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mottoyomitai==
JO1 Meets…: Shirahama Alan x Mamehara Issei
Talk Theme: The Origins of their Excitement
A regular publication where we fulfill the long-held dreams of the 11 members of JO1 ❤︎ In this first edition, we’ll bring you a super emotional cross-talk between Mamehara Issei-san and Shirahama Alan-san from EXILE/GENERATIONS, who he has always admired!! Please enjoy the session between two of them!
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Message: Issei to Alan
Their songs and performances are both very sharp ❤︎ GENERATIONS-san are an existence I admire
I’ve been a big fan of Shirahama-san since my first year of middle school!! When I watched a music programme that GENERATIONS-san appeared in, I was moved by the entirety of the performance and the song; I thought, “such a cool group really exists!” and fell in love in a split-second (laughs). I also went to several of their concerts, and because it’s the type of dance style and appearance that I enjoy and I could vibe with it, I really enjoyed them from the bottom of my heart. Of course, I also bought a lot of official goods, and the towel and posters (among others) are on display at my parents’ house (shy). My favourite song is “Make It Real” from the second album. I listened to it during the period of my entrance exams, and felt very encouraged by it, so even now it’s a song I listen to frequently. I’m able to speak to that person who I like so much, and the other JO1 members supported me by saying “Properly ask questions”, but I’m so nervous that I wonder if I’ll be able to speak… (anxious). If I was to change places with one of the members of GENERATIONS, was it? Those 7 people make up that group, and I admire them too much, so I can’t do something like swap places with one of them!! But I’d like to stand at the side and dance together with them where I wouldn’t be in the way… I do feel like that, a little bit (laughs).
Message: Alan to Issei
They take on the stage with a sense of resolution; I was thrilled by JO1’s vigour
My impression of Mame-chan is something like, “He resembles a puppy, he’s cute ❤︎”. We’ve appeared together with JO1-san on numerous music programmes, and you can sense that they’re in their second year since debut, and their spirit that “We’ll recklessly give our all for each and every stage!”. Of course, for us, it may have been many years since our debut but we still take care to put in our best for every performance, but you can really feel the passion and spirit from JO1-san, and their power is amazing! It’s a performance that tells you that they’ve really gone through a lot of strict practices… The formations get pretty complicated when there’s 11 members, so I think it’s pretty tough to think of how to charm the audience even on top of that. It also definitely would be more difficult to synchronise everyone’s movements when you have more people, so I definitely feel a thrill to see them keep challenging at that level of quality. If I were to give advice to Mame-chan? I’m not really in a position to say such lofty things… Hm~, after you debut it becomes surprisingly hard to find time for lessons, you know. You get caught up in filming and interviews, and you’re left with less time to improve your own skills. I’ve also been through that, and what I’ve found to be important is to treat choreography lessons as lessons. It’s not just about remembering new choreography, but rather, single-mindedly practicing while identifying the main theme is what would link most strongly to an improvement in your dance skills, I think.
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Cross-talk
My sights are fixed on the world, so to experience it is a victory ♡
Mamehara (M): GENERATIONS-san has done a world tour twice, haven’t they. We also would like to be active globally, so I’m curious about how you guys approached the global stage.
Shirahama (S): For us, each of us studied English even before we debuted. That, and it’s also super important to become able to eat all sorts of different cuisines! (laughs)
M: I’ve only been able to go to Korea so far, but I love Korean food!
S: Also, the reactions we got from each country were different, which was really interesting. During our France concert, there were people who came who only knew of our song “Hard Knock Days”, which was the theme song for One Piece. In England, we were in a venue that was kind of like a pub, so there were some local grandpas who were drinking alcohol by the bar as they listened to us (laughs). The culture and the popular songs differ from country to country, so we did research with our staff and there were times where we would change our entire setlist.
M: Amazing… I have a dream of standing on a stage in America. I originally did a style of dance known as 90’s hip-hop, so I’d like to go and see somewhere like the South Bronx.
S: Before we embarked on our world tour, the 5 of us performers borrowed money from the agency and went on a trip to America. After we reached, we all went our separate ways, and even things like getting a Broadway ticket I had to do by myself, which was a big learning experience. It might be good if the 11 members of JO1 went to America and split up, too (laughs).
M: That sounds scary, but it seems fun! That experience surely contributed to the strength of GENERATIONS-san today. I respect that!
You should prioritise practice. Not to do more than the usual, but to perfect the usual
M: We will be having a concert in November, and it’s our first audience live, so I would love to have some tips on how to allow the audience to enjoy themselves. When I went to GENERATIONS-san’s concert, it was super super enjoyable. I was in the standing seats at the Dome, but I was so hyped that when the members first appeared I teared up.
S: I’m happy~! What you definitely should not forget during a concert is, to make sure that you enjoy it more than anyone else in the venue. That, and even if for us it’s the 10th concert, for the audience many have come to see us for the first time. For those people, I make sure to project a fresh feeling every time, add programmes that allow for arrangements so that we can have something that changes with every show.
M: Arrangements, I see… I’d love for us to adopt that too! This time round the concert will be at Makuhari Messe, which was the same stage as the final round of our audition. It lifts our spirits that we’re returning there after 2 years, and I’d like to put in all my power to have the audience enjoy themselves.
S: When I’m standing on stage, what I find important is not to aim for more than 100%, but rather to do exactly as I’ve done in practice. When you overreach, you tend to make more mistakes, and coordination is important in performances so I aim to perform exactly as I do in practice. Not just me, but everyone in GENERATIONS keeps that in mind.
M: When you practice, what kind of things do you keep in mind?
S: For people who noticed that they made a mistake in rehearsals the day before, they’ll come one hour before the start of the day’s rehearsals to practice.
