Kenshi Yonezu ZIP! and Mezamashi TV Features
Kenshi Yonezu was featured on not one, but two TV shows for BOOTLEG's release, so here's some basic transcriptions of them.
——
Lady: Kenshi Yonezu, age 26, released an album just two days ago that's already reached first on the Oricon rankings. In spite of rarely making TV appearances, he joined us for an interview!
[Clip of Fireworks.]
Announcer: Making first seven times on the Billboard music charts, released earlier this year: "Fireworks." And also!
[Clip of Peace Sign, then Nanimono.]
Announcer: One after another, he's made themes for films and anime, achieving some massive popularity. A current hit creator - Kenshi Yonezu-san.
[Cut to street interviews.]
Guy: He's got a mysterious feeling, and feels like, he's not a regular person.
Girl: His aura and stuff is kind of, mysterious. But especially because of that kind of thing, he has a really artistic feel.
Announcer: Yet he's rarely made appearances on television, and is thus surrounded by mystery.
[Cut to interviewing Yonezu.]
Staff: Thanks for coming.
Yonezu: I'm Kenshi Yonezu.
[He brings his hands around to "hold" the ZIP! logo appearing in them, then cracks up.]
Yonezu: That was super embarrassing.
Staff: Are you nervous to appear on television?
Yonezu: Yes, I'm nervous. I mean, it's not an opportunity you get often. So I am grateful, of course.
Announcer: We asked Yonezu-san about creating with other people.
[Clip of Donut Hole.]
Announcer: From his student days, Yonezu had a tendency to stay inside. He made music videos on his computer and posted them, and eventually, in 2013, he made his major debut.
Yonezu: It's a pain creating something with other people. If I can just make everything myself, that's faster and more comfortable. There's a part of me that creates with that negative attitude.
[The word "LONELY" then "MUSIC" appears behind Yonezu.]
Announcer: His creations from his student days were always solitary. Here's a song that came out of this lonely world.
[Clip of orion.]
Announcer: And his album released two days ago, BOOTLEG, has hit first on the Oricon rankings. The combined views of the videos of songs on the album exceed 100 million. What does Yonezu-san have to say about this major hit?
Yonezu: I guess I do have this feeling, sure, that the scale keeps on getting biggger, but just because the numbers are growing... If you think there's something fulfilling coming from deep inside me because of that, I think that's not really the case. Maybe it's also because I'm not good with lots of people and don't like to go to those places... but there haven't been any real changes to my life.
Announcer: However, it appears he had a dramatic change this year regarding making music.
Yonezu: I felt comfortable just, just making music by myself for a long time, but what good is music someone does all by himself?
Announcer: He attempted a new challenge in the form of Fireworks, sung alongside DAOKO-san. Why was he determined to do a collaboration? Coming in 30 seconds!
[Commercial break.]
Announcer: Yonezu-san attempted a duet for the first time in singing Fireworks with DAOKO-san.
Yonezu: This girl named DAOKO-chan, she has a delicate nuance. I wondered what would happen having a person with this sadness in their voice sing. The film itself is a story about a boy and a girl, so in that sense, I thought the approach of two of us singing together might fit.
Announcer: To make the song, he took inspiration from what the film was based upon, the original drama from 24 years ago. A story of a single summer's love between grade-school students.
Yonezu: Why does summer feel so sad? When I see fluffy clouds rising up on dry, sunny days, why is there this sad feeling welling up? Thinking back on the feeling of fireworks going up, popping, and the sound arriving a moment late, I wondered if I could make music that could compress that nuance.
[Clip of Fireworks.]
Announcer: His own perception of summer's sadness, he sung together with DAOKO-san.
[And then a clip of the duet part.]
Announcer: Furthermore, his new song, Gray and Blue. He made an offer to Masaki Suda-san out of thin air.
[Clip of the two recording the song.]
Announcer: In fact, a basis for this song was Takeshi Kitano-san's film Kids Return. A film about the friendship between two classmates who become a boxer and a yakuza. It seems he was captivated by this story.
Yonezu: It was a song that couldn't have been realized without singing it with someone. [Masaki Suda] is kind of violent, and the exact opposite of a yankee... I felt it just had to be him.
Announcer: To depict an unchanging friendship required a collaboration between these two men.
[Clip of Gray and Blue.]
Yonezu: It's a new method that's formed in me, but it really was a very stimulating experience.
——
Mezamashi TV, November 2nd, 2017
Lady: Next, we have a godly artist said to only appear in the music world once a decade, Kenshi Yonezu. Hardly ever appearing on television, a veil of mystery surrounds him...
[Clip of Fireworks.]
Announcer: This is Fireworks, from an anime movie released this summer: Do You View Fireworks From Below, Or From the Side? Since its release in August, it's placed first [on iTunes] 6 weeks in a row. [Something else that gets cut off.]
[Cut to street interviews.]
7-Year Old Girl: Fire... Fireworks!
First-Year High School Girl: I like how the melody's catchy, so it's easy to remember.
Fourth-Year College Boy: Blooming with a bright pop...
