SLICE OF LIFE 2 | Eimi Terasu

Eimi Terasu (pronouns: she/her) is a Cambodian-Australian singer-songwriter and member of J-idol group “CiTRus Plus” (CTRP). Known as an “anti-idol idol group,” Eimi along with her group members bring a fresh new style to the idol world while redefining the culture surrounding its industry.  When she’s not performing, she enjoys playing video games and listening to music — but the genre she listens to may surprise you.

Now I’ve talked to my fair share of singer-songwriters in and outside of this project, but never a pop idol. I was honoured to have Eimi be the first, especially after how our conversation transpired. And after reading through it here, you’ll know exactly why.

Viv: So from what I’ve read, one of the things i see most often from you, is that you are a

“Cambodian pop idol who is part of an anti-idol idol group”

Eimi: yeah LOL

Viv: and your group name is, coincidentally, called CiTRus Plus

Which is funny because this this news outlet is called Blood Citrus*

Eimi: LITERALLY

Viv: LOL

So i wanna know, how did you decide to become a pop idol?

Eimi: For me i feel like i kinda just stumbled into it 

Like i never before was like, “i wanna be specifically a pop idol”

Cause i feel like when you think of “pop idol” it becomes very cliche and it kinda typecasts you into this genre of music and specific direction. But for me i feel like it’s a nice catch-all for the type of music and content that i’m seeking, aiming, and wanting to create

So my group is, quote on quote, [an]  “anti-idol idol group,” but in generality, we do j-pop covers and original songs. So in the sense of “anti-idol” it’s more of our ethos and what we value in ourselves

A lot of people don’t really follow j-pop idols and things like that, but it’s a really popular thing for idols to be seen as very cute, innocent, pure 

and i’m sure like everyone’s seen those stories of people going “GASP, this idol got canceled because she had a boyfriend!”

In making ourselves “anti-idol,” we want to make a stand that we’re here for people to be different, to follow the dreams they want, and to be more themselves

Going back to my southeast asian background as well, we’re really diverse in where we come from. We’re all aussie, but everyone’s from a different background. We’ve got [a] malaysian chinese [member], we had a japanese member, and obviously i’m cambodian

It’s kind of celebratory of our differences

[The] pop idol label for me is more of a catch-all into what i enjoy.

I guess it’s also something that comes with being an independent artist. it’s pretty freeing [in the sense] that you can do whatever you want, at the cost of not getting that label-type support

But that is a whole ‘nother tangent hahaha

The fact that a member of CiTRus Plus is being interviewed by Blood Citrus is purely coincidental, but its inception has a lot more thought behind it. In fact, there’s MUCH more to the group than what meets the eye.

Viv: What are the inspirations and influences behind CiTRus Plus?

Eimi: it’s pretty nerdy, I feel LOL

Viv: LOL

Eimi: Like before we started the idol singing/dancing journey, we were all like “Oo, I love anime!” hahaha

There’s been a rise culturally of idol-type anime like love live. oshi no ko, AKB0048

And with the rise of anime in the west, other aspects of that japanese culture are going to come through like the idol culture

we all had different ways we came about to pursuing the career of idol, but some of us came from not really knowing anything about the idol culture. We started as a group of four, [but only] some of us are like really into idols and that kind of music

I was one of those i was like “yes i love idol music”

There’s cute music, and there’s also very uncute music

Viv: I’m thinking BABYMETAL

Eimi: yeah like babymetal!

We also have people who have joined the group that never really went to idol shows, never listened to idol music, but was like “oh this looks fun! Singing and dancing!”

And then everyone just grew to love it 

Viv: I too am also an anime nerd LOL

It’s amazing how some people, when they go into their craft they’re like “I just like doing this”

“I don’t know the technicality around it, but this sounds fun so I’ll do it!”

Eimi: yup

That’s basically how i went into it

Before doing idol stuff, i never took proper dance lessons, never took proper vocal lessons, never did any of that, but it’s one of those things where it’s just like

If you want it enough, you will learn somehow. You’ll put yourself through trial by fire and just fucking wing it. 

