Hi guys! I'm a j-pop fan from New York who's always loved idol groups (AKB, WUG, IDOLM@STER), groups like TrySail, as well as utaite.
Now if only I had gotten into SCANDAL before their New York concert.

Earlier today, I stumbled upon some SCANDAL music. I quickly found myself mesmerized with the group and their music. After listening to some more music and looking into the group, I think I can say that my oshimen is Mami, it's just something about her style and singing voice that I just completely adore. 

So far, my exposure to their discography hasn't been extensive by any means, but I would say that the songs I've enjoyed the most so far are: 

• Departure 
  
• FREEDOM FIGHTERS
  
• Shoujo S
  
• S.L Magic.
  

To that end, I've been wondering about a few things:

• How commonplace are overseas concerts like the NY one I missed just a month ago? I know Japanese groups don't do that type of stuff very often. I'm hoping to catch the next one.
  
• Any suggestions on defining SCANDAL songs, or your favorites?
  
• Are they on any streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music? I've been looking around to no avail.
  
• Can you guys please send me all your best Mami pics please?
  

So, yeah that's about it, I hope to get along with you guys! I am also on the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], so feel free to hit me up with a message or something if you want to talk to someone or something. x)

She's a real beauty.:

Welcome!! sad that you missed the ny concert but isn't the end of the world, better late than never! they surely will come back in the future.
For reference, they went to USA in 2008 and USA/México in 2015 and 2018 and Europe in 2016. Don't remember the rest of Asia but went to several countrys there.
To define your favourites songs you just have to listen to all albums a lot, I never listen to a new album and say "wow, I love it" at first, so may work to everyone, I don't know. Only exception was honey, their latest album, which became my favourite one instantly.
They were on spotify until a couple of months ago, but had problems with copyright (theory, no one really knows) with the american band, so they had to remove all the songs from there. If you use a VPN you can hear them tho, with a japanese spotify account which is very easy to do (on pc at least)
Look for Mami pics in this forum, there are thousands of photos

I don't have much photos in my pc:

And yes, she is a beauty and the reason I became a fan (fan at first sight/hear)   [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] 
Whatever you want to ask, I'm on discord too.

Tip: try to watch their dvd lives (there are seven in total and a couple of them in youtube) 
Hope you understood me, I'm not confident in my grammar but I refuse to use a translator

Welcome! As a Mami fan, I highly suggest you search for a song called Koe

As joameba said, there's a couple of DVDs on YouTube that is a great place to start. I made a playlist recently just so I could find them easier whenever I want (I usually just put a DVD when I go to bath lol), if you want to check it out it's [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (sometimes a video can be deleted due to copyright but oh well).  

And since you asked for our favorite songs, I made a thread where I list my favorite songs for each album [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], maybe it can help you get started!

I know the feeling of only finding out about a band after they made a concert in your country, so I totally understand you lol. Here are some of the pics I have on my PC (most of the photos I save in my phone because I use them as wallpapers lol):

Spoiler:

@joameba I use a Chrome extension called Grammarly and it highlights some spelling mistakes I make and suggest some words to replace wrong words on sentences, it helped me to write better I think  It also feels better than using a translator because you still have to do everything in english

Oho Another Mami fan   .hi.

Here ya go:

Hi Aiess,

Welcome to SH !

I adore Tomomi but we can still be friends

SCANDAL do perform overseas quite often these days, they have even been to London twice and see them live if you can, the songs sound even better then.

Hope you have fun here.

Thanks for the warm welcomes @joameba @hohenheim @rikitasu @tonymiller ! Thanks for answering some of my questions too.   

Also, your English is fine, don’t worry about it! @joameba

Hi Aiess, welcome. 

You've reached S.L. Magic and this forum in just one day? Impressive! 

SCANDAL does oversea tours/shows quite often, mostly in Asia, but you will probably have a chance of seeing them later. 
There are too much great songs so I don't know where to start, and if I start, my list will go on forever. What I can recommend you is their Hello World album, it has some of SCANDAL's best songs and the style of music in the album is not too far from works they are doing recently. So for a new fan, it's a great album to know SCANDAL's style and it's just overall a great album. 
Unfortunately, there music aren't available online(Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc.). It's most likely to be tied to the copyright of the band's name SCANDAL. Hopefully, it will someday be resolved, but for now their work aren't available through the platform you've listed and any other you could think of. 

