Nobuhide Imamura – “Have you ever loved someone?” (March 2020)
Good evening, Imamura here. It’s late at night.
And tonight’s topic is “AikaHigurashi”.
Seireki13ya’s fourth single, “AikaHigurashi”.
Have you seen the music video we released last night at 9:00 p.m.?
Excuse me, but before I start talking about “AikaHigurashi,” one more important thing. When we were finally able to release this music video, I was so happy I can’t describe it in words. Because it was something that we all took for granted. We work on the music over and over again, suffering and tormenting, and then the members try to figure out how to express it, suffering and tormenting, we record it, the sound engineer syva-kun does the mixing, I check it all and at the same time think about the cover and supervise the designer, and then we pack the CDs and release them. And in order to promote these beloved songs, we also embody them as a music videos. And then we release them on YouTube.
And this whole process that we’ve been repeating just countless, countless times, has recently stopped being something that we take for granted… As everybody knows, there’s a terrible situation in the world… So the fact that we were able to release this music video made me very happy to the point of tears. Except… I suddenly realized an absurd thing, but it’s nothing to do with you, so maybe next time (lol).
I’m sure no one thinks about it the way I wrote above. Like, “Oh, a new song came out,” or, “Oh, a new MV”? And that’s fine. Let it be that way. I bet it’s something you take for granted, that’s how you live your life day by day. Saying how good or bad we are. And it’s so strange that such a trivial thing has become so emotionally charged for me lately. It’s crazy.
Oops, I suddenly veered off topic… But first of all, I’m glad we were able to do this, thanks to everyone who watched the video. And to the members for letting us create this work, thank you very much as well. Thank you to Kazuki for composing such a beautiful song. GESSHIRUI, thank you so much for the lyrics. syva-kun, thank you for the recording and mixing.
Yeah, this is the fourth single.
For Seireki13ya, it’s a work that even more realistic, and even more imbued with “fragility.” It’s “AikaHigurashi.” As the members themselves say, when Kazuki sent me this song, I was so crazy about it that I couldn’t listen to anything else. As soon as the intro started, I was like, “That’s it!” and started making up in my head what kind of song to make of it, and I was really excited. What’s born, or rather grows as the artist continues their career, is the emotional expressiveness and the evolution of the artist’s branding. I guess you could call that the growth of the group? I hope I conveyed it well, but there’s something beyond the artists themselves that you can’t see with your eyes.
And so, when I took on this song, I just thought it would be a good idea to make it a sorrowful song.
Have you ever been overwhelmed by a sense of loss when you’ve lost someone?
Have you ever cried like a child in the rain of loss?
Have you ever been in so much pain at the thought of someone that you couldn’t help yourself?
Have you ever loved someone?
I’m sure every person has a such experience in their own way. I like sad songs because they make me remember it. They remind us of things that happened in the past that we shouldn’t forget. And I thought it would be nice if that song would be such an important song for everybody, and especially for the girls themselves. When we were discussing the lyrics of the song, I told GESSHIRUI a little bit about it and we ended up with exactly what I had in mind. So before we started recording, the members cried, they cried over and over again, remembering everything over and over. And this time I was deciding who would perform which lines, trying to entrust them so that no one could perform them better. This is not always the case: usually when I think about it, I consider surprise, amusement, and many other things, but this time I did it with particular care for the words.
Each member expressed the emotions of this song in her own way, making the most of her individuality. And I was happy about that, too. I was very pleased.
I think it’s boring to talk about the meaning of the scenes of the music videos and I really don’t like it, but if something is hard to understand, that’s also wrong, so I wanted to touch on that a little bit. After all, I’ve done it before (with “CURTAIN CALL” by Shounen ga Milc and so on).
First, the costumes.
By the time the lyrics were ready, I already had a certain idea in my head. Ai Yazawa, my favorite author (mangaka), has a piece called “Kagen no Tsuki” (if you want to know more, read it for yourself), and it portrayed a world with exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted. And that phrase is also present in the lyrics. I’ve read thousands and thousands of manga, but never before has a world of a work lied so wonderfully with what I wanted to express – so much so that I even felt it was destiny. The main character of the piece is a girl named Eve, who is a “shinentai” (思念体) (a sort of ghost, if I may say so), and if you imagine her as a member of Seireki13ya… She’d probably be wearing a foreign-style nightie. And a fluffy cardigan on top of it.
