[Report]“Spicy Sessions” latest recording report released! November's guests are Ritoguri Karen & miyou, December's is Tani Yuuki

■”It’s faster to start running than to think about it” (Arno Nakanishi), “Anything goes, it’s a session” (Kaoru Kurosawa)

The music program “Spicy Sessions” is broadcast every month on the CS broadcast “TBS Channel 1 Latest Dramas, Music, and Movies”.

Music writer Aki Ito, who has known the Gospellers well since their debut and serves as an official writer for numerous artists, covered the recording of the November and December broadcasts that took place this month. Together with the MC interview after the recording, we will deliver the fifth installment that conveys the charm of the program.

■Recording report
The exciting music program “Spicy Sessions” is a documentary program that shows the moments when music is created. Kaoru Kurosawa (Gospelers) and Arno Nakanishi (Nogizaka46) serve as MCs, and it is broadcast on CS Broadcasting TBS Channel 1. The recording in November will be exactly 12 times, and next month will mark one year since the broadcast began.

“Spicy Sessions” has held sessions in a variety of genres with guests each time. When the audience heads home after watching the show, they have conversations like this. I would like to introduce some of the words I have picked up during the recordings so far.

“I was surprised that Arno Nakanishi was able to get along so easily.” “The program wouldn’t be possible without Kaoru Kurosawa.” “The talk that dug deep into his roots was interesting.” “He was eating curry alongside the guests and the band.” (lol),” “The selection of cover songs would never be possible on any other music program,” “The band seemed to be having fun,” and so on, the list goes on and on.

Among them, the most common comments were “that’s what a session feels like” and “a real session was amazing.” The biggest appeal of “Spicy Sessions” is that you can experience the sessions yourself. We will deliver an in-depth report on the recording of the 11th (November broadcast) and 12th (December broadcast) interviews as well as interviews with the two MCs after the recording.

The guests for the November broadcast will be Karen and miyou from Little Glee Monster. First, they performed a special version of their song “Come Alive” just for the two of them. Kurosawa’s words, “There were overtones that made it hard to believe that there were two voices,” elicited applause from the audience.

The Gospellers have been friends with Little Glee Monster since before their debut. Kurosawa re-introduced Ritoguri with words that put a bird’s-eye view of the music scene, saying, “It’s a major music scene where there are almost no vocal groups. In that sense, Little Glee Monster is my only junior.”

This bird’s-eye view of Kurosawa is a very important factor for the music program “Spicy Sessions.” I think that perspective is also reflected in the selection of session songs. It is the presence of Kaoru Kurosawa’s bird’s-eye view and Arno Nakanishi, an icon with both catchiness and ability, that elevates the “maniac style” of sessions into entertainment that everyone can enjoy.

Karen and Nakanishi’s session song was Daichi Miura’s “Fureau Dake ~Always with you~”. Karen requested that the key be set to “+3” from the original song. The band plays and I check the keys. Kurosawa consulted with Karen and Nakanishi, and while deciding on the song allocation, he said to the audience, “You wouldn’t see Nogizaka harmonizing with Ritoguri (in any other program), right?” and the audience applauded loudly.

As Kurosawa made detailed requests to Nakanishi, Karen murmured, “It’s a specialty (= unreasonable),” and the hall erupted in laughter. When the singing began, the audience listened attentively as the singers’ voices rose as if they were confirming each other’s voices, and as if they were pulling each other along.

Next, miyou and Kurosawa had a session of Daniel Caesar & H.ER’s “Best Part,” which Kurosawa said, “I don’t think I could sing it anywhere else.” Nakanishi, who was watching the two sing on stage, commented on the quality of the song, saying, “I had an image of Kurosawa-san as having a high tone, but Low’s singing voice was also wonderful.I wanted to listen to it forever.” state

Next up was Little Glee Monster’s “ECHO” with Karen, miyou, and Kurosawa. It’s a middle tune that features a dynamic melody and scale reminiscent of stadium rock, as well as a powerful melody that repeats “Oh Oh…”.

