GESSHIRUI & Zenbu Kimi no Sei da – “All of the female groups created in codomomental are originally offshoots of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da songs”(July 2021)
Part 1: Questions to GESSHIRUI
Question from Kisaragi Megumi:
“Solo Untitled” is the world of “MudaiGasshou” three years later, and as far as I know, “Narcolepsy” by “Seireki” also has a connection to those two songs. And I’d like to know how the image of the character changed from “MudaiGasshou” to “Solo Untitled.” Also, does “MudaiGasshou” have a backstory?
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
Strictly speaking, the period between “MudaiGasshou” and “Solo Untitled” is “Narcolepsy” by Seireki13ya. As for how the character’s image changed, it’s a non-fictional story, so it’s hard to say. It would be like pulling the scab off a wound (laughs). As for the backstory of “MudaiGasshou,” of course there’s a lot of stuff, but I don’t think I’ve put it into a story yet. But the most important thing is that you kept singing those songs, and the new members could see themselves in them. I’m very happy about that.
Question from Yukinojou Oyatsu:
To me, “Alternative Melancholy” is an incredibly sweet and touching song about unrequited love, but is there a story (movie or manga?) that inspired you to write it? Also, I would like to know if you write your lyrics from scratch or if you have a stock of prepared lyrics?
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
Yes, “Alternative Melancholy” is a very cute song. When I write lyrics – and this applies to all songs – I try not to be directly inspired by anything as much as possible. If I write a song inspired by something, it probably won’t be a Zenbu Kimi no Sei da song, and in terms of story and everything else, it will unintentionally leave a feeling of “déjà vu”. But sometimes that feeling can lead to more empathy, and in those cases I try to pick up familiar phrases and use them, but it’s not easy for me, I’m not used to doing it that way. I have too many favorite manga to list them all here (laughs). And the phrases, no, I don’t prepare them – I only thought about the choice of words at the very beginning, when the group was formed.
Question from Amanechi An:
I like oppressive, “morbidly cute” lyrics like in “Folia Therapy”. What are you thinking about when you write them? Are you just expressing your experiences and feelings? You understand girls’ feelings too well, it’s unbelievable! I’m always amazed. I’d also like to know your interpretation of “Folia Therapy”.
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
What do I think about when I write oppressive lyrics, how should I say… (laughs). At the stage when we were thinking about the worldbuilding of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, it was decided that we wanted to expose the dark side of human nature that exists in both men and women – all those dirty, true feelings that are locked up deep inside, and if I can do that, I am happy. Regardless of gender, all people have jealousy and other dirty feelings, and I’m no exception – I think that’s what I am at heart. When I was working on “Folia Therapy,” I wanted it to be a kind of continuation of “Kimi Omoi Hana Chirinu” in terms of feeling. I had a clear story to tell, even if it was abstract, and the main points of it were particularly oppressive. I don’t like something too soft, I want much more devilish feelings. So I really wanted to make this song like that. “No matter what happens, but I’ll keep thinking about you” – that really sounds like a curse, doesn’t it? And I really like that song myself.
Question from Motochika Kasane:
I like the way the worlds are built in “Tokobana” or “Kimi Omoi Hana Chirinu” – I really like how beautiful the words are in them, but I would like to know what you usually imagine when you write lyrics? How long does it take you to finish them? And how do you have such a large vocabulary?
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
Surprisingly, you don’t seem to know this, but at their core, all of the female groups created in codomomental are originally offshoots of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da songs – that’s the idea the director puts into them. And among them, “Tokobana” and “Kimi Omoi Hana Chirinu” are songs whose world is particularly imbued with “human weakness”, which has always been a favorite theme of the director, Shounen ga Milc and myself. If I were an artist now, I’d probably only sing songs like that (laughs). Also, what I admire most is the “deep sadness” that is inevitably present in all the variety of Kazuki Mizutani and Syva’s music, and of course I’m the one who writes the lyrics, but it’s more like they’re guiding me with their music. How long does it take me to write lyrics? It varies, but most of the time it goes pretty fast. I listen to the song until I start writing, and then the song guides me, I start having phrases in my head that I combine, like putting together a synopsis for a movie, and most of the time I finish in 2-4 hours. It’s pretty unusual for me to put something off for a day. And I don’t have a big vocabulary (laughs).
