[Translation] TV Pia 07.2013 - NEWS album
TV Pia 07.2013 - NEWS album & tour
What are the contents of this album you decided to title "NEWS"?
K: It's our first album as a 4 members group. The title itself it's "NEWS", we wanted to go on with the old NEWS and to show our new aura, color and music as the current NEWS.
S: Write that I'm talking while playing guitar. I just strung a C (laughs).
K: The album will be closely followed by a tour so first of all we chose songs that could be enjoyed by fans during lives.
T: There are a lot of Summer songs.
M: Yes, there are few slow songs.
S: The only ones are " Greedier " and " CRY ".
The first song is called " Compass ", it shows some kind of excitement for the beginning of new NEWS.
K: That song born from Masuda-san's idea.
M: I chose the title and the contents of the lyrics. The idea of the compass is that as NEWS from the city where we live, Tokyo, we want to arrive to North-East-West-South: all the directions. We want to be a guidance for all our listeners, we want to clearly express which is the path we want to walk from now on. This is the kind of album I wanted.
K: The contents are just perfect, aren't they? How many times did you repeat that?
S: Did you prepare it just for the interviews?
M: (Laughs) Write that I came here prepared to comment.
K: Tegoshi, do you want to talk about your favorite song? (Randomly)
T: (With cutesy voice) Uuuh~ My fave song, uh~
K: We all know it, right!
T: (Hesitating) You know, I...
M: (Cutting) It's " Koi Matsuri ".
K: Uhuhuhuh (laughs). Tegoshi is always singing that song. He was singing that also earlier while we were changing.
T: Yep, I love it! Since the first time I heard the demo I thought in a good way: "Great~ This song is really stupid!" (laughs)
S: When Koyama sings "Wasshoi!!" he sounds really flashy!
M: Koyama likes to play silly.
K: No, it's just that it had to be like that.
T: I asked "Please, create a matsuri-like song for us where we can rotate towels!" but the song came out better than my expectations.
There's also a song dedicated to your fans: " 4+Fan ".
M: Shige is in charge of "4+Fan" (laughs)
S: When was this decided?! Why! Let's talk about it all together! (laughs)
K: No, no, didn't you prepare your comment?
S: I did actually (laughs). So...when we cameback as 4, we thought that it'd be nice to have a song we can sing along with all the fans. "4" is also used as "FOR". I think it'll be a song that during lives we can sing all together.
On 26th July you will begin a tour from the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium as last year, Kato-san also opened the rugby season as host from the same stadium.
S: I did~ And the Japanese team won~
K: It was a historical victory! We've never seen Shige holding a rugby ball so we wanted to see him.
M: Moreover between us he's the worst with balls and sports (laughs)
K: He can't deal with round balls and he had to hold on of a more difficult shape (laughs)
S: Anyway unexpectedly I gave a proper comment. A message full of respect towards the stadium that will take care of us once again this year.
K: It's like we're borrowing the rugby field.
S: It's a wonderful stadium. I was imagining how good it would be to see it full of fans, hoping that the weather will be good.
T: I'm thankful to all the staff that have to work in the hot weather, I want to have the best of the performances.
M: I'm no good with outdoor lives, I'll do my best to enjoy it as I do with other venues! (Laughs)
Are you still planning the lives?
K: Right now we just roughly decided the setlist. Now we're going to work on the dance.
M: Since we'll be using towels in "Koi Matsuri" and " Nagisa no Onesama " was used for a bra CM we were thinking that maybe we can use bras in the performance (laughs)
K: Right. The first Johnny's live in bra (laughs). We simply gather and talk naturally about how to perform the songs, it's all quite self-produced, it feels like we're doing everything by ourself.
T: This album is really good! There's no point in comparing to the past, but it's absolutely our best! I can't wait to show it to everybody. Last year members and fans had many mixed feelings, the lives were great in the end, but this year we just want to have pure fun. It'll be like a matsuri, we want to build Summer memories all together.
K: Ah, Kato-san gave a nice BGM. Write that he played from the beginning to the end a good BGM.
S: (Playing the guitar) Thank you very much!
All: Ahahahah!
