[OWV] Natalie music 211013

https://natalie.mu/music/pp/owv

Explaining their unique colours in detail. An interview that analyses all songs from their 1st album “CHASER”.

OWV’s 1st album “CHASER” was released on October 13th.
Honda Kosuke, Nakagawa Katsunari, Urano Shuta and Sano Fumiya met at “PRODUCE 101 JAPAN” that took place in 2019 and announced the formation of OWV in April last year. Based on the feeling of “becoming an incomparable group that can’t be copied and taking the victory in this world”, they impress their audience with their high quality performances in dancing, singing and rapping. They celebrated their first anniversary this September. On their album 10 songs are featured including the previously released 4 singles. This CD is a record of OWV’s growth and their strong commitment to the future.

Natalie has developed OWV goods two times, but it’s the first time for them to be featured on a special page of Music Natalie. Exactly because the 4 members of OWV deeply engage with the content of the songs while selecting the demos, and have a determination regarding their performances, we asked them to listen to each song in detail and comment on the whole album.

01. CHASER

In the album, there are songs included that you performed for the first time at the live concert in April. Is it correct to say that the songs were created early on with the album in mind and then performed some of them live?
Kosuke: That’s right. In addition to the 1st single “UBA UBA” until the latest one “Get Away”, there are 6 new songs, but among those the 3 songs “My Flow”, “Party” and “Fifth Season” were created half a year ago and those are songs that we have been developing at lives together with QWV (as the fans of OWV are called). I think it has become an album that embodies everything that has been on the road that we walked along with everyone and what is OWV now.

It’s a quite aggressive album both in terms of the genre and what you are singing about.
Kosuke: Yes, it is.

The first song, which is also the lead track “CHASER” is a song that strongly emphasizes that kind of aggressive attitude. OWV’s root of “becoming an incomparable group that can’t be copied and grabbing the victory in this world” seems once more boldly propagated.
Kosuke: At first, we wanted to showcase “this is the route we have walked on until now” once more. Together with wanting to bring out “OWV’s colour” in this album, we discussed with the staff “what could be our music?”. What came out based on this idea was the lead track “CHASER”. The lyrics have a provocative feeling and following the title “CHASER” the will of “chasing the people before us and surpassing them” is included. The song is a compilation of our first year and thought on the second year.
Katsunari: I think it’s a song that has an impact and has a contemporary sound. The song itself is the image of our colours.
Shuta: The song was written with the intention of making it the first one of the album, so an important point was the impact of the intro. Just by listening to the intro the picture of OWV coming from the bottom to the top comes to your mind.
Fumiya: When I listened to the demo for the first time, I thought about how the dance would become first. How can we express this song in dancing? This song is the perfect way to express our will in a sense and I thought it’s a track that fits to the current trend of having a drop that easily remains in your ears. Because we want to absorb the world’s trends where we can and aim to make our own unique music.

Since the debut song “UBA UBA” you show the attitude constantly that you flexibly absorb the good things regardless of the genre and you create your own music. For example, when Sano-san said about the dance of “UBA UBA”: “We mix a K-Pop like feeling of showing a clean silhouette with a J-Pop like feeling of staying close to the lyrics. This left an impression on me.
Fumiya: That’s right. I think a turning point was our 3rd single “Roar”. The 1st single “UBA UBA” felt like “Let’s start from here!”. Then with the 2nd single “Ready Set Go” we set off and with “Roar” we were able to fully express our main ambition that we have imagined from the start. While following the nuance of “Roar”, “CHASER” also includes the mind of overthrowing your uppers from “UBA UBA”. That’s how I imagine it.
Katsunari: Absolutely this.

It’s okay not to reveal it here, but there are a lot of gimmicks in the lyrics of this song, aren’t there? There are some hidden words.
Shuta: I hope that all QWV will notice “ah that’s in it!”.
Kosuke: When I saw the lyrics that were written for us, it felt pretty good to have some playfulness in such an aggressive song. Putting a lot of power into it while being playful behind the scenes is typical for OWV. We are fighting, but there is some sense of freedom. Our costumes this time were also quite sharp, but there was a soft material used for the belt.
Shuta: It’s a cummerbund.
Katsunari: Eh? Honda-kun, isn’t your costume unbuttoned?
Kosuke: Ah… It's also playful not to fasten a single button.
Fumiya: I hope that like this you will notice the gimmicks in the lyrics (laughs)

