We thought we’d show ourselves with vigor and determination again.

It’s a prologue to their long-awaited album. The urgent release MAX’s up tempo new single ‘always love’ and also March! Spring! Graduation season! Which is why we also asked them about the not to be missed traditional Okinawan events!

MAX have just released their new single, always love, a Spring-like, up-tempo disco classic number, and an intense preview of the album fans have been long awaiting! We give you them in a direct hit, smack in the middle of making their album!
NANA: To tell the truth, this time, we had about 4 possible songs to chose from before we picked this song. They were all good songs, so we took the same amount of time recording each of them...We put a huge amount of intensity into each song, enough fighting spirit so that any one of them could be made into a single (laugh), I guess you could say. It all finished in the blink of an eye though. (laugh)
LINA: The beat of the whole thing was really important. This song is the ending theme song of a sports show called ‘Sports MAX’, so we thought we needed something with a lot of rhythm, that gave you energy. This song was easy to make my own, and easy to sing. I was able to remember it really quickly. (laugh)

This time we’ll present ourselves sharply, with determination...


Since it’s an upper dance tune, I’m looking forward to the visual performance aspect of it...
REINA: We’re thinking we’ll dance all together again, since it’s been a long time. (laugh)
LINA: I’d like to do something like Jennifer Lopez, who I’ve been interested in lately. She’s super sexy....as a woman, it was a little mortifying. (laugh) So, if I think man saw it, I’m sure he’d think ‘Wow, that move right there really got me...’ (laugh)
MINA: It really isn’t fair is it? She’s really cute! Also, right now we’re in the middle of looking through magazines saying ‘ NANA: Last year, we decided to wear things we wouldn’t normally wear, casual clothes, and really gaudy colors, with a pop feeling to them, but this year, we’re thinking we may show ourselves with a sharp feeling again, since it’s been so long. (laugh)

Oh! That’s a statement that fans will be thinking about! (laugh) Who collects that kind of fashion information the most?
NANA: We all do, and alot of times one of us will say ‘Hey, what do you think about that?’ and the others will go ‘I saw that too! I was thinking that might be good!’ Our ideas on what is cool for MAX are that same most of the time.

I should have known! That’s teamwork for ya. (laugh) By the way, I’m really looking forward to your album...
LINA: We’re talking about how we want to make one world, with all of us writing lyrics ourselves, and making songs that show all different sides of a girl’s feelings. With some up-tempo songs, and some ballads.
NANA: We’re all writing lyrics, but we’re thinking now with the members and staff now about how to express it all in the end. It’s a secret. (laugh)

When do you write your lyrics?
REINA: I write them secretly while I’m on the move, looking at the scenery and stuff. (laugh) I just write a little at a time.
LINA: I like to write them while looking at the sky. Rather than [writing them] while I’m on the move, I open my heart while I’m walking alone in a crowd...
NANA: I think I mostly write my natural feelings down as I feel them. The words come really easily when I’m really mortified about something, or really sad. So, it’s hard for me to write happy lyrics.

Well, what was something fun that happened lately that helped you write happy lyrics?
REINA: My birthday was in the beginning of January, and I got e-mail from so many people I don’t usually get to see. I thought, ‘Ooh, they remembered!’
LINA: Sky-diving! It felt so great! I was scared as I took the first step, but once I was falling I thought ‘Ahh, I’m flying!’(laugh) I’ve always loved the sky, so it was like one of my dreams finally cam true. (dreamy eyed)
NANA: When I went to London during time off, I went shopping and finally saw the musical ‘Cats’. It was so moving. Unlike when we went for work, I had a friend who lives there show me around, so we went to alot of places where only people who live there go, and they were all so strange. (laugh) It was a lot of fun.
MINA: Las Vegas. I won at the slot machines! But that city’s no good. Because it’s such a crazy place. You can really get sucked into it all. It’s no place for good girls to go. (dreamy eyed)

We celebrate by throwing flour on eachother (laugh)


Lastly, the promise of March issue, ‘graduation’. Could you tell me any good stories you have about it?
MINA: I was already working at the time of my graduation from Junior High, so I became unable to be in the ceremony, and on Graduation Day, when I left school early and went to the airport, sobbing, All of my friends burst out...I sobbed and sobbed. Because I had thought ‘I can’t be in the Graduation Ceremony, and I won’t be able to see my friends anymore...’. I hadn’t gone to school enough days [to graduate] and they told me to come back, but finally I somehow was able to safely (?) be in a Graduation Ceremony. (she cracks up)
REINA: When I was in 5th year of Elementary School, I had a crush on someone in the 6th year, so when he was called up at Graduation, I gave him flowers. (laugh) Tulips. I didn’t have any money, so I could only by three of them, (laugh) but the lady at the shop put into some baby’s breath for me... I didn’t want my parents to know, but they were friends with his parents, so they found out, and I was so embaressed. (laugh)
LINA: In Okinawa, they have a traditional (?) thing you do for graduation, where you throw raw eggs, and flour on eachother. That was a lot of fun. But, since you’re not really supposed to do it, we threw them at eachother, all the while running away from the teachers. (laugh)
NANA: Right. When it came around time for graduation they even had an inspection for flour. (she cracks up) It was forbidden at my school too, but it was so much fun, so I did it after the ceremony too. (laugh) I was going to [Okinawa Actor’s] School then, so I had to go home early...so I had to ride the bus alone all white, covered in flour. Being the only one, it was embaressing. (laugh)
REINA: In Okinawa, when Spring comes, they won’t sell flour to Junior High Students. (laugh)

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