SCANDAL; 10th Year Anniversary BEST ALBUM,『SCANDAL』Interview with Billboard Japan 「The 10th Year Ann

SCANDAL; 10th Year Anniversary BEST ALBUM,『SCANDAL』Interview with Billboard Japan

「The 10th Year Anniversary That Was Reached By Their Own Strength」- Each member speaks about their recommended tune~ a plan is in midst!?

－－SCANDAL, in the way you are, have released your 10th year anniversary BEST ALBUM『SCANDAL』. It’s a piece of work that is as voted by fans, but when you all looked at the results, what sort of impression or thoughts did you hold?

HARUNA: It was as we thought (laughs).

MAMI: We were like,「Yeah right?!」Since we’ve gone the whole way putting our lives at the center of our activities, it was obvious when songs that are popular at lives ranked well. We were purely just happy at that.

TOMOMI: As they were practically all songs that are popular at our lives, we kept performing them. For the ones we did live arrangements for, we still perform them at lives today. So when we heard the original audio for the first time in a long while this round, we were like,「The intro used this bar?」or「Eh, it was such a song?」 It felt a little bit weird (laughs).

－－I’ll bet that each of the songs were well thought out, but one by one, can each of you tell us which is your personal, most favourite song?

MAMI:「Departure」. I wrote the lyrics and composed it, but as we went about on our year 2015 world tour, it was then I got to know that this song is actually super popular among the overseas fans. The content about the song revolved around Japan’s 4 seasons, and depicted the change in people’s hearts and their environments as these 4 seasons shifted, alongside the use of a Japanese-style melody. For that, the overseas crowd felt it was「extremely catchy」.

RINA: Because they could feel it illustrated Japan, it was fun.

MAMI: I think, we probably don’t feel something like this regularly. But everyone researched on all the words in this song and its situational elements, and got to understand the lyrics by actually looking at the sceneries. The intro used an orgel, and the moment the sound came out, the audience went, ‘Woah!’…I was like,「Is it this popular?」, but was really happy about it. Not only is it a song that brought me confidence as a songwriter, but to create a song in Japan and to bring it overseas…it got me thinking exactly how important this job was.

－－How about TOMOMI?

TOMOMI: The one that I had the most thought about is「SCANDAL BABY」. It was the song that was voted in first place, but it wasn’t a single; instead, a number from our 1st album as the 1st song. So in order to know this song, you’ll have to have bought our 1st album, or have come to our lives. Still, it came in first. That led me to think about how it’s proof of SCANDAL placing lives at the heart of our activities. Previously in the past, we’ll make songs about what we mean then superficially, but we’ve gone past that now. In any case, the scenery that we’ve seen on stage is amazing. We can make sing-alongs happen, and if SCANDAL was a country, this would be our national anthem. It’s really a song that was raised by the audience, and they made it No.1 and a special song…in such a sense, it’s the song that has the most thought of all placed in it.

－－What about RINA?

RINA: It’s an album song called「Bitter Chocolate」, and since we were able to let many people hear it before, I’m extremely happy that it was selected this time around. All of us have ever lived under the same roof before, and we shared our time together there. When we then go on tours and the 4 of us stay in hotels, it’s like we’re always returning home and the 4 of us are living together. During one time, I sat in my room and tried making the melody on keyboard, thinking,「This somehow seems possible!」Since at the time, the lyrics were made with TOMOMI at the center of it, I brought the demo to TOMOMI’s room to have her listen to it, and asked,「Won’t you try coming up with the lyrics?」It was a song that was completed with both our styles of creation. Since that way of creating had been fun, we still make songs today in the different lyric-writing and mmusic composition pattern. I can still remember the joy of being able to ride upon lyrics that I didn’t imagine would be. Right after that time, all of us lived alone, but when I return to the house that I live in by myself and am trying to put together a demo, I think of how we spoke till late that night…and I’ll remember that as I listen to this song.

－－How about HARUNA?

HARUNA:「Awanai Tsumori no, Genki Dene」. This was released right after our first one-man live at the Osaka-jo Hall, which has always been our dream venue. Not only is it a song that signified a new start, but it also holds lyrics that can only be written at our generation then. It contained a lot of our feelings at the time, and is purely a love song, but as it was sung from a more adult-like point of view, it was the song that got me feeling for the first time,「I want to continue singing forever from now on」. It is a song that gave me the confidenec to (continue) sing such songs.

－－Again, this album contains the new songs,「FREEDOM FIGHTERS」and「HELLO」. Can you tell us what sort of thought or imagination brought about these songs?

RINA: Firstly,「HELLO」was a song that had its demo done about a year ago. Since the release period would be Winter, it was recorded with the idea of wanting others to listen to it as a Winter love song. We thought of presenting it as a royal road pop song, so not only were the lyrics straightforward, but since it also has the story element in its content, it was written in a manner that was meant to be easy to reach out to all kinds of people. We only played it once during Christmas, but I was happy that we’re finally able to release it. And then, for「FREEDOM FIGHTERS」, since we were going to go on our 47-prefecture tour, we thought about「wanting to create a killer tune that’ll look great when shot live」. We imagined and made the melody with that in mind, but we wanted to write lyrics that anyone could understand with the theme, 'Freedom’. Despite clearing that, it took quite some time (to create it). So, it was a song that was really painful to produce, but we do think we're「glad to have held on」. With this song in the best album, it was like,「We completed the 10th year anniversary using our own strength」. It’s a song that we think,「We’ve given it our all」.

－－Once more, you all feel you’re starting again from here on?

RINA: That’s right. Rather than say we’re finally going towards a new stage, we feel as though our hearts are rest once again.

－－What sort of future is SCANDAL aiming towards from here on out?

HARUNA: We’re soon starting our 47-prefecture tour, but I think we hope to stay as band that will always place importance on our lives after all. We’ve come this far by making one-man lives the central of the activities, but we really do want to involve more, and all kinds of people in our lives. Since we’ve moved along, opening our own paths till now, we also hope to play alongside all kinds of people and absorb even more things in future.

MAMI: When the 47-prefecture tour ends, the Summer fes season will also have passed eh. Since we’ll got all kinds of stuff planned, it’ll be great if people would like to「do something together」, with us. As so, please look forward to it!

RINA: Until now, we haven’t got to do a two-man with TRICERATOPS or Kishidan or The Cro-magnons.

－－Those are 3 amazing bands eh (laughs).

RINA: All 3 groups are huge seniors of ours, and we’ve received a lot of stimulation from them. That’s why, even more so, we’ll like to do a two-man and put our confidence into it. Even if we get hurt once in a while, it’s also necessary, since we can get more heated up from that. We want to do more gradually.

Original article by Billboard Japan HERE, translation by fyscandalband. Another huge part of this Billboard interview is translated HERE. Support SCANDAL in the best way by buying their best album HEREnow.