•This special episode was broadcast live on TOKYO FM on July 12th. During this episode they also aired "SPICE" in its entirety for the first time anywhere. The band also mentions that this program has been around since March, and they didn't think they'd be getting to do a live broadcast so quickly. They're happy and grateful about it. They also say that they will playing songs chosen for a "spice" theme as well as asking listeners to send in any "spicy" stories they have. Whoever they pick as the "Best of Spice" will win a SPA-isu ("spa chair," but it's a play on the words "supaisu" = spice and "isu" = chair).
-TOMO: "This wasn't our idea (laughs)."
-RINA: "We would have never thought of something like this."
-MAMI: "When they heard it we were like, 'Oh, I get it!'"
-TOMO: "It's a lame joke that our older guy staffers came up with (laughs)."
-RINA: "Perhaps it's a generational gap (laughs)?"
-HARU: "It didn't come from our brains."
-TOMO: "It's program director Ono-san's fault."
-MAMI: "'SPA-isu,' a chair to be used in the bath?"
-All: "Yeah."
-MAMI: "But it's really good chair."
-TOMO: "It surprised us. When we were reading the notes we thought it'd be a plastic one, but it's one made out of cypress wood. They picked a good one."
•After "Masterpiece" plays, they go over what their program is about and mention things such as how they learned from their program is that there are a lot of teachers among their fanbase. They also go over segments on their show such as "Life Before SCANDAL."
•TOMO reads the first message from a male listener who was asked by a married female colleague if they'd like to start a relationship together. He says their colleague is a capable worker whom he gets along with, so he was surprised she asked him that. He says he of course turned her down, but that was the first time in a while that they've felt this amused and are still feeling a little tingly. However, if they had accepted the offer, they'd probably be feeling bad it right about now. MAMI goes, "That's quite spicy." The band agrees. MAMI also says that there seems to be a lingering feeling to their message, and HARU says that they sounded interested in their colleague judging from what they said about still feeling tingly. RINA says that stopping it from going anywhere and making this spicy memory was praisable on their part as no one would be feeling happy about it. They're glad that they didn't end up feeling bad about it. They also say that they're off to a spicy start from the first message.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener whose spicy story involves her being left behind/ghosted at a movie theater by a man she just met for the first time. They met on a dating app and made plans to see a movie. When they got there he said that he needed to use the bathroom, so she went ahead and grabbed seats in the theater. However, he never came inside the theater and she ended up watching the movie alone. He didn't reply to her messages afterwards, which made her realize that she had been ghosted. The movie she watched then was (presumably)
Christopher Robin, so she has both sad and warm memories about it. A lot of couples were there watching the movie too, making her feel even sadder. She was also traumatized a little, which comes up when she sees Pooh Bear. Now, she's cautious whenever she goes on a movie date. She asks SCANDAL if they've had some hardships related to love. MAMI says that this message was also quite spicy. The band agrees and also says that that was a horrible thing to have happened to her. HARU asks for clarification that she heard right that the listener was ghosted almost as soon as they met. TOMO and MAMI say yes and recap the story a bit. TOMO says that it's not like they were just acquaintances since they had been talking on the dating app up until then. MAMI says that making a date to go to the movies must have meant that things were going well, and HARU agrees and says that even matching with one another can be a big thing. RINA says that things like meeting up with people you've connected with on these apps and them being not what you were expecting does happen, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you shouldn't do things like ghosting. The band once again says how awful this was to happen to the listener.
•HARU then goes, "Oh, I was also left behind at a movie theater after watching a movie." The band is really surprised and says they've never heard this before. HARU says that she doesn't think she's told them about it, and that she forgot about it herself--hearing this story made her remember it. They ask her if it was a boyfriend who did it, and she says no; it was a guy friend who she was interested in. TOMO, who has been the one questioning her about it the hardest so far, goes, "When was this?! Who was this?!" HARU says that this happened a long time ago. TOMO asks if this was in high school, and HARU says no, but it was some time soon after that. She says that they watched the entire movie together, and that she said she wanted to watch the credits as well. While the credits were rolling, the guy stood up from his chair and left without saying anything. She thought he might have gone to the bathroom and would be waiting outside for her after the credits finished, but he didn't wait for her. TOMO goes, "He left?" HARU says yes. The band goes, "What if this is the same guy [that the listener mentioned]?!" HARU goes, "Yeah, maybe!" The band laughs and TOMO goes, "It's the wrong era, though." She also says, "This the era where you can easily meet someone on a dating app, so doesn't that give people the impression that they can just as easily ghost someone?" MAMI says, "Well, ghosting someone isn't something people should do." She also says that this was quite stimulating, HARU's story included. The band says that this was also quite spicy. RINA goes, "Nice spice." They also tell the listener to keep her chin up, and thank her for telling her story.
•Right after this message they air "SPICE" for the first time. After it plays, the band talks about the song and "XPICE," most of which they talked about
in this interview. Other new things they mentioned: RINA says that the "XPICE" story about heroes defeating a villain is a very common one, but these heroes carry complexes about themselves--they're heroes, yet they have complexes. Their worries such as "I wish I had this ability," or "Why am I like this?" is very human-like. RINA thinks that this is anime that the world needs right now as it has themes of accepting others for who they are, even though they may be different than you. MAMI mentions that right now is a time where anyone can say anything they want on the internet and you can be pulled in all kinds of directions, which can make you question who are you as a person. That's why the anime's themes of "courage and understanding" and "fighting together" are ones that we need to keep in mind from this point forward. She also thinks that it feels like getting to write this song as this point in time was destiny. TOMO says that it certainly fits the current state of things and also mentions BLM. She's really happy that they were able to release the song right now.