Kurosawa explained why he chose this venue, saying, “I wanted to perform a stadium-quality song in this space,” and then turned to the audience and asked, “Would you like to sing too?” In response to this pitch, the audience raised their right hands over their heads and sang in chorus from the opening song, “Oh Oh…”. The scene was truly live.

Arno Nakanishi’s solo song is “Kabutomushi” by Aiko. According to Nakanishi, he chose this song with the hope that he would be able to show a new side of himself. The band carefully adjusts the groove as if being pulled by Nakanishi’s singing voice. The falsetto and high-pitched long tones resonated clearly, creating a different sense of sadness from the original song.

Tani Yuuki appeared as a guest on the December broadcast. Tani was welcomed onto the stage with applause and said, “Thank you for the wonderful opportunity.” First, they sang Tani’s original song “Okaeri”, and at the end, they played a long, high-pitched tone a cappella. “It was much more dynamic than the sound source,” Kurosawa said. Nakanishi was also excited, saying, “The acoustic guitar wasn’t even an acoustic guitar.”

Tani, who was experiencing a session for the first time, chose DEEN’s “Konomama Kimi Dake wo Touki Awata” as a candidate song for the session. I decided to have a session with Tani at Kurosawa. The music score is prepared, and Kurosawa decides on the song distribution while checking with Tani. Kurosawa said, “I had Tani-kun sing the chorus. I wanted to sing the harmonies that would make (me) stand out.” To which Kurosawa said, “Are you serious? Is that okay?” Tani looked excited.

I decided to practice just the chorus to match it with the band. As Kurosawa showed a harmonious approach on top of the high notes, Tani’s true feelings leaked out, “It feels good!”

On to the actual performance. As the intro begins, Kurosawa laughs and turns around to look around at the band members. The band members responded with eye contact and said, “Isn’t it like this?”

The band sound is one of the core aspects of “Spicy Sessions.” Because each member covers a wide variety of genres, they are able to flexibly respond to Kurosawa’s requests as well as arrange the songs. What’s more, everyone can instantly understand and reproduce the pace and groove that bring out the best in a song. The members are all passionate about music and have great skills.

“I want to take away only you” is a song with a unique groove that feels a little heavy and dragging, but Kurosawa must have been so happy that the band’s sound matched it perfectly from the intro. One of the attractions that “Spicy Sessions” has gained over the course of its episodes is that you can see the musicians’ facial expressions right before your eyes as they converse with each other through sound.

Next, Tani, Kurosawa, and Nakanishi decided to do a session of RADWINPS’s “Is There Still What Love Can Do?”. Patterns that had never been seen before were emerging, such as deciding the song distribution according to the lyrics.

Before singing, Kurosawa requested Nakanishi, “An interlude shout, something like “Actually…” (Nogizaka 46).” The song is packed with new challenges, including a vocal arrangement that matches the lyrics mentioned above, as well as Nakanishi harmonizing in a falsetto over an octave. Tani turned to Nakanishi and said, “The interlude was really good,” and you should definitely check out the finished version of this song on the broadcast.

The song Kurosawa chose to sing with Tani was Tani’s signature song “W/X/Y.” When Kurosawa talked about his impressions when he heard the song for the first time, Tani said, “I’m really happy.” When “W/X/Y” began, I was surprised by Kurosawa’s vocal approach. He brought the “loud, high tone” that is synonymous with Kurosawa.

Why did he use his own pronouns for the first time in “W/X/Y”? I think it’s because there was so much energy in the song and Tani’s vocals. They responded to the energy with energy and expressed their respect for Tani through song. Tani’s clear and rounded high tones matched Tani’s soft singing voice better than when she sings as part of the Gospellers.

“Sessions are great. There were some arrangements that we didn’t do live, so it was fun,” Tani says. At the end, they enjoyed the session so much that they said, “Let’s get together again.” Nakanishi chose Leo Ieiri’s “Silly” as his solo song. “It’s a song with a story, so I sang it by surrendering to my emotions,” said Nakanishi. Also pay attention to Nakanishi’s expressive power, which captures the slowness and slowness of his emotions in his songs.