Viv: If there’s a will there’s a way

Eimi: There’s ALWAYS a way

And it’s true! We both agreed that being an independent creative gives us the freedom to do whatever we want, away from toxic company culture.

Viv: AND SPEAKING OF TOXIC

Eimi: OH

OH

OH MY GOD

Viv: I WANT TO ASK

about your original song, “Toxic”

Which I love, you already know

Eimi: Ahhhhh!

Viv: Truth be told I was NOT expecting that to be the solo piece that i’d get from you

Eimi: HAHAHA

I guess like, for me

Again going back to the anti-idol concept of doing whatever you want and what you feel like at the time

I guess because CiTRus Plus has [that] happy, vibrant, energetic, classic kawaii jpop idol group [energy], you wouldn’t really expect us to do other things, but for me i’m someone who likes lots of different things.

i love that classic jpop sound, but to be honest, i don’t actually listen to that much jpop outside of when i’m performing hahaha

i actually listen to a lot of hiphop/rnb which is really funny, like a lot of people wouldn’t expect that 

Because i have more of a cutesy persona i guess

But no for me like, my solo stuff is a way of expressing different avenues or different parts of myself, and that’s a different part of Eimi Terasu that I wanted to show

I’ve only recently started trying to do more trap style, hiphop more rap, i’ve been really enjoying it

Viv: That’s very interesting, like i get the same thing where people assume that because you’re an idol that you listen to J-Pop all the time

But obviously you very clearly listen to other genres

Eimi: I like listening to heavy metal on the bus HAHAHAHA

Viv: OMG RIGHT

People there probably think you’re listening to AKB48 or something but you’re actually listening to screaming vocals LOL

Eimi: I think there’s something very charming and fun about being unexpected. In japanese it’s called “gap moe” (ギャップ萌え) 

I had to Google this term because I did not know it was a thing. I had to thank Eimi for sharing this with me, because now I get to share it with you all. You’re welcome.

And while we’re talking about “unexpected” moves, I had to ask Eimi about the unexpected decision to graduate her Vtuber model.

Eimi: So the reason why I graduated my old model is because I feel like she doesn’t really fit who I feel like I am anymore, which i think is something that a lot of people who Vtube feel like

People grow out of models, they change in who they want to be and how they want to present themselves.

So basically i’ve just been using a facecam instead hahaha

But i do occasionally stream.

Viv: What games do you stream?

Eimi: I don’t play FPS games like shooters because I get motion sick and I also have no aim, it’s very cursed.

But I do play a lot of Roguelites, a lot of MMOs, things that don’t really require a lot of brainpower

A+

Viv: I feel the same way with JRPGs, but whenever I see people who are like “here’s an optimal build to get through the game” I’m like

“I’m too dumb for that” LOL

Eimi: Or like 100% completionist so you need EVERYTHING in the game you need EVERY achievement EVERY TITLE you can get

I’m just like “I’m not about that”

I could NOT

Viv: SAME

Are there any titles that you really like?

Eimi: Ooo

I play a lot of Elden Ring a lot (which I’ve never finished)

I got into the first 20 hours of the game and I find it fun (even though I keep dying)

Viv: To be fair it’s a Souls-like game

Eimi: Yeah it’s a souls game, so what do you expect? I’m not a pro gamer hahaha

Hmm, what else…

I enjoyed Vampire Survivors a lot, it’s a really fun rogue-like

Recently i’ve been getting back into League because all of my friends for some reason decided they want to play league of legends so…maybe i’ll play  that more

Viv: I also have friends who for some reason like League

Eimi: FOR SOME REASON

Viv: YEAH

And a bunch of people who have recently started to like League because of their idol groups

Eimi: YESSS

Viv: I get it

i understand you want me in your party so you can get a 5-stack because you don’t want randos who might flame you

BUT

i’m not great, so if you want to win, I’m the WORST for that

Eimi: LITERALLY

It’s also pretty funny because a game on average takes 40-60 minutes of my life, of my day that i’ll never get back LOL

The skins are so pretty, though. I must say their marketing is very good because I think the fact that they have kpop groups producing songs specifically for Riot and League of Legends

It just keeps the game at the front of everyone’s brains so well

So you’re like “Oh I don’t want to play League anymore. But oh! New songs with new skins! I HAVE to play!”

