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The world tour that drove the world wild made into a film! SCANDAL talks about that appeal
This year, SCANDAL went to 9 countries on their world tour and brought down the house in each region. The tour has already been turned into the documentary film 『SCANDAL Documentary film「HELLO WORLD」』 which will be out from 10/17! We asked the four members about many things such as the world tour, music, and what's next for SCANDAL who will be celebrating their 10th year.
――Your world tour was a success!
HARUNA: 「Although five months is a long time, it was very relaxed and we were able to have fun touring. This was our first time calling a tour a "world tour" and going around the world carrying our latest album. Abroad, we delivered our lives just as they are in Japan. The thing I was most happy about was that we were able to have everyone around the world enjoy it.」
――Were there any impressive countries?
MAMI: 「Mexico was. Even though it was our first time there, over 2,000 people came out and the enthusiasm was crazy. Also, I celebrated my birthday in Mexico. It made me very happy that the audience sang the local Happy Birthday Song to me. We wouldn't have had these sorts of experiences if we didn't do this tour.」
TOMOMI: 「We played lives in the USA in Los Angeles and Anaheim. We were able to play a live at the LA House of Blues before it was demolished, and we were able to play the final live in Asia. It was an honor.」
RINA: 「We had toured in the US seven years ago as well, but we tried going again and the impressions were completely different this time. It was very surprising and made us very happy. We had grown in those seven years. Being able to play solo lives around the world truly is a happy thing; we want to do this continuously in the future as well. There really are many things that we wouldn't understand if we didn't experience the heat of each place firsthand. This time, we were able to really see the possibilities and feel pride again in being Japanese.」
HARUNA: 「Coming across people who don't know about us and being exposed to severe looks in each place was motivation for us. We're still getting used to those kinds of feelings; they were greater than they seemed to be.」
――You appeared at many summer festivals in Japan after your world tour. You've been absorbing yourselves in lives this year, I see.
HARUNA: 「We have. Truthfully, since we have an arena tour coming up, we thought we'd refrain a bit during the summer (laughs). By participating in many festivals we get to see audiences that we wouldn't normally see. We want to cherish those kinds of opportunities.」
――You've been doing activities that way, and it'll already be 10 years since you've formed. 10 years ago, did you imagine what you'd be like now?
HARUNA: 「We didn't, since we were originally aiming to be dancers before the band formed. If we had continued with dancing, we wouldn't be who we are now. I'm very happy that we've been able to do activities like this now.」
――Your album 『HELLO WORLD』 that was released last year was mostly self-produced. I think that's proof that you have evolved.
RINA: 「Beginning to trust in the music that we make is a big thing. There's also an awareness that we've been doing just that, and we must continue doing that in future as well.」
――In September you released your latest single 『Sisters』. This song has a cheering song-like side that's strong, but who was it intended for? Listeners, or yourselves?
RINA: 「With the title 『Sisters』 it's often summarized as a girls' anthem, but I wrote the lyrics for our comrades: everyone who is presently living. So, at the same time, it's for us as well.」
HARUNA: 「This song was completed on our world tour, when we felt free and relaxed. Our bodies also really got used to it. This song is about including that message and delivering it precisely because we have the same feelings.」
TOMOMI: 「With this song we were able to again realize that what we do is always a positive thing, and again thought that we must dispatch it.」
――MAMI took care of the music this time. It's an unusually danceable tune.
MAMI: 「When RINA sent the lyrics over, an image of wanting to make it a bright song popped into my head, and I thought about making our own "royal road" pop song. I also made the rhythm four-on-the-floor. When we were interviewed by CNN* [note: not true] in the US, we were asked how, as a rock band, we compete against worldwide EDM pandemic. However, it's not that we're fighting with EDM. We were originally in a dance school and dance beats are ingrained in our bodies. We also listen to EDM and have roots in dance sounds. What was completed from wanting to create our current sound is this song.」
RINA: 「Our roots are very pop-like and about dance, and we don't really send out things like that to the world. We thought we must launch it now precisely because it'll be our 10th anniversary.」
――In a sense, it's also a song that goes back to your origins.
MAMI: 「We had a fixed idea within us when we started the band. Like, we needed to be cool and be distorted (laughs). It's not like that now. The sounds we listened to a long time ago and the sounds we listen to now are completely different. However, none of those are mistakes; it's just that our field of vision has expanded.」
――As far as that's concerned, will it keep growing in the future?
MAMI: 「That's right. After we started being able to write songs ourselves, we've gotten more flexible. Now, it's inevitable that making songs is fun.」
――Your first documentary film will be out from 10/17. It includes various conflicts and is fully loaded with a side of an everyday SCANDAL that you don't get to see. Even so, were you okay with being closely filmed the entire time?
TOMOMI: 「We weren't especially aware of it because we were shot by our staff that has been together with us since our debut.」
RINA: 「Although we did have one new cameraman, it was okay because we were able to open up immediately. But, just once I said to not film me (laughs). I was really sleep-deprived and seasick. That one time……」
――That being said, it really feels like everything was laid out bare.
HARUNA: 「We were already prepared for that (laughs).」
――You can also feel that you're loved throughout the world. People were calling out to you on the streets of cities overseas.
RINA: 「That really surprised us.」
TOMOMI: 「It's not included in the film, but in London we unexpectedly ran into people who had come out to our live the previous day without knowing about us. When we talked to them, they said that they wanted our CD and went out to buy it. That really made us happy.」
――What are some highlights of this documentary?
TOMOMI: 「When we were riding in a tour bus, HARUNA talks about the origin of her name. I personally really like that scene. That was able to be shot precisely because we had cameras following us. Something unique about films is that they can contain several moving moments.」
HARUNA: 「Because the 4 of us know our human nature, or rather our life habits, they haven't appeared in any video so far. We understand our dispositions very well (laughs).」
MAMI: 「The scenery is of course lovely, and just watching it can put you in a traveling-like feeling. We'd like everyone to enjoy it as a road movie of the band SCANDAL.」
――Your world tour was a success this year. What are your goals in the future?
RINA: 「So far we've professed our visible goals, but from here we're going to keep them secret. We'll be happy when they come true. Next, we want to please our fans by doing things that cannot be expected. At any rate, we want to continue to do things that'll make everyone happy.」
――There are many girls worldwide who look up to SCANDAL and aim to be like you. Finally, please give a message to those girls.
RINA: 「We too understand from experience the excitement of girl bands, and everyone has their own passion that they carry. We too want to continue carrying these feelings, and, together with everyone, want to continue being musicians.」
HARUNA: 「SCANDAL is approaching our 10th year and many things have happened. It's so much fun that the 4 of us are still together even now, and I think we've been able to continue this far precisely because we are who are. You're bound to have conflicts when you do activities together for a long time, but for us, we accept things and discuss them, thinking things over while advancing. No matter what happens, the members will cherish each other and work hard together!」
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*MAMI, just stop it with the "CNN" stuff already. They didn't actually interview you guys; an impersonator did. -__-