(laughs) The choreography was made by Keone Madrid who has also worked with Justin Bieber and BTS. Do the members come up with who is asked to do the choreography?
Fumiya: That’s right.
Shuta: Upon hearing the song, we consulted whether this choreographer would fit to it.
Fumiya: I feel like regarding dancing each country has its speciality. For our songs until now we asked choreographers from Japan, South Korea and the USA. For example, the work of a Japanese choreographer, there are a lot of dances that are unified but respect the individual. I also have the impression that they are good at making choreographies that allow you to communicate with fans. A choreo made by Korean choreographers has the characteristic of showing a formation in which everyone’s movements are aligned. Rather than enjoying the choreography together, the dancers show a performance and draw in the audience. American choreographers might be brilliant in balancing these two sides. If it’s an absolutely aligned choreography, it’s not something that can be freely shown individually. When we practised “CHASER”, this manner has been difficult. However, what is most important in the works of American choreographers is passion. We are only 4 members, so we are conscious of how to create a unique performance that can compete with big groups in terms of physics and passion.

02. UBA UBA

On August 31st, there was the 1st anniversary of the release of the music video for UBA UBA and I saw the Twitter trend of QWV celebrating this.
Shuta: We are really thankful for this.

I think it’s a song that is also treasured by QWV as OWV’s starting song, so once again what kind of song is “UBA UBA” for you?
Kosuke: After all, I think that the debut song is not something that will fade away for many years to come. It’s a special song that we have a lot of feelings for and it’s surely something that won’t change in the future. The debut song will be the one where we can feel our growth the most, so I think it will have some flavour when we sing a few years later.

Starting with “Tokyo Girls Collection” last year in September, it’s the song you have performed the most.
Shuta: Yes we were able to perform it a lot.
Fumiya: Even at OWV SUMMER LIVE 2021-WIND- in August, the reaction of QWV towards “UBA UBA” was huge besides the fact that they couldn’t voice it. Compared to the time of “Tokyo Girls Collection”, we sing, dance and express ourselves with facial expressions now, so I think the way we show ourselves has evolved, too. Performing the song for a year, I think our emotions and feelings towards OWV are more strongly communicated in the debut song “UBA UBA”.
Katsunari: Some time ago, I had the feeling that I wanted us, who have grown, to record “UBA UBA” again.
Kosuke: That’s good. I want to do that in time for some anniversary.

03. My Flow

When you performed “My Flow” at the live in April, the catchy chorus stayed in my ears after just listening once to it.
Kosuke: Just like we wanted it (laughs).
Shuta: From the start “My Flow” is a song that was created with having lives in mind, so it is a song that has an element of having fun with the fans in a call & response manner, and that perfectly hits a coolness that’s typical for OWV.

It’s a song that has both catchiness and also a core of strength saying “I continue to move forward on my way”, isn’t it? The rapping that hits that feeling is also very powerful.
Katsunari: The track itself has an up tempo feeling and especially the chorus feels catchy and popish, but in the lyrics there are exactly the feelings that we want to convey.

The words “So shining with you” are in it, so you can also feel the message that you want to move forward with the fans together.
Fumiya: For example, “PARTY” or “What you waitin’ for” (featured on the 3rd single “Roar”) are songs in which we can enjoy the music together with the fans and on the other hand, songs like “Roar" are meant to show the performance. Yet, I think “My Flow” is a song that has both aspects, so you can enjoy it together while showing the performance. If you compare it to baseball positions, among the 10 songs of the album, it’s like the shortstop.

Of course. “My Flow” ranked on the top in the fan voting of “Songs you want to hear at a live” that took place for the lives in August.
Fumiya: “My Flow” was written with lives in mind, thinking “if there is this kind of song, everyone will be excited”, so we were happy that it ranked at the top of the voting. I felt that our mindset and the one of QWV are on the same vector.

I think also the choreography, which is a combination of cool and cute, might be a reason for its popularity. For this song and the 4th single “Get Away” which is also featured on the album, ReiNa-san was in charge of the choreo, but did you have the chance to talk to her directly?
Fumiya: Yes. It was made while we communicated with each other. For “Get Away” we asked her to emphasize on the rhythm and groove, so that there is an atmosphere of having fun with QWV.
Shuta: It seems like everyone can imitate the choreography of this song.
Fumiya: There is a turmolish part after the chorus. so once the pandemic is over. it would be nice to dance around with everyone (laughs)

04. Get Away

The 4th single “Get Away” has a new taste that has never been seen before for OWV. It’s a fresh summer song that you can listen casually to.
Shuta: We got quite the response for this song. Since the release of the teaser,I felt that the fans like it. We also had the new discovery that “They also like this kind of OWV”.

