Speaking of first attempts, this album includes the first song that was both written and composed by the band, ‘Very Special’.
MAMI: It started with the B-side on the first release of 2011, ‘Pride’, which was RINA’s song (‘Emotion’). The B-side for ‘Haruka’ was mine (‘Want You’), then ‘LOVE SURVIVE’ was TOMO’s ...... (T/N: I think she actually forgot; the B-side was ‘Hikare’; RINA wrote the lyrics and she wrote the music with MAMI)
When we say that we can write our own songs, it’s also like saying that we’re one step closer to reaching our dreams. Maybe we’ve matured a bit since our previous works, on this album.
TOMOMI: Like RINA said at the beginning, up until ‘TEMPTATION BOX’, we had a lot of songs that said, ‘This is who we are!’ BABY ACTION is like a present that we want to give, or thoughts we want to share; there really are a lot of songs written ‘for you’. Recently, there has been a lot of dramatic news, and our thoughts in regards to these things are expressed in our lyrics. After the earthquake, I wrote down my thoughts word for word. It was the same way I had written lyrics previously, but at the same time the melody fell into place, so to speak. It wasn’t that we were aiming to make something in particular, but our everyday lives make us think about what the ‘present’ is – and that was the only thing I could write about in this song.
What would you say this song is about?
TOMOMI: I think it’s that the earthquake was a big thing. On one hand, the earthquake brings back terrible memories for some people, but in completely different places, there were other consequences of the earthquake. To say that we lived in these times …… so once again, we double check if we have special people and special things in our lives. The ‘human-ness’ within us resonates strongly, and we want to see if we can still feel the things we have carried for a long time. I believe we all have meanness and kindness within us, but usually we can’t show these sides, and we forget things that are ‘too precious’. They’re hard to express, but I want to convey that all of these things are important.
Could you tell us what some of these Very Special things are?
RINA: For me, it’s the other members. I really don’t want them to tell me, “RINA, leave the band.” (laughs).
MAMI: And what would you do if we told you that? (Bullying!)
RINA: I don’t even want to imagine that (laughs). To me, the existence of this band is Very Special. Because we’re all here together, I was able to meet people I wouldn’t have been able to meet otherwise, and I can feel things I wouldn’t have been able to feel before. Every day, I get the sense that I can see what my dreams are because of the other members. Every day, I feel like the four of us are becoming closer to being one. Times when we have our band-esque conversations like, ‘how’s the chorus developing?’, are also Very Special to me. There’s a big difference but, within each day, finding those Very Special things are calming.
HARUNA: Everyone we are able to meet throughout our lives is Very Special, I think. I believe that our encounters are all the result of our fate. Even encounters that are connected to unpleasant or painful things, for example, even if it’s something like someone noticing your mistakes, they all evoke special feelings. So, after the earthquake, I came to feel grateful just to be alive. It might be a bit over-dramatic to say this, but I was glad to be born, and it was because I was born that I was able to feel this way; I felt strongly that it would be nice to sing about the happiness in the trivial events of our everyday lives.
MAMI: I also believe that being born in this world is Very Special. The other members, my family, everyone who I’ve met – in other words, I have to be alive to meet them, right? Maybe the four of us being able to meet each other was decided from the start. I mean, there were a lot of people who started playing instruments at the same time, at the same school.
RINA: It really is very mysterious, isn’t it?
MAMI: In hindsight, maybe it’s just the case that we may have been the only ones left who really wanted to do this, but the teacher who provided these circumstances for us is Very Special, and from here on out, I guess we’ll be able to meet even more Very Special people. So, I’m really glad to be living in these times, and I’m so grateful for so many things.
TOMOMI: I feel the same as everyone else. Within that, though, “right here, in this moment” is also Very Special. Every since I was born, right up until the present, I have always been walking this path in the ‘now’. Along the way, I have met various people and come in contact with various people. Because of this, tiny little emotions have awakened and have expressed themselves naturally. It might be nothing, but I think it’s Very Special. That’s what I think it means, ‘Very Special’ – it’s something that can be found anywhere, by anyone. It’s hard to see the things that are very important to you, so if people can remember what they really treasure when they hear this song, it would make me very happy.