Question from Shizuku Fufu:
I really like the consonance and sense of style of the phrases you came up with for each of the members in “TadaKimiTo”. What do you pay attention to when you write something like that? And those kanji plays, where “唯君論.” reads “TadaKimiTo.” and “相愛鎖” reads “Aiaisa” – that’s amazing! I think it’s one of the things that makes “Zenkimi” unique! I’d like to hear how you work on songs like this!
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
Thank you (laughs). Consonance is part of the rhythm of music, so I usually pay special attention to it. And of course, it’s not without a lot of thinking about the members and analyzing each one of them together with the management people (laughs). And reading “唯君論.” as “TadaKimiTo” – is completely the director’s idea. I’m not very good at coming up with names, and every time I consult with him, these kinds of strange words come out. And like you said, such techniques are definitely related to the branding of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da and codomomental works, so I often wonder what the director would think of it. Except that the name “MudaiGasshou” was unintentionally came out written in kanji, and it became one of the important components of Zenkimi’s flavor, so I’ve had to study the meanings of kanji ever since (laughs).
Question from Mei Yui Mei:
I really like “ShitEnd Placebo!” In this and other “Zenkimi” songs, there are often such words that I’m just thrilled! I can smell the spirit of “eighth grade syndrome” a mile away! Do you deliberately try to include such words in the lyrics?
( ` – ω -‘ )
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
You often say “eighth grade syndrome”, but I think all artists are like that – I hope I won’t be punished for saying that (laughs). A frontman of a band once said that “to be an artist is to sell your youth” and I think that’s true. But even in the midst of all that, “ShitEnd Placebo” clearly stands out with some pretty peculiar lyrics – you can tell that the “eighth grade syndrome” spirit is just pouring out of it. Especially in the part with the poetry reading, I tried very hard to convey that spirit as best I could. Poetry is such a thing that it would be weird if it was like a normal everyday conversation, wouldn’t it (laughs)? I tried to put more emphasis on that spirit, and that’s what I ended up with. That kind of word choice is something we worked out together with the director, so I’m very conscious of adding words like that to the lyrics.
Question from Kotetsu:
I like that singing “MONOLOGUE” with all seven of us makes me feel like I’m not alone, and it’s very uplifting. Is “MONOLOGUE” a real story? The stories in your lyrics are so real, there’s so much to relate to that it always takes my breath away! When you write lyrics, do they just pop into your head? I’m very interested in that… • •
Answer from GESSHIRUI:
Thank you, it’s very nice to hear you say that. The word “MONOLOGUE” means “monologue,” and it’s really a song about the feelings of a single character. And now you’re singing it as seven, of course, but I think that’s why it can really resonate in one’s heart. The monologue of not one, but seven people. I don’t know what you imagine when you listen to this song, probably school, but I wrote this song about my alienation from society. The bright things cause pain and the shiny things cause hate… It’s definitely the way I’ve lived my life and it’s a real story and it’s not at the same time. When I write lyrics, I always try to create a story as if I were making a movie. So “MONOLOGUE” isn’t as non-fictional as “MudaiGasshou,” but I think it’s something on the border between fiction and non-fiction. How I come up with the lyrics… But yeah, I don’t really choose words – it’s more like lyrics that pop into my head – I’m mainly “guided” by the music of Mizutani Kazuki and syva.
Part 2: Conversation
GESSHIRUI, the person who creates the lyrics that add color to the world of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, as always, while not appearing in public and still remaining behind a thick veil, took part in a conversation with the members of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da.
– GESSHIRUI-san, hello.
GESSHIRUI: Hello.