It might be because the impact of “PARTY” and “What you waitin’ for” at the 1st live was quite strong that when the theme “OWV’s summer” was announced, I actually expected some bouncy EDM like party tunes.
Shuta: You could think so (laughs)
Kosuke: But when we discussed “If OWV sang a summer song, what kind of song would it be?”. our unanimous image was a relaxed and fun song rather than a noisy one.

I think the message of “no matter if you are inside or outside, you can enjoy the summer” moved a lot of people this summer. Have you had the chance to talk with Lauren Kaori-san who writes the lyrics for OWV’s releases since the debut?
Shuta: We haven’t been able to talk with her directly yet.
Fumiya: We communicate with her through the staff of Universal.
Shuta: Regarding “Get Away” we were told that the theme is “Because of this time, you can’t go out and have fun, but you can enjoy a vacation at home, too.”
Fumiya: In the demo we got, the temporary lyrics were in English, and when we heard it we vividly felt “We want to bring it to QWVs” and choose the song. We wanted to make sure that in Japanese there is no discrepancy of the atmosphere we wanted to convey, so we let the lyricist know our requests including this.

05. Ready Set Go

The 2nd single “Ready Set Go” is a song that sings of a passionate love. During the interview for the 1st single “UBA UBA” you said “we were unsure whether it would have been better to do a mature song, but this time we made an aggressive song”, but I remember being blown away by the fact that the 2nd single was such a seductive song!
Kosuke: We quite showed our strong will with the 1st single and I think with “Ready Set Go” we showed OWV’s sexiness. We thought that “Ready Set Go” is an example of “mature sexiness”.
Shuta: It’s one of the most precious and romantic songs of OWV.
Fumiya: Also, regarding the dance, back then we entrusted the Korean LOOK-san with the choreography for the first time. With this song, we discovered the range of set ups and possibilities that only a Korean choreographer can offer for 4 members.

Of course, even when watching your lives or dance videos, I strongly felt that the formation and dynamic of this song is exactly because there are 4 members.
Fumiya: Right after our formation we thought that if people, who didn’t know us happen to see our performances, would feel that it looked better if we had an uneven number and a center, but at the time of “Ready Set Go”, we felt a response of “the four of us can do a performance that is as good as anyone else!” Rather (we think) it’s interesting that there is no center. Everyone feels like the center, so once someone goes into the center position, the vibe changes. For example, in a diamond shaped formation, the atmosphere is completely different depending whether Honda-kun or Shuta stands in the center.

06. Slam Dog

The song “Slam Dog” a strong hip hop song. The lyrics feel also provocative. You could say that OWV is referred to as “dogs”, right?
Shuta: Yes. In the song there is the desire that OWV stays strong in a rough slum.
Katsunari: It’s stuffed with the feeling “Without even slightly shifting we work hard and pursue the things we believe in.” Each time we release a new single, one of the featured songs is something we haven’t done before, something we think of “this seems a bit difficult” and a challenge. There is the determination that we want to grow as a group and also that we want to bring a new side of OWV to QWV. I think this time this challenge song is “Slam Dog”. Unexpectedly, we haven’t done this kind of intense rap song before. For example, Shuta, who is always our main vocalist, is in charge of rapping in this song. The 4 of us did a lot of research on how to express the lyrics and what we wanted to convey and challenged the recording.
Shuta: Just like Katsu-kun just said, so far I often sang melodious vocal lines, so “Slam Dog” was a new challenge. During the recording I got advice from Katsu-kun who is good at rapping and I did my best so that I won’t lose to the others.

Urano-san’s rapping was really cool.
Shuta: You listened to it?
Katsunari: You can’t do this interview, if you haven’t listened (laughs)
Shuta: Well, I’m embarrassed when people listen to it (laughs)

(laughs) I got chills at the end of the D melody, there is no sound for a moment and then Honda-san says “It’s not enough yet Gotta take all”
Shuta: It’s a song that makes the most of Honda’s deep voice, isn’t it? That’s really cool.
Kosuke: The time of figuring out how to use our voices and the flow of the rap in a trial and error manner has been a lot of fun. The practise was also fun. We all worked together and got to know that OWV can do this can of songs too.

07. Roar

You said that the 3rd single “Roar” was a turning point.
Shuta: I can clearly remember the time when this song was chosen.
Katsunari: The decision happened quite fast?
Shuta: Yes. “That’s it!”
Fumiya: It’s different for each one of us what we feel when we listen to the demos and based on the first impression we decide which one is good. From then on we discuss it and in the end we align our directions and release it. But for “Roar”, we unanimously agreed on it when we first heard it.
Kosuke: No matter when I hear it, it’s cool-
Shuta: It is really cool.
Katsunari: When I listen to it, I get into it.

