Comments from all participating artists on the 20th anniversary tribute album "Minna no Sukima Switch" released

■A total of 11 groups will be participating in “Minna no Sukima Switch,” including Uru, HY, SHISHAMO, Aimer, SUPER BEAVER, Ikimonogakari, sumika, JUJU, Tokunaga Hideaki, Hoshimachi Suisei, and tonnun!

The first tribute album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Sukima Switch’s debut, “SUKIMASWITCH 20th Anniversary Tribute Album “Minna no Sukima Switch”,” was released on May 29th.

This album features 11 artists who have a connection with Sukima Switch or who respect the band, and each of them covers a Sukima Switch song that is dear to them.

Now, messages from all the artists who participated in the album have been published on Sukima Switch’s 20th anniversary special website.

Each artist talks about their feelings for Sukima Switch and the points they focused on when covering the songs they selected this time.

Sukima Switch will release their 10th original album, “A museMentally,” on July 10. The DELUXE version (exclusive to fan club members) will come with a Blu-ray containing live footage from the summer event they performed at in 2023 and a documentary of the album recording, and is available for pre-order until 23:59 on June 2.

<Messages from participating artists>※The songs in ” ” are songs

■Uru “Kanade”
Congratulations on the release of “Minna no Sukima Switch” ~SUKIMASWITCH 20th Anniversary Tribute Album~.
“Kanade” is a song that is truly important to me. I sang it with all my heart and soul.
The way of singing the “na” part of “Kimi ga Otona ni Natteku” is Mr. Ohashi’s patented technique, so…! I’m singing it in my own way.
Thank you so much for allowing me to sing your important song.
As a fan, I look forward to continuing to listen to Sukima Switch’s music.
Once again, congratulations on your 20th anniversary.

■HY “Touch the Future”
Congratulations to Ohashi-san, Tsuneda-san, and Sukima Switch on their 20th anniversary. And thank you for inviting us to the tribute album. It’s been a while since we last covered a song. I was half happy and half worried. In the midst of all this, the song that HY covered was “Touch the Future”. If you’re going to cover it, if you’re going to arrange it, you want to go all out. The theme of the masterpiece “Touch the Future” that HY reconstructed was exactly “Touch the Future from the South”. The three vocalists sang the unique instruments “Sanshin”, a traditional instrument from Okinawa, and “Ukulele”, a Hawaiian instrument, intertwined with a shuffle beat. It was quite difficult to pack in everything I wanted to do lol. I hope that even in the days that pass by like you’re being chased, you won’t forget who you are and will move towards the future you want at your own pace. I tried to make that feeling into sound. I learned a lot from covering it. It was really fun.

■SHISHAMO “Full Power Boy”
Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of Sukima Switch!
I’m very happy to be able to celebrate through music in this way.
This was SHISHAMO’s first time participating in a tribute album, and the arranging process was an important opportunity for us to take a fresh look at our own music; it was a very good experience.
I played my favorite song, Zenryoku Shonen, with all my heart and with great enjoyment, so I hope it reaches a lot of people!

■Aimer “Amemachikaze”
The original song is so wonderful that even though I chose it myself, I was initially at a loss as to how to sing it. But without thinking too hard about it, I decided to just sing it carefully and pour my own sense of sadness into this song that I love.
And secretly, I made a point of using the edgy voice that the two of them had previously praised.
I hope you will listen to the song while paying attention to the difference in the impression of the chorus, which is created by the different chord progression from the original.

■SUPER BEAVER “Beautiful”
◇Ryuta Shibuya
When I heard about it, I was just happy and immediately sent it back, but when I started working on it, it was difficult. Still, with the respect I have for Sukima Switch and the song “Kireida,” I was able to complete it somehow. I tried to stick closely to the content of the song, so it feels even more timid. If I was going to do it, I wanted to go all the way to this point, that’s how much I love it. It was an honor.

■ Ikimonogakari “Boku no Note”
I am truly honored to have been able to cover the masterpiece “Boku no Note” by the two of them, who I have looked up to like older brothers on many occasions since our debut, including Kazumasa Oda’s “Christmas no Yakusoku”. Ohashi’s singing has a unique and charming nuance that cannot be expressed on paper, and it was a fun but difficult point to figure out how to express that with Yoshioka’s singing voice. While following the wonderful sound of the original song constructed by Tsuneda, we had Eguchi Ryo, who is from the same Tokai region as the two of them, produce it, and tried to imbue our own style into Sukima Switch’s masterpiece. Oh, and I’m sure the two of them will get angry and ask, “Mizuno, did you sing?”, so I’ll just say that I did the chorus properly!

■sumika “Guarana”
A once in a lifetime honor.
It was like a buffet plate made by a child, filled to the brim with all my favorite things.
When it comes to music, if you do whatever you want, it often ends up being a dish without a name.
But no matter what I do, I always end up with Sukima Switch’s Guarana.
I learned that “no matter what you do, a masterpiece can never be ruined.”
I was happy to be able to take part in a tribute to an artist I have always admired.
Thank you for an exciting experience.

■JUJU “Indigo”
One day, I heard a song called “Ai” for the first time and it made me cry before I even finished listening to the first chorus. The feelings expressed in the song pierced my heart so deeply that the melody line and the song’s structure were so powerful that I couldn’t count how many times I listened to it on repeat. I fell in love with this wonderful song and I wanted to sing it someday!! I told everyone around me with a heavy heart, and that’s how I ended up covering “Ai”.
I believe that the anxiety and overwhelming feelings that two people in the midst of love feel are frustratingly similar, so this time I’m singing as if I’m singing about the feelings of the person on the other side of what Ohashi-kun is singing about. Even so, love is so great!!!

■ Hideaki Tokunaga “1+1”
I’ve loved this song for a long time.
They gave me an album called “Yukaze Blend” and I have listened to it many times.
The medium ballad “1+1” really touched my heart.
I love it so much that I even collaborated on a TV show with it.
I was asked about the tribute album.
When I listened to “1+1” again, I realized that this was the perfect song.
I like it.
I hope you all like it too.
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary of your debut!
Let me celebrate this time.
Let’s go for a drink again!

■ Suisei Hoshimachi “Golden Time Lover”
Sukima Switch’s songs were a part of my everyday life even before I started my musical career.
It’s a song that’s part of my everyday life and I hear it playing whenever I turn on the TV, and whenever I go to karaoke someone sings it, so I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to cover this song!
“Golden Time Lover” is the opening song of my favorite anime! I sang it while remembering the shock I felt when I heard it for the first time.
While respecting the way the original song was sung, I tried to incorporate a lot of my own singing style, so I hope you’ll listen to it a lot.

■ tonun “Designer Mansion”
The song I covered this time, “Designer’s Mansion,” has been one of my favorites since I was a student, and I’m very honored to have had the opportunity to cover it as part of a tribute album. It’s a cool song to begin with, so I struggled with how to arrange it, but I tried to change the chord progression to create a more refreshing impression. As the lyrics include the phrase “Let’s live in Daikanyama,” I’d like people to listen to the song while imagining themselves living in a designer’s mansion in Daikanyama.