. His foray into spirits, too, is done in a distinctly Hyde fashion. His signature product is emblazoned with gothic font and a skull logo, but there's something soft about it, too — it has a lower alcohol content than most vodkas, making it smoother, lighter and less caloric.
The name Psycho Love is an interlinguistic play on words: The Japanese word '
saikou
,' meaning 'the greatest,' is pronounced the same as the English word 'psycho.' As for the 'love' part — Hyde liked the layered meaning of psycho/saikou, but felt that 'psycho' on its own might sound too harsh in English. The addendum makes it feel a little less intimidating and gives it a delightful second meaning. Thus, Psycho Love becomes 'the greatest love.'
For Hyde, getting into vodka just made sense. His motivation was simple: a love of the spirit and a lack of high-quality options in his home country. 'Originally, I liked vodka and drank it often in America, but when I came back to Japan and drank it, there weren't many good ones,' he says. 'There were many times I thought, 'This isn't good. This isn't good.' I thought that if I made it myself, I might be able to drink delicious vodka in Japan.'
His instinct was right. Since launching in 2023, Psycho Love has claimed over a dozen accolades, including gold in the 2024 L.A. Spirits Awards, and it's managed to put vodka on the map in a country where sake and whisky often reign supreme.
What's next for Hyde? He's currently working on a new album — one he describes as 'completely different from anything I've made until now.' And yet, there's little doubt it will find the mark with listeners. After all, it's Hyde's relentless drive to evolve that has kept him at the forefront of Japanese music for more than 30 years. So pour yourself a glass of Psycho Love (Hyde takes his with soda water and lime), sit back and let the music play.
More Info
Keep up with Hyde's latest projects at
hyde.com
.
Learn more about Psycho Love at
psycholovevodka.com
.
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