[Interview] 「To shine strongly, we continue to run」- JO1’s Kawashiri Ren who is from Fukuoka talks about his thoughts he wants to send now *published in the October issue of City Jouhou Fukuoka (the pictures differ from the pages of the magazine)
JO1, a group formed by 11 people chosen by voting, made their debut in March this year. Together with big expectations, they made their appearance and Kawashiri Ren who is from Fukuoka also graced the cover of the April issue, but from then on, the situation of the world completely changed. 'The group did their activities under various restrictions, too. Among those activities there is the 2nd single “STARGAZER”. We asked Ren remotely about this message, on how to live in such crisis now that no one has experienced yet.
「It’s the period when it’s hard to bring out the results of your patience and effort. But I think depending how you give your best in this time your future shine will differ」
Thank you very much. The October issue in that this interview will be published features books, so I would like to ask about that first. Do you normally read books or mangas? Ren: I’ve subscribed to an app where I can read Shonen Jump and every week I read it on my phone, but I like works that are “THE shonen manga”. I read nothing but stuff that has battles and intense developments. It’s because of the influence my older brother and my brother collected ONE PIECE volumes so now I know a lot about ONE PIECE. I also read something like “Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba” . “The Promised Neverland” also has a good world build and it’s really interesting.
You are taking the king's road. Do you have any other works that you like in Jump? Ren: The serialisation has finished, but I like “Haikyuu!!” and there were a lot of wise words and cool expressions, so I saved my favourite quotes in my phone. From time to time I look at them and (think) “I will give my best!”
Do you have a favourite quote from “Haikyuu!!”? Ren: There is the quote “Habit is the second nature.” that appears at the end of the story. It’s like “continuation becomes a strength” but it’s my favourite quote that is saved in my notes, because it’s a few words that can give me courage that with effort and continuation you can overcome the genius who can do everything.
Thank you very much. I wanted to try to read “Haikyuu!!” from the perspective of searching for quotes. Now, I would like to ask about the current situation and your activities. There are also some parts right now that as a group you can’t do the activities as you expected. How do the members perceive the current situation? Ren: Because it’s not something good, there are a lot of members who have troubled thoughts, but I think it’s not something without a meaning. So, because of the corona disaster happening, something might have changed and doing something like interview remotely like now might become the norm and even when Corona has passed and we can normally do lives again, the method of live streaming concerts might have become more normal so that people from oversea and people who live far away can watch it, too. There is a meaning in it, thus self-discipline is important, but it’s not just self-discipline, it’s very important to do what you can steadily to avoid wasting your time and so that you can spend some fruitful time. Our priority is to meet the fans who support us, but it’s a situation in that we can’t meet directly, so we prepare something to surprise them when we meet next which is something very good for both us and the fans. I think it’s important to prepare something that makes the fans be delighted other than singing or dancing and it’s necessary to do that now.
There might be a lot of people who feel depressed, but what is your method to let out stress? Ren: I don’t really understand stress. So, I don’t have a method to let it out.
For real? So, you don’t really feel stressed during the day, do you? Ren: That’s right. Because I’m human, I sometimes think “What’s this person...” or “I don't like that.”, but I forget on the spot –laughs-
You are either tough or positive. Everyone may have thought “ah I want to skip that”, but how do you deal with such a weakness? Ren: I like games. So just like in a game, I think “If I practise another hour, I might raise my level” Hence, no matter what it is I think of it as raising the level –laughs- If I can do it in a hard time, my own level rises, so by feeling that I raised my level, I have the sensation that is like “I will give my best a little more".
I want to call this super positive thinking “Renism” now. These days it’s hard to interact with JAM, but when was a moment when you felt the fans’ support? Ren: There are performance videos and because we can’t meet, we post various things on SNS and we read the reactions and comments about that. Also, some time ago, I received from the manager something like a message book that the fans made. That’s what I’ve read, too. It’s very sad that we can’t meet, but I often feel that I’m supported.
While a lot of people refrain from going out and the time spend at home increases, I’ve heard that you started the piano and to write songs. Ren: I want to become able to write a song for us one day and this time for the music video of “OH-EH-OH” I’ve challenged acting, so I’m also interested in acting now. Because my nature is to be interested in various things –laughs- Because nothing is useless, I want to study various things.
In the music video, there were also everyone’s action scenes. In the dimension of a movie there was a huge brawl which reminded me of the Shounen-manga “Cross”. Ren: It was about 100 stuntmen against us 11.
