To the unknown summer (Ishimori Nijika x Saito Fuyuka BUBKA September 2017)
 |
| Raw from La_mela @Weibo |
Rethinking about the essence of Keyaki and their “Song of Destiny” before the big event.
They debuted and it was a season that I think they managed to survive by dramatically adapting with the environment. Compared with this, the summer this year is unknown. However, it is certain that this will play an important role for the future of Keyakizaka46. That’s why, I would like to ask the people who supported the group’s performance from the side. What is the essence of Keyakizaka46?
Hiragana Keyaki
In the Nagoya performance of Hiragana Keyakizaka46 live on 6th July, the two of you made a behind the scene report for the live viewing venue
Fuyuka “That’s right! She said it herself too but for me, I feel relieved that I was paired with Nijika. I think that there are a lot of members in Keyakizaka who are not good at speaking in public, I myself usually think “I have to do my best!”, but because Nijika is always reliable I can trust her to handle many things. Although this is my first time, with her I feel relaxed.”
Nijika “I’m very happy to hear that, but I’m also comfortable being paired with Fuuchan. Recently we have been paired a lot. Fuuchan is the type that likes to deeply talk about a topic during an interview like this. When she’s next to me, I feel assured and happy”
The two of you certainly have a strong sense of stability. Actually this was also the first time for the two of you to watch a Hiragana Keyakizaka concert like this, right? Did the two of you watched it objectively?
Fuyuka “Of course we did see Hiragana-chan’s songs in an objective way but when they are singing our own song there is a sense of empathy, but we were also able to see it from another perspective. Like, “Did it look like this when we performed the song?””
Aah, I see. The most you can do is only watch the videos of it when it comes to seeing yourselves dance the song.
Fuyuka “That’s right. That’s why we might be watching them with strict eyes when they are performing our songs”
Nijika “I went to report Hiragana’s omitatekai together with Oda Nana last year. That time, they performed our “Silent Majority” and “Sekai ni wa ai shika nai”. They worked very hard for it and I can feel the strong emotion from it. But, from the viewing the other day, they have grown so much since the omitatekai I’m surprised. Because I saw up close how every one of them was giving their all during practice, I was really moved by it. In Futari Season, Iguchi Mao danced with all she got in the center, I could tell that that she practiced very hard for this. It was really something that can touch your feelings.
Fuyuka “Also, I learned a lot from their MC. Kanji Keyaki MC are still need a lot of revisions. But Hiragana-chan have a good tempo. Everyone talks well without stopping and it’s not overwhelming. I think that it has a good power behind it”
When the two of you see that figure did the two of you feel a sense of promise but at the same time, also sense of crisis?
Fuyuka “Since we are members of the same group, Keyakizaka46, there is a feeling of reliableness and hopefulness when it comes to excite the crowd together. On the other hand, there is also a sense of crisis, a “this-is-bad” kind of feeling.”
Nijika “Before the national tour starts, it feels like they are experiencing a lot of things there already”
But I think the two of you are also growing to be as strong as Hiragana Keyakizaka. In the first album of Keyakizaka that was released the other day, “Masshiro na mono wa yogoshitaku naru”, the two of you challenged many different types of songs, right? Especially in the unit the two of you were in, “Shojou ni wa modorenai” that has an adult image. That song, it’s really cool, don’t you think?
Fuyuka “Waaa~ Yes, i enjoyed it!”
Nijika “Thank you!”
There are a lot of solo parts and in terms of presentation and performance, do you think that your awareness has changed since your debut with “Silent Majority”?
Fuyuka “They haven’t taught us the choreography for the unit song yet so I don’t know how much I have changed in terms of performance but as to awareness, I think that I no longer feel embarrassed performing in front of people”
You were embarrassed?
Fuyuka “Yes. During the beginning I thought that if I become an idol it will be embarrassing. From before, I am not the type that gets told I am cute, even by my friends so even though I will somehow get embarrassed, But now that I am among the members, when I noticed their strong sense of performance, I feel like I must become better too and I stopped resisting. The unit song this time is something mature, I feel like there is an opportunity there to do something I never done before.”
What about Ishimori-san?
