(The individual interview parts have been translated HERE.)
Happy new year!
💜Congratulations! Because「STORY」has ended, finally, NEWS' 2021 has begun.
On the last day of 「STORY」tour on May 23, there was also a livestream, and 「#NEWSしか勝たん」 has trended.
(TN: NEWS shika katan, literally means NEWS only wins. A phrase or slang that can be mean "NEWS is the best".)
💜Thanks to Jr.'s Shindo Itsuki-kun (laughs). But I'm thankful that people have been talking about it in this way. Even before the tour began, Massu said, "Let's definitely have the streaming", so I'm glad we were able to make that happen.
💛I knew that many people would not be able to come even if they wanted to, so it's a must for me to have the streaming. I have also thought that if we couldn't do that and it would be unfinished, then maybe we shouldn't have done STORY tour in the first place. I wanted to make a way wherein people who would like to watch the show would be able to watch it as much as possible.
💜My friend have watched it too. They were surprised how beautiful Johnny's stream is! That's because NEWS team have prepared the equipment, and both Massu and Shige thought a lot about what scenes we want to capture here.
💚It would be nice if it was delivered.
💛The staff really did their best. I am also very grateful to the staff members who were willing to let NEWS do the tetralogy and complete it. I would be happy if this was a big "sense of accomplishment" for everyone involved, not to mention the fans.
And [you take] the next step with「BURN」.
💚Honestly speaking, we didn't really aim for this timing. The song has been used as the opening song for the anime since January, and the MV was shot quite some time ago. But it just happened that we were able to release it at a time when the tour, which was one of the things we are carrying on our backs, has ended, and now I think we can face "BURN" with a lighter back. So I think "BURN" will grow from here. I feel like we're ready to start running for the release.
In the limited edition B, there is a video footage singing 4 songs in "STUDIO LIVE RECORDING" with band performance, what's the intention of the music selection?
💚BURN and, one song per person.
💜We decided to choose the songs we wanted ourselves, and we think that each song brought out its own color and that they were not all the same. For me, Hi wa Mata Noboru.
💚Champagne Gold.
💛SNOW EXPRESS.
💜In a usual recording, we are always doing it one by one in a booth, and we don't get a chance to record with the three of us together, so this time, it was really refreshing to see Massu and Shige's preparation before singing and the suggestions being made during the recording. The band lineup is also amazing, so it was really a luxurious privilege.
Fans who knew of this song selection were also quite excited.
💚But, we really did what we genuinely like, right?
💜Yes. If we wanted to gather opinions of the fans, we could just do the songs that ranked highest in popularity. But we decided not to do that, so we're glad they are looking forward to it.
💚Well, as to why we chose this song, watch the bonus footage!
💜An advertisement, as expected! (lol)
There's Koyama's line in「Champagne Gold」, right?
💜Ah, it's me. Shige is the one in charge of spoken lines but I'm the one [in charge] only for that song.
Everyone would be looking forward to that as well.
💜Ah, yeah?
💚I don't know if it's something I should do in front of that gorgeous live band, though. Hahaha!
💜And with everyone watching (lol). But having said that, in the coupling "Narukami", Shige is doing that again.
💚The longer lines right?
💜When I heard it for the first time at home, I just said "Whoo!".
💚Ahahahaha! Generally that's a thing to say. I also say that when I heard the demo song. "Whoo!", "Shige!". (lol)
💜The "ShigeShige-ness" came out.
💚They tend to let me do the lines (lol).
💜But certainly, I hear [few lines] "pop" at some point, however, maybe there aren't many other songs that have proper sentences, right?
💛Like「Sexy Rose」? [TN: A line in Sexy Zone's Sexy Zone]
💜And「Shadow...」. [TN: A line in Hey! Say! JUMP's Mayonaka no Shadow Boy] If it's Shige, that would be long, like a sentence.
💚I talk properly, right (lol).
💜Saying it like a line, like acting.
💚I almost stutter a few times though.
💜And Massu is singing a lot of different parts throughout the songs.
