SCANDAL - What are they excited for in 2020, a year after establishing their new label?

【「C3AFA Singapore 2019」Backstage interview】


C3AFA Singapore 2019, Southeast Asia's largest anime event, was held from 2019/11/29 to 12/1. Here is an interview with SCANDAL, who performed on day of of the "I LOVE ANISONG Concerts."

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■Singapore fans have a lot of freedom to create a space to enjoy music

HARUNA: We put together a setlist with songs unique to C3AFA. Although we played plenty of anime-related songs, the excitement in particular for "Shunkan Sentimental," an ending song for the anime "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," was insane. We asked everyone to sing the chorus, and it was perfect.

TOMOMI: We also got everyone excited with our new song that we still hadn't played in Japan. I'm looking forward to coming back to Singapore in May on our world tour.

MAMI: It feels like there were tons of anime song lovers, of course, and those who love Japanese bands and the music itself. Singapore fans have a lot of freedom to create a space to enjoy our music. The ability to be able to have fun in your own way is awesome to have, and compared to a few years ago, it feels like the way [the fans] get excited is gradually evolving.

RINA: We were looking forward to getting to play in Singapore, so I'm really glad we were able to do so. I'm sure there were many people who saw us live for the first time, and we'd be happy if they took this opportunity they had today to come out to the [upcoming] solo show of ours here, or see us in Japan.


――Did you get to enjoy the sights and food in Singapore?

TOMOMI: Before our show, we all...

HARUNA: Went to Gardens by the Bay.

RINA: Although we've been to Singapore a bunch of times, we still hadn't been able to go there.

MAMI: So far, we went to go eat chili crab and also got to eat chicken rice.

TOMOMI: We were so impressed! Also, we might be able to go eat somewhere after the show? I'm looking forward to that.



■Look forward to SCANDAL's second phase

――Please tell us what's appealing about this event.

RINA: C3AFA isn't just about concerts, and what's characteristic about it is that you can also enjoy the exhibitors. Another thing that's appealing is that there's a continuous combination of artists that you don't really get to see together in Japan. We often play our solo shows [in Singapore] in venues that are half outdoors, but squalls are also a natural staging unique to Singapore. The view at night on the way back is the best.

TOMOMI: The local fans convey their love for our work, almost equal to our fans in Japan. It's a place where people like that have fun above all else.

MAMI: Those in Singapore really know our stuff—not just the new stuff, but the old stuff too. For example, although "GeGeGe no Kitaro" is an anime that we've been familiar with since we were kids, the locals here are just as familiar with it as we are, which makes us happy. There's a lot of things you can learn about for the first time at C3AFA, and I think it's also a place where you can learn about Japanese anime.

RINA: HARUNA and I went to see the booths being set up during rehearsals yesterday, and we had fun just by walking around. We were surprised to see a butler cafe while we were on a business trip, and when we saw the drink menu and noticed that boba's popular here too, it made us happy to find something in common with Japan.


――Lastly, please share a message for your fans.

MAMI: A year after starting our new label, we will be releasing our new album Kiss from the darkness in February 2020. We were able to convert our ways of living into songs, and we'd like everyone to enjoy SCANDAL's second phase. We hope to continue to keep sending out Japanese culture via events like this. I feel that we have good, inseparable bond with anime.

RINA: We've been able to continuously make music for 13 years without stopping once, and I think that it started in our indie days when audiences at our overseas shows liked our style. We too very much cherish our shows overseas, and we hope that'll never change. We'd like to convert what we've gained overseas into music and give it back to Japan as well. Please enjoy our various activities going forward too!

HARUNA: We really challenged ourselves sound-wise and lyrics-wise for Kiss from the darkness, our first album that'll be released via our new label. We take pleasure in being able to challenge ourselves to new things even after doing this for 13 years, and you should be able to notice that we still have so many things to do. We made this album while thinking of how we want to support those who listen to us. We want to come back even more cool after playing shows in Japan and overseas on our world tour.

TOMOMI: We do a world tour when we release an album, and every time we perform around the world, I feel that my understanding of each song deepens. That's something huge for me. The songs that we perform when play around the world and then go back to Japan, grow steadily. It makes it fun to tour every time.