I’m sure some people would think, “What is he even talking about?” but this is totally serious, very serious stuff.
And while I was thinking about it, I was looking through clothes from various past runway shows, and there was an outfit in the 2017 S/S collection by FENTY PUMA BY Rihanna that made me think, “That’s what I need!”… But there was no way I could buy it in the quantity the members needed, and I was like, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” And then, “We need these so-called Japanese baby-dolls,” but, eh, there really wasn’t anything cute among the Japanese baby-dolls… And then I despaired for a while. Like, what kind of country is this, but I couldn’t help it, so I kept looking, and came to the point where there was nothing left to do but do a remake.
I searched a lot, but really couldn’t find anything that would satisfy me, so I asked Nakamura, one of our staff members, to do a remake. To me, these costumes don’t look lewd at all. I mean, people who like Japanese girl groups cherish the purity of their idols too much, or platonism, so to speak. And I always have so many questions about that… I don’t usually like to do that (comparing Japan to other countries), but that’s the only point that has always confused me quite a bit. After all, in America, Korea, and other countries with developed entertainment industries, freedom and rebelliousness of women is widespread. Oops, I strayed from the topic.
Anyway, the costumes concept: “Seireki13ya members in an ethereal world.” Therefore the clothes turned out light – they are so translucent, like ghosts (I have not seen them, of course, but…), you know? That’s the effect. I think, knowing this, you can better understand the world that develops in the video.
By the way, I don’t tell these things to the members. As Kotetsu (Yukueshirezutsurezure) said at yesterday’s livestream, every decision has many reasons, and if I were to tell them everything from beginning to end, it would end up that they are nothing more than puppets. But the members of our groups, the members of the codomomental groups, are by no means puppets, and I believe that there is no need for me to explain everything to them. In addition, no matter what facial expressions, no matter what voice or body movements they make, they will definitely express the idea. That’s what I always believe.
And what do you think in the end?
I think those who watch the music video will understand it best. Because even if the members themselves read this blog and learn something new, like, “oh, that’s what it was,” they still expressed it correctly. And I’m very happy about that. That’s the most satisfying thing after all this work on music and production and management.
I’m very passionate about dancing in “Seireki” videos, and in fact their video for the debut song “OyasumiMirai to KoiOtome” made me furious. Like, the very meaning of making a music video, the joy of being able to create it, the respect for all the people involved – I don’t see anything here! Of course, someone may think that such imperfection is quite inherent to beginners. But these were far from the dances, which, in my opinion, could express the music of Seireki13ya. It wasn’t the choreography or anything else, but the lack of attention to detail. As a result of certain circumstances I decided to release it after all, but…
What do you think of “AikaHigurashi” this time?
The key movements, the details – they’re firmly aware of what they’re doing. To me, it’s very cool. They did a great job. You can feel the respect for all the people involved in making the video.
From what I said above, you probably figured out that this song is dedicated to those who have lost someone, but an absolutely essential element of it is the facial expressions. The facial expressions of the members. Whether they are those who have lost or have been lost themselves – to me, they expressed both.
Sono Homare
Homare has really learned how to make all sorts of facial expressions. If this were her first job, she wouldn’t even be able to make them by accident. In that moment, I felt glad that I had trusted Homare to sing the first phrase of the main chorus, which was really important to me. She gave me an enormous sense of the joy of how much the performer is able to convey and express love through sorrow.
Nene Komochi
The scene preceding this moment is the phrase, “Ima no Boku wo Arawasu ka no you na Douke jimite” (“It feels like a ridiculous farce, as if it’s describing me right now”), and that expression on her face, as if self-deprecatingly mocking herself. I thought, “That’s amazing!” Actually, Komochi expresses lines of the lyrics in all of her facial expressions in this music video, and they’re all good (as everyone else does), but it was the moment that made me shudder. Perhaps it’s also a consequence of the fact that I’m involved in the songs as early as the lyrics stage.
