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SCANDAL's interview - Understanding best album 『SCANDAL』
Vol.01 - Walking together with the fans
――Last year you played many lives until the end of the year. Were you able to take it easy at the beginning of this year?
RINA:「Yes. We were able to relax a bit by taking around one week off.」
――We've heard that the members always keep in touch with each other even on days off. What about this time?
RINA:「We surprisingly didn't this year.」
MAMI:「RINA did go overseas. But, MAMI×TOMO frequently kept in touch. We decided to go to FUJI-Q HIGHLAND together.」
TOMOMI:「That time was the most vacant it's been. We also went last year, so it's now a customary thing for us.」
――How about HARUNA?
HARUNA:「I went back to my parents' house. I stayed there for a long time and thought we wouldn't go anywhere, but we went to Todaiji Temple in Nara.」
RINA:「Nara is where my parents' house is. So, I'm happy that HARUNA went to Nara on vacation.」
――You each refreshed in your own ways. Your first release in 2017 will be your best album 『SCANDAL』 in commemoration of your tenth anniversary. You had the fans choose the songs; why did you decide on that?
RINA:「When we first started talking about this best album, we weren't sure how we should choose the songs on it. Since we have over 100 songs, it would be pretty difficult to decide on them. So, when we thought about these past ten years, we thought of how we had been walking together with our fans for these ten years. That's why we wanted to find out their favorite songs and decided to go with fan voting.」
――What are your impressions on the 34 chosen songs?
MAMI:「We understand them. It was rather like a ranking of popular live songs, but we realized that even though we play them live. Rather, it's because we tend to include them in the set lists (laughs). The audience too loves songs that we think are fun to perform. That ended up as the result, so that makes us very happy.」
――Were there any songs you were surprised made it in?
HARUNA:「As for B-side songs, it's surprising that ones from all kinds of eras were included in. Rather, we're happy about that. Also, "SCANDAL IN THE HOUSE" is a song we don't perform on--it's all electronic music--but I don't think we probably would have included it if we had chosen the songs ourselves.」
TOMOMI:「The songs are centered on ones we play live, but it makes me happy that a slower song like "Bitter Chocolate" was selected. It feels like we're loved from various orientations.」
――The order of the songs are also unique. It's not in release order--it's shuffled up.
RINA:「That's right. The four of us went into a conference room and sorted the songs on iTunes. We were thinking about it with a DJ-like feeling (laughs). It was fun, wasn't it?」
HARUNA:「Yeah, it was really exciting (laughs).」
TOMOMI:「It felt really similar to when we're making live set lists, didn't it?」
MAMI:「We want you to listen to both discs exactly the same. So, when we sorted them on iTunes, we tried to balance them out by pairing up songs on each disc.」
――Incidentally, how long did that take you to do?
HARUNA:「How long do you guys think?」
TOMOMI:「Maybe 2 hours?」
RINA:「It didn't take that long.」
MAMI:「It felt like an instant because we had so much fun doing it.」
――Are there any songs that have particularly left deep impressions on you?
TOMOMI:「If SCANDAL was a country, then "SCANDAL BABY," the most voted-for song, would be our national anthem. It was originally the first song on out first album (『BEST★SCANDAL』) and is also not a single. We didn't think that it would be this popular after all these years. It's the song that gets everyone excited the most at lives, but when we were writing it, it was like a representation of our intentions at that time..... But, it's a song that we've been continuing to play all this time and one that we have really strong feelings for.」
RINA:「At times we play "SCANDAL BABY" as background music as the audience is exiting after our shows. They sing the full chorus as they're leaving.」
MAMI:「It's still a live show up until then.」
RINA:「It is. When we saw that, we thought of how it's truly become a wonderful song. We're now at the point that we can play it at festivals and can say that it's one song that represents us.」
――So, what songs do you think were turning points for the band?
RINA:「"Shunkan Sentimental" and "Shoujo S" were both anime-related songs, so I think those are songs that got many people to learn about us. Rather, it was their first image of us. As for recent songs, "Take Me Out" has a sound that gets people excited. We've gotten great reactions from people who go to rock festivals. That makes us really happy. It's kind of like a song that filled us with courage.」
――When you announce new songs, are you interested in the reactions of your listeners?
RINA:「Yes. It's because if we didn't put anything out, then we wouldn't know them. We believe in ourselves and make songs, but each time we write a new song, it's very important to know we're heading into the correct challenge. We don't want to make songs to protect ourselves, so we plan to do different kinds of attacks. Therefore, we won't know the reactions unless our songs are listened to...... So, it makes it very happy when we're given positive reactions when we put out a new song.」
MAMI:「How can I put it...the times our confidence turns into convictions are the moments we put out a CD. We couldn't play lives if we didn't have anyone listening to us, and neither could be get those kinds of reactions. That's why we truly want everyone to listen to our music, including this best album.」
――How do you feel as the release date is drawing near?
MAMI:「We can't wait!」
(To be continued)
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