And then everyone keeps getting on that cycle of like new skins, new characters, etc

Viv: It’s a LOT to keep up with 

AND there’s an MMO coming out, which is gonna get every Maplestory-loving person into RIOT

Eimi: DUUUUUUUDE I LOVE MMOS

I’M GONNA GET MY SHIT ON THAT SO MUCH LOL

Viv: YESSSS 

Of course, being MMO junkies, I had to get Eimi’s opinion on one of the biggest MMOs to ever exist:

Viv: What’s your opinion on Final Fantasy XIV?

Because I came from the era of free MMOs and JRPGs

Eimi: That’s me, THAT’S MEEEE

Okay here’s the thing…

I tried Final Fantasy XIV…

…i didn’t like it

AHHHHHH

I’m gonna get FLAMED

Some HATE DMs on my way

Idk why i just…it didn’t do it for me, it didn’t hit the spot

I played those really random free anime MMORPGs when I used to play a lot of games, and i used to play a lot of World of Warcraft, so i feel like coming off the back of those two i feel like...final fantasy XIV

OMG I’M SCARED TO SAY THIS LOL

It almost hits the mark, but it’s just not good enough

It’s not as good

Viv: You know…I can see that

I’ve played other Final Fantasy games and other MMOs and MMORPGs

Those are GREAT

See the reason I ask (and I’m glad you have that) is because I’ve had friends CONSTANTLY tell me that huge copy-paste meme

Eimi: WAIT

WAIT WAIT WAIT

I actually have a t-shirt that says the whole thing

I bought it as a meme HAHAHAHAHAHA

WAIT HAHAHA

Viv: you ACTUALLY have it???

Eimi: Yeah lemme grab it really quick

(Eimi takes the shirt out and begins to read it)

It says:

“Have you heard of the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety—”

*INHALES*

“—of Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward for free with no restriction on playtime up to level 60”

Viv: THAT’S SO MUCH TEXT IT’S LIKE A DRESS SHIRT

Eimi: IT IS

it’s funny because I don’t even like Final Fantasy XIV that much 

AHHHHHHH

Viv: If it makes you feel better 

I’m not too hyped about the game either LOL

Eimi: LOL

Well I do see how it would be popular and how people would like the game

But for me, if I want to look at anime characters, I’m gonna play an anime RPG, cause i feel like that’s just more fun.

If I want to play an MMO i’m just gonna play like WoW or something

Viv: That’s fair

if I wanted to see a certain Final Fantasy character for example, I’d just play the corresponding Final Fantasy game.

Eimi: Yeah

I see why it’s popular tho

Viv: (whispers) but those free RPGs though, those are peak

Eimi: YES!

I’ve been playing…

I don’t know these are very niche

I used to play a lot of Aura Kingdom

Viv: I KNOW AURA KINGDOM

Eimi: AHHHHHHHHH

Viv: Yeah

Aura Kingdom, Grand Fantasia, Flyff

Eimi: Oh Fly for Fun??? LOL

MABINOGI???

Viv: Omg Mabinogi was SO GOOD

I think that was the first time i was ever exposed to that kind of game

Eimi: Yeah

Mind-blowing 10 years ago

I’ve been playing Eden Eternal though, it just got a reboot on Steam

Viv: Really???

Eimi: YEAH I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane

I re-opened Maplestory the other day and i decided, “Wow this game actually sucked.”

Viv: It was bad

And it’s worse now

It’s NOTHING like how it was in the early days

But the nostalgia hits every now and then and it makes me download the game

But by the time I get to it I’m like “...I don’t wanna play anymore.” LOL

Eimi: Yeahhhh

Our trip down memory lane was knee-deep at this point — I had to bring up one of my personal favourites.

If you (the reader) know this game, just know that you’re one cool individual. A very cool individual.

Viv: There was one JRPG I loved called “Rusty Hearts”

Like imagine if Persona was gothic.

