This is a translation of a two-part interview published in TV Fan (August-September 2020).
My birthday is on July 7!
My birthday is on July 7 so it always falls during Hello! Project summer concert rehearsals. We often had our dress rehearsal on that day too! I’m usually so focused on work that I forget it’s my birthday. Morning Musume’s Ikuta Erina and Juice=Juice’s Matsunaga Riai were also born on July 7, so at the end of the day, people brought out three cakes and sang Happy birthday for us. It felt great having everyone around celebrating together!
This year, however, we’re not doing rehearsals. I thought I’d make a cake myself and have fun doing an online party or something, but I’m spending so much time at home and we’re staying in touch more than ever… I’ll be happy getting messages, and I’ll be waiting for them!
Stepping up at 21
Looking back, I used to think I’d be such an adult at 20! I looked forward to turning 20, but after a year, nothing has changed, really. (lol) I want to believe I’ve become more mature in the way I think unconsciously. I might have learned not to overdo things! I’m someone who always wants to win and would rather work twice as hard than give up. Maybe turning 20 made me take things easier?
I can now eat kimchi! I couldn’t handle spicy food so I didn’t buy it often, and when we had some at a restaurant, I asked others to eat it instead. That is, until I found delicious kimchi! I buy it every day, eat it mixed with bean sprouts and the hotness doesn’t get to me. I’m also getting into watching Korean dramas and working out. I made my own routine that I do in the evening. After working up a sweat, I love getting into the bathtub. I’m the kind of person who gains weight easily and you can tell, which is why I limit my food intake and work out diligently! This summer, I’d like to handle an eel. I tried doing it for the first time last year, but the eel was too strong for me. I’ll have my revenge on it this summer!
My goal at 21 will be to learn new things! I want to watch the news, read books and learn. I’ll be a smarter, outstanding adult! Actually, I’m very interested in marketing and I’ve been reading various books related to it. I might think “Oh, I see, it’s like this” while reading, but it doesn’t get into my head just like that. (lol) I need to learn it! I started caring about marketing in the first place because, when I joined ANGERME, I made announcements on my blog every day. I wondered how I could make the information easier to understand and I liked making advertisements. At the time, someone told me, “How about marketing?” so I tried reading marketing books and it kept blowing my mind. There are hard, technical terms popping up on every page and I’m squeezing them into my brain to use them for work as much as I can. For example, I read a book about managing a restaurant and it talked about which customers are coming at a specific time so you can create a menu that caters to them, and ways to attract more customers. It’s fun thinking about this from ANGERME’s standpoint! I’m always thinking of ANGERME’s strengths, things fans say that they like about us, and how to make good use of them to grow bigger!
Magnifying ANGERME’s power
We’ve finally been able to resume our activities little by little, but we can’t hold concerts the way we used to, yet… All the members worked very hard for our now-cancelled spring tour. We wanted to perform and put on a show in which each of us could shine in our own ways, but sadly, the tour was stopped in its tracks. ANGERME members have their own unique strengths and when we come together as a group, our strength is magnified. There’s a big age gap between Hashisako Rin, who is 14, and our leader Takeuchi Akari, who is 22. We don’t feel the gap very much, though. When we all saw each other for the first time after the lockdown, we were just meeting to record a comment, but we couldn’t stop chatting! We were still talking even after the recording; it was that intense. We’ve become even more like a family!
A surprise single announcement during a YouTube live stream!
We watched our Spring 2018 Juunin Toiro concert while chatting with fans in real time. We saw lots of enthusiastic comments like “This was so good!” and “How cool!”, and it was super fun! Juunin Toiro was my first Budokan concert and it was a very memorable one. Our new single was announced during the live, too. We had such a wonderful time.
For chatting, we were split into different rooms with computers and TVs. We were frantically typing stuff like “Wow!”, “*claps*”, “wooooo”… I even heard other members cheering as I was sitting in my room. (lol) I was writing comments while watching too, but I’m not used to typing so I was slow at reacting… My comments were a bit delayed. Also, I struggled with converting hiragana to kanji, so I only wrote comments in hiragana. (lol)
On that day, we were supposed to hold Funaki Musubu’s graduation concert at Pia Arena MM in Yokohama. When you think that we should have had our spring tour, that we should have had a concert on that day, it feels surreal. Pia Arena MM is a gorgeous venue, and I was looking forward to perform in it. We’ll work hard to stand on that stage someday!
Kagiri aru Moment is ANGERME’s first single in 9 months!
Get excited! We got to experience lots of new things while shooting the Kagiri aru Moment music video. It was shot with drones and they brought out flames for us. I was very excited to see the final product and I couldn’t wait for everyone to watch it. I was like, “AT LAST!” when I heard it’d be unveiled during the YouTube premium live. Isn’t the song great too? I definitely think so!
World Wide Wota 