[JO1] Smart 220305

https://smartmag.jp/archives/10162/

JO1 Shiroiwa Ruki solo interview “My ideal is not a group in which the 11 members compensate for each other's weaknesses, but one in which we empower each other and make the most of our strengths."

3 members of JO1 grazed the cover of the April issue from Smart. They made their debut in March 2020, overcame the Corona pandemic that befell the world right after their debut and their first lives with an audience “OPEN THE DOOR” in November last year had been a huge success. They increased their fans in an environment that was surely not favourable to them and the April issue had become a hot topic on SNS even before the release.

This is a close up of Shiroiwa Ruki from JO1 who is renowned as a “prince” with his refined visuals and behaviour. In addition to other pictures that had not made it in the magazine, this is an exclusive interview from the official website from “smart”, in which he talks about the debut, the present and the future.

It’s been 2 years of distance growing closer and bonds becoming deeper both with the fans and the JO1 members.

Congratulations on your 2nd debut anniversary. The documentary movie “JO1 THE MOVIE “Mikansei” Go To The TOP” that follows these two years is going to be released, but compared to the time of the debut, do you feel that you or the group have changed?

Thank you very much. It has been 2 years of enduring and persisting without being able to do what we had wanted to since the debut. However, thanks to being able to experience a lot of things anyway, including shootings like today, I feel that in all aspects of performing such as singing and dancing, we have improved. But it has been a frustrating time in which we weren’t blessed with an opportunity to show this side of ourselves to JAM directly. The members frequently discussed together, and did the YouTube live streams “Asakatsu! JO1”. The whole time we wondered how to make the fans happy. That’s why I feel the atmosphere has slowly changed since the lives of OPEN THE DOOR (last year in November at Makuhari Messe) which were held with an audience for the first time.

How was it to meet JAM directly?
Sure enough it was completely different from communicating online. If it is an online live, you can’t actually see everyone, so there are worries and concerns. During the live show you get all “wah!” and excited but once it is over you go back to being yourself. At OPEN THE DOOR the lingering memory of the deep emotions and excitement lasted much longer. Cheering was not allowed due to the circumstances, so I think if they could cheer it would make it much better and if there were cheers like during our pre debut fanmeeting it would be something different again. I want to meet JAM, who have given us energy, again, and I think the cheers are a sign of giving them energy, so I want to hear them as soon as possible.

Have you discovered a new goal through OPEN THE DOOR?
That’s right. After the live concerts, we were divided in groups and had an evaluation meeting in which we acknowledged our troubles and hardships so far and discussed what we should do from now on. As we had not been able to meet JAM before, these lives had been the chance to convey our gratitude and show our growth, so we performed more songs in one day than we had ever done before. It was about 40 songs if you add the noon and evening together. It was so hard that it would be exaggeration to say it was “ordeal” but we received that much support during the 2 years, so the feeling of wanting to do this no matter what had been stronger. But after all, at the lives there were things that didn't go as expected for some reason… Besides that it worked perfectly at the rehearsals! Such things did happen, too. Hence, this year all members started to train to improve all of their abilities.

What do you exactly mean by improving all of the abilities?
So far everyone has taken lessons to make the most of their specialties, saying I want to improve my singing/my rapping/my dancing. But through the lives the goal became to raise the average of the whole group so it won’t matter who is in charge of what.

What specific training are you doing?
I started to take aerobic exercises because to be honest performing 40 songs in a day had been really draining. Also I’m doing a daily program that trains my inner muscles and helps me to build more muscles. It’s not just training my body, but also regarding music, so far there were only lessons in singing and rapping by Korean teachers, but I have started to learn from Japanese teachers and I’m learning composing and creative things. We are now in the state where we work on a higher level, so I hope we can entertain everyone even better in the future.

By setting even higher goals, the members grew closer and their bonds deepened, right?
I am sure this is the case. When I meet someone for the first time, I am distant or rather I keep my distance, so even at the debut I wasn’t particularly close to anyone, and I had about the same distance to all members. This hasn’t changed, but I go to the Onsen with Sho-kun and Mame-chan, I go shopping with Ren-kun and Takumi and with Shosei and Keigo I have visited a theme park. Especially with Keigo I haven’t talked at all during the audition and I honestly felt that it would be difficult to work with him. Nowadays, we have a good time together and he sends me LINE messages every day (laughs). I don’t have a good time with someone but not with anyone else, and I keep a certain distance, but this distance is a little closer than compared to the time of our debut. The key to keep a good relationship going, is not to interfere with each other too much. Each one to his own, but I think this style fits me.

I hope you anticipate JO1 further dashing upwards and my personal skill up

There isn’t just the movie, but also the drama “Short Program”, in which all JO1 members will star in the main role for the first time, will also be released. The movie is a documentary, so I think the acting is a new challenge. How was it to actually try acting?
Frankly speaking, it was super difficult. I have loved dramas and movies since I was a child so I watched a lot of them. I didn’t know how they were created and I assumed just by watching them it would be easier, so once the filming actually started it was much difficult than I had imagined it, as I had to improvise in the takes, the same scenes were filmed several times from various angles, I had to put emotions each time and even when there were no lines, I had to act with gestures and such. Hence, I was nothing but desperate during the filming.

I think for your first acting role (in the drama Short Program) it was a quite difficult one.
That’s true (laughs). I thought it’s a simple love story, but when I saw the script I was surprised. There are also action scenes (laughs). I had to shout a lot and retake this.

Have you watched the finished episode?
When I got the link to the finished episode first, I was too embarrassed to click it. So much time passed that I decided to have a private show of the episode and called over a friend to watch it together.

How was the response from your friend?
Maybe it was because I kept saying “it’s awful!”, my friend was like, “you can absolutely watch it.”, but I only watched it with my eyes covered (laughs). Most dramas are about one hour long and unfold in 10 episodes, right? I feel that in this case it’s easier to get emotionally involved in the role you play, but in this work it’s completed by one single episode, so the story inevitably unfolds quickly. I would like to try a series next time, so I started to study acting.

Singing and dancing, performing and acting. This year we will be able to enjoy a further upgraded version of JO1 and Shiroiwa-san.
It’s been two years since we debuted, so our activities as a group had been a lot, but I think the training to raise our standard on which everyone is working hard on right now, could be the chance for one of us to get into a movie or drama and give back to the team, or for someone to write a song in a genre other than our usual songs, and perform it as a solo or special. What I imagine is not a group in which the 11 members compensate for each other’s weaknesses but in which we empower each other and make the most of our strengths. In other words, in my imagination it’s not “addition” but “multiplication” that makes us stronger. By doing so not only our presence as JO1 but also as individuals should increase. This is the year in which I put my entire heart and soul, so please anticipate it.

Shiroiwa Ruki
Born 1997.11.19, from the prefecture of Tokyo. Since being a trainee he is called “Prince” because of his proper behaviour and good looks. His interests are music and lyrics writing and his specialty is playing the guitar.