Because what you see with your eyes, and what you hear with your ears isn’t ‘everything’, I want you to point your heart firmly to all the various things associated with it all. What did MAX feel and how did they move during the building of the bridge from the 20th century to the 21st? Hearing the member’s very own words, let’s try to inspect that.
How and with what emotions did you spend the last days of the 20th century, while
we were all gearing up for the 21st century?
MINA: On the last day of the 20th century we had a big stage, ‘Kouhaku’. So we were
polishing up our strategy for that. (laugh)
NANA: The last year leading up towards the 21st century was one where we tried a lot of
new challenges, and thought a lot of things by ourselves. So we put a lot of effort into
Kouhaku, since it was the last thing to adorn that year, thinking ‘To cross over into next
year really pleasantly and enjoyably, let’s give an amazing final performance! It will be
our last performance of this century, after all.’.
LINA: And we were happy that it seemed like we would be able to accomplish at
Kouhaku something we’d always wanted to, to ‘show one of MAX’s live stages reaching
through the television screen.’ So we thought, ‘Let’s show all we’ve got here!’
Your way of perceiving it all as a ‘stage’ is extremely MAX-like. To put it in your
mind as a ‘live’ and deal with it that way. So the ‘count up to the next century’ you talked
about really did take shape.
MAX: Yes, yes. (smiles)
LINA: But you know, it was only decided right up at the end to show it that way. We
made those costumes when we didn’t think we’d be dancing like that...
MINA: Because we’d really been thinking more to ‘show it with the costumes’. And then
that conceptualization changed to ‘let’s dance’.... And we re-mixed the song.
LINA: And then we started rehearsal in a hurry.
REINA: We’d all get together and have a meeting in the middle of the night. And, before
the real performance, there was a different kind of nervousness, one we haven’t really
felt before....so we got kind of strange just looking at everyone’s faces. (laugh)
MINA: But the hot and pungent atmosphere of the stage was completely new as well. It
had such an energy to it, there was almost something mysterious about it.
NANA: And that was really pleasant too.
LINA: But ended almost before it began. I think that we really made something top-notch
when we made that version, so I want to do it again somewhere. It’d be a shame not to.
(laugh)
I had already made up my mind that it was something connected to your next tour.
(laugh) But it really had a coolness worthy of a ‘count up’.
MINA: The expressions of the audience were also really pleasant. We could tell that they
felt like we were absorbing them. So, it was like, ‘Try this on for size!’ (laugh)
LINA: And after it was over, we were complimented, for the first time in a long while, by
various people. (laugh) They all said ‘That was really cool.’
REINA: Usually we’re always making people angry. (laugh) So we were glad to be
praised on the last day.
And you even had the making of a single inserted into the busy time at the end of the
old year and beginning of the new, right? Wasn’t that hard?
REINA: It was. This time, the tie up was decided before the song, and we had a lot of
possible songs going towards that. And the way we did it was to try recording all of them,
and then choose, even we ourselves didn’t know which song would become our single.
And we also felt pretty pressed for time.
LINA: Since it wasn’t like ‘This is the song’, and then recording it, I was pretty uneasy.
But I was relieved when ‘always love’ was finally decided on. Now we’re in the ‘What
should we do with this?’ stage of making it.
REINA: Since this years begun, we’ve finally gotten to a point where we are able to think
about it ourselves.
NANA: So this time, we’re putting a lot of emphasis on how to show ourselves in the
song we’ve decided on and finished. Before, we were so busy with recording that we
couldn’t do anything. So now we’re recovering that.
When did you have the first clues about a single?
MAX: The latter half of November.
NANA: Before that we’d been discussing an album...
MINA: We had been writing lyrics and stuff. We’d even started joining the keys. And
then when we came back from N.Y (for the filming of a special program)...the discussion
had somehow turned into a single. (laugh)
REINA: We ourselves had been having various discussion with the idea of beginning to
make an album since Autumn. We’d even started working on it. But when we came back
from N.Y.... ‘What? A single in Feb?!’ and we were frantically had to convert our
thinking to a single.
MINA: And [our appearance in] Kouhaku was decided then, so all sorts of things were
begun that had to be finished by a certain time. It was like, you needed more than one
head.’
NANA: And we even had four. (laugh) And the types of possible songs were so different,
so switching to one of those was difficult too.
I’m going to backtrack a little, but how far had you gotten in your talks about an
album?
NANA: We’d begun to listen to possible songs, just a little bit. But, rather than trying a
lot of different songs, we thought ‘We want to make a way of seeing the world with this
one album’, so we’d begun talking with the director about the direction to take for that.
LINA: We talked about making an album with a story. We did that with one of our tours,
with ‘Sunny Holiday’, something that had a story sense to it. We were talking about how
we wanted to do that sort of thing with an album.
REINA: Also, about writing lyrics, saying, ‘With our own words, and expressions. We
won’t tell lies.’ Something that shows our four various ‘true selves’....