“Zenkimi”: Hello.
Megumi: You should wear a mask (laughs).
GESSHIRUI: (forced smile).
Megumi: I’d like to talk to you a little bit more today. Thank you for coming.
“Zenkimi”: Thank you for coming.
GESSHIRUI: Thank you for inviting me.
Megumi: We had a conversation like this once a long time ago.
GESSHIRUI: Did we? Maybe.
Megumi: We did, but this time we prepared some questions for you about the songs we’re interested in, the lyrics and so on.
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, I already answered those questions. But I was told that there were still pages left (laughs), so I had to have this conversation.
Megumi: That’s how it is (laughs).
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, so please ask me something else.
Megumi: Other than that.
GESSHIRUI: Yes.
Megumi: Uh… I wish we would have been informed sooner, fellow staff members!
All: (laughing).
Mei: Uh, “Alternative Melancholy,” “Kimi Kimi Syndrome X” and “Selfish Shinsei Hominina” are all songs about the feelings of incredibly cute girls.
GESSHIRUI: I hope so.
“Zenkimi”: (laughing).
Mei: I think so. How do you feel when you write lyrics about such cute girls in love?
GESSHIRUI: I can say that about all the songs, but when I write lyrics, as soon as I get a demo, I start thinking about the story, like a script for a movie. So you could say that my job is more about staying one-on-one with the song and putting together the scenes and events that develop in it and the emotions of the main characters and so on.
“Zenkimi”: Hmmm (impressed).
Mei: How do you manage to come up with such cute words?
GESSHIRUI: Words? If you take some imitations or popular words, like in “Viral Labyrinth,” then I try to use them in the songs where there’s a vague story, in the songs that satirize modern society. If you take the cute words or phrases that Mei talks about – when you’re writing a screenplay for a movie, you’re always thinking about the characters. And just like Kotetsu always comes up with cute little words like “ajigatou,” I’m always looking for some fun things for the main character to say in my imagination. Basically, I try to have one or two of these killer phrases or punchlines in every work. For example, “Suki ga Bakuhatsu” (“Love is a Blast”).
“Zenkimi”: Hmmm (get it)…
GESSHIRUI: I write the lyrics thinking about all the funny things the protagonist of the story might say: some popular words, or things the protagonist might have said but didn’t – including things that might not make it into the song. And also, as if to say, I try very hard to avoid any imitation, so I’m very careful to choose words that remind me of something.
Megumi: And does this protagonist resemble Zenbu Kimi no Sei da?
GESSHIRUI: Yes, it’s an integral part of my thinking about songs, so I try to write lyrics without imagining any of the members in particular, but by imagining a mixed image of all the members from the founding of the group to the present day, and thinking about what such a character might say. For example, I think Megumi and the other members in particular would understand, but sometimes I hit and sometimes I miss, and I try to add to the lyrics those phrases that I think are realistic, and I try not to choose the ones that no one would say for sure. But I imagine something like “Personality of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da”. Always.
Megumi: This might be an unexpected question, but do you go to our concerts?
GESSHIRUI: I’ve been to many concerts (laughs).
Oyatsu: Unexpectedly!
GESSHIRUI: But it’s mostly within Tokyo.
“Zenkimi”: Hmmm (laughs).
Oyatsu: So he lives in Tokyo…
GESSHIRUI: Uh, scary (laughs)!
An: If he lives in Tokyo, we might run into each other.
GESSHIRUI: I go to places with lots of people!
Megumi: Ah, he’ll get lost.
Oyatsu: You won’t find him in a crowd.
GESSHIRUI: I just love concerts because of all the noise. It’s been so lonely lately.
Oyatsu: Yeah, there’s not much noise in Coronavirus.
Megumi: GESSHIRUI-san, the lyrics you wrote before – they were written for the characters of the other members, and now that there are seven of us, they’re sung by other people, right?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah.
Megumi: And there’s no such thing as, well, that.