Were you worried about the order of the songs on this album?
HARUNA: We talked about having ‘LOVE SURVIVE’, a song about a one-sided, unstable relationship, as the first song. However, we decided in early stages to start with ‘GLAMOROUS YOU’ and end with ‘one piece’.
MAMI: I wrote the lyrics for ‘GLAMOROUS YOU’ but it has parts that link to ‘Very Special’. Japan is currently a bit all over the place, but I think everyone can find happiness in small things. For example, catching an earlier train, or you buy something and get exactly 777 yen in change. Everyone is different, but it’s these small things that make you able to feel like, ‘I’ll do my best tomorrow, too’ or ‘I can get through today’. I wanted everyone to find these tiny things that make you happy in their daily life, so I wrote this song. Let’s write about this theme, I thought, and I drew on various things that gave me energy. No matter what I do, finding small things that make me happy, makes the task enjoyable. I want people to listen to this song, look at the lyrics and see if they can find things that can make them enjoy their day.
What moments in your day do you find happiness?
MAMI: When I’m able to eat gyoza when I’m craving it. I bought some frozen gyoza in front of the station, and took it home. On the first day, I just fried it like you normally do, with wings, and it turned out really, really well (laughs). On the second day, I boiled them. They were edible, but I wasn’t that impressed (laughs).
TOMOMI: Mine’s quite similar, but once I was starving and I thought I didn’t have any food in the house. Then when I opened the fridge, I found some Shau Essen (T/N: A brand of sausages). But, there was only one day left before they expired. I was so hungry, it was actually a miracle that I found them.
MAMI: It saved your life?
TOMOMI: Yes, it really did (laughs). Well, I guess you could say I could have gone out, but when you have no where you want to go, it’s pretty bad when you only have things that you have to fry.
RINA: For me, it was today, when I went to a cosmetics store in Harajuku for today’s photo shoot. Someone told me, “Aren’t you SCANDAL’s RINA-chan? I always sing <ShoujoS> at karaoke.” It made me really happy.
HARUNA: I’m going to change to topic, actually, and talk about true abilities – but lately, I’ve had some concerns about my vocal expression. But on the latter half of the tour, without thinking about anything, I felt like energy was flowing through me while I was standing on-stage, and I realised I was singing from a completely new part of myself. I feel like I was able to discover a new way to express myself, so I was glad.
That’s exactly what the last track on the album, ‘one piece’ is – it’s an exercise using the dignified expression of HARUNA’s voice.
TOMOMI: Yeah, well, more than that, I think that it’s more about the evocative power of her voice.
And RINA wrote the lyrics this time.
RINA: Up until now, we’ve written so many songs that say, “If we don’t give up, our dreams won't ever end”, but I wanted to write a song for when we did actually reach the dreams that we haven’t fulfilled yet. In my mind, I have an image of us, on the stage of Osaka Jou Hall, standing with our eyes closed, with the curtains yet to go up. Then the instant the curtains open with a bang, and those feelings we’ll have, the first few seconds after we open our eyes – that is what I wrote about. Now, because I’m writing about our past – the things that we’ve collided with, the things we’ve made sure of – I remember them perfectly. It’s because we’ve written those songs, that I want to be able to fulfil the all dreams we hold right now. Our songs have become promises, and we want everyone to look forward to the day when we perform at Osaka Jou Hall.
MAMI: That’s a dream we’ve had since the days of our street concerts at Shiroten, before our debut. We all want to work hard, to the point where we’re pouring our tears into it, so we can reach that dream. Personally, when I look at these lyrics, I feel like we’re becoming bigger than just who we are – our own existence, the dreams we cherish and hold in our arms; it reaffirms that the four of us want to realise our dream of performing at Osaka Jou Hall.