•The episode starts with reading messages from listeners who attended SCANDAL's BEST Xmas Christmas concert. One of them mentions how they started getting hooked on
Johnny's boy groups in 2022. They also wondered if SCANDAL would cover a Johnny's group song at BEST Xmas (something that SCANDAL always does), and ask the band how they decided to cover the song they did ("
Eejanaika" by Johnny's WEST). MAMI says that they took a long time to decide which group to cover. TOMO says that the discussion for what song to cover next year starts the moment that a BEST Xmas concert is over (as in they started talking about what song/group to cover in 2022, way back in 2021). HARU says that they stopped talking about it until wintertime, when they realized that the concert was soon and that they needed to seriously discuss what to do. RINA says that they started to really discuss things starting in November.
•HARU says that since BEXT Xmas is like a year-end party, they want to do a non-band performance. The first song they ever covered for BEST Xmas was "
SHAKE" by SMAP (fun fact: you can see SCANDAL singing in the background in this video lol), which is also a standard song sung at karaoke. After that, they decided to do an ARASHI song ("
A・RA・SHI"), and then figured that they should do standard/popular songs of the Johnny's groups. TOMO wonders how many songs they've covered so far at BEST Xmas. RINA figures that it's probably almost 10 songs (
9 songs, to be exact!) since this was their 11th BEST Xmas (actually, it was their 10th lol).
•HARU says that there hasn't been really been a year-end party feel since the pandemic began, though it wasn't as if they did decide to stop holding their Christmas concerts. TOMO mentions that they did SEASONS held on Dec. 24, 2020, though it wasn't actually considered a BEST Xmas concert. HARU says that they wondered what to do for 2022, and it was ultimately their staff that reminded them that the BEST Xmas concerts are the most fun concerts they put on. RINA says they didn't actually decide to do it, but rather thought that it'd be good if they did hold it. HARU says that Johnny's groups have a lot of uplifting, exciting songs, which is really impressive. TOMO says Johnny's groups' songs are ones that everyone knows. RINA says that they'll get people excited even if they don't know the songs.
•TOMO says that they don't know what to do for next year, so maybe they'll take requests on what song to do. MAMI says that there might be some songs that will be released in 2023 that they could cover. RINA laughs and goes, "You mean the latest song??", which MAMI says yes to. RINA says that to let them know if anyone knows a Johnny's group's song that would fit well with SCANDAL. TOMO says that they won't reveal which song they choose to do, but they will keep a list of songs submitted.
•Next, HARU announces that they will be playing audio taken during BEST Xmas of the "Catch up" segment where they asked people to write in for a few weeks ago: "Song titles that sound like they could be SCANDAL songs." The submitted ones read at the concert were:
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Silent Listener - The band likes this and says that it's about the entire audience, as they're silent listeners (no vocalization allowed at the concert).
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Corn Potage - The band laughs and also really likes this one, saying that it totally sounds like it could be a SCANDAL song; they say that it sounds like a song RINA would write, and RINA goes, "I will write it!"
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Takarakuji - Means 'lottery.' Of course it's supposed to sound like "A.M.D.K.J.", which means 'ladder lottery.' The band quotes the song's lyrics and replaces 'amidakuji' with the word so that it ends up being "Unmei no takarakuji = Lottery of fate." RINA says while laughing that they're kind of being made fun of.
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Sasakure, Nukeru - Means 'removing a hangnail,' and the title in Japanese sounds like "Yuugure, Tokeru." The band laughs hard at this and say it's a good one. Their program director says that it was sent in at the last minute at 5 pm that day.
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Tsumanai Tsumori no, Nagoya de ne - Kind of means something like, 'Though Boring, Stay As You Are, Nagoya' - a play on "Awanai Tsumori no, Genki de ne" as well as in reference to previous "Catch up" episodes where HARU and MAMI, who are from Nagoya, say they love the city but would never want to live there again. HARU says that this person must be a heavy listener of the program, and also says that they really understood the pair's thoughts: Although they can no longer be with/live in Nagoya, they still love it.
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NAGOYA - Since SCANDAL already has songs titled "TOKYO" and "OSAKA." MAMI says that those two songs have the same melody, but a song about Nagoya wouldn't fit with the song's flow, in particular the first lines of the songs. TOMO and MAMI try to make Nagoya fit with it but it doesn't quite work out well. MAMI states again that she really does love Nagoya. HARU then reads the next song title from the next listener, and it also happens to be "NAGOYA." The band laughs and TOMO goes, "Enough with that!" Their director says that there were actually about 30 messages that suggested "NAGOYA" as well.
•The episode then goes back to the back in the studio. They say that they'll keep this as a regular segment for the program. Then, they do
this where they list their resolutions for 2023.
•TOMO goes last. She says hers is to cut back on pressing the snooze button on her alarm. She says that she presses it a lot, probably about 10 times. She says that she's aware that she's pressing it 10 times, so she does finally wake up on the 10th time. MAMI says that she totally gets it. HARU says that she really hates the snooze function since it's basically nagging you to wake up. TOMO says that she hates it too, which makes HARU laugh. She says that she knows it's not a good thing to do, which is why she wants to cut back on doing it and wake up on either the first or second time. HARU wonders if she could set her alarm to the last possible time she could wake up. TOMO says that is what she's doing right now, so that "hit the snooze button 10 times" thing really is meaningless. The staff and RINA chuckle at this. TOMO seems to show them how many alarms she has set up for times other than sleeping, which is apparently a lot. The band understands and says that they also set alarms for stuff like reminders to go and eat, head out the door, etc. TOMO says that she sets about 5 alarms to go off before she needs to leave the house. RINA goes, "Are you sleeping then?" TOMO says she isn't, which makes them all laugh. She says she's awake but is spacing out. Setting all these alarms really are kind of pointless, she again says; it's better to just set one alarm (TOMO: "I want to eliminate doing pointless things").
•They they close out the episode and talk a bit about their upcoming Japan tour "unlimited UTOPIA" in the spring. They're in talks to hopefully allow vocalization at those concerts, and they named the tour as such because they hope that things will keep improving for everyone/everything.