GESSHIRUI: Oh, contradictions? Surprisingly not at all. I don’t write lyrics based on specific characters of someone in the group, so no, in every period of the group there was necessarily a person who reflected one aspect or another. It’s definitely a very important thing for codomomental, or rather for the director – he just doesn’t tolerate lies in the songs, and I notice every time that he clearly chooses people so that there’s nothing like that. He hates it so much that a long time ago he was ready to break up a group just for that reason… When it comes to songs, for example, you can find a little bit of “yandere” in An or maybe Fufu. And I think there have always been people who fit into that. But girls in love don’t have such different emotions, right? I guess.
Oyatsu: Yeah, we can all relate to that.
GESSHIRUI: Well, there you go, unless you’re a total weirdo, in a way what you feel isn’t that different from what everyone else feels.
Oyatsu: Could “Zenkimi”, like “Seireki”, have songs based on the characters of individual members?
GESSHIRUI: Obviously not. Within Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, I clearly separate these things. For example, if you take the solo songs, they are exactly the solo songs of each member – I tend to think of them not as “Zenkimi members’ songs” but as songs of specific people, and in order to fully realize them, I necessarily have to separate the solo songs from the group songs. And now that there are seven members in the group, “Zenkimi” has become so interesting, so there’s no need to focus on specific characters. It’s also not like “Seireki,” where the group was like that from the beginning. Still, “Zenkimi” was like that from the beginning – for example, Oyatsu, An, Fufu and Kasane probably all understand this – when you look at “Zenkimi” from the outside, the first thing that appeals to you is how these girls, mustering all their courage, try their best, how people who were nobody before manage to do such cool performances. Simply put, I think this is possible because there is no focus on anyone in particular in the group. And most importantly, each of the members does their best to express that at the concerts – that’s what the “Zenkimi” concerts are all about. So I think it’s better not to do that. But there are times when I notice that a certain thing suits one of the members. But that doesn’t mean that I wrote a song based on their character, not at all. I never directly use someone’s image. But in “Insomnia”, for example, I imagined Megumi and Oyatsu taking a new path and expressing their intention to do their best again. That kind of thing happens, just a little bit. Yeah.
Kasane: Do you have a favorite lyric you wrote for “Zenkimi”?
GESSHIRUI: A favorite, hmm. When I finish writing lyrics, they become like children to me, so it’s hard for me to choose, but every time I start writing something, I think of “BokuTabetaMouKimiNoSubeteWo” – in many ways, it has become a cornerstone for me, so every time I start writing lyrics, I think of how I can surpass that work. And if it’s from recent work, it’s probably “Insomnia”. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to use that title, “Insomnia,” to convey a sense of human frailty, not just in the sense that it’s an “insomnia”. “Insomnia to move forward” sounds very strange, doesn’t it? That’s why I tried so hard. I guess those two. But I don’t think some lyrics can be better than others – it’s always difficult, but for me, “BokuTabetaMouKimiNoSubeteWo” gathered both literary delights and sarcasm and the intention to do the best, all in the “Zenkimi” spirit. So I’m glad that all the members can perform this song even now. Yeah.
Fufu: “Viral Labyrinth” has names like Gian from “Doraemon” and Kaoru from “Evangelion”. Why did you choose them?
GESSHIRUI: What was the point? And there was no point at all. But everyone here knows them, right?
Fufu: Yes.
GESSHIRUI: When we formed Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, there were, for example, AKB48 and Hello Project among the idols back then. I don’t remember anyone else, though. And I used words that they would never use, inspired by the example of African-American music such as hip-hop. So-called J-pop tends to be songs that resonate with all generations, but in the midst of all that, “Zenkimi” is different by nature, and what we’re trying to achieve is a little out of the ordinary. Maybe because we wanted the group to be interesting in its own way. But I don’t remember why I chose those words (laughs).
“Zenkimi”: (laughs).