Nijika “At first, I worked very hard to dance without minding the camera. Even though I told myself to mind the camera, I am the type that concentrates when dancing so there are a lot of times when I did not notice my surroundings. But in Keyakizaka, there is a lot of rotation in the dance formation. There is a lot of movements where you could hit a member with a slight difference in timing. So now every time I always checked to make sure and even while looking forward I have become aware in my surroundings. In that sense, I wonder if I am now able to see my surroundings more clearly?”
Our Destiny
I think that this album is full of new possibilities and capable of destroying the “cool” image that Keyakizaka46 has, in a good way. At the same time, when I listened to your debut song “Silent Majority” that is placed in the beginning of the album track, I realized again that this is a very shocking song even if it’s nearly a year and four months since the release. Looking back at “Silent Majority” what did the two of you think about it?
Nijika “Listening to Silent Majority now, it feels like a very comforting song. I am 20 years old now, when I think about it I think that I have become better and more mature than the one who sang that song back then. When you hear the music or read the lyrics from Silent Majority, Sekai ni wa ai shika nai, Futari Season, and to Fukyouwaon, you can hear how the protagonist grows with each work. The kid who rebels against the adult remembers the feeling of love in Ai Shika Nai, in Futari Season he remembers how happy he is with communicating with the different people in his daily life, in Fukyouwaon his thoughts and feelings become stronger and he slowly becomes an adult. Like the songs, I feel like I have also become adult when I listened to this album”
That interpretation is indeed interesting. What about you, Saito-san?
Fuyuka “I think that if Silent Majority is not our debut song, then our fate will be different. Back then when we were given our debut song, we did our best in performing it. But looking back, when I think “If it’s not that song what will we have become now? Keyakizaka46 might have been advancing at a completely different direction than where it is right now” I feel a little bit scared. And also how the group itself has become like those lyrics.”
Nijika “Yes, yes”
Fuyuka “At first it feels like a bunch of quiet, normal girls have been gathered but now I feel like we have become able to show each of our individuality. And so we have become more faithful to the lyrics. I think we have become able to properly say what we want to say (laughs)”
I think that potentially, your strong will has been pulled out by this song.
Nijika “I think we were. Because everyone really has changed. Now we perform “Silent Majority” with more spirit and strength. As I thought, this kind of setting is more of our strong point.”
Even in your performance of this song, you give the impression that you’re constantly improving and that you’ve become stronger compared to your first appearance in Tokyo International Forum.
Fuyuka “I'm so happy! Also in live events, the fans would always excitedly say “It’s here!!" Everytime we perform this song I feel like I was performing it for the first time again.”
Other than your fans, I think this is one of the songs people want to hear, particularly in “ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL” and “SUMMER SONIC”
Nijika ”Probably even outside, when they hear "Silent Majority" they immediately think of Keyakizaka46. Among our 4 singles, they say that our 1st release left the strongest impression.”
You can do various things in the album because you have a strong center right?
Nijika: Yeah, I think you’re right.
The sale will be finished by the time this month's issue is released. Happening on July 22-23 at Conifer Forest, FUJI-Q HIGHLAND is your "Keyaki Republic 2017" outdoor live but the real journey starts on your first national arena tour this August 2. Not only in a large venue but also finally a nationwide tour!
Both “Yes!”
Fuyuka “It's not just the National Tour. We somehow thought of doing something this summer. Then it was decided that we'll do a live at Fuji-Q to commemorate the release of our album, our Summer Fes performances were also decided, Furthermore there was also the announcement of the National Tour... "We'll do it this way!" (Laughs) We saw the list of our summer plans and I'm so happy that we'll be immersed in a busy schedule. As I thought, the National Tour is special. During Keyakizaka's debut, most of our events were heavily focused in the Kanto area and many fans couldn't come so it's a huge improvement that we can now go to many places.”
Nijika ” Even though in handshakes a lot of people come and tell us “Please also come to our hometowns” we were not able to answer them. There were even people who came from Hokkaido to attend the handshakes. I have always thought that it would be good if instead we were the ones to come and see them. Although the places we'll go to is limited, but compared to before, it grew to this scale so it makes me really happy.”