•The band mentions the SPA-isu prize and wonders if people are understanding what it is exactly. TOMO says that she'll post a picture of it on Twitter, which she
does do.•HARU reads the next message from a listener who lives in Okinawa where the rainy season has ended and summer has begun. He wanted motivation to build up their strength, so he bit into a lemon. It was "SUPAkatta" (suppai/suppakatta = "sour"; he was trying to make a "supaisu/spice" pun like the SPA-isu one). The band laughs and TOMO goes, "Hold on a sec. That's the same as Ono-san's pun!" They thank the listener for the cute message.
•RINA reads the next message from a listener who just started teaching in April and have been repremanded after making quite a few mistakes already. Their life had been going well up until now, so there have been times when their heart broke after realizing how many things they can't do. There have also been times when they've been reduced to tears and did not want to go to work. It's now been one month since school has resumed, and each day has been very fun and busy. They're often asked what their favorite band is and they answer that it's SCANDAL. Though there will be more days full of spiciness ahead of them, they'll prepare SCANDAL's music and radio program and dispatch delicious days. HARU says that even teachers get repremanded/yelled at. RINA says that every profession has the same troubles. She also says that there are also tough times that musicians also go through up until a song is released. When a song's put out they're worried about whether or not they'll get the results or reactions they expected to get. She says that everyone's got it hard, but let's all get through it while trying to find something enjoyable or something that will give you strength. She also says that she thinks a living a life where you only have fun is not fun at all since you can't accept joy when it happens. HARU agrees and says that you wouldn't be able to grow as the result of something painful happening; that's why spice is sometimes needed in life.
•The next segment features the members comparing their chosen songs with "spice" as the theme. The first song played is "
Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars)" by Mark Ronson. MAMI reveals that she chose this song. She says that starting in the beginning of the year she and TOMO have attended dark exercise classes (literally exercise classes in the dark/barely any lights on), which HARU says they've talked about every day lately. These places have you work out to these kinds of upbeat songs in very high temperatures. They played a remixed version of this song as part of a medley and were playing the music video on a screen in the place. When this came on, she realized that things were going to start to really pick up and they were going to sweat a lot. She says that this song has provided their muscles with a lot of spice.
•The second song played is "
Make you happy" by
NiziU, chosen by HARU. She explains a little of their backstory: a Japanese girl group formed by Korean label JYP through a survival reality show. HARU watched all of the episodes and got super hooked on them; she was even crying while watching the last episode. As for "spice," while watching it and seeing all their efforts, it made her think that she too needs to work hard every day. RINA says, "Did it make you go, 'What am I doing?!'" HARU says yes and the band laughs and says it must have really resonated with her.
•The third song played is "
Unknown" by Friday Night Plans, chosen by TOMO. It's a very recent song and she thinks she heard it on the radio. She thought it was a really spicy song. There are very few piano melody notes, but there are so many fresh notes on top of that--that imbalance to her is very "spicy." She first heard about Friday Night Plans a while back but didn't really get into them until this song and she thinks they're really cool.
•The fourth song played is "
Sour Candy" by Lady Gaga and BLACKPINK, chosen by RINA. She was really impacted by this collaboration between two really big music artists, and how they hyped it up on social media before it was released. When she first listened to it, she thought it was so cool and felt like thanking them for the song.
•HARU says that this playlist is also a chaotic one. RINA says it's all over the place, but it makes sense on the whole--it's very SCANDAL-like. TOMO says it has a "This is what we've been listening to recently"-feel to it, which presumably fits theme of "Catch up" well.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener who worked at a curry restaurant before COVID hit and everyone who worked there was fired. However, she was really happy when she heard that SCANDAL's new song was titled "SPICE." The band laughs and says that it sounds like she can live in any generation with no problem. RINA says, "Things may be difficult right now, but let's all support each other and do our best."
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener who is living by themselves for the first time, which happened after breaking up with her boyfriend who did things like forget to shut the entryway door. She says it's kind of lonely to live alone, but listening to "Catch up" makes her realize that she's not alone. She then apologizes for sending in a message with no spiciness to it, but she does want some spice in her life.
•The last message is read by RINA. The listener is currently listening to the radio program live while grilling some takoyaki with a friend. As for their "spicy" story, they say they recently got hooked on
shichimi. The band laughs and tells them to enjoy hanging out with their friend. They're also surprised that that's all the message said, but it was the perfect message to read since they're running out of time for the program.
•The band then closes out the episode. They say that time just flew by, and that it was a lot of fun. They also mention that they'll be doing an after talk after this. They thank the listeners for their "spicy" stories and wish they had time to choose the best stories during this show, but they will be choosing them during the after talk.
•Since there's still a little bit of time left, HARU asks the band how their first live broadcast of this program was. TOMO says this SPA-isu gift is limited to this episode only; they're unfortunately not able to do it for every ep. HARU mentions that "Catch up" merch is starting to be made. They'll announce when those will be available for purchase. There are 20 seconds left and the band isn't sure how to fill the time; they laugh and go, "What do we do?!" HARU then gives the release info for "SPICE" and the "XPICE" short.