But look, usually no one says “just like Gian”. Like, this is just like Gian does. And Shinji, you could use him perfectly as a clear example of a main character with psychological problems, and it would obviously make the right impression, although maybe I’m being narrow-minded (laughs), but in general, it was just easy to use such a reference.
Megumi: You’ve been adding something like that to “Zenkimi” lyrics from the very beginning.
Fufu: So such commonly used words can also be used in the lyrics?
GESSHIRUI: They can, it can happen in the process. But I’ve never tried to prepare words in advance. I always felt that if you did that, you would just end up with a collection of prepared words. It wouldn’t be a story anymore, so I want each song to have a story, and even if you take songs that don’t have that, that are about “Zenkimi” itself, like “TadaKimiTo.”, you could say they are stories about “Zenkimi”, and obviously most of the group’s songs have stories, so I usually don’t prepare words, and there’s no such thing as me thinking of a word, realizing that it sounds good, and deciding to memorize it.
Fufu: Okay!
GESSHIRUI: Okay!
Megumi: Um, for example, “Insomnia”, and if I remember correctly, “Selfish Neo Hominina”, “Haikei, OtonaGram” and some other songs – didn’t they have a different title than the original one?
GESSHIRUI: Yes, that happens a lot. It happened with “Nudity la Riot,” for example. And with “Tonari KoreArata”.
Megumi: And “TadaKimiTo” was originally called “Zenbu Kimi no Sei da”.
GESSHIRUI: Oh, it was.
Megumi: And we thought it would be weird if we released a song called “Zenbu Boku no Sei da” after that. And we renamed “Haikei, OtonaGram” because the part written in hiragana could be read as “Onara” (“intestinal gas”).
GESSHIRUI: (laughter). Oh yeah, I think there was something like that.
Megumi: And “Insomnia” was originally in English, but then it was changed to katakana – was that because you felt it wasn’t a good fit for the song?
GESSHIRUI: Yes, it bothered me a lot. But then again, names are often decided by the director, so that’s something. Anyway, the name didn’t fit. Titles are the hardest thing for me, and there are times when I’m done writing lyrics in an hour and a half and I’ve been beating myself up for three hours over a title and it still doesn’t fit the song. Especially when you start out as an artist, everybody shows off a little bit, right? Everybody shows off a little bit, so I show off with my titles (laughs). I have to think about the titles very carefully, so to speak (laughs).
Megumi: You have to polish them up?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, polish them up (laughs). I have to show off like “look how much we worked,” but as the activity goes on, the members become able to convey different things confidently at their concerts, so it’s possible to avoid that – I can avoid trying to stand out with a weird name and not polish everything so much. But if I change the name, it means I really don’t like it. And I don’t like a lot of things.
Megumi: But in the case of “Insomnia”, you changed the spelling from English to Katakana, right?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, in a way, the English spelling gave off more of a feeling of weakness.
Megumi: That was the case when you had to polish the title?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, something like “Fuminshou…”
Megumi: What a strange way to put it (laughs). It’s something like “Fuminshou↴”, right?
GESSHIRUI: But it’s “Insomnia” in katakana. Like, “Insomnia” (in a showy voice). So to say, there’s a little bit of determination here – in my mind, of course.
Oyatsu: Yes, that sounds encouraging.
GESSHIRUI: And the members are contributing as well.
Megumi: The images that the members create?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, I think that’s what the name became when Kasane, An and Fufu joined the group. When the group of Megumi, Oyatsu, Kasane, An, and Fufu came together, I thought, “Oh, yeah.” I thought for sure a katakana would work here. But in the case of “Zenkimi,” it’s not such a big deal, but in the case of “Tsurezure,” I just hated it.
Mei and Kotetsu: Uh-oh.