Fuwa Akane
I’ve said many times that Seireki13ya’s songs have images of members on which they are based, and this song was based on the image of Fuwa Akane. That look on her face when, having lost someone, and, in the final part of the song, thinking of them – I don’t know how to put it, but it’s not just a smile – I think fans will understand it best. When I saw that, I said from the bottom of my heart: “Thank you.” For allowing us to make this work possible, for allowing us to create this work. It’s a beautiful expression.
Shiki Towa
When you want to give weight and depth to a piece of work, a certain expression is absolutely necessary for that, and this expression on Towa’s face was just that. I love this phrase: “Kono Ryoute wa Kuu wo Kiru yo” (“These hands will cut through the emptiness”). It best expresses the rage and pain of not being able to hug a loved one. Not even knowing who or what to be angry at… That’s the look she made on her face.
Ama Mauru
From the vocal part of the song, this moment hooked me the most. First of all, she just sang it beautifully – to sing it in a way that better suited the image of the song would have been simply impossible, and she already sang this moment in a way that made it seem like she was about to disappear, then she also expressed it in the video… This moment is so awesome that I can’t help but feel like saying: “Hey hey, how much more are you going to grow in such a short time?…” Although no, she has grown so much that I don’t even see the point in saying it.
Hey, have I written too much?
It was night when I started writing this and it’s morning now (lol). How’s that? It’s quite unpleasant… I have work this morning too (sobbing)… Eh, well, can’t help it, nothing can be done about beautiful things (lol).
Last but not least.
People often say they can’t read the song title (which reads “AikaHigurashi”)… And maybe it would be very disrespectful of the label owner to say so, but let’s not everyone in this world be able to read it – there are things that I can even say, “No way you can read it!”… I mean no, I could be misunderstood… My point is that your story, the members’ story, our story is not the story of the majority of people. Would you understand…
Of course, I don’t claim to be able to understand all the people who listen to this song, but I want to say that this is the story of the person (you) who has listened to and felt this song.
I don’t know the circumstances under which you met Seireki13ya, nor do the members. But a miracle happened that somehow allowed it to happen, and then the miracle of the birth of this song happened, and the moment this song revealed itself to the world, it is nothing more than the thing that was found by you and from now on belongs only to you. Of course, the members will continue to passionately perform this song, but I want the whole story of this song to unfold in the palms of your hands.
I could say that about all the songs, but even among all their diversity, I particularly stand out this one. Maybe one day you’ll remember this song when you fall in love with someone, maybe you’ll remember it when you’re in love or you have someone important close to you, and I don’t know in what life situations this song will be close to you, but I hope it becomes an important song for you. When you have strong feelings for someone, when you’ve lost someone, when you’re lost in doubt, no matter what the situation is, I would like to have this sorrowful song with you day and night (“AikaHigurashi” is roughly translated as “Sorrowful song of days and nights”).
That’s the meaning I put into the title.
Yeah.
I was very happy to tell you about the music video, the song and its world. I even felt like our normal everyday life came back to us a little bit, I’m very happy. Thank you.
Seireki13ya’s fourth single, “AikaHigurashi” will be released on March 18th. The reason for postponing its release was mainly because we didn’t have the opportunity to visit your cities with release events in stores. I wanted you to be able to see a concert on the day the CD came into the stores, the day it was released, and then buy the CD afterwards. But… We had to postpone it, and because of this recent world situation, the release events have become almost impossible. It can’t be helped, it’s nobody’s fault. But I couldn’t put it off any longer. Even though we can’t have release events in stores now, I really want to release this important music to the world. I can’t release it looking you all in the face, but, well, that just leaves me to release the music video in advance and ask you all to buy our new work in stores. But I hope these feelings get through to you at least a little bit.
The cover concept is “What if we could turn back time…” In the context of the current situation it sounds very ironic…
I hope this important song reaches everyone’s heart.
I hope for your support.
Source – https://codomomental.com/20-0312/