Eimi: *GASP*

That sounds so fun

Viv: Yeah, it got shut down unfortunately.

Eimi: they always do, yeah

[Speaking of Persona], Have you heard that Persona 3 is getting a reboot?

Viv: Really?

Eimi: Yeah, it’s not a new story, but they’re just remaking it for 2024, I’m really excited

Viv: Wow, after Persona 5 Royal?

Eimi: Yeah

To be honest, I think P3 and P4 are the peak

UGH ANOTHER HOT TAKE

I’m gonna get SO MANY DMs LOL

Viv: LOL

This article is just full of hot takes

Eimi: YEAH LOL

Also, P5 did not do it for me.

My heart is stuck on P4

Viv: You know, that’s valid.

Never have I edited an article and had SO MANY HOT TAKES in one article (it’s just two but let’s pretend Eimi had a LOT to say.)

Maybe we should cool down this feature with some food talk — and nothing in my opinion would help cool down anything (or anyone) better than Eimi’s childhood favourite food.

Eimi: A childhood favourite food…

I love this…I actually think it’s also a Filipino dessert 

I think they call it “cendol,” but in Cambodian we call it “lot”

it’s that green stringy dessert in the milk

Viv: OH WAIT

I think we have that in Vietnamese desserts too

It’s like that stringy green jelly in milk

Eimi: Yeah they look like worms! YEAH!

Viv: Wait what do you call it in Cambodian?

Eimi: “lot”

Viv: In Vietnamese we call it “banh lot”

Eimi: OHHHHHHHH

Viv: IT’S THE SAME THING

Eimi: That’s CRAZYYYY

Bro my mind is fucking exploding

Viv: That is CRAZYY

Eimi: I mean it makes sense that it’s the same, but it’s crazy

Viv: Southeast Asian desserts just go so hard

They’re so good

Eimi: They just hit different like…

Sticky rice?

Viv: THE BEST

So why “lot” specifically?

Eimi: I guess it’s because the fact that, since we’re Southeast Asian diaspora living in western countries

You don’t see things like “lot” anywhere except maybe if your family makes it or you go to the one asian town in your city and you have it there

I think the rarity makes it so much more special in the fact that you can only have it once in a while makes it top tier.

Viv: Yeah I agree with that

I know in my case if I’d want something like lot then I’d have to drive at least an hour or so

Eimi: Yeah exactly

Like if we were in Cambodia or Vietnam, it’s on every other fucking street

But over here I’d have to go like three hours from where I am to find it

Viv: THREE HOURS??

Eimi: three hours, yeah!

I grew up in a very Caucasian neighborhood so especially for me like

I’m glad that we get a lot more representation in the media and like people like you doing interviews and stuff is really neat

Because growing up i never really realized “Damn, I’m different!” LOL

Like I didn’t know that other people didn’t have desserts like that

I never knew that people never tried coconut or cane juice in their lives 

Viv: I can’t even FATHOM the idea that someone hasn’t had coconut or cane juice

Like FRESH young coconut

Eimi: UGH YES

CRACKING IT OPEN

Viv: YES

WITH THE CLEAVER

Eimi: WITH A CLEAVER!

Viv: ON THE FLOOR.

Eimi: ON THE FLOOR!

Ugh, so good

Viv: You just unlocked a core memory for me of just being like “Oh my gosh someone out there knows what I'm talking about, I don’t have to explain it!”

Eimi: Yeahh!

Viv: There are just some times when you talk to someone and you just don’t have the energy to try to explain it

But when you talk to someone who _does_ understand it, it’s like

That baggage is lifted from your shoulders

Like you KNOW how good sticky rice is with fresh fruit right?

You KNOW how hard those karaoke parties go?

Eimi: YEAH

Bruh going back to core memories like

Karaoke, i’ve never been to a Cambodian’s place that doesn’t have a karaoke system in their house

Microphones and everything

Viv: I still have mine too

Eimi: ME TOO

You best believe we have speakers for no reason other than Karaoke

Viv: some dad or uncle is obsessed with Sony or Panasonic equipment

Eimi: YEAH IT’S TRUE

Just because I love karaoke so much

They were training me up from a young age

Viv: TRUE

Have you ever had your neighbors complain because you were too loud?