GESSHIRUI: Deciding on the titles of the “Tsurezure” songs was the hardest part. If you make a mistake, that’s it… The whole world-building of the song collapses. But in the case of “KAQRIYO,” it doesn’t take long. I make up my mind quickly. I just think it’s more important for “KAQRIYO” to make a song interesting and fun to perform at concerts than to do all that stuff. And it’s more like that with “Zenkimi” too… But “Zenkimi” has such a complicated aspect that the group has two, or rather three, or even four identities. Emotional, fun, cute, cool. Still, something emotional or important is something I’m very reverent about. Or rather, I’m just tired. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many words or phrases I build up, I’m often still not satisfied with something. And then I just decide to put it off until it’s time to release the song. So there’s always a lot of room for change.
Megumi: Can you change something even after the CD release?
GESSHIRUI: No, those changes in the songs usually happen because of the changes in the lineup…
Oyatsu: It’s like putting a point on it.
GESSHIRUI: Yeah.
Megumi: What about you, Tetsuko?
Kotetsu: I just wanted to ask what comes first, the title or the lyrics, and there was some talk about that.
GESSHIRUI: Ah, but it varies.
Kotetsu and An: Oh.
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, there are times when I come up with a title, but I can’t write anything else. But when I start with a title, I usually can’t write anything – well, for a while.
Megumi: Because the title is limiting?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fufu: Do you write the lyrics after you get the music?
GESSHIRUI: Yes, I usually do, but it happens the other way around.
An: May I? (raises her hand)
GESSHIRUI: You may.
An: “Zenkimi” has a routine before concerts, and do you have a routine?
GESSHIRUI: Oh, like your “I love you” hugs and back pats?
An: Yes, everyone has a lot of things, for example, someone slaps her own cheeks.
GESSHIRUI: Oh, Oyatsu.
Oyatsu: And someone hits their head all the time (laughs) (looks at Megumi).
GESSHIRUI: And someone locks themselves in the toilet.
Megumi: It’s all Oyatsu (laughs).
Oyatsu: Ahh (annoyed).
Kasane: The toilet is yeah, me too (laughs).
GESSHIRUI: Oh, and you, Kasane. And routines… No. That’s why I write on the road too, yeah. If there’s something like that, I just listen to the song all the time. I play it endlessly, that’s all.
Oyatsu: Oh, the song you write lyrics for?
GESSHIRUI: The song I write lyrics for. And yes, when five or ten songs pile up, of course it becomes difficult. It can happen when the demos pile up all at once and I can’t decide which one to listen to and I just can’t get started. But maybe that’s my intuition, I decide that I want to start with a certain song, and when I decide to start writing something, I start writing – I write because I want to write, so it almost never happens that I write just because I have to – well, physically it happens of course (laughs), but I do it because I want to, so it’s not a burden for me at all. But if you have too many songs, their stories can unintentionally become too similar, and I don’t want that, so it can be difficult. Anyway, I don’t have any particular routine. I can write on my smartphone, on my computer and by hand.
An: Wow!
Fufu: And there are times when the lyrics change because of the lineup change, right?
GESSHIRUI: Yes.
Fufu: In those cases, do you adapt the lyrics to the current members?
GESSHIRUI: I do, yes, actually. Normally I wouldn’t want to do that, to change the lyrics. The fans listen to the songs and remember them, so I want to avoid that as much as possible. But if there’s a sudden feeling that the lyrics don’t fit the people who are performing the songs now, then whoever thinks what, that’s more important, so I wouldn’t want to do that, but if there’s a mismatch, I’ll change the lyrics. But I’m not too hesitant. Of course I understand that people won’t like it, but it’s much worse if the person who sings it doesn’t like it. That’s how I feel. And when I change something, I want to change it thoroughly. By the way, we re-record songs more than anyone else in Japan. From the label’s point of view, I don’t think it’s good or bad, but I think it’s a very respectful approach.
Megumi: Maybe I’ll surprise everyone, but at first people thought that it was me writing lyrics under the pen name GESSHIRUI.
GESSHIRUI: Oh, really (laughs)?
Megumi: Because my front teeth stick out (“Gesshirui” is Japanese for “rodent”).
GESSHIRUI: Oh, the front teeth, I see.
