On August 8th, idol group Morning Musume. '15 held a mini live concert and farewell party to celebrate the release of their 24th single, "Nandaka Sentimental Toki no Uta/Sai KIYOU," at Shinagawa Intercity Hall.
This is the first single by the new 13-member lineup with Ikuta Erina as leader, and it will be the last single featuring Ishida Ayumi, who will be graduating from the group after "Morning Musume '9 Autumn Concert Tour WE CAN DANCE!" starting in September.
Regarding their 74th single "Nanaka Sentimental Toki no Uta/Sai KIYOU" winning first place on the Oricon Daily Single Rankings, leader Ikuta Erina declared, "This is our first single since we've become a new group, so everyone is more motivated than usual. I hope that we can keep up this momentum and take first place on the Oricon Weekly Charts, and win the gold medal for Morning Musume."
Commenting on the response, leader Ikuta Erina made a confident comment, "We are feeling great about it. The title is 'Saikyo,' so I hope we can promote the strongest Morning Musume."
Sub-leader Ishida Ayumi commented, "To be honest, when the song 'Saikyo' came out, we were quite nervous, wondering if it was okay to call ourselves the strongest, but I think this single reflects our determination to become the strongest Morning Musume, worthy of the title."
Ishida Ayumi has announced that her final album will be released in the fall, saying, "My last work will be the album released in the fall. This will be my last single, but in terms of having works remaining, the autumn album will be my last."
Next, her graduation has been decided at the end of the autumn tour. Ishida Ayumi said, "I announced that I would be graduating from Morning Musume at the end of the autumn concert tour, but in the days since I announced it, all my juniors have been answering my questions (about my graduation) a lot, and I've been getting a lot of attention, so I'm happy about my graduation and I'm really enjoying this period of graduation fever."
Fellow sub-leader Oda Sakura cast a suspicious eye, saying, "You're so enjoying the time that you're graduating that you wonder if you'll actually graduate at all, right?" Ishida Ayumi responded, "If it's too much fun, it might drag on a bit...I've always wanted to be the center of attention, so I joined Morning Musume, and I'm really grateful and happy that people are paying attention to me at the end, to the point that I think, 'maybe it's my time again'." It appears she is enjoying the time until her graduation.
Yokoyama Reina supported him by saying, "To me, Ishida is my comedy master, so I often think of him as very serious, a good dancer, and cool, but in reality he is an incredibly funny person, like the god of comedy has descended from within. I respect him for that very much, and I would like to follow his lead until the very end."
Returning to the topic of the new songs, Nonaka Miki said, "The two new songs this time have completely different atmospheres, but we've heard from our fans that the lyrics of 'Song for Sentimental Times' really hit home, and when we first heard it, we also found that each song hit home in different parts, so I hope that our fans will find the lyrics that hit home with them."
Oda Sakura said, "As the title suggests, when I first read the lyrics to "Sai Kiyou" my impression was that although she is "sai Kiyou," it is not a song about a girl who is trying to act tough, but rather a song about a rare, truly strong girl. The "Kiyou" part of the title also plays on the word "dexterous," so it is a song about a strong, skillful girl. She tends to be at a disadvantage when people rely on her, but I still like myself in this state, so it is a song about a girl who is going to live her life remaining totally strong. I've always worked hard on my dancing, but this time we were told that it wasn't sharp enough and that we needed to be sharper, so we are going to put all our strength into it and do our best."
Haga Akane said, "I'm not the type to have a very high sense of self-esteem, but as a member of Morning Musume, I've always lived my life believing that Morning Musume is the strongest, and in fact, I've lived my life with Morning Musume by my side since I was born, so I feel really happy to be able to sing a song that says that the current Morning Musume is the best."
Regarding the music video, Makino Maria commented, "'Song for Sentimental Times' was shot outside for the first time in a while, so I thought that the brightness brought out a more sentimental feel. And 'Saikin Kiyou' is pitch black and has a cool feel, so I think that's what makes the MV show Morning Musume's coolness in 'Saikin Kiyou'."
Mei Yamazaki did her best to promote the group, saying, "When we were shooting the music video for "Sai KIYOU," there was a part where we took a big shot of each of us, and I thought that the shadows cast by the lighting were taken into consideration when filming. And when we all took photos together, I thought they all looked really cool."