Eimi: Luckily no because for some reason everyone on my block also loves to party

If it’s our house? Blasting cambodian music

Neighbour’s house? House party.

House next door? 2000s summer’s greatest hits

it's just a block party sometimes

Viv: that’s a dream

Life is too short, turn on loud music

Eimi: Yep

Sometimes you need Britney Spears

It’s britney bitch. You just need it.

Viv: I love britney so much

You need madonna at some point, you gotta sprinkle mariah carey, you gotta get some ciara in there

Have you done tours with citrus plus?

Eimi: I mean we’re still a relatively new group and  obviously it’s pretty hard to fund tours.

I think the furthest we’ve gone is interstate for shows and performances but that’s about it

But it is the dream for me at least to either go on an Aussie tour or a worldwide tour i feel like that would be so fun

But that would be hard

Viv: Yeah you’d probably be exhausted lol

Eimi: yeah like i was listening to another podcast this one time

And i think it was umm…bbno$ (baby no money), the edamame guy

Viv: LOL

Eimi: He was talking about how even someone with his popularity…like

He’s not a nobody, but artists still, even if they’re popular struggle to make it even on tours because the upfront costs like traveling tickets, venue, hires, personnel, doing everything on a large scale is just so expensive and like  the money you put in never really comes to fruition in terms of like gaining capital, which is pretty tough

But i think you do it for  the passion anyways lol

Viv: You’ll never get that chance again, so you might as well do it now

Eimi: Aiming for world tour while i’m still young LOL

Viv: Manifest it LOL

And now that we’ve cooled down, let’s wrap up with some last minute advice…

Eimi: Hmm…

My advice to anyone that is looking into doing anything creative…just do it

It doesn’t matter if you think you’re gifted or talented or not, if you do something enough, you’re going to get good enough at it, and one day you’re going to be great at it

I’ve seen this time and time again, and i feel like this is a message i’ll preach any day every day 

Effort over innate talent. Someone who puts in 100% work with less “starting skills” is always gonna go so much further than someone who is born with “talent” and puts in 50% effort

It’s always about keeping on going hahaha

Viv: yeah I think it’s the discipline and effort that gets you further

You’re gonna stumble and make bad work along the way, but that gets you closer to the work that you want to do.

Eimi: Yeah, don’t be afraid to fail. Everyone fails sometimes haha

Viv: Tell that to our Asian parents

Eimi: YEAHHHH FORREAL

I think that’s one thing I’ve had to unlearn is that not everything has to be perfect

Sometimes we can fuck up and that’s normal and that’s just a way of learning

Viv: Yeah you have to fail, you can’t just get everything perfect on the first try

Otherwise life isn’t fun anymore

Eimi: It’s not fun!

Your wins feel so much better when you’ve had obstacles in the way and you’ve had to work at it, it feels so much more rewarding.

[By the way], I’ll probably be putting out new music new content under a new name

I’ve been thinking of doing a rebrand SOOOOOO we will see

Viv: we’re just getting SO MUCH STUFF here aren’t we

Eimi: I’ve been hinting at it for a while that i’ve been wanting to change up my brand a bit, so that’s coming maybe next year or sooner, we’ll see

Viv: I’m excited! That’s gonna be fun.

Your previous work is so good, and so cool, but this rebrand sounds neat!

Eimi: Yeah

For me I feel like the rebrand is such a big thing in Vtuber culture, and it’s really cool because you can see people evolve their style and know what they want and I feel like I want to hone in more of that R&B/hip-hop vibe so expect that

Viv: Are we gonna see a hiphop/R&B Vtuber??

Eimi: MAYBE

Maybe

We’ll see

*This project was known as "Blood Citrus" at the time of this interview's process and publication. As of March 2025, this project has been rebranded as "CitruSEA."

FOLLOW EIMI TERASU ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: @EimiTerasu
Twitch: @EimiTerasu
Twitter: @EimiTerasu