Celebrity Gaymer: Endigo
Endigo is a Swedish YouTuber, musician, and drag artist, recently seen on Drag Race Sverige (Drag Race Sweden). Originally from Stockholm, they took their love of Japanese culture a step further by moving to Tokyo in 2019, with a more recent temporary relocation back to Sweden in 2022.
Endigo launched a successful YouTube channel in 2014 featuring “meme music”, absurd humor and celebrating all facets of Japanese pop culture including music, games, cartoons and Harajuku fashion.
Their music focusses on the Japanese rock/metal genres and both their music and voice acting skills have been featured on several video games including Tekken 7, Street Fighter V and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Following our brief TikTok chat with Endigo at RuPaul’s DragCon UK, I wanted to dive in more on their work and background, so I was super excited when I got to sit down with them once again and chat more.
Robin: Hi Endigo, thanks so much for joining me! We last chatted at DragCon UK on our TikTok channel – did you have fun at DragCon? What were some of your highlights?
Endigo: Hey there! Thanks a bunch for having me on here, it was an absolute blast to see you and be at DragCon UK this year, it was my first time there! The biggest highlight, as always, was meeting all the lovely people who came up to chat with me! And of course, premiering my new single “All Star” on the main stage was incredible too – we need way more metal in the drag world!
We saw you on Drag Race Sverige last year, what made you audition for the show?
Honestly, as someone who’s been watching Drag Race for over a decade at this point, auditioning was a total no-brainer. I even started bombarding the production company with emails as soon as the announcement went out, before the official casting even started!
What were some of the best moments from your time on Drag Race?
The obvious one is the talent show – better known as my guitar solo! Everything I do today, from moving back to Sweden last November, to signing with my current management, to this newly rebooted solo metal career I’m doing, is all thanks to those 10 seconds of me shredding guitar on stage! That, and some of the moments me and Imaa had.
While all the queens knew each other already, I only knew Imaa from before the show and having her there was beyond amazing. We’re still close personal friends today and she spends approximately one night a week crashing on my couch, or floor!
Well talking of your guitar shredding, you’re of course well known for being a musician and singer, what inspired your journey into being a musician?
Before there was anything in my life, there was music. I suppose the biggest inspiration was my dad, who himself has been in bands since the 80’s. There was never NOT a time in my life I wanted to “become a rock star” and that’s still where I’m at, I suppose!
You recently had a track on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, that’s so cool! How did that come about?
I did indeed! To state that being on Final Fantasy VII is a childhood dream come true is beyond an understatement. I’ve already lent my voice to several games, from Tekken 7, to the recent Tekken 8, to more obscure games like Deathverse: Let it Die. Despite Tokyo being an absolutely ginormous city, the music industry is surprisingly close and tight-knit – especially the video game music industry. Games aside I also do loads of other voice and music work in Tokyo for anime, TV commercials and such, so I suppose word got around, one day I got the offer and here I am!
With such an accomplished list of games you’ve featured on already, is there a stand out game you would most want to sing on?
Ask me a year ago and I’d have said Final Fantasy VII honestly! With that said however, I would love to feature in a potential Alan Wake III in the future. Alan Wake II is already one of my favorite games of all time, and as a musician, well… if you know you know, without spoiling the game!
You lived in Tokyo for a while, and your music and look are very Japan/Anime inspired, was that always the goal to move to Japan or was it a happy accident?
Technically I reside in Sweden since November, however, I essentially see this as an extended business trip and fully intend to move back to Tokyo permanently within a couple years! As a child I’d dreamt of Japan all my life, as a total weeb you know, and when I first got there in 2016 on tour with my former band – it was basically over! I had to move there! And so I did!
What consoles/platforms do you play on, and what games are you currently playing?
These days I mainly play on the PS5 and Nintendo Switch, as well as LOTS of VR on the Meta Quest 3, though I do own an Xbox Series S and every retro Nintendo and PlayStation console ever! I even have a PlayStation logo tattoo! Currently I’m hundreds of hours into Vampire Survivors across Nintendo Switch and mobile, while on the PS5 I’m currently going through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth as well as replaying Catherine: Full Body again! As for VR I’m just doing lots of VR Chat with my partner right now!
What was your favourite game last year?
Alan Wake II, no doubt
What games defined your childhood?
All the PlayStation mascots were part of my childhood – Croc, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sly Cooper and so on. Then there’s Crash Team Racing which me and my cousin played religiously for thousands of hours every summer growing up, as well as Digimon World, both for the PS1. On the PC side, I played a lot of Tibia – this super old MMORPG from like 1997 – I was there day 1 pretty much! Also, lots of Command & Conquer, both the FPS spinoff C&C Renegade as well as Tiberian Sun/Tiberium Wars!
What’s up next in your world?
I just released my fully CGI ”All Star” music video that I’m super proud of and currently I’m preparing my next couple of moves for this new rock career thingy I got going on! There’s new music around the corner, as well as festivals during the summer and hopefully touring during the Fall. Watch this space!
How can our readers keep up with you (social links)?
You can find me pretty much everywhere at @EndigoPink, but Instagram is where I’m mainly at these days!
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