Emerging as a "mature rock band," SCANDAL's abilities have advanced



　Popular all-girl band SCANDAL has emerged as a "mature rock band."
　
　The band held a concert on 12/23 at Nagoya's Nippon Gaishi Hall. Part of their first arena tour, it was a triumphant return performance for vocalist HARUNA and guitarist MAMI who hail from Aichi Prefecture.

　With an expression filled with deep emotion, MAMI said, 「I've seen many lives at this hall. I'm really happy that I've been able to come back.」 Regarding standing on that stage, she expressed her gratitude to the audience of approximately 10,000: 「At three years old, I wouldn't have imagined I'd be standing here. Right now, in this form, I'm able to see the view I had seen from the audience at that time. Thank you for such a great view.」

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　At this performance, the band who next year will be celebrating their tenth anniversary announced the release of their new album 「YELLOW」 on 3/2, and also a nationwide live house tour and Asia tour beginning from 4/13.

　With a smile, HARUNA said this about 「YELLOW」: 「It's taken the 4 of us a year to make this...We're happy we're finally able to tell everyone!」 In response to those words, drummer RINA, showing an expression overcome with emotion, reflected on the hardships of production: 「I'm going to cry.... We went crazy making this.」

　「YELLOW」 will comprise of 13 tracks, including the hits 「Stamp!」 and 「Sisters」. With this being their first completely self-produced work, the members handled all of the songs' lyrics and music.

　SCANDAL formerly had others produce their work and had a strong image of being school uniform-wearing female high school students. However, the four members are currently approaching their late 20s and maturing, and a strong ego regarding songwriting is sprouting.

　On this day, they debuted the new song 「SUKI-SUKI」, one of the tracks from 「YELLOW」, with lyrics and music by MAMI. It began with a thick sound from TOMOMI's bass, giving off a hard-rock vibe, but along the way the pop vibe suddenly became stronger; the originality of this band could really be felt. Being able to make this kind of unique song is evidence that their ability as artists has advanced.

　RINA, who can also be called the band's ideological pillar, has decisively put up 「rock」 as their goal for 2016. "Mature female rock" has currently vanished in Japan. We're looking forward to SCANDAL's new steps.