Fuyuka ”Of course we also want this National tour to firmly show and promote our group's image. Before this, we celebrated the anniversary live of our 1st year debut. This time we won't show the usual Keyakizaka. Because there is also this expectation to show a new stage, I am really looking forward to it”
The set lists of your lives in Ariake colosseum and Yoyogi introduces all of your songs. This time you have a lot of new songs and the options have further increased.
Nijika ”Yes, you're right. But we won't have the time to sing all of them.”
Fuyuka ” If we'll sing all full chorus, I wonder how many hours it will take. I can’t even imagine (Laughs). But of course I'm happy that we have a lot of new songs.”
The unit songs too have particularly increased, each song can be highlighted.
Nijika ”I'm grateful cause in exchange, it gives us more time!”
Fuyuka ”Up until now, we've sang many songs with all 21 members and we’ve always had to change fast. The staff gave a lot of thought to these things, like how they would creat time for us to change.”
Nijika ”We had to tie our hair in "Eccentric" and you can tell that everyone's hair was done sloppily (Laughs). We were really frantic then but it makes for a good memory now.”
We hope to see less of that struggle in the tour!
The Challenge Keyakizaka46 faces
Now other than your tour, you'll also perform at "TOKYO IDOL FESTIVAL" which you also appeared in last year, adding to that is the "ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL" and "SUMMER SONIC" these are all outdoor fes performance. Your summer's really packed!
Nijika ” It’s amazing, really.”
Fuyuka“ It’s awesome. Honestly I’m scared, I’m scared.”
You’re scared?
Fuyuka “It's really scary you know! I can’t explain how it feels.”
Ah, have the 2 of you ever experienced going to this kind of Rock Fes...
Both “We haven’t!”
Nijika ”So this time it's something we know little about. This is uncharted territory for us and we can only imagine what it's like so we're very anxious. No matter how cool they say our songs are, from the outside perspective we are still idols. There are other performers who'll be appearing with us, I personally think it would be good if we could show a different kind of appeal. But it really depends on our performance. We don't know yet if we'll sing songs from our album but a song like "Dangerous Plan" fits the open air and adds more excitement. We'll show a new Keyakizaka 46 while showing the cool side of "Silent Majority".
Fuyuka “The stage where we'll perform is really huge, right?”
It is. GRASS STAGE can hold no less than 60 thousand people; I guess you can imagine how spacious it is.
Nijika “Not really… (Loss for words)”
Fuyuka“We absolutely can’t fill that.”
Nijika “You think so too?”
But the hurdle is just a little higher than what you did in your one-man live, there will be many people who'll want to see you in the festival. Apart from your fans, there will be other people in that place, what are you most concern about?
Fuyuka ”We have to be careful in our MC.”
Nijika “Right. For example, when we call out to a member, we have to avoid using Keyakizaka inside jokes as material. Not everyone watches "KeyaKake" (TV Tokyo's "Keyakitte, Kakenai?") so they won't get it.”
Fuyuka ”We have Captain (Sugai) Yuuka take care of the MC for live events and she handles it gracefully. Because of that, we thought thar for the Festival, it might be better if we let (Moriya) Akane and (Shida) Manaka handle it.”
I see. You have very few live events until now, so your schedule this summer is really fulfilling.
Fuyuka ”It is. Of course we all think that our singing and dancing is of first importance. If we think about it Keyakizaka does have few live events... And so we're grateful that we get to be seen on TV or published in magazines, we also have the handshake events. But naturally, we absolutely cannot neglect our singing and dancing, I think our experience is overwhelming little. We all love performing live and we’d always say "We want to do more Live!" and as we continue to do more lives I think that we can really grow this summer.”
Nijika ”I want people to see us as “a group with cute kids and have a lot of good characters”. But I personally think that I really want people to say the performance of Keyakizaka 46 is awesome. Because I think the more we do our best, the more we can do a good performance, I want us to be a group that will overwhelm people all throughout the Tour and Festival.”
---
Translator: Too Much Idea, Tuturu
QC: hmmero, ariadne32391
Comments
Post a Comment