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Old 2010.02.16, 06:12 AM   #91
obama917
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MUSICA published two separate interviews; one with Ringo only and the other with the other four members. I think this tactic worked well because it helped Ringo say what she would have hesitated to say if the other members were present, and the same for the four guys.

Below is a summary of the Ringo part:

- To Ringo, Sports is what she has always dreamed to produce. She thought she could make it earlier (seemingly early 2009) but chose to do SG first. The main reason for doing SG was that she wanted to release songs that she had written but not recorded for reasons like not fitting for TJ.

- She felt that solo recording for SG was much easier than with TJ because she could control everything and make decisions on her own. Also, she very much enjoyed collaborating with her favorite non-TJ musicians. She was a bit concerned if she would get as excited when returning to TJ.

- While she wanted relaxed atmosphere from Variety, she wanted Sports to bring a sense of tension, though she didn't tell it to the other members in words. When they had several options during the Sports recording, she always insisted on choosing one that they hadn't done before.

- They tried more than twice as many songs as those actually included in the album. That was unusual for Ringo, who rarely drops songs in recording. But she says they dropped quite a few songs just because they wouldn't fit in this album, and such songs will be saved for the next release.

- In the past, she always reacted to the music scene by offering something lacking in the scene at that time. This time, however, she purely followed her artistic instinct and pursued what brings musical pleasure to her. For her, SG was meant to set the standard for pops which she thought the music scene needed, while she created Sports as an antithese to the standard, or a more avant-garde thing.

- Noudouteki is a song where the groove is everything. But it was very difficult for all the members to share the same groove. At one point, she said to the other members that if TJ couldn't create the groove required for this track, they had to drop it. As this track was chosen for the Kiss-mint CM and thus could not be dropped, she nearly said she would record it using a synth alone. When the song hit number one in Oricon charts, she was delighted because she thought it was far from a catchy song but nevertheless people liked it.

- When they did the a capella part for Ikiru, she wasn't really sure where they were heading for. But she pretended to be confident, trying not to make the other members anxious.

- She wrote all lyrics after music, carefully choosing words that fit into music. The writing process was very stressful for her because she felt as if living in the music, isolated from the outer world. Also, making lyrics dependent on music was against the convention of J-pop where lyrics pleasing to the ear matter more than music itself.

- She had no fun when recording vocals for this album. After the other members finished their instrumental parts, she was left alone in the studio for a long time and nearly went mad. She remembers this particular period (late 2009) as the toughest time in her life, and she never wants to go through it again. She even says that she is so exhausted after the recording that she doesn't care if Sports turns out her last album, half-jokingly.
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Old 2010.02.16, 07:03 AM   #92
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Ok well I'm glad the vocals came hard for her, it makes the lyrics on track 4 just a little easier to accept
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Old 2010.02.16, 07:03 AM   #93
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Thank you, obama. Many assumptions get thrown around, and non-JP fans don't often get info straight from Ringo's mouth (In proportion to the amount of interviews she's done) so it's great to read this stuff.
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Old 2010.02.16, 07:07 AM   #94
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To justriiingo: 'coming together as a band' and being 'professional' are very different things. Regardless of how you rate their output on Adult and Variety (I haven't heard Sports), I think it's hard to fault them on professionalism. I also don't recall reading about SR's ambition for TJ... I'd be grateful if you can point me in the right direction

To obama917: thanks for the summary. It's kind of ironic that... the process of creating music that brings SR musical pleasure causes her so much pain.
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Old 2010.02.16, 09:52 AM   #95
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obama, thanks for the article summary! was the jihen interview in the same issue? I like how Ringo herself refers to the fact that the process of the album itself goes against the idea of jpop, once and for all settling whether or not jihen has bit the big one and started making "generic jpop."

dr. k.liu when ringo created jihen she did an interview about why she created the band, she also brought it up again during her 10th year anniversary massive interview in Rockin'On. I don't recall her ever saying anything about creating a music revolution, but I do remember her saying she had always wanted to be in a band (that is where she started), and it was time she worked back towards a band formation, now that she had done what she had set out to do as "Shiina Ringo," she could forget about that persona and just relax, create music as she wanted, with a band, and be herself. She kept the name, but I think that is a large reason why you can immediately point out a difference between SR solo and post TJ formation. Even SG isn't true "Shiina Ringo" in the sense that SR was a concept, a specific idea and persona created, reflected in the music, whereas SG seems to be a collection of music by Ringo not fitting TJ. Once Ringo stopped and created TJ, it was less about that and more about her actual self, and the type of things and music she as a person wanted to create. After all, I do think there was a reason why she picked the musicians she did for the band, and not entirely new members. Up to that point she had worked with them and was comfortable with them, so she could relax and just let allow herself to create. So TJ as a whole feels like a very organic and natural progression and idea to me, at first it was about letting Ringo let her hair down and just allowing herself to create, to do whatever, and now that the band has shifted and grown, its more about a group effort and finding the middle between all 5 of them, which shifts each record. I'm glad for this one that it has taken a more avant garde direction.

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Old 2010.02.16, 11:14 AM   #96
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Thanks for posting the review highlights, it was very interesting to read! I'm in love with this album, I'm serious T_T...
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Old 2010.02.16, 01:05 PM   #97
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i'm impressed how Ringo's concerns directly address what many people on this forum have mentioned. Her desire to screw the band and do a song with just her and a synth is funny.

she doesnt even think Noudoteki is very catchy. that sounds familiar. its like she's one of us.
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Old 2010.02.16, 01:22 PM   #98
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If anyone thinks Sports is generic J-Pop, just wait for the album that Ringo is saving 'Marvelous Days' for. Kawaii desu ne ^.^;;;;
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Old 2010.02.16, 01:57 PM   #99
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Originally Posted by Scribble R View Post
If anyone thinks Sports is generic J-Pop, just wait for the album that Ringo is saving 'Marvelous Days' for. Kawaii desu ne ^.^;;;;
Hey, Marvelous Days is one of my favorite demos of hers ;_;!!
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Old 2010.02.16, 02:06 PM   #100
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Originally Posted by Scribble R View Post
If anyone thinks Sports is generic J-Pop, just wait for the album that Ringo is saving 'Marvelous Days' for. Kawaii desu ne ^.^;;;;
Don't take the name of "Marvelous Days" in vain, nonbeliever!










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