Megumi: But when I wrote the lyrics for my solo song, I signed as Kisaragi Megumi, didn’t I?
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, yeah.
Megumi: That’s when I finally announced that I’m not GESSHIRUI. So come on now, describe in detail how he really looks like (laughs)!
Oyatsu: Like he’s not Megumi?
Megumi: Yeah.
GESSHIRUI: Describe? How complicated…
Kotetsu: What do you usually do?
GESSHIRUI: (explosion of laughter).
Oyatsu: Great!
GESSHIRUI: Usually? I usually read books, actually, so I have something to write about. Yeah. I hardly ever watch movies or videos.
Oyatsu: Are you more into literature than movies?
GESSHIRUI: Yes. Movies leave a strong impression, don’t they? And, of course, the impression is even stronger if the script reflects the strength of the actors – that’s the thing about movies, so when I write lyrics, I try to achieve something like that. I try to make it as direct as possible.
Oyatsu: When you read books, your imagination is more involved.
GESSHIRUI: Exactly. Let people interpret the lyrics in their own way. I think that’s the essence of the worlds built in the lyrics-there’s no right or wrong. If a song reaches the listener through the prism of the strength of the individual performer and they think, “This is a song about something,” that’s enough for me. It’s a different subject, but we have this culture of limited two-hour previews of new songs. When listeners try to put into words their impressions of a song and share them with us. And it seems to me that a lot of people these days can’t or don’t want to express their feelings in words. For example, on Instagram you can take a picture of how you feel and express it in a photo. And everyone just posts some trivial things, don’t they?
Megumi: Today I ate this and that. Something like that.
GESSHIRUI: Here, people are trying to hide their feelings. They don’t know how to express them.
Megumi: Unwittingly, they become stale.
GESSHIRUI: Yes, that happens a lot. So it’s a very good culture. Express your impressions during the two hour previews.
Megumi: I always think that any kind of interpretation is right for “Zenkimi”.
GESSHIRUI: Oh (impressed)!
Megumi: Have you ever written a lyric after watching a video? A movie or something.
GESSHIRUI: It’s “Zenkimi”, right? No.
Megumi: Okay, then we’re done with this topic.
All: (laughing).
GESSHIRUI: No, I think almost none. I can’t remember anything.
Megumi: Is there anything you want to write about now?
GESSHIRUI: Right now I’d like to write something “incredibly sweet”.
Oyatsu: Uh-oh!
Kotetsu: Yay!
GESSHIRUI: So much so that everyone would melt immediately. That’s something I’d like to write for “Zenkimi” right now.
Megumi: So should we expect something incredibly sugary?
Oyatsu: I mean, lately there have been nothing but cool songs coming out.
GESSHIRUI: Yeah, but from a writer’s point of view, I hardly tried to make anything cool, although “Insomnia” was cool, yeah. Cool, or rather, it just had a strong determination. But I wrote “Dada” with thoughts of how funny that song is, even though I wanted it to be a love song at first.
Megumi: Well, it ended up being such a violent love song.
GESSHIRUI: Yeah. But now I want to write something sweet and sugary.
Oyatsu: Oh (excited)!
GESSHIRUI: I want to write, okay? I’ll be happy if a song like this comes out.
An: Kazuki-sa-an!
GESSHIRUI: And I also want to write something like “WORLD END CRISIS”. So that makes three themes. We talk about it a lot with the director, but now there are seven members in the group, and of course that means there are seven voices, and we can do so many interesting things. For example, we can experiment with the scream: we have Mei’s hard-polished scream, Kotetsu’s high-pitched fry scream, An’s low-pitched growl, Kasane and Megumi’s scream which is more in the spirit of “Zenkimi.” And, for example, the way Mei and Fufu sing a bit through their nose, the vocal potential hidden in Kasane and Kotetsu – there was nothing like that in “Zenkimi” before, and if we say so, Oyatsu with her husky voice as well. Somehow, we hadn’t really thought about how to use it all.