MINA: The talk ended with us saying ‘We want to unify the world view of the album
with our feelings, with our words.’ (laugh) Talks about the album have been put on hold
now.
LINA: We have to start them up again already.
NANA: Because we’ve been waiting so long...Because we’ve ended up going over 2
years without an original album, I want to really put our input in about this one and be
strict. I want to make something really good, that we have confidence in.
So you said you’re writing lyrics now. How is that going?
NANA: Well, Li-chan is strange. (laugh) We listened to a song out of the possibilities,
and talked about the image we got from it, and we all got the same theme of ‘Thank you’.
So we said, ‘Let’s use that as a base and all write our various lyrics.’ And we decided a
date to have them finished by. But as that date was approaching, I got a phone call from
Li-chan, saying ‘I can’t write.’ She said ‘Like, I’ve been listening to it, and now I want to
write about something different.’ (she cracks up)
REINA: Her themes change. (laugh)
LINA: Well, the first time I listened to the song, I was in a very happy mood. So at the
time, that image was very strong. And since it was the same as the image everyone else
was getting, we said ‘Let’s use this one.’ But, as days go by, your feelings change, don’t
they? So, when I finally decided to ‘write’, I wasn’t in that happy mood anymore. (she
cracks up) Even though it had really been a happy image like ‘Thank you’, and ‘I’m glad
I met you’, when I began to write became something completely different, like ‘Everyday
is so lonely...’ And so I told Nanako, ‘My feelings changed. I can’t write anything
pleasant or fun! I want to write something different.’ (bitter laugh)
NANA: But I felt better when I heard that. (laugh) Because I hadn’t been sure what to do
either, and hearing that, it was so funny, I was able to get rid of my stress, ect. I got into a
happier mood, thanks to Li-chan.
Li-chan: Huh? Is that so? (angry laugh) But it’s really hard to put the feelings you want to
communicate into words that will fit onto a song. I think lyricists are amazing.
But maybe it was good that the talk of an album got postponed for a bit. Now you
have a little more time to tackle it all again. And with that thought, let’s return to the
subject of ‘always love’.
MINA: This song is really easy to sing, and you can just go with it naturally, enjoyably.
And the balance between the vocals and the music came out really well.
NANA: It was a really easy song to accept. The other possible songs had strong quirks,
but this one we could get into without any problem. Only, since, as we said before, the
recording was really hectic, so I want to think about how we’ll show it, and stabilize that
image as best we can. The song it’s self has a encouraging image, so I’d like if we could
make something that would cheer up our listeners.
REINA: Right now we’re discussing, ‘What color should we dye this?’ The other songs
were all amazing.... Here, songs that have a lot of idiosyncrasies are hard to color, you
know? So, from that point of view, I’m glad that this was the song that got decided on. It
doesn’t have any quirks, and it’s easy to get comfortable with.
LINA: But, I think that I’m getting more comfortable with it as we sing it more. It was
just recently chosen as the single, so when we ‘made’ it, I wasn’t comfortable with it yet,
thinking maybe after it was done, I could get more friendly with it. So, I’m still a little
shy. How to express the pleasant groove..... But I want it to be completed in a style
different from up until now.
NANA: We want to do something a little interesting.
And the coupling song, ‘Just wanna lovin’ you’ is...
LINA: We finished the recording today. Doesn’t it have an adult feeling?
NANA: Yeah. It’s cool. It doesn’t seem like a coupling song. It’s so strong that it
wouldn’t be strange no matter which song came first.
REINA: It’s cool, and we use a singing style we haven’t used before.
MINA: We use falsetto and stuff. (She sings a bit on the spot)
I can tell it must be cool, just from that. I’ll look forward to it, the raised sound
source.
REINA: A lot of MAX’s songs are strong and emboldened, but with this song, part of it
our strong, and parts of it are loose and weak. It’s very adult.
NANA: I have a feeling that it’s the song where you can begin to see how MAX will be
from now on. I’d like to broaden this style. A fresh wind has blown through me, so I want
everyone else to get blown by it too. Please look forward to it.
Yes, of course. So now...it’s the first year of the 21st century, and there’s 100 years
until the 22 century. What is MAX going to do?
MINA: We want to do concerts, of course. This year, I’d like to include Okinawa. It’s the
first year [of the new century] so I want to give our concerts all we’ve got. And
sometimes that becomes a pivot, and we’re flooded with new things to express. We can’t
give that up. (laugh)
NANA: We’ll do our best. Because it was really pleasant to be stretched tight like at the
end of last year. My feelings got refreshed, and I was able to change completely to the
new century. Um, I was thinking that when you’re doing your best, you think ‘Don’t try
to hard.’ (laugh) So this year, we’ll do so much as to be told not ‘Do your best’ but,
‘Don’t overdo it.’ (laugh)