Yukimi Nagano––LITTLE DRAGON frontwoman, expert vocalist, and apparent corn aficionado––knows her way around the music-festival circuit. She's also a damn-good storyteller. Below, her musings on FYF Fest in the City of Angels.
This last week, we have been diving through different time zones and climates. It's been a fun, bizarre ride, and the shows have been our fuel. The short version of this last week is that we flew from the hot and humid Tokyo summer to the stormy and cold Australian land, only to end up in a pleasantly summery San Francisco, which was our first US stop before jetting down to LA the next morning for the FYF Fest. We hit the ground running. I took a nap and woke up in a rush and threw on what the weather called for: a big hat, light-blue skirt, and top. Once we got to the festival area, we jumped on the buggy with a driver named Jenn, who escorted us to the backstage area. We drove by the dusty, endlessly long line of people waiting to get in for the first day of excitement.
LA has always been a special place for us since we did our first-ever sold-out show there at The Roxy. I’ll never forget that day! The love was so real and flowing back and forth from our hearts to the audience. Also, my mother, grandparents, and sisters all live in LA. Over the years it has started to feel like home even for the guys because we have spent so much time here feeling out the vibes. So we went on stage facing the blazing sun, breaking a sweat in our jet-lagged state of mind. The show was so much fun! We could feel the love immensely.
Afterward, the guards gave me a bit of a hard time letting my mom backstage. Security at FYF was no joke, as it is with most festivals. But with some persuasion my mom was finally let in, and I got to give her the longest hug. It's easy to miss family on the road, as you are constantly in a state of motion.
Garth Trinidad was there! He is a KCRW DJ who was one of the first to start playing us on the radio. Everyone there has been so supportive over the years. We love them! The beautiful style master ziggi Jean-Paul Paula was there and had flown in from Paris. I also bumped into Brian Butler, who draws amazing live-show illustrations of bands. He is also the creator of our Nabuma Comics and captured the show perfectly on paper.
After meeting everyone, I was so ready for food! The catering was Mexican. We all know LA is a good city for Mexican food, so my expectations were high. I have one word to sum up the whole experience: corn! Forget everything else because that sweet corn was probably the most divine piece of corn I've ever had in my whole life. Good corn can make you cry and shed tears of joy. Dessert was delicious as well. Churros and ice cream with chocolate-caramel sauce... pow! Check out my close up... and, yes, I love food.
I bumped into Ariel Pink whom I had met once before at The Roots picnic. As the night went on, everything started to blur, including the shot of Ariel, who is a favorite artist of mine. Erik, Hakan, and I said goodbye to Fred, who decided to stay at the festival and own the night. We listened to Chaka Khan on our drive back to the hotel. "I'm Every Woman" gave me goosebumps; what a fucking song! Hakan was falling asleep next to me, and I kept seeing images of Fred dancing along in the dark with a bottle of tequila. It made me smile.![]()
Hakan of Little Dragon. Photos by Yukimi Nagano
This last week, we have been diving through different time zones and climates. It's been a fun, bizarre ride, and the shows have been our fuel. The short version of this last week is that we flew from the hot and humid Tokyo summer to the stormy and cold Australian land, only to end up in a pleasantly summery San Francisco, which was our first US stop before jetting down to LA the next morning for the FYF Fest. We hit the ground running. I took a nap and woke up in a rush and threw on what the weather called for: a big hat, light-blue skirt, and top. Once we got to the festival area, we jumped on the buggy with a driver named Jenn, who escorted us to the backstage area. We drove by the dusty, endlessly long line of people waiting to get in for the first day of excitement.
LA has always been a special place for us since we did our first-ever sold-out show there at The Roxy. I’ll never forget that day! The love was so real and flowing back and forth from our hearts to the audience. Also, my mother, grandparents, and sisters all live in LA. Over the years it has started to feel like home even for the guys because we have spent so much time here feeling out the vibes. So we went on stage facing the blazing sun, breaking a sweat in our jet-lagged state of mind. The show was so much fun! We could feel the love immensely.
Afterward, the guards gave me a bit of a hard time letting my mom backstage. Security at FYF was no joke, as it is with most festivals. But with some persuasion my mom was finally let in, and I got to give her the longest hug. It's easy to miss family on the road, as you are constantly in a state of motion.
Garth Trinidad was there! He is a KCRW DJ who was one of the first to start playing us on the radio. Everyone there has been so supportive over the years. We love them! The beautiful style master ziggi Jean-Paul Paula was there and had flown in from Paris. I also bumped into Brian Butler, who draws amazing live-show illustrations of bands. He is also the creator of our Nabuma Comics and captured the show perfectly on paper.
After meeting everyone, I was so ready for food! The catering was Mexican. We all know LA is a good city for Mexican food, so my expectations were high. I have one word to sum up the whole experience: corn! Forget everything else because that sweet corn was probably the most divine piece of corn I've ever had in my whole life. Good corn can make you cry and shed tears of joy. Dessert was delicious as well. Churros and ice cream with chocolate-caramel sauce... pow! Check out my close up... and, yes, I love food.
I bumped into Ariel Pink whom I had met once before at The Roots picnic. As the night went on, everything started to blur, including the shot of Ariel, who is a favorite artist of mine. Erik, Hakan, and I said goodbye to Fred, who decided to stay at the festival and own the night. We listened to Chaka Khan on our drive back to the hotel. "I'm Every Woman" gave me goosebumps; what a fucking song! Hakan was falling asleep next to me, and I kept seeing images of Fred dancing along in the dark with a bottle of tequila. It made me smile.
Hakan of Little Dragon. Photos by Yukimi Nagano