SCANDAL's LUMINOUS Lyrics Essays


＃1 - MAMI's "Gunjou pleats" Lyrics Essay



The theme song for my fantasy brand.

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On March 20, 2024, SCANDAL will release their new album LUMINOUS! This is their 11th album in total and their first in two years since their previous album MIRROR. It will contain 11 songs including singles "Highlight no Naka de Bokura Zutto" and "Line of sight" released last year; as well as "Anata e," co-written with Rhythmic Toy World; and "Plum," co-written with EOW.

Four lyrics essays by SCANDAL will be posted! This is the first one, written by MAMI about the song "Gunjou pleats" (群青pleats; Ultramarine pleats). How did this song come into being, and what important thing did she realize when she fell into a songwriting slump...? Please enjoy this essay along with the lyrics.

A part of this song was written in 2019.

I love clothing, and if I ever started a clothing brand,
『navypleatedskirt』
Would be a good name for it. Although I have no plans to start one, there was a time when I was just thinking of a brand name.

The song "Gunjou pleats" was originally written to be the theme song for this fantasy brand of mine.

Pleated skirts are cute yet mature, and they look completely different depending on the fineness of the pleats. If you're not careful they can lose their shape. I also love the delicate nature of them. I feel like the way pleats move reflects your mood that day, which I really like...haha


During the few years when the norm was no longer the norm, I couldn't write songs and wondered how I was going to keep my mental health in check,
But when I found this song written in 2019, I was reminded of the importance of the simple, uplifting moments of everyday life.

It made me realize that I was just like the lyrics of the song, and how amazing it is to get excited just by wearing something you like.

You have to take charge of your own mood.

To the me five years ago, thank you!

Now we can go out to many places, wear what we like, listen to what we like, eat what we like, do many things we like, and feel good about ourselves.

I too will breeze through the city in a pleated skirt. Feeling good about myself.

＜SCANDAL・MAMI＞

SCANDAL's LUMINOUS Lyrics Essays


＃2 - RINA's "Watashi-tachi" Lyrics Essay



It's the middle ground of nurturing feelings knowing that they will not bear fruit.

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On March 20, 2024, SCANDAL will release their new album LUMINOUS! This is their 11th album in total and their first in two years since their previous album MIRROR, and contains 11 songs including singles "Highlight no Naka de Bokura Zutto" and "Line of sight" released last year; as well as "Anata e," co-written with Rhythmic Toy World; and "Plum," co-written with EOW.

Four lyrics essays by SCANDAL will be posted! This is the second one, written by RINA about the song "Watashi-tachi" (私たち; Us). When looking back on unreleased lyrics, she realized again that she liked the protagonist in this one. This song can only be delivered now that she's more mature than back then. Please enjoy this essay along with the lyrics.

Fruitful love and unfruitful love.
What is the borderline between the two?
Even if I try to vaguely recall various memories, I can't find an answer.

I looked back at unreleased lyrics I had written over the years and found them interesting.
I found myself thinking, "I didn't realize I was thinking this," or "I remember I wrote about this," and felt that nothing had changed.

Among those, there was one that I still liked the worldview and stance of.
The girl in those lyrics wore her favorite blouse; had people she held dear; and while regretting and making amends, she made herself shine.

I'll always love a girl who lives her life like that. She doesn't have to fall in love to make someone happy. That's why, as I hope that everyone will be rewarded in life, my heart tightens as I see the strength and fragility there.

When I wrote these lyrics, I thought it was missing an ending, an answer, or something to lead the listener.
And yet, when I reread them now, for some reason it feels as if they were completed a long time ago.
Perhaps it's because, now that I'm a fully grown adult, I've come to feel that feelings and situations in the middle, which are ambiguous and not black & white, are one form and one answer.
In fact, it seems like there are very few things that can be neatly divided.

I decided to add my own reasons for this. Perhaps because I spent my childhood in a town without the sea, going out to see the sea has become a very special and favorite time for me. When I look at the sun and the waves, I am enchanted by the two different glimmers that complement each other. I also realized that they'd never intersect while each of them shine brightly.

In any case, I often write songs with an emphasis on freshness, but I think there are songs like this that can finished by combining a piece from several years ago with current feelings.
I'm happy I was able to sublimate them properly.

It's the middle ground of nurturing feelings knowing that they will not bear fruit. I'm glad I could write a song about such a sad and lovely feeling.

＜SCANDAL・RINA＞

SCANDAL's LUMINOUS Lyrics Essays


＃3 - HARUNA's "1:47" Lyrics Essay



Both are lovable sides of myself.

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On March 20, 2024, SCANDAL released their new album LUMINOUS! This is their 11th album in total and their first in two years since their previous album MIRROR, and contains 11 songs including singles "Highlight no Naka de Bokura Zutto" and "Line of sight" released last year; as well as "Anata e," co-written with Rhythmic Toy World; and "Plum," co-written with EOW.

Four lyrics essays by SCANDAL will be posted! This is the third one, written by HARUNA about the song "1:47." What is the difference between who she was in her 20s and who she is now in her mid-30s?