Sakurai Rio said, "I've publicly stated that I love architecture, and I even have a serial about it, but for 'A Song for Sentimental Times' we shot in a fairly futuristic building. When I heard where it was being shot, I looked up what kind of place it was, and thought, 'This place is so great!' So in between takes we wandered around the building the whole time, and although that might be something that only happens during music video shoots, I think we had a lot of fun filming." She revealed that she was very interested in the building used for the music video shoot.
And Ikuta Erina, who took over from Fukumura Mizuki as leader, said, "The members are so supportive of me, so although there are a lot of things that come up when I become leader, it's fun and I'm glad I became leader. I thought it was hard having to bring everything together and making time for everyone to talk together, but the members support me more than that, and even if I do things freely, the members cover for me later, so I feel at ease in my role as leader. I will do my best to make Morning Musume the strongest group that people will want to support in the future."
After the press conference, they held a mini-live concert in front of the fans, captivating them with songs such as "A Song for Sentimental Times," "Sai KIYOU," and "That's Right! We're ALIVE (updated 23 Ver.)."
■ Setlist
M1 A song for sentimental times
M2 Souda! We're ALIVE (updated 23 Ver.)
M3 Amazing FEVER!
M4 Best KIYOU
■New release information
Wednesday, August 2024, 8 Morning Musume. '14 will release their 24th single (double A-side)
"Song for sentimental times/Sai KIYOU"
Product details page: http://www.helloproject.com/morningmusume/release/detail/EPCE-7848/
■Audition Information
Hello! Project New Member Audition 2024
Application period: Saturday, July 2024, 7 to Monday, September 13, 2024 at 9:2 a.m.
Audition Site
https://hp-audition.com/
■Concert Information
Hello! Project 2024 Summer ALL OF US "Vega" "Altair"
http://www.helloproject.com/event/detail/003f2907fdc8f2871c1d6a5a2d16d821f5a97e5a
Featuring: Morning Musume '24 / Angerme / Juice=Juice / Tsubaki Factory /
BEYOOOOONDS / OCHA NORMA / Rosie Chronicle
Saturday, August 8th Fukuoka Civic Hall (Fukuoka)
Saturday, August 8th: LINE CUBE SHIBUYA (Tokyo)
August 8th (Sun) LINE CUBE SHIBUYA (Tokyo)
Saturday, August 8st, Century Hall, Nagoya International Congress Center (Aichi)
September 9st (Sunday) Nagoya International Congress Center Century Hall (Aichi)
Morning Musume '24 Autumn Concert Tour WE CAN DANCE!
9/14 (Sat) TACHIKAWA STAGE GARDEN (Tokyo)
9/23 (Mon., National Holiday) YCC Prefectural Cultural Hall (Yamanashi Prefectural Cultural Hall) Large Hall (Yamanashi)
9/28 (Sat) Nankai Namikiri Hall Large Hall (Osaka)
9/29 (Sun) NHK Osaka Hall (Osaka)
10/5 (Sat) Hondanomori Hokuden Hall (Ishikawa)
10/6 (Sun) Hokuto Cultural Hall (Nagano Prefectural Cultural Center) Large Hall (Nagano)
10/13 (Sun) Shunan City Cultural Center Large Hall (Yamaguchi)
10/14 (Mon., Holiday) Fukuyama Arts and Culture Hall, Reed and Rose (Hiroshima)
Saturday, October 10th: Beisia Cultural Hall (Gunma Prefectural Civic Center) Large Hall (Gunma)
10/20 (Sun) Yuki Civic Cultural Center Across Large Hall (Ibaraki)
October 10 (Sat) Sendai Sun Plaza Hall (Miyagi)
10/27 (Sun) Morioka Civic Cultural Hall (Iwate)
11/3 (Sun/Holiday) Sapporo Cultural Arts Theater hitaru (Hokkaido)
■Related links
Morning Musume '24 Official Site
http://www.helloproject.com/morningmusume/
Morning Musume '24 Official YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@morningmusume
Morning Musume '24 Official X
@MorningMusumeMg
Morning Musume. '24 Official Instagram
@morningmusume_official/
Morning Musume. '24 Official TikTok
@morningmusume_uf
Morning Musume '24 Official Facebook
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Morningmusume.Official
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