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SCANDAL released their album 「YELLOW」 on March 2nd.
The girls will celebrate the band's tenth anniversary this August. 「YELLOW」, the first release of their commemorable tenth year, is an album constructed with songs written by only the members. The girls' open and bright mood after successfully bringing their 2015 world tour to a close is packed into these twelve tracks.
To celebrate the release of this work, Music Natalie has carried out solo interviews with the members. We asked about the band's progress, their thoughts that were put into this work, and about SCANDAL's future. Through the words of the four members and each of their thoughts when asked the same questions, we would like you to feel the thoughts and bonds of the band.
Looking Back On SCANDAL's 10 Years
Since I had never thought about being in a band as part of my life plan, I clearly remember when we first formed. I was someone who strongly set their mind to 「I'll live doing dancing and singing」, so it was shocking when playing an instrument was recommended to me. However, that was in my third year of high school and it was when I was on the brink of knowing whether or not my dream would actually come true. It wasn't the path I had pictured, but thinking that playing in a band might open up the future was my starting point. Or perhaps the journey from then until now has been because of the members. Starting with zero experience playing instruments, we've learned all kinds of things together. Since we've seen that we have variations in growth, we think, 「I want to catch up quickly to her」. Honestly, I think that I've been able to work hard and come this far because the members have been with me.
The Turning Point When the Band Took a Big Step Forward
We started songwriting in recent years, but what we were able to compose an album with our own songs was our previous album 「HELLO WORLD」. Making our thoughts perfectly into songs and combining them into an album along with being able to tour overseas with that work really helped the four of us have the confidence to move forward.
The Turning Point That Led to My Own Growth
When we released our third album 「BABY ACTION」, I was very hesitant about my singing. Until then I had been singing in the way I learned it at the vocal & dance school I was attending when the band had formed, but I began thinking, 「The way I'm singing now doesn't go with the band's sound」. What broke my concerns was deciding on our first solo live at Budokan. Beginning with thinking 「I can't stand on Budokan's stage when I'm gloomy and worried」, I changed voice training teachers and my awareness grew steadily. It's been trial and error since then, but singing becomes more fun each time I experience various things.
Changes In the Members
When I first met TOMOMI, she gave off the impression of being impeccable and quiet, but as we spent time together I saw that she was soft and gentle (laughs). Her girly side, which was surprisingly missing, has come into view more and more. I've come to really understand that she really opens herself up to us. When I first met RINA she played tennis, so she had a sporty girl, active impression to me. But, as we got older, it has changed into a very gentle atmosphere. She likes movies and seems to watch them often; she's changed from having an outdoor person impression to an indoor one. MAMI had a lone wolf-type from when she was in school and wouldn't flock to others. She's also done many things individually since joining the band, but I'm happy that recently she's been going out, going out to eat, and now does many things together with us (laughs).
My Role Among the Four of Us
Since I'm the oldest, there were times when I thought 「I need to make sure bring the group together」. But, by being governed by that kind of thought diminishes your freedom. So, recently, I've been trying not to wrack my nerves about it. We've all approached our mid-20s, and I don't mind the age difference that much anymore (laughs). I want to fulfill my position as the vocalist and center, so it feels like I'll make sure to be aware of that standing position while letting myself do things freely.
What I Was Aware of While Making 「YELLOW」
We had thoughts of wanting to make a 「bright album」. We adapted to songwriting years ago, and recently, especially, since about a year ago we had been in a mood where we were really positive towards production. By holding our world tour last year, our minds were greatly relaxed even further. Since we love playing lives, we became more expansive by going around to different countries and places on our tour (laughs). We wanted to make this bright band atmosphere into an album. Considering the result, I think we were able to skillfully pack it into our work.
Favorite Songs
It's 「LOVE ME DO」 for me. It's a song written by MAMI and has a 1980s American pop feel to it. I love 70s~80s Western music, so when I heard the demo I felt 「Ah, a new wind is blowing in for SCANDAL」, and we all talked about we wanted to try doing it. For this song, the falsetto in the chorus was all about courage. We hadn't really had any songs that use falsetto, so this was also tied to me stepping it up. It's a song where I really challenged myself.
The Most Important Point of 「YELLOW」
We have a song called 「Heaven na Kibun」, and this song is a song that shows off our dark side, or cool side with its grunge rock written by RINA. On the album, following the songs with poppy, bright sounds to them is 「Heaven na Kibun」...... It's not straightforward, and I think you can feel our style of poison in this.
What 「YELLOW」 Means to SCANDAL
I'm very happy that, in our tenth year, we were able to put out on album with all songs written by us. It's something that has taken the place of our business card from here on. As we've aged, the thoughts of 「We want to make a song that we can sing in the years to come」 have gotten stronger, but this album is filled with songs that we could see being able to sing for a long time. This year is not only our tenth year; it's one where there are many songs that we could definitely sing even as we get older.
SCANDAL's Future
There are still many large venues in Japan that we have yet to play a live at, and even though we can say we did a world tour, there are still many countries out there in the world. So, we want to play even more lives. And, we want to stay as we are, no matter what the venue. We want to play lives as we stay the same, if it's a live house or an arena, and no matter where we go overseas, while maintaining SCANDAL's axis.
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