Megumi: Because there was too much to do?
GESSHIRUI: Yes, an incredible amount of things to do, to be honest. Now, if you think about it, it’s finally time to think about it. I mean, what do we want to do in terms of music, what would be interesting to try, what challenges should we take on and what might come out of it. There’s a lot of interesting experiments we can do right now in that sense, so I’d like to work on different things.
All: We’re looking forward to it!
GESSHIRUI: Of course, the group has always fought hard on the front line and had every right to be proud of itself, but I think you are stronger now than ever before. No matter how much we’ve experimented with concerts, for example, this sense of balance and the explosion of individuality that you produce is what makes it so much fun to watch the group. And the director also says that on this tour he decided to experiment with set lists and in the end there wasn’t a single song that he wanted to leave off the list.
Megumi: When there’s such an explosion of individuality (laughs).
GESSHIRUI: Still, it’s not as simple as “There are seven members in the group now, so everything is fine”. Because there are also certain aspects that become more complicated when there are so many people in the group. Of course the set lists are only made up of the songs you can perform now – on this tour it’s about 18 or 19 songs and it’s decided that you won’t perform anything else because at the moment you can only perform those songs, but now whatever song you perform, everything is great and the director says that in all these six years it’s the first time he’s had so much fun making the set lists. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the group used to perform worse – in each of its periods, the group exuded individuality specific to each of the members, and some songs were difficult to perform live, but now when we re-record the songs, the director says with such enthusiasm that there are no songs at all that we wouldn’t want to perform. You look at the dancing and it’s immediately clear, you look at the shows and it’s immediately clear, except that you can do more in terms of vocals.
“Zenkimi”: Understood!
Kasane: And when you use English words, do you specifically look for something that fits what you want to express in the lyrics, or do you use words you already know?
GESSHIRUI: It happens both ways, yeah.
Kasane: I often came across English words in the lyrics of “Zenkimi” that I had never heard before, and when I found out what they meant, everything fell into place, they fit perfectly into the lyrics, so I thought you must have a good knowledge of English.
GESSHIRUI: No, I’m not good at English at all (laughs). It all came from the old “Tsurezure” period, even before Mei and Kotetsu joined the group, when Shidare, Tsuyame, Kokoko and Komachi’s screaming parts in Japanese didn’t sound right for some reason, and I kept wondering why, and in the end it was because they were shy. They could scream, but they were so shy that they couldn’t do it in their native language, so I thought about doing it in English, and the result was surprisingly good, and I started using English in my lyrics, but in the case of “Zenkimi,” I didn’t want to use a lot of English from the beginning. After all, the group has always been able to confidently express what they’re feeling in their native language, and that’s exactly what Megumi has continued to preserve all along – it’s what the group has been from the beginning. You might think that this “practice of expressing your feelings” is silly, but there is a huge difference between those who do it and those who don’t – after all, you always talk to each other when something is bothering you. You share with each other how important it is not to hide in your shells, and it’s very noticeable at the concerts, so I don’t think it makes sense to hide behind English phrases in such a weird way. So I don’t want to use English very often in “Zenkimi” songs, and when I do, it’s when there’s some kind of trick with the nuances that the word carries, for example. So you could say that I use English words when I think, “That would fit in here.” Also, I’ll often say an obscure word that I’ve never heard before and try to find out if it even exists. And if it doesn’t, I make it up. Something like that. And even when I make up a word, I hope that somehow the meaning is still clear. And that’s also one of the components of “Zenbu Kimi no Sei da” – something that makes you think, “This is the spirit of Zenkimi,” so I hope people will forgive me for such antics. Because usually when you write lyrics for someone, there are a lot of things you’re not allowed to do. But in the case of “Zenkimi”, even these things become possible, and it’s all thanks to the uniqueness of this world, and it’s amazing that even among so many other artists, the group has been able to last this long, and I think there are things that I can do only because “Zenkimi” has proven to be capable of it.