■MC interview
After recording, we asked Kaoru Kurosawa and Arno Nakanishi what they thought.

Q: When Mr. Kurosawa introduced Daniel Caesar & H.ER’s “Best Part,” he said that it was “the most session-like song” of all the songs you’ve done so far. Now that you’ve recorded 12 times, can you once again tell us how much you enjoy the “sessions”?
Kurosawa:The “unreasonable” style that often appears on this program is actually a unique session style. After making a decision, the session begins. So, for example, songs like “Best Part” that don’t have a lot of chord progressions and don’t have a solid melody are easier to session with.

Q: Since the melody isn’t set in stone, does that mean you have a lot of freedom?
Kurosawa:Of course, there is that too. I’ve done J-POP with “Spicy Sessions” so far, and I also did J-ROCK sessions for this recording, and both have solid melodies. So, that alone is a strong constraint. It’s very restrictive, and if you do it normally, you tend to just sing it in a boring way and end up saying, “That’s great.” The program “Spicy Sessions” tries to prevent that from happening. Therefore, the hurdles for this program’s session are higher than the original session. Everyone, including the band and guests, completes it. That’s what I want to really show. When you listen to it, you don’t just think, “This is a session, it’s really good,” but you want to think about something that goes beyond that, and you have to think about it. So for me, it’s almost like producing work. I hope that in the future, Arno-san will say, “I’ll sing here!”
Nakanishi:Huh! (lol).

Q: You’re here, raise the hurdle.
Nakanishi:Yes (lol). But as we continued recording, I realized (after receiving various requests from Kurosawa-san) that even if I thought, “What should I do…?”, I still had to do it. In that case, it would be faster to start running than to think about it, and there were many times during the sessions when I was able to jump out and say, “Let’s go!”. It was a big deal for me to be able to have that feeling of just taking the plunge.
Kurosawa:yes. Whatever happens. Because that’s the session.
Nakanishi:That’s right!

Q: “Spicy Sessions” also broadcasts retakes (playing performances again), but today there were more retakes than usual. However, each time I repeated the take, the sound image became completely different from the previous take. To be honest, I was a little freaked out.
Kurosawa:That’s right, that’s a session. Even after multiple takes, it’s not the same performance or song. The phrases change little by little, and the nuances change. There were retakes for both of the recordings this time, so it might have been very easy to understand.

Q: Now, I would like to ask Mr. Arno. “Is there anything more that love can do?” which I did a session with, and “Silly,” which I sang solo. I think both songs have a contrast between stillness and movement, and have a story-telling feel to them. What are the differences in how you express them?
Nakanishi:With “Silly,” I felt like my emotions were running high and I rode that wave. “Is there anything more that love can do?” feels like it’s riding on the band. The piano and guitar were both really excited, and I naturally felt like I was singing along with my voice.
Kurosawa:That’s right. “Silly” was my own driving force.
Nakanishi:I agree.
Kurosawa:“Is there still something that love can do?” is a session with three vocalists. It feels like the three of us react to each other, including the sound of the band.That’s right.
Nakanishi:that’s right! Exactly!

Q: From the interaction just now, I could see that the two of you have the same sensibilities.
Kurosawa:I agree. Now, I really agree with Arno-san’s words.

Q: “Spicy Sessions” is celebrating its 1st anniversary. Please tell us your future aspirations.
Kurosawa:Like Tani Yuuki-kun this time, I would like to greet the guests as well, saying, “Nice to meet you.” I find new discoveries through sessions with artists I’m good friends with, and I also get to talk to artists I’ve never met before and become friends with them through music…I think both of these are wonderful things. I think it is absolutely necessary for “Spicy Sessions” to show moments of mutual understanding through music. So from now on, I think it would be best if I could use both my personal connections and first meetings.