It was an unequal fight, right? Ren: It was –laughs- Also the weather. It kept raining and stopping again and when we shoot the scenes that we were in charge for, it stopped in the right moment, but because it rained before, the ground was quite muddy. During the fight we slipped, but because our clothes become muddy, too, when we slipped, we couldn’t retake it. We practised, but we performed it without a real rehearsal, so in the environment of being a first-time experience + unfavourable conditions, it was a difficult and hard shooting. That spirit might be conveyed by the video. This time the shooting took 3 days, but the first and second day were kinda hard. There was a lot to shoot and we could hardly sleep, but also on the third day, I only took a bath at a near hotel and at 5 or 6 am we departed and at 7 am we reached the location and everyone was in a dizzy state. There the stuntman practised the fight scene in the gymnasium and when we entered with a sleepy feeling, they presented us a high intense fighting scene and said “all members please learn the action scene now” and we had only about an hour to learn that, so at that time we were quite surprised. Now it’s a good memory.
On the performance side, “OH-EH-OH" is dynamic and has an explosive power like JO1 and the highlight is everyone's formation that changes as if you were looking into a kaleidoscope. Ren: All members practised and also raised their skills and this payed off and we could show a very good formation and this time there is the song “GO”, which has unlike “OH-EH-OH" structures where various things happen in each, so I want to perform this live and if we can present it also on TV, it will really shine on camera.
In this release there is a feeling included as a message for teenagers who have dreams of the future and expectations and at the same carry worries or troubles, but right now not just the teenagers carry that anxiety, right? I think it’s a single includes the power through the whole song to give courage to people and of course to teenagers when they come in touch with the lyrics and at the same time encourages the members themselves. Ren: I think they are a lot of teenagers who are worried right now. This work is called “STARGAZER” which has the meaning of “someone who looks at the stars”, but the meaning of “Let’s focus on the future or dreams and continue to run with us together” is also included. “OH-EH-OH" is also a cheering song that says “we are with you”, so we want it to become a song that can push the backs of as many people as possible, and because it’s a song that gives us energy when we perform it or when we listen to it, it also became a single for us that we rely on.
Did you feel any anxiety during your teens in Fukuoka? Ren: In those student years, I thought a lot, because I didn’t know whether my dream would come true and it was a situation when I had no right answer what I should do for that. Also now, there are many things I can’t do as I want to and I keep wondering what I should do, but I think those troubles will continue until I die, so it’s important to continue thinking without giving up.
If we pay attention to the sound part, there is a feeling of the world’s leading trends such as trap and hiphop beats and the clean tone colour matches everyone’s performance. Ren: Even when I listen to the instrumental, it’s really cool. But if you sing it at Karaoke, it might be hard for to sing it alone, because we are 11 people to sing it.
In the previous work, there was the song “Running” which had a message for JAM, but this time “My Friends” is a strong song that fits that meaning. In the lyrics writing Yonashiro-san participated. Ren: “My Friends” is a song that you can have fun with all JAM especially at a live and it has a lot of good feelings, and also every other song than “My Friends” has a lot of feelings we want to communicate, so I hope that it becomes an enjoyable CD.
In the chorus of my friends there is the quote “Hey, I want to sing. Hey, at the same place” which directly communicates everyone’s current feelings. Ren: The relationship of us and all JAM is like that and it’s a song that gets very easily into your heart because you can think of it in various ways such as between us members, fans and their friends. Just as expected from Yonashiro Sho, right?
Just it was mentioned earlier, in the new single there is a message in each song which comes out even more under the current circumstances. What do you think, what kind of work did that single become for JO1? Ren: The debut single “PROTOSTAR” was a work in that 11 people came together and became a shining star and, in this work, we express the situation of continuing to run to become a star, to shine brightly. I think especially in this situation, there are periods when it’s hard to bring out the results of your patience and efforts, but depending on how you give your best in this period, your future shine will differ, so it’s a single that also has that kind of power and message.
Now it's time for everyone raises their levels for the future, right? Ren: Yes. You have to raise your level when you can raise it.
That’s a wonderful expression that is special to a gamer brain. Ren: hahahaha –laughs- Otherwise, you will have a hard time later.
Kawashiri Ren Born ‘97. From Fukuoka. Was active since his teens as a back dancer for various artist and choreograph and in ‘19 he participated in the audition program “PRODUCE101 JAPAN” which originated from South Korea. By the votes of the “National Producers” = the viewers of the program, he acquired the 2nd place in the end and he made his debut in the 11 member boy group JO1. In March ‘20 the debut was archived. He bears the responsibility as the group’s dancer leader because of his outstanding dance skills.
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