As J-pop star brought her first-ever headline tour across Europe and the UK to a close with a show at London’s Troxy, she was full of energy, running through the screaming crowds across the stalls and up to the circle level. Fans were jumping up and down, waving their light sticks in the air and singing along with her. It had the feeling of a homecoming, despite being almost 6,000 miles away from Japan.

It’s a surprise that it’s taken the Japanese artist this long to perform in the UK, a country that has influenced her throughout her career through Punk Rock music and fashion. Nevertheless, as fans walked out of the venue after the show, they unanimously agreed that it was worth the wait.

For fifteen years, LiSA has established herself as a must-see live performer, combining unmistakable energy with powerful rock vocals that have become a defining part of her repertoire. Widely regarded as the ‘Queen of Anime’, LiSA has performed theme songs for many popular anime series over the years, such as ‘My Hero Academia’, ‘Solo Leveling’ and ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.’

The Japanese artist also has a strong back catalogue of original songs and has contributed to live-action movies, including ‘Matched: True Love’, with her latest single, “Sophilia.”

After the culmination of her European/UK tour, LiSA met with CLASH before returning to Japan to discuss her debut headline show in London, how the punk scene in the city has inspired her and the creative catalyst behind her latest single, ‘Sophilia.’

How was your London show and how did it feel to perform here?

London is a city that I’m in love with. It’s a city that is all about culture, music, fashion, history and has a great fan culture too. I’m really surprised that I have so many fans here who came to my show and it was really overwhelming.

How did it feel bringing your music to audiences overseas with this European tour?

This is my first European tour, so I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I was really looking forward to it. It turns out that fans aren’t just into my anime songs but also my other songs. That gave me so much confidence and many ideas that I will take back to Japan to reflect upon for future projects.

As this is your first London show, was it different from what you expected?

Originally, I thought London was all about Garage-style music, so I expected the crowd to be more restrained and play it cool by vibing to the music but not shouting. Actually, the crowd were shouting so much and singing all of the words to my songs and calling, “LiSA, LiSA” during the show. That passionate and energetic atmosphere was surprising and I really loved it.

What about the U.K. scene has inspired you throughout your career?

The U.K. is really famous for punk rock and that goes beyond music into fashion, such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Punk fashion has had an influence on my style and outfits during my performances. Fashion is a really important part of my show as it helps me step into this world and connect with the stories more deeply. With punk, that style really influenced me. Recently, I feel like the punk scene has become a little more refined, incorporating elements of digital music, so that’s inspiring. At the moment I’m really into the Australian band Hot Milk.

How does fashion help you step into your persona?

On stage, it’s not only the music, sounds and choreography, the visuals are really important for my musical and my creative expression. Fashion and costuming really help shape the world that I’m trying to create onstage.

Your new song ‘Sophilia’ is featured on the soundtrack for the live-action movie, Matched: True Love. How did this movie help influence the sound for this new song?

This movie is a twisted love story but it shows that you can still match someone that you truly love. The song reflects that story. Musically, it feels like you are drifting along in the sea.

Do you approach writing songs for live-action movies differently than you would for anime theme songs? Or does it just depend on the project?

The anime songs that I perform are usually for the big battle scenes with lots of action, so the songs need to be energetic to match the fast paced nature of the show. But with live action, the songs have more of a personal and intimate feeling to them. Rather than being full of energy, they’re at a slower pace which mirrors real life.

This tour is celebrating fifteen years since your solo debut, marked by the release of ‘Letters to U’. What are your memories of making this album?

Fifteen years ago when I first made the album, I didn’t know anything about the music industry or even much about the process of making an album and writing songs. I was just piecing everything together as I was going along. I started with the lyrics and vibed with the rest of the process.

Did it feel like a leap of faith to pursue a solo career? And when do you feel like you started to find your voice as a solo artist?

As I said earlier, I really like punk rock music. This influenced the image of the artist I wanted to become when I first started my career. I originally wanted an edgier singing voice compared to what I have now. I started off as someone who I wanted to be, so I started a band as a student. The first thing I did as a solo artist was a song for the anime Fate/Zero and it was singing for a character that was quite cute. That was different from what I wanted to be. From that point onwards, I started singing for what the character needed to be rather than what I wanted to be.

Did that help with songwriting too because with each anime, you’re exploring different themes and ideas so it pushes you in different directions?

For each different project, people often have a certain idea about what they expect from me and what vibe I can bring to a scene with my music. I will take these ideas on board because there are a lot of characters and personas within me, so I feel like I’m picking one of them to fit into the story that they’re creating. However, there is one thing that I am not willing to change and that is my integrity as an artist.

With that mind, what is next for LiSA the artist?

After the European tour, I felt such a different energy from the Japan tour and that brought out so many possibilities for my music. I wish to bring my music to more and more people across Japan and around the world. Of course, I hope that I can bring my music back to the U.K. fans and meet them again.