The solo songs
S: I wanted to do some kind of lullaby for adults. In my radioshow I always say at the end "Goodnight", when I don't or I change it fans immediately message me to make me notice. I thought to use that as theme for a song. It's a funky song with lots of chorus, there's also lot of falsetto, the song is half falsetto and half normal voice. I think there will be some parts that listeners won't understand but I love to write lyrics, I was very picky doing it and it was mostly a self-satisfaction work. I went to the arranger's house and we did the trackdown. I was happy to learn new gimmicks. The lyrics are like "I will protect you from the nightmates, I will make you have good dreams". Sometimes they might be sensuals, sometimes humorous...it's quite embarrassing to explain (laughs). I wish people to think "What? Kato's songs are weird, first the vampire and now this?" (laughs)
M: I had many ideas for a solo song, I chose it discussing with the staff. I asked for something rythmical, a dance music with electronic sounds, like it's popular right now. Usually songs go like melody A → melody B → hook. But here it's like melody A → melody B → instrumental → rap → A → B → hook. Moreover the melody B sounds like the hook, we studied the structure all together, at first we didn't even want a hook. The performance...I want the dance to be the main part. Of course I want to dance most of all. The meaning of the lyrics is like "You're both my poison and my remedy". It's a mix of Japanese and English, it's very cool. I applauded when I heard the demo, when I sang it for the first time and when I heard it completed. I want everybody to turn up the volume when listening to it the first time.
T: Everytime I write the lyrics but this time I was quite lost. So I only decided a theme and a setting and I asked to others. I wanted to sing something that wasn't completely mine. I asked for a love ballad, I think my voice suits better a song about a broken heart, so that became the theme. I also wanted to sing from the point of view of a woman. That's why in the lyrics I often say "Watashi" (=Most feminine word for "I"). At the end it turned out to be some kind of rock ballad. During the recording I raised a little the key and I tried to ease myself. The lyrics express the point of view of a woman whose boyfriend prefer work to her, I think a man needs to balance love and work though. I worked also on the arrangement, like choosing the balance of the guitars, I worked in the studio until 2~3am. I was really detailed. Right now I'm very lost if playing acoustic or electric guitar during the lives.
K: I wrote a lot of lyrics but somehow I always end up writing about broken hearts. Last time I sang a ballad, this time I wanted to do something more rythmical and with lighter lyrics. It's easy to understand but it conveys sadness. Writing about age difference in love is quite realistic, I inserted many verses in which you understand that even though they broke up they have many happy memories together. I think this solo was my biggest challenge. I wanted to level up in everything. I'm thinking to dance a little in the performance too. Something light and lively that links the lyrics of the song. I had to record it before leaving for the Amazon, the voice training was a war against time, I think I did the best that I could.
I think this is one of the most waited interviews, NEWS finally talk about the new songs of the albums and in particular of the solo songs! ♥ Can't wait >w
What are the contents of this album you decided to title "NEWS"?
K: It's our first album as a 4 members group. The title itself it's "NEWS", we wanted to go on with the old NEWS and to show our new aura, color and music as the current NEWS.
S: Write that I'm talking while playing guitar. I just strung a C (laughs).
K: The album will be closely followed by a tour so first of all we chose songs that could be enjoyed by fans during lives.
T: There are a lot of Summer songs.
M: Yes, there are few slow songs.
S: The only ones are " Greedier " and " CRY ".
The first song is called " Compass ", it shows some kind of excitement for the beginning of new NEWS.
K: That song born from Masuda-san's idea.
M: I chose the title and the contents of the lyrics. The idea of the compass is that as NEWS from the city where we live, Tokyo, we want to arrive to North-East-West-South: all the directions. We want to be a guidance for all our listeners, we want to clearly express which is the path we want to walk from now on. This is the kind of album I wanted.
K: The contents are just perfect, aren't they? How many times did you repeat that?
S: Did you prepare it just for the interviews?
M: (Laughs) Write that I came here prepared to comment.
K: Tegoshi, do you want to talk about your favorite song? (Randomly)
T: (With cutesy voice) Uuuh~ My fave song, uh~
K: We all know it, right!
T: (Hesitating) You know, I...
M: (Cutting) It's " Koi Matsuri ".
K: Uhuhuhuh (laughs). Tegoshi is always singing that song. He was singing that also earlier while we were changing.
T: Yep, I love it! Since the first time I heard the demo I thought in a good way: "Great~ This song is really stupid!" (laughs)
S: When Koyama sings "Wasshoi!!" he sounds really flashy!
M: Koyama likes to play silly.
K: No, it's just that it had to be like that.
T: I asked "Please, create a matsuri-like song for us where we can rotate towels!" but the song came out better than my expectations.
There's also a song dedicated to your fans: " 4+Fan ".
M: Shige is in charge of "4+Fan" (laughs)
S: When was this decided?! Why! Let's talk about it all together! (laughs)
K: No, no, didn't you prepare your comment?
S: I did actually (laughs). So...when we cameback as 4, we thought that it'd be nice to have a song we can sing along with all the fans. "4" is also used as "FOR". I think it'll be a song that during lives we can sing all together.