There was a huge impact of the “wild noble men”, a combination of the “wild” and “young nobles”. The track, the message of the lyrics, the performance… All together I had the impression that this song established one of the shades that would become the core of OWV.
Kosuke: If I’m asked what song should first time OWV-listeners listen to, I would recommend “Roar”. It's a song that has OWV’s color. The current musical taste of OWV also largely comes from “Roar”.
Fumiya: It’s the cleanup hitter of the album!

08. Question

If songs like “Roar” which reflect a rough and straight forward attitude are OWV’s royal road, then the 8th song of the album, “Question” shows another new side. As expected I was surprised by the gloomy, R&B-tinged track, but also by the content of lyrics which keep on asking questions themselves.
Shuta: That’s right.
Katsunari: It was also new for us.
Kosuke: Until now, OWV didn’t dare to make R&B like songs on our royal road. In our first year since debuting there was the desire that we first wanted to deepen OWV’s own colour. It was a bit hard to try this with a single, but we thought it would be good to put an emotional song on the album that lets us take another look at ourselves. It was also a throwback like “We can also do this kind of song”.

What did you think about when you sang it during the recording?
Fumiya: So far OWV only looked ahead and sang daredevilish. bold, confident and challenging songs, but this song follows our paths closely. Our unique background is that we appeared on an audition program, were eliminated, came together as a group and started. For this we looked back on this way. While remembering our feelings and choices from back then, the troubles we used to have and also what happened last year which turned out differently because of the pandemic, we sang the song with the strong will of “We won’t lose for sure”. It’s about looking back at the past, (realising) that your chosen path was no mistake and this group will aim for the top!
Kosuke: It is reaffirmation, isn’t it?
Katsunari: Humans are not perfect beings, so I felt that by showing hesitation and conflicts, the charm of OWV becomes more profound.

It’s really a song that is true to life and makes you feel human. The listeners will be able to relate to your emotions.
Kosuke: That’s right.
Katsunari: It’s a tale of conflict, but in the end you move forward without giving up, so I think it’s something you can feel if you listen to it when you feel down.

Especially because it’s a song with an emotional atmosphere, you can feel the deepness of the expressions in OWV’s songs more. Through this year, I think that there was quite some effect on each one of your expressions in singing, but what do you think?
Kosuke: There is. I think the biggest thing is that I got a fundamental knowledge of music.
Fumiya: I think my singing has become distinctive.
Shuta: I got the role of the main vocalist and I think in any case you have to put strength into the songs. I’m trying to broaden my musical horizons by absorbing things from the other three members and by listening to western music which I barely listened to in the past.

Your acapella in “Scattered” which you did at the first oneman was amazing.
Shuta: Thank you very much. It was one challenge, but for me it was that I discovered a task, so I want those occasions to steadily increase and that I become stronger regarding my artistic and also my mental side.

During the “UBA UBA” interview, Nakagawa-san said that “Originally I wanted to be a vocalist when I decided to enter this world” and after this you were also quite often in charge of the vocals.
Katsunari: I’m really happy that I got the chance to be part of OWV’s vocal line and that those parts were given to me. I think I need to learn more and I want to research my own voice. I did it with a feeling that “So that I can bring even better music to QWV” and I think I made quite some progress in one year.

09. Party

On the contrary of the serious “Question”, there is the pop EDM-tune “PARTY”. That is a song made for lives, isn’t it?
Katsunari: Yes. That’s easy to understand, isn’t it?
Shuta: Cause we say “Make it big Are the preparations Alright?” It’s about after looking at your past one more time in “Question”, your troubles have been solved. Because “PARTY” is a positive song that says “Let’s go like this!”

“PARTY” is the song that ranked 2nd in the fan voting of the songs that they want to hear at a live concert and that’s exactly the role it is supposed to play at lives.
Katsunari: A well done one.
Shuta: It also seems like that it’s a song liked by a lot of people.
Kosuke: “PARTY” has made me realise a lot of things. When there is such a song, the variety in our lives broadens. I think it’s a song that adds some accent colour to the show. It’s like silver in Sentai. For me it was a new song and I enjoy performing it live.
Shuta: It’s a song that fans can enjoy at a live while it also feels like OWV has some kind of conversation with them. For example “It doesn’t matter what time it is Let it out Go outside” or “Like this for years to come Let’s laugh Side by Side”. It’s a song that makes you feel really good when you sing it because it’s about having fun with OWV and making each other laugh even when we are old men.
TN: In the Super Sentai series, each hero is assigned a colour and silver seems to be quite rare cause I didn’t even find a definition for it in wikipedia.

