Studio Killers is a British-Finnish-Danish
electropop
Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...
virtual band
In entertainment, a virtual band (also called a virtual idol, virtual singer, virtual group, virtual artists, cartoon group, cartoon idol, cartoon singer or cartoon band) is a band or music group whose depicted members are not people, but animate ...
made up of four animated characters: vocalist and designer Cherry, keyboardist Goldie Foxx, DJ Dyna Mink, and manager Bipolar Bear.
The only confirmed members of the band are Darren Stokes and Philip Larsen.
History
2011–2014: Formation and debut studio album
The voices of Goldie Foxx and Dyna Mink stated that they had originally written a song for a British girl band that was dropped from their label and were put in contact with Cherry's vocalist, who wrote the lyrics and performed the song with them. The members claim that most of their correspondence is through email, although their song "Who Is in Your Heart Now?" was written when they first had a face to face meeting. The identities of the band members are unknown, and all interaction with fans is conducted via their fictional counterparts; however, it has been speculated by fans that the Finnish musician
Teemu Brunila provides the voice of Cherry.
They premiered in 2011 with the single "
Ode to the Bouncer", about the lead singer character Cherry's difficulties in getting into a club, and gained popularity through their music video on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. The single was successful in the Netherlands, Finland, and Denmark. After releasing other singles "Eros and Apollo", "All Men Are Pigs", and "
Jenny" through 2012 and 2013, they released their
self-titled debut album in 2013, and followed up in 2014 with the new single "Grande Finale". Studio Killers also announced that they were going to start having live shows, starting with the 2014
Ruisrock
Ruisrock is a rock festival held annually on the island of Ruissalo in Turku, Finland.
Ruisrock, founded in 1970, is the second-oldest rock festival in Europe (after Pinkpop) and the oldest in Finland. The festival has attracted internationa ...
festival in Finland, followed by
Ilosaarirock
The Ilosaarirock Festival is an annual rock festival held on the second weekend of July in Joensuu, Eastern Finland. Founded in 1971, Ilosaarirock is the second-oldest rock festival in Finland still active, and one of the oldest in Europe. In 2 ...
. To prepare for this performance and a world tour, they began a
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
campaign on
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
for and successfully gathered .
In 2014 the band performed live at
Ruisrock
Ruisrock is a rock festival held annually on the island of Ruissalo in Turku, Finland.
Ruisrock, founded in 1970, is the second-oldest rock festival in Europe (after Pinkpop) and the oldest in Finland. The festival has attracted internationa ...
and
Ilosaarirock
The Ilosaarirock Festival is an annual rock festival held on the second weekend of July in Joensuu, Eastern Finland. Founded in 1971, Ilosaarirock is the second-oldest rock festival in Finland still active, and one of the oldest in Europe. In 2 ...
festivals. The real-life counterparts of the characters Goldie Foxx and Dyna Mink appeared on stage wearing masks, and the character Cherry was present in the form of screen projection.
2015–2019: Hiatus and comeback
In 2015, after a year-long absence, Studio Killers made a brief comeback and released the music video for "
Jenny" on 24 December, as a Christmas gift to their fans. The band went on a two year long hiatus, up until 15 February 2018, a YouTube video titled "Fresh Start: Studio Killers Are Back!" was posted onto their official YouTube channel, in which an animated Cherry promises new music coming soon.
Later on in 2018, they released two singles; "Party Like It's Your Birthday" on 8 June and "Dirty Car" on 30 November, with music videos accompanying each song respectively.
On 31 August 2019 the group announced their intent to create an animated series and plan to launch a kickstarter to create a pitch pilot called Studio Killers 404. The kickstarter reached its $115,000 goal in three days.
2020–2023: "Jenny" TikTok success and remixes
During 2020, the 2013 single "Jenny" started gaining success over the platform
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
and started a new trend on the video-sharing app. The group decided to release a lyric video to the song on 13 January 2021. The track later received a remix by Danish
DJ and producer Faustix, on 10 February 2021.
The group recorded a new version of the single "Jenny" with the help of German singer
Kim Petras
Kim Petras (, ; born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republic Reco ...
; this new version was released on 26 March 2021.
In June 2021, the group collaborated with electronic music duo
The Knocks and released the single "Bedroom Eyes". They later featured in a remix of the song by
Nathan Barnatt under the persona of
Dad Feels.
In December 2021, an animated pilot ''Studio Killers 404'' was released on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
On March 24, 2023, they released a new single, "Underneath my Raincoat",
later re-titled simply "Raincoat".
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Animated musical groups
Fictional musical groups
LGBTQ-themed musical groups
Masked musicians
Musical groups established in 2011
British electronic music groups
Finnish electronic music groups
Danish electronic music groups
Fictional characters invented for recorded music
Virtual influencers
Fictional characters introduced in 2011