M: Amazing… Our harder practices can go on for three hours, and so obviously there are times when we’d get tired and sink into a slump. Does that kind of thing happen to GENERATIONS-san as well?
S: Definitely. It’s like, we’ll bring the rehearsal to a stop right then and there (laughs). During times like those, (Sano) Reo will bring it to an end snappily. He also fulfills the role of creating the key points for our concerts, so he’s really reliable.
M: I’ve also been thinking that I’d like to produce a concert one day! For JO1, our key point is the synchronisation of our dance, so I’d like to strengthen that and make it into our strength.
S: That’s great~! For us, our strength is that each of us have our own defined roles. Reo creates the base of the concert, and then I provide support from the music side of things. The basics of our dances are created by (Nakatsuka) Yuta-kun, things like that; it’s reassuring that we each have our own roles and master our own specialities.
M: For us, at the start we had no division of roles, but recently I feel like we’ve gradually begun to take on certain roles. I’m the type of guy who’ll say “Let’s do it” during rehearsals when we’re in a slump. I want to be a group that has accentuated the strong points of each of the 11 members, and can explode once you put us together!
S: If Mame-chan tells me to, I’ll practice for as many hours as it takes ♪ (laughs)
Quarrels are also the basis for a good friendship! Lay everything bare, then acknowledge each other
M: There’s something I definitely wanted to ask you if I were able to meet you: when you’re active as a group, what’s important to take note of?
S: For us, we quarrel quite a fair bit, but after we make up we make it a point not to drag it out. But exchanging your opinions with others isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and thanks to that explosive power our bonds deepend, and the singles we released after were extremely powerful (laughs).
M: We’re in our second year since debut and we’re all pretty young, so there’s definitely times where we’ll clash when speaking with each other. For me, in order to be active in a good state given that 11 members is quite a lot, I think it’s important to have consideration for the others. You can speak your mind, but you should also listen to what the other person is saying, and take care to speak considerately.
S: Wonderful! I’m the second-youngest member in EXILE, but I’ve never taken those kinds of things into account (laughs). But for GENERATIONS, it’s not that we end up fighting when we have discussions about music or creative matters, but rather there’s many things to take note of when our motivations don’t align. If we decide it with our fists, (Sekiguchi) Mandy-kun would be the strongest, so everyone just talks it out (laughs).
M: Ahaha ♪ (happy)
Sudden formation of #MameHama!? A cross-barrier challenge would also be fun
M: In order to remain active for a long time, what do you think is important?
S: As an artist, of course your origin point would be your concerts. Even if your individual work increases, you should keep in your heart that your key point is always going to lie in your performances.
M: I’ll let that soak in!! I’ve been worrying about how to make us stand out among all of the other groups that have been formed…
S: I think it’s better to challenge a wide variety of genres, music and expression right at the start. For GENERATIONS, we were the group after Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS, so there was some pressure. We tried to go for the cool vibes like Sandaime but it didn’t fit, and even in our concerts we’d add some variety or comedic elements, and as we continued to do these things that LDH hadn’t done before it naturally became part of our uniqueness. In addition, I also became able to compose music, and so we became able to create our own songs, which was pretty big.
M: I really love “Lonely”!
S: Wa~h, thank you very much. That makes me really happy ♡ That’s the first song I ever wrote the music and lyrics for!
M: Mandy-san’s rap is also really cool. Actually, it’s because I admired Shirahama-san, that I purchased a matching DJ set, speaker and headphones with my pay. It’s still only a hobby, but I’m practicing a little bit at a time, so if you might be able to teach me one day…
S: Of course, any time ♡ And let’s have an afterparty as “MameHama” someday (laughs).
M: “MameHama”!? (blushes) I’d be super super happy to!!!
S: I’d like to overcome the barriers between our different agencies and challenge a variety of things. Of course, I’d like our generation to stir up a revolution in J-POP, and become able to even take on the world!
M: I’ve really learned a lot. There’s so much more I want to ask you, but it’s time to wrap up… (sadly) Thank you very much for today’s cross-talk. I didn’t think my dream would come true so quickly, so I was moved!
S: I also became a dancer because I admired EXILE, so I’ve always thought that it’s nice that there are more people who chase after me and achieve their dreams. So I also feel like I’ve fulfilled one of my dreams. But let’s not let it end here, it would be nice if we could carry on from here on out ♪
M: I’m too happy (filled with emotion). Please treat me kindly!
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Individual talk
What if you were to buy yourself a Christmas present as a treat?
S: I’d buy all of the new products from Apple! I like gadgets, and when something new gets released I tend to buy it and replace my own pretty quickly. I also compose music, so I always make it a point to buy the laptop with the MAX performance efficiency (laughs). It was a common thing to have a Christmas party at the members’ houses every year, but we weren’t able to have one last year. It’s an important time to deepen our friendships, so it would be nice if we could bring it back this year.
M: I’ve never had a Christmas party… But because we all live in the same dorm, we do eat pizza and stuff in our leader’s room. A treat for myself, hm~ (thinks for a long while) A monitor display for my laptop would be nice! I want to do gaming commentary, and I have all of the equipment. I don’t actually stream anything, but I do practice giving commentary while playing Minecraft by myself (laughs).
If you were to express in words your core as a performer, what would that be?
M: For me, I think “challenge” is important. I undertook an audition to become part of JO1, and from here on there’s nothing but things I want to learn from. I’d like to overcome challenges while searching around with the members for answers, and grow into a group that we ourselves can be proud of!!
S: What I always keep in mind is “curiosity”. If I think of anything that I encounter as interesting I’ll be able to take on anything in an optimistic manner, and I’ll be able to move forward while enjoying myself; I think that by doing that, I’ll find my dream. If you try something and it doesn’t exactly work out, you can just try something else.