On 26th July you will begin a tour from the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium as last year, Kato-san also opened the rugby season as host from the same stadium.
S: I did~ And the Japanese team won~
K: It was a historical victory! We've never seen Shige holding a rugby ball so we wanted to see him.
M: Moreover between us he's the worst with balls and sports (laughs)
K: He can't deal with round balls and he had to hold on of a more difficult shape (laughs)
S: Anyway unexpectedly I gave a proper comment. A message full of respect towards the stadium that will take care of us once again this year.
K: It's like we're borrowing the rugby field.
S: It's a wonderful stadium. I was imagining how good it would be to see it full of fans, hoping that the weather will be good.
T: I'm thankful to all the staff that have to work in the hot weather, I want to have the best of the performances.
M: I'm no good with outdoor lives, I'll do my best to enjoy it as I do with other venues! (Laughs)
Are you still planning the lives?
K: Right now we just roughly decided the setlist. Now we're going to work on the dance.
M: Since we'll be using towels in "Koi Matsuri" and " Nagisa no Onesama " was used for a bra CM we were thinking that maybe we can use bras in the performance (laughs)
K: Right. The first Johnny's live in bra (laughs). We simply gather and talk naturally about how to perform the songs, it's all quite self-produced, it feels like we're doing everything by ourself.
T: This album is really good! There's no point in comparing to the past, but it's absolutely our best! I can't wait to show it to everybody. Last year members and fans had many mixed feelings, the lives were great in the end, but this year we just want to have pure fun. It'll be like a matsuri, we want to build Summer memories all together.
K: Ah, Kato-san gave a nice BGM. Write that he played from the beginning to the end a good BGM.
S: (Playing the guitar) Thank you very much!
All: Ahahahah!
The solo songs
S: I wanted to do some kind of lullaby for adults. In my radioshow I always say at the end "Goodnight", when I don't or I change it fans immediately message me to make me notice. I thought to use that as theme for a song. It's a funky song with lots of chorus, there's also lot of falsetto, the song is half falsetto and half normal voice. I think there will be some parts that listeners won't understand but I love to write lyrics, I was very picky doing it and it was mostly a self-satisfaction work. I went to the arranger's house and we did the trackdown. I was happy to learn new gimmicks. The lyrics are like "I will protect you from the nightmates, I will make you have good dreams". Sometimes they might be sensuals, sometimes humorous...it's quite embarrassing to explain (laughs). I wish people to think "What? Kato's songs are weird, first the vampire and now this?" (laughs)
M: I had many ideas for a solo song, I chose it discussing with the staff. I asked for something rythmical, a dance music with electronic sounds, like it's popular right now. Usually songs go like melody A → melody B → hook. But here it's like melody A → melody B → instrumental → rap → A → B → hook. Moreover the melody B sounds like the hook, we studied the structure all together, at first we didn't even want a hook. The performance...I want the dance to be the main part. Of course I want to dance most of all. The meaning of the lyrics is like "You're both my poison and my remedy". It's a mix of Japanese and English, it's very cool. I applauded when I heard the demo, when I sang it for the first time and when I heard it completed. I want everybody to turn up the volume when listening to it the first time.
T: Everytime I write the lyrics but this time I was quite lost. So I only decided a theme and a setting and I asked to others. I wanted to sing something that wasn't completely mine. I asked for a love ballad, I think my voice suits better a song about a broken heart, so that became the theme. I also wanted to sing from the point of view of a woman. That's why in the lyrics I often say "Watashi" (=Most feminine word for "I"). At the end it turned out to be some kind of rock ballad. During the recording I raised a little the key and I tried to ease myself. The lyrics express the point of view of a woman whose boyfriend prefer work to her, I think a man needs to balance love and work though. I worked also on the arrangement, like choosing the balance of the guitars, I worked in the studio until 2~3am. I was really detailed. Right now I'm very lost if playing acoustic or electric guitar during the lives.
K: I wrote a lot of lyrics but somehow I always end up writing about broken hearts. Last time I sang a ballad, this time I wanted to do something more rythmical and with lighter lyrics. It's easy to understand but it conveys sadness. Writing about age difference in love is quite realistic, I inserted many verses in which you understand that even though they broke up they have many happy memories together. I think this solo was my biggest challenge. I wanted to level up in everything. I'm thinking to dance a little in the performance too. Something light and lively that links the lyrics of the song. I had to record it before leaving for the Amazon, the voice training was a war against time, I think I did the best that I could.
I think this is one of the most waited interviews, NEWS finally talk about the new songs of the albums and in particular of the solo songs! ♥ Can't wait >w