The title "1:47" ("Ichi Yon Nana" = "One Four Seven") refers to the time when fragments of these lyrics were written and saved in the notes on my phone.

Just like the opening lyrics, I was lying in bed before going to sleep, unconsciously pondering all kinds of things.

As I was thinking about the things that happened today, about myself, about my surroundings, and about work, I suddenly thought, "Ah, I wonder how that person's doing." With nostalgia and my immaturity back then making me feel itchy, I felt like jotting down this situation and wrote my thoughts down in a flurry.

What I thought as I wrote was that my lifestyle, thoughts on love, and my values really have changed between my 20s and 30s.

In my 20s, I wanted to know about everything, I wanted to try everything, I wanted to be dexterous, I wanted to like what the person I loved liked, and I wanted to be dyed in the hue of the person I loved.
I just wanted to absorb as much as possible, and I think that feeling was very important as an experience.

Now that I'm in my mid-30s, I feel like my style has become much more stripped down and simpler than it was back then. Maybe the alcohol I pretended to enjoy as an adult isn't actually something I like that much. I couldn't at all bring myself to read the novel that was recommended to me. I'm living very honestly to myself.

There's no good or bad in either—both are lovable sides of myself.
Also, I really love who I am right now, and I'm looking forward to evolving again as I get older.

"1:47" is a song about an independent woman who wishes for the values of her past that she can no longer encounter as her present self, and for the happiness of the person who spent that time with her.

＜SCANDAL・HARUNA＞

SCANDAL's LUMINOUS Lyrics Essays


＃4 - TOMOMI's "Fanfare" Lyrics Essay



Until we reach "the place closest to eternity."

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On March 20, 2024, SCANDAL released their new album LUMINOUS! This is their 11th album in total and their first in two years since their previous album MIRROR, and contains 11 songs including singles "Highlight no Naka de Bokura Zutto" and "Line of sight" released last year; as well as "Anata e," co-written with Rhythmic Toy World; and "Plum," co-written with EOW. It is a diverse album in which all members were involved in writing and composing the songs.

Four lyrics essays by SCANDAL will be posted! This is the final one, written by TOMOMI about the song "Fanfare." This song is the first to include lyrics about this band that has become the "best in the world." As she recalled everything that had happened so far and thought about the present and future, what words came to mind...?

Last summer, we became the best in the world.
It seems we are the longest-running all-girl band in the world with the same musicians.
I don't really feel it that much.

I don't really feel it that much, but when I think back on it, it's true that many of our comrades over the past 17 years have stopped activities or broken up.
There are almost no other artists who debuted around the same time as us.

It seems that our forte is continuing to be a band.
I don't think a single person could have imagined that the school uniform-wearing high-school girls who sang "I can't pretend to be a good girl!" would be around for this long.
That includes us as well, of course.

We've changed considerably since then.

We ditched the uniforms, started writing our own songs, and established an imprint label.
There are even more accomplishments if I were to list them in detail.
We started being invited to large-scale festivals, J-WAVE and FM802 started playing our songs, the number of friends in bands increased, and we became seniors before we knew it.



A little before becoming the best in the world, in spring of 2023 we received an offer to write the ending song for the anime HIGHSPEED Étoile.
The story is about car racing and features a female lead character.

When we met with the anime staff to create the song, we were told that one of the important themes was that the characters in the story were independent women.
This is something that we, as adults, value in our current activities.

So,
I decided to write about us, who were about to become the best in the world, and intertwined it with the world of the anime.

To be honest, this was basically the first time I had incorporated the band's story into lyrics, and I didn't know where to start writing from or how much I should write about, and I rewrote them over and over again.

As I was writing, I thought about everything that's happened so far.

Though there weren't any major peaks or valleys, we've been through days filled with twists and turns in our own way.

Constantly grappling with insecurities, our attempts to overcome them may have been a series of failures.

Yet, I had never once considered the concrete possibility of our end until now.
Like many others, I thought somewhere along the line that we'd be around forever and ever.

But when it came time to become the best in the world, I started thinking for the first time about how far we could go and how many more times the four of us would stand on stage together, and I realized that reasons for it to end had formed.

When I start thinking about it, the miracles that have happened so far become even more precious to me, and I suddenly felt lonely.
The faces of my bandmates, our staff, and our fans also came to mind.
Even though I know that the end will come one day, I still wish that this life could last even just one second longer.



After lots and lots and lots of thought and consideration, I finally completed the lyrics and used the word "finale" for the first time.

I wrote that while crying.
With my own determination imbued in it.

When the time comes for us to each walk our own paths in life someday, I want us to celebrate our finale in the best state we've ever been.

With a goal that feels almost like a dream, the four of us will continue our journey together until we reach "the place closest to eternity."

This song was born from those kinds of thoughts.

That being said, even though we've become the best in the world, our world continues to be unchanged.

＜SCANDAL・TOMOMI＞

*The lyrics to "Fanfare" can be found here:
https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t16505-luminous-album-lyrics

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https://www.uta-net.com/user/writer/todaysong.html?id=14343

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