"The longest is [Oh Yeah!]"
--"Burning Festival" is an energetic, up-beat tune. Why did you use a song like this for the collaboration?
Nakata: It's being released as a Summer Single. Since we're collaborating with Syachi, who have high temperature fans, then it needs to have a fast tempo, so I thought this song would be a good choice. Our songs are based on EDM, but EDM has a cold feeling. This time, I wanted to deliver a hot feeling, so I incorporated wind instruments to convey the hot weather. I asked Fishboy and his friend, Miyata "Lefty" Ryo-kun, to compose the song. Miyata-kun also composed Radio Fish's "Golden Age" and "Make Ya Groove".
(*Miyata must be a big deal. He's got 43k followers on Twitter)
Fishboy: For this collaboration, 5 people will be added to the stage, so I hope that everyone's dancing will be good. From the phrase "Everyone dances" I thought of Rockabilly, so I decided to mix Electro and Rockabilly. Originally, scratching was included (*On the recording, I assume) so it had a street feeling. However, Nakata didn't think it felt hot enough, so we added wind instruments and incorporated Jazz elements.
Nakata: We also changed the content of the lyrics. They were originally in the same vein as "Perfect Human" which everyone says is the "Nakata worship system".
(*It might be better to use "System of Worship". I think this is just a fancy way of referring to Nakata's philosophy towards composing)
Nao: Worship system!? That's a bit strange, isn't it (laughs). By the way, what other systems are there besides that?
Nakata: In my opinion, you either "worship the system" or "don't worship the system". Fish wrote lyrics that worshiped the system, so the content reflected his reverance of his older brother, and didn't have many surprises. He's a really nice little Brother (laughs). I didn't want a song with those kind of lyrics, so I proposed that we make it more like "Dancing naked in the middle of the desert". At that time, "Burning Festival" became the title of the song, and I requested the rap sections from Fish.
Haruna: These brotherly interactions are really amazing (laughs).
Nakata: Sure, but this time it's a collaboration with Team Syachihoko, so I want to convey a different feeling. I had high expectations for this collab, and I wanted to make something really good. The first attempt wasn't bad, but I wanted something that had more of a feeling of an "Explosion of Summer". I requested lyrics from Fish that fit better with the title of "Burning Festival", and he immediately came up with the rap sections. Shingo has a serious male character, so his rhyming style is straight forward. It's similar to boxing. He delivers a 1, 2, 3 Punch when he writes lyrics. But since Fish likes English music, he uses two different traits when writing lyrics. His raps will be stylish and cool, but the sung vocals will be serious.
Haruna: That's difficult, isn't it? It was hard for me even though I'm usually in charge of the Rap parts in Syachi songs.
Nao: We don't sing much in English. Only "Yeah" or things like that, so it was difficult.
Honoka: (laughs). Of course, the English parts of Syachi's songs are written in Katakana, like "Enjoy Life".
Nakata: Don't you sing many long English words?
Haruna: "Oh Yeah!" is about the longest (laughs).
Nakata: Really? (laughs). Even so, all of you learned quickly and sang properly. The foundation of our group is built on Shingo's style of rapping and singing. However, Syachi sing together as 5 people, which I don't think is well balanced. I usually just let the members in Skill Master handle the rap. So, I decided to mix Shingo and Honoka together and put them in charge of the Sabi (*low vocal tones). I was in charge of the line division, so I was worried the member's voices might not fit together.
Haruna: It was perfect! During the recording, Nakata was really kind while giving us direction on how to add intonation. Nakata produced everything but his own part. I thought he was amazing.
Nakata: I guess I'll just make the appropriate Producer face (laughs). But I really didn't know during recording how it would turn out. When we finished, everyone listened to it and thought it had a fun and lively feeling like Orange Range's "Locolotion". The dynamic of alternating male and female vocals is really wonderful. All my Producer's luck was used up on this.
Nao: I sang very frantically, so I was worried about whether it would be okay.
Nakata: I was very satisfied. I think it turned out as a really nice song thanks to everyone.
"Even Elementary School Students can do Nakata's dance"
Fishboy: Show-hey handled the choreography for the Sabi part. However, for the Bridge at the end of the Sabi, I thought it needed something grand, so I entrusted that to Nakata. That's where that pose came from (laughs).
Nakata: The members of Radio Fish and Syachi watched me dancing on my own for about 1 hr. I never studied dance, so I think even Elementary School students can do my movements. It's the same approach I took when making Oriental Radio's "Martial Story" routine. In the middle of a performance, a reaction usually comes out like "is this really dancing?". When I collaborated with w-inds, I did the same thing for them, but that feeling didn't come out at all, and I was getting impatient. When I danced for Syachi, that feeling came out easily and I thought "I'm saved this time...".
(*This paragraph was a little difficult to understand. This sounds almost like performance art. Nakata must do his dance routine in front of everyone and wait until they finally start laughing because it's so ridiculous. I guess w-inds missed the point entirely. Nakata's a really eccentric guy, lol)
Nao: Nakata was really funny that time (laughs).
Haruna: Nakata is usually funny, but that whole display was really hilarious. Radio Fish weren't laughing because they're used to it, but all the Syachi members were laughing uncontrollably.
Fishboy: Even though I entrusted it to him, it's a bit irritating to have so many people standing around watching like that. I don't even care to watch professional dancers sweat for that long (laughs).
Nakata: Wow, you've suffered (laughs).
--How was it for the Syachi members to dance to Radio Fish's choreography?
Honoka: Radio Fish came up with allot of movements that were easy for us to understand. It was a really fresh and cool dance. Haruna's really good at dancing, so we felt like cool dancers.
(*I'm not sure if Honoka meant that the other members felt as cool as Haruna because they were performing that kind of choreo)
Haruna: Originally, it had a Hip Hop and Jazz vibe. I've done allot of dances, but this is one of the most fun. There's allot of steps, particularly in the A Melody. I really wanted to do something like this, and after 7 yrs. of activities in Syachi, I finally did.
Nakata: Shingo and I don't dance that part, so it was impressive to see the Syachi members learned it so quickly.
Nao: With the exception of Haruna, it was difficult for us!
Fishboy: Even so, I thought you really did understand it quickly.
A few additional notes. It's interesting to hear Fishboy make some jokes at Nakata's expense. Since Nakata is his older brother and senior, it's interesting that they can joke around like they do. I'm not an expert on the social dynamics of Japan, but maybe family members are more informal with each other in social settings than, say, co-workers.
It doesn't come across in the Translation, but I picked on how the Syachi members drop the honorifics when referring to each other. For example, they refer to Haruna as "Haru" instead of Haru-chan. Not using honorifics is a sign you are really close with someone. I guess it's natural for members who've known each other for so long, but this isn't common in every group. Some people get around this by using their nickname instead.
I've noticed the Syachi members kind of contradict themselves throughout Interview. One member will say how easy something was for them, but then another one will talk about how difficult it was. I almost wonder if it's a battle between politeness. Like they're trying to praise Radio Fish by saying they kept the movements simple to make it easier for the Syachi members to learn, but at the same time, it's also really difficult because it's such a great dance. Double the praise, I guess, lol.
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