It's only a small step.
Even then, it's a huge step forward!
After the single Haruka, ranked third at a personal best, in April, SCANDAL is releasing new single, LOVE SURVIVE and album, BABY ACTION. As the enthusiasm from their hit Zepp tour condenses, SCANDAL gives their thoughts on completing their album that marks their transition from a 'Girls Band' to a 'Rock Band'!
The LOVE SURIVE PV has a bedroom scene!?
At 190 BPM, LOVE SURVIVE looks like it's your fastest single, historically.
TOMOMI: When we were practicing, everyone tired out really quickly (laughs)
RINA: From a technique perspective, it goes without saying that there are always challenges, but the tempo creates a barrier. The copy band (??) also had trouble with it too (laughs)
It's a love song, but the lyrics are from the point of view of a (bitchy) carnivore-woman, right.
HARUNA: We haven't written a love song like this until now but, we're breaking through that. The lyrics were based on words without substance, there's word play, and it bursts open like a Summer-ish concert. That's the kind of song we wanted it to be when we wrote it. So it became a personal challenge for us.
RINA: I really want to see the PV. There are dancers this time, and there's even a bedroom scene!
MAMI: You've said too much about the bedroom scene!
On the third track, 'Hikare', RINA worked on the lyrics, MAMI and RINA composed and the arrangement was done by SCANDAL. How did you actually make this song?
RINA: At the beginning, MAMI thought of a phrase and came to me with her guitar. After that, everyone got together and we worked on it together. So the hook, B Melody and A melody were composed in that order. I thought of the arrangements for each of these parts and then while we were recording, we would think of other things to add to it. It was the first time we'd done a song like that, and for me it was something I'd always wanted to do, so when my wish was granted, I was really happy. The lyrics also have a kind of band-man feel to them. Feelings like how I like the band and want to keep going – these are the kinds of things the song captures.
So even if you're not interested, the heat of the performance forces you to listen?
RINA: Yeah. The three of us stop playing, HARUNA leans on the mic stand. That's the image of the song.
So, your album BABY ACTION really has a lot of band-esque songs. MAMI, you worked on 'GLAMOROUS YOU', the opening track.
MAMI: 'CUTE!' is an encouraging song for girls, but this more of an adult version. Everyday, fleeting moments of happiness accumulate and this song ties them all together. You can say this generally about the album, but I think that SCANDAL's sound has settled. So, the next stage is for us to work on our awareness of our songs and our instruments. The first album was our business card. Since the second album was to show we could do different songs, the lyrics were about our own thoughts. This time there are a lot of lyrics “FOR YOU”; the songs are polished, the genres and the rhythms are different but in some respects you can say that it goes back and forth around one core. I think listeners will understand if they listen to it as a whole. So, I want everyone to listen carefully.
BURN takes on a rock band sound that's not like the SCANDAL we've seen up until now. The second half of the song is an homage to Nirvana, right?
RINA: It's Moro (laughs /I don't know what she's saying lol). In September, it'll be used as the theme for a move called 'Rabbit Horror' so we wrote it for that. The feelings of the protagonist … he's caught up in his past so he hurts himself. It connects with parts of 'EMOTION', and so I wrote it when I was influenced by my own feelings. The guitar is really cool.
MAMI: The ending is sloppy!
RINA: “BURN”, “Appletachi no dengon” and “Tokyo Sky Scraper” all flow, so I personally think they're the hottest!
Appletachi no dengon has a sixties feel to it, with the horns.
TOMOMI: The “apples” are us. It feels like “SCANDAL BABY”'s sequel. It captures that “We want to keep evolving!” kind of feeling. Bye Bye Boy's Sae-chan played the horns for us.
RINA: The lyrics capture SCANDAL's royal road pattern.
'Tokyo Skyscraper' is a collaboration with Hidaka Tooru-san...
RINA: … The demo had a garage-rock sound to it, but now it's got a disco feel – I was surprised.
TOMOMI wrote the lyrics for 'Very Special', and the melody was a joint work with RINA. Like 'Hikare', the arrangement was done by SCANDAL.
RINA: TOMO had been humming lyrics into a voice recorder previously, and she gave it to me … maybe it would be better if we talked about the lyrics first?
TOMOMI: There are earthquakes, and even without this, there's conflict around the world, sad things happen, and we lose things that mean a lot but when you realise this, you're able to gain more things, I think. The people who were affected by the earthquakes are doing their best, kids in shelters are healthy, they're playing and smiling, the support from overseas countries... people start to forget the warmth, and remember their bonds. I don't want to forget that feelings, so when I wrote the lyrics, it naturally inspired the melody. That's what I was humming.
The depth of that message is completely contrary to the happy feeling of the sound, but it's really good. Reminiscent of the fifties.
TOMOMI: I didn't want it to become serious...
HARUNA: “Very Special” gives us a really great sense of accomplishment.
The last track, 'one piece', it's a moving, epic finale.
RINA: Up until now, we've done a lot of songs with the 'dream' theme, we've sung about dreams of the 'present' and of the 'past'. But this song imagines the dreams of the future that will be fulfilled. It announces “Your dreams will definitely come true! Don't give up!” with determination.
You wrote “Ten years later” in your lyrics – it would match SCANDAL's own 'secret base'.
RINA: Ahh ~. When we wrote “Ten years later”, personally I feel it connects with Shunkan Sentimental's image...
Everyone singing together – it sounds really good.
RINA: It feels like a gospel. As you turn to the end, the voices slowly grow and it becomes magnificent. When you're in school, everyone sings gospels, and when you remember that, you say “How nostalgic.” So, at lives, we want to sing this song with fans!
TOMOMI: It's an appropriate ending for an album. This song is at the end, so it's closed. When I listened to the entire album, this was the last song and it felt good so we used it to finish. From the top, GLAMOROUS YOU and the last 'one piece', it was decided from the start.
RINA: Except for these two, we didn't have the songs' image in mind when we were making it. It was really hard to decide what songs to put in between the start and the finish.
HARUNA: Where to put the singles was a delicate issue.
…
With regard to your “BABY ACTION” title, on your tours you often said in MC that it was about “Wanting to rouse action for your dreams”.
HARUNA: In a word, this year has been all about ACTION, it's really moved us. “Dreams” have always been important to us since the beginning. Things like our experience with the earthquakes, you can also think about it like that. Without limiting ourselves in this respect, if you don't take a step forward, you won't be able to start anything... that is ACTION. “BABY” is about how we're still inexperienced, but even if it's a bit we can stand up and run – that kind of feeling.
h! SCANDAL BABY ♪♪
SCANDAL is the Most Powerful Japanese Girl Rock Band 
SCANDAL Tomomi .lol. SCANDAL Rina .uhuh. SCANDAL 
or at least a sticker.