Third-Year Middle School Boys (together): I watched the fireworks...
Announcer: And the composer and lyricist for this song... was Kenshi Yonezu.
[Showing the BOOTLEG interview in ROCKIN'ON JAPAN.]
Announcer: Music magazines have done long features discussing why he's such a hit.
Yoichiro Yamasaki (ROCKIN'ON JAPAN Editor): Using very simple melodies and simple words, he paints an picture of a scene. It lets people imagine the same scene and enjoy it. Fireworks is really like a modern nursery rhyme. I mean, there's that "The Soap Bubbles Flew" song, right?
[Brief clip of said song, then back to Fireworks.]
Yamasaki: It's just describing a scene, but it can work its way into anyone's ears and heart.
[A picture of Yonezu in silhouette appears with the word "MYSTERY."]
Announcer: Yonezu-san is an artist wrapped in mystery, who has hardly ever appeared on television. However, we were able to achieve an interview with him! The staff heads to the filming studio. Now, what kind of air might Yonezu-san have about him?!
[He walks in.]
Interviewer: Welcome to Mezamashi TV! Thank you for coming.
Yonezu: Thank you.
["Lyricist/Composer for "Fireworks," Kenshi Yonezu (26)"]
Interviewer: Are you feeling excited?
Yonezu: I am, yes, I'm nervous. It's, how to put it... this stimulating... I'm experiencing this kind of bizarre feeling.
[Some more street interviews.]
Lady: I know his name, but it feels like there's an air of mystery.
Girl: He's a mystery, there's not much info.
[Back to Yonezu.]
Interviewer: How tall are you?
Yonezu: I'm 188 centimeters tall. I've been large since I was born. When you're born, you're usually about 3000 grams, right? I was 4500 grams. Apparently my mother was really worried.
["What's your favorite food?"]
Yonezu: Favorite food? My favorite food is... well, I guess sushi. I grew up in a fishing town [born in Tokushima], so part of it's that I was raised in an environment close to seafood and things... So I like sushi, and um, sashimi.
[Street interviews.]
First-Year High School Boy 1: He's my favorite.
First-Year High School Boy 2: I like him too.
First-Year High School Boy 3: Seriously love him.
Second-Year High School Boy: He's got a good voice, and good songs.
[Yonezu starts talking over the street interview footage.]
Yonezu: People in their teens and stuff saying they like me makes me really happy, so I often think back to myself when I was a kid.
[Weird "mirror image of Yonezu" editing...]
Yonezu: Myself when I was about 12. There's my 26-year-old self now, and it's like I talk with him in my head. Like "I made a song like this, but 12-year-old me, what do you think?"
[Clip of Number Nine.]
Announcer: Kenshi Yonezu-san shared with us his very unique style of creation.
[Clips of Matryoshka and Panda Hero on NicoNico.]
Announcer: And his origins of creation were here. In his teenage years, under the name Hachi, he used Vocaloid software like Hatsune Miku. The videos he posted have over 100 million views in total. Such popularity gave him connectons to the music scene, and he made a major debut with his real name, Kenshi Yonezu.
[Clip of Eine Kleine, then brief Flowerwall.]
Announcer: Since his debut, he's picked up popularity, with his last album placing first on the Oricon, iTunes, and Billboard Japan rankings.
[Clip of Peace Sign.]
Announcer: Yesterday, he released his new album, BOOTLEG!
Josaburo Takeyama (Tower Records Shibuya): We have about twice as much in stock as the last one, and there were more than twice as many preorders.
[Clip of Gray and Blue.]
Announcer: An especially notable song on this new album is a collaboration with Masaki Suda-san, Gray and Blue.The music video for it has very quickly broken 10 million views.
Announcer: After this, we'll reveal: Just how did Yonezu-san convince Suda-san?!
[Commercial break.]
Yonezu: I went in thinking "if I don't manage to win him over, that's it." I made an offer like, "I have a song where I really want to capture this moment!" And as a result, uh... we came out of it with Gray and Blue.
Masaki Suda (24): He told me "I want to do this with you no matter what!", and... I gave in to his sheer passion.
[Clip of LOSER, with the word "DANCE" over it.]
Announcer: Yonezu-san, a talent said to appear in music only once a decade, with this song challenges dance for the first time!
[Yonezu drawing and some of his illustrations are shown, with the word "ILLUSTRATIONS" over it.]
Announcer: In addition, he also has a talent for illustrations, and even draws his own CD covers. What kind of music does the multi-talented Yonezu-san aim for?
Yonezu: My predecessors kept making these beautiful songs. Paying respect to beautiful music, I also absorb it as part of myself. "I'm not sure why, but it's nostalgic" - "I'm not sure why, but it's comfortable"... I want to make songs that resonate with a lot of people.
[Back to the hosts of the show.]
Lady: Not only lyrics and composition, but dancing, and even illustration!
Man: It's very impressive.
Lady: Really a genius. In fact, Yonezu-san's illustrations came from wanting to draw manga someday!
[The others are very impressed.]