vistlip on New Single "UNLOCKED": "What We Need to Do Right Now" — A Testament to Liberation
This interview was originally published in Japanese on barks.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.
vistlip Interview
vistlip will release their new single “UNLOCKED” on January 7, 2026. During the interview for their previous single “BET,” released in August 2025, vocalist Tomo stated, “I think vistlip is in a good place right now.” Living up to that comment, vistlip charged through 2025 with increasing momentum, and now they’re releasing the new single “UNLOCKED” as they enter 2026.
From “Code Number,” where poignant melodies intertwine with precise band arrangements, to “Bedtime Story,” which shifts into heavy and aggressive territory, and then to “Principal,” a lyrical ballad—the single brings together a diverse array of songs that further expand vistlip’s world. All three tracks were premiered during the tour <vistlip ONE MAN TOUR 2025 [CODE:SIX] -Unlocked-> held from October to November 2025, so plenty of people have been waiting for the audio release.
vistlip’s music is best appreciated by savoring the lyrics and performances carefully, enjoying the band one-on-one with full presence.
We spoke with Tomo, who handled all the lyrics, and Tohya (Dr), who handled all the compositions, about the behind-the-scenes creation story. As vistlip looks toward their 20th anniversary, we delve into where they stand now.
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Breaking the Ouroboros Ring — All Songs and Lyrics Built on a Concept of Liberation
Q: The <vistlip ONE MAN TOUR 2025 [CODE:SIX] -Unlocked-> was a bold challenge, performing new songs before their release. How did it feel?
Tomo: It was really fun, and I felt like it truly became part of us. Not just the live performance itself, but there was freshness in things like the makeup too. Personally, it made me happy to realize again how much I enjoy singing.
Q: Were the new songs written with the assumption you’d perform them live first?
Tomo: Yeah. We really wanted to use the word
Tohya: It wasn’t something vistlip had done much before. To be honest, we don’t usually premiere new songs live at all, but this time we turned that around and announced beforehand that we’d be doing new material. Maybe because people could anticipate it, the crowd was into it from the first show without any awkwardness. It felt natural.
Q: When you premiered “BET” live in 2025, you mentioned in the last interview that you’d been practicing the new song so much that the existing songs actually made you nervous…
Tohya: Ha, yeah, that happened! This time the songs for the tour were properly decided from the start, so we could really nail both the new and existing material!
Tomo: Haha. I think performing new songs live first is actually pretty cool. There’s a premium feeling to it—only the people who came get to hear it. And more than anything, it’s interesting to watch everyone gradually get into it. After release, I imagine there’ll be even more unity, and that got me excited. It was just a lot of fun. Of course, it’s a special case, so I’m not sure we’ll do it again. I mean, it’s basically spoiling the lyrics! (laughs)
Q: That makes sense, because your lyrics really need to be read from start to finish for their true meaning to come across.
Tomo: Exactly. So when I saw everyone saying “I want to read the lyrics soon,” I felt the bar rising. For example, “Bedtime Story” is supposed to have this chilling tension for me, but apparently some fans heard it as really gentle. After they interpreted it that way at the live show, I got a little worried about what they’d think when the actual lyrics came out (laughs). Some people are probably going to have totally different impressions, so I’m actually excited to see how the release lands.
Q: Where did the concept of “UNLOCKED” come from in the first place?
Tomo: It came from association with “OUROBOROS” (the endless, circular cycle with no beginning or end), which was the theme of “BET.” From there, I imagined breaking that ring. That’s why the single’s logo has the O and C in “UNLOCKED” overlapping like a Möbius strip, but with one part open. All the lyrics for the songs are built around the concept of “liberation,” and I think we managed to express liberation from different perspectives depending on each song’s color.
Q: All three tracks are composed by Tohya. Were they selected through a demo listening session?
Tomo: Yeah. Simply put, Tohya’s songs were really good this time.
Tohya: It just happened to work out that way. Actually, all the songs except “Code Number” were composed with Tomo’s guidance. If I’d already lined up all three of these varieties from the start and we decided they were all great, I’d probably be bragging about it more (laughs).
Q: In the last interview, Tomo mentioned that “Tohya is the only one who composes songs based on requests.”
Tohya: Yeah, that’s my job—to deliver on those requests.
Q: Alright, let’s talk about each song. First, “Code Number” has a straightforward eighth-beat with post-rock style guitar phrases that really stand out.
Tomo: Tohya had that guitar phrase in there from the start. I loved it so much we went with it immediately. It feels great when you hear it live too. It appears in so many places throughout the song—not just the intro, but in the B-section, after the solo—it plays this riff-like role across the whole track.
Tohya: This was the only song where I consciously thought of it as the single’s A-side from the composition stage. Since the concept for the <[CODE:SIX] tour> was already locked in, I had this vague spy-thriller theme song in mind while writing. I wanted something that was simply good, had a strong beat, was catchy, but wasn’t pandering.
Q: During the tour, you ran a fan-participation campaign called “[CODE:SIX] SECRET MISSION,” so there really was that spy and agent worldview, huh.
Tohya: I don’t think the song itself is super “spy thriller” feeling, but with the live shows and the music video and everything, it ended up having that vibe.
Q: The lyrics definitely felt like they had the narrative quality of a spy movie.
Tomo: I had fun writing the agent-like elements, running through various movies I’ve seen in my head. Like I said, “liberation” is the concept, so I thought about how an agent completes a mission and gets freed from their organization. But that’s more the fun, surface layer. I often hear from fans about feeling trapped and suffering from various things, so I wanted to explore how they might break free from those constraints. I hope listeners feel that kind of energy.
Q: You really do get a sense of imagining a story while also feeling the energy of cutting your own path forward.
Tomo: Like, something that’s causing you pain right in front of you—if you change your perspective and look from high above, it’s actually really small, isn’t it? So I wanted to convey the feeling of “just give it up” or “you can go anywhere you want.” Also, I’ve wanted to use “iolite” and “liolite” in lyrics for a long time.
Q: Those are both names of gemstones, right?
Tomo: Yeah. They have impact, but they’re not that well-known, so they have this mysterious quality. This time they fit the melody really well, so I wove in the meanings of each stone with human drama.
Q: What’s your impression of these lyrics, Tohya?
Tohya: Even while incorporating wordplay and expressing the worldview, he’s writing from so many different perspectives, so the interpretation changes depending on the listener and when they listen. That ability to shift meaning is always incredible. As a composer, I was surprised—you can expand the world this much from such a straightforward song?!