I would love to share my collection of MAMI's photos but I don't have any on my computer. 

Welcome, again, to SH!

As someone who traveled from Brazil to Mexico to see them live, I totally confirm that they do sound even better live

hohenheim wrote:@joameba I use a Chrome extension called Grammarly and it highlights some spelling mistakes I make and suggest some words to replace wrong words on sentences, it helped me to write better I think  It also feels better than using a translator because you still have to do everything in english

I don't use Grammarly's extension but I've read many articles from their site. Grammarly's very helpful indeed. 

peachclub wrote:You've reached S.L. Magic and this forum in just one day? Impressive! 

Exactly. LoL

@Aiess
Welcome to SCANDAL Heaven brother! We have had similar situations, I also discovered them just this year days before their concert in Manila but I didn't have enough financially so I missed that out and I feel you, it sucks.

Anyway, I'm not surprised you've turned out a Mami fan. At face value, she's the prettiest I should say and the way she rocks on the stage is just wow. You can check her twitter and instagram accounts or the gallery right here in the forum for more of her pics.   

I suggest you check their first album first to know them more retroactively. It will feel more natural that way I think but it matters a little because most of their songs are bare none awesome. Speaking of, just to name a few, check Shunkan Sentimental, Yoake no Ryuuseigun, Freedom Fighters, Take Me Out, and Namida no Regret. Shoujo S is my favorite so thumbs up for liking it too.

Hello Aiess,

Welcome to the forum.  It's always great to have another addition to Team Mami.  She's more-or-less my favorite, but that could be do more to me being a guitarist as well.

My favorite tune to recommend is "Onegai Navigation" from the Hello World album.  Not only is it (arguably) their most hard rocking tune, but it has Mami best solo and one of her best overall riffs (in tandem with Tomomi).  Plus, Mami wrote this one.  Actually, as a Mami fan, check out the entire Hello World album if you haven't already.  This is where Mami started to take the lead as the main songwriter (Standard's title song may be the true origin, however-- also worth checking out).

Since you already got a lot of good shots of Mami from others, I'll leave you with something else.  We weren't allowed to take photos at the San Francisco show, so I snapped this before the concert started.

Spoiler:

@peachclub @LK 
Is it really that fascinating? S.L Magic was actually the first SCANDAL song I heard, lmao. From what I see, it seems to be the defining SCANDAL song, so I'd assume it isn't that uncommon for a newcomer to already have heard of it. As for the forum, it did take a bit more researching, but I'm glad I was able to come across it; everyone here seems really nice, and activity isn't quite bustling, but better than dead or too active. Gives off that humble, comfortable community vibe.

@Don Dio
Yeah, Onegai Navigation really is great. However, I'd still have to say that my favorite song from the album is Image. I still do need to expose myself to more of their music and let it sink in, but overall I feel that HELLO WORLD is one of my favorites so far. 

Thanks again for the welcomes, everybody!

I agree with that, for a forum in 2018, this one has a lot of activity. The last forum I was a member of died and we moved on to a WhatsApp group with all the active members, haha

@Aiess S.L. Magic's a good song but I will bet my money on others. There are many other songs that are more popular so it's quite surprising you found it very early.
   

This is my first forum (I think) so I don't have a clue on how active a forum can be but SH certainly has times of excitement and stillness. Either way, we have the best members and staff so enjoy!

@LK

I agree, I have visited many SCANDAL fangroups but why do you think I have stayed here so many years

And I have made some good friends here.

S.L. Magic is a great song, I feel it is one of the songs, along with Taiyou to Kimi ga Egaku Story, Doll, Space Ranger, etc. that defines the style of their earlier, teenage years. However, as @LK mentioned, it is not one of the most popular ones, since it is b-side of one of their singles, it wasn't really played often for their live shows anymore, and was never included in a studio album. It is quite unusual to have someone with the first song they've ever listened of SCANDAL being S.L. Magic. 
But it's a great song and there would be no debate about that.

I agree S.L. Magic is not popular and not even promoted. But it is one of the first song I love by Scandal.
To me the song defined how Scandal was at that period. I'm sure very few members in SH heard S.L. Magic live.

@Metal Mickey

I agree, I have fond memories of that song

Hi there,

It seems like Scandal is getting bigger and bigger overseas so good chance you will see them too

Mami fan here too :D

Welcome to scandal heaven, we hope you have a nice and pleasant stay.

Cheers
Mats