There's an impression that the style wherein Masuda-san and Kato-san sing the upper part in the chorus and Koyama-san sings one octave lower has become comfortably established.
💜We really appreciate that.
💚We're having more songs that highlight the personalities of the three of us, aren't we? And so it is with "BURN."
💜The voices can be heard properly, right.
💛 I think it's really good that the voices of the three can be heard properly now, without muting each other.
Have the three of you talked about the future of NEWS?
💚No, not yet. For now we have "BURN".
💜But the contents of this single are also substantial, and I really feel that "NEWS will never stop".
You'll keep on running without stopping?
💜That's how we've been doing for 18 years.
💚I think it will be really interesting, and I think now is the time for the things that only the three of us can do, which stand out or the things that each of us has accumulated in our lives as entertainers, to explode. I think we can also do more interesting things musically, and the entire team is thrilled to have gotten "STORY" over. I hope you'll expect more moving forward.
In July, it's Masuda-san's birthday on 4th, and Kato-san's on 11th. You had welcomed Koyama-san's birthday during the tour in May, right?
💜I am always welcoming it during our live tours, so I am really happy that this year, I welcomed my 37th year, which was celebrated by the fans, the members and Juniors too! Shige's gift was a high-quality hair iron. Really high-class! I am bringing hair iron on tour and even on private, as I am using it everyday. The two asked me, "Why do you have it?". Because I have lots of shows where I do my own make-up, I feel like Shige everyday while doing my hair pretty/neat.
💚Ah, because you're doing your own make up! I am wondering why you're bringing your own hair iron on tour.
💜Because I go straight to "Yonchan TV" from the tour.
💚So that's how it is.
💜So he bought me an iron that would make my hair better as I ran through it.
Will Koyama-san also give something nice to the two?
💜I've already decided. Something that can be used on daily basis. It seems that I'm still undecided for Massu, but for Shige, it will be a shaver. Massu sent me a URL for a very expensive vacuum cleaner though...
💛You're undecided?
💜Ah, really? That's what you've decided on!? But there's an instance when Massu bought me a really rare pair of sneakers as my birthday gift. Furthermore, Massu went all the way to the store to take it and deliver it to me during his busy schedule. With that, I have been requested by Massu to give him a gift, saying "I want this?" (lol). Considering what I received, I couldn't say "No, it's expensive".
💛Koyama is about to give Shige and me matching new shavers. But, isn't it that I don't grow beard?
💜Eh, it grows a lot? It's already growing back now?
💛Massu doesn't grow beard! I don't think I would use a shaver.
💜You'll definitely use it a lot (lol). But then, would it be okay to have a vacuum cleaner as a gift from me and Shige?
💚Oh~
💛Is that okay?
💜Then Koyama and Kato's vacuum cleaner will clean Massu's house everyday right?
💚That would be interesting right.
💜Shige and Massu always talk about not giving each other gifts since their birthdays are so close, but decided to "well, why don't we do it this time?". But I thought Shige would refuse [to give me] the hair iron but he said, "It's totally fine".
💛That's right. Koyama has sent Shige the URL of something he wanted in our group mail, saying, "I like this", and Shige replied with something like "It's fine~OK!" So I did the same, I sent the link to a pretty expensive vacuum cleaner to Koyama, but then he replied, "Eh, are you serious?" (lol).
💜That's right. Because it's really expensive (lol). The cost is 3-4 times what I thought it would be.
💛That's what Koyama's assumptions are (lol).
💜We'll tell the result of this somewhere!
CROSS POINT:
This time, we wanted to clearly and simply deliver the brand new NEWS and their excitement for the new summer after finally accomplishing the tetralogy. The movements and facial expressions are basically up to them. When we asked them to move freely, Koyama-kun and Kato-kun naturally started chatting. Masuda-kun put on the sunglasses on his head and made a smug face (laughs). When we asked them to show their summery smiles while eating jelly during the shoot, Koyama-kun was the first one who opened a big mouth and pull out a series of idol poses. "Waa!" Koyama shouted, and Masuda-kun and Kato-kun couldn't stop grinning. Thanks to Koyama-kun for bringing out their natural smiles.
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