With “PARTY” and “What you waitin’ for” it feels like “OWV’s EDM” has been established. I think it has also become one of OWV’s colours.
Kosuke: That’s right.
Fumiya: But this colour is… like having drawn a circle with a pen just now.

What do you mean?
Fumiya: The inside isn’t coloured yet. Only the frame has been finished.

So there is still a lot more about OWV’s EDM.
Shuta: fufufu. I hope you look forward to OWV’s future EDM.
Kosuke: But we also often talk about “How is OWV’s EDM”, so it’s still our secret for now (laughs)
Katsunari: To make it short, you won’t be bored! Please anticipate it.

10. Fifth Season

Lastly, we come to the warm medium ballad “Fifth Season”. In the case of “Fifth Season”, Honda-san’s MC before performing it as the last song of your 1st live which celebrated the first anniversary of your formation was very impressive. “Please continue to be together with OWV in some way or another in spring, summer, fall and winter”.
Shuta: With what kind of feeling did you say it?
Fumiya: Can you say it again?
Kosuke: No, I can’t say it anymore (laughs).
Shuta: Because if you could say it smoothly, it would be like scripted (laughs)
Kosuke: However back then, even though we could barely meet because of the pandemic, all QWV have supported us in the one year since formation, and I compared the moment of us together to a “fifth season”. For us this song is a message song for all QWV and a song that has a lot of feelings. There are a lot of heartfelt words, so I feel it’s a song that the listeners can relate to in their daily lives. I would be very happy if everyone had their own emotional attachments to it.

In the lyrics there are the traditional Japanese aesthetics (Flower, bird, wind and moon) “The crimson flower blooms The bluebird sings The nostalgic wind blows Intoxicated by the crescent moon” and overall you feel the scenery of Japan’s four seasons. There are also the member colours.
Shuta: That’s right. In the chorus, (the lyrics) “the flower road where we hold hands” or “you wearing a yukata at the fireworks” gives you the simple feeling of going on a date. It’s a song about moving forward hand in hand.
Fumiya: If you look at it from our world, I think there is a perfect line between J-POP and K-POP. Yet, for us the stance is not to aim for one, but “we take up what is good”, so we felt it was good to sing about Japan’s four seasons here. I think the idea that we are not restricted by genre is connected to the unique kind of music that we aim for.

It’s wonderful to end the album with a medium ballad that is about OWV’s past and future.
Shuta: I think it’s a worthy song to end the album.
Katsunari: It has a warm feeling, right?
Fumiya: OWV don’t have many ballads or medium ballads. But I noticed that also in this song we were able to convey our positive attitude and message without a change. It is a song that has the message “We will wrap everyone up in your huge love and make you happy for a long time to come!”, so I feel that also in a medium ballad OWV’s core can be expressed without blurring it.

It was made as a message song for all QWV and even when watching from the sidelines, I think that OWV’s fans are truly lovely. Natalie had been developing goods for you, so via SNS we thankfully often received words of appreciation from QWV. People from the outside strongly feel that OWV is really loved, so I’m sure that four of you on the side feel that love very much.
Shuta: It’s really like that. We feel it and exactly because of this, the feeling of wanting to bring even better music grows stronger.
Fumiya: We made our debut from the position of trainees from an audition program and luckily there are a lot of people who supported us the whole time from back then until now. They saw our growth process the whole time so I think when we came to the surface, they watched over us like over their children and ended up worrying “Are you okay? Do your best”, but from now on we want to be a group about which everyone has no anxiety, feels confident and say “This is OWV!”.
Shuta: We want to be the kind of group that people are not ashamed to brag about to everyone around them.

One and a half years since the formation and one year since your debut has passed and now you are walking through the fifth season ahead of you, but how do you want to spend your second year?
Kosuke: In the first year there were a lot of things left and right that we didn’t understand, but we had a lot of our own discussions and we came to see a very clear vision for OWV. I think that the second year is going to be the year in which we make the most of it and take a step up, and I hope that everyone will follow us with anticipation. I want to say that just by following us, you make us happy.
Shuta: There is of course pressure in surpassing expectations, but OWV wants to overcome this pressure and we always want to betray QWV’s expectations in a good sense. Thus, showing that OWV truly loves QWV!
Katsunari: When I think about what kind of artists can attract people, I think about people who I always admired and I feel that humanity is important. Is there some kind of charm that oozes out from such people? For the activities in the next year, I want to work hard on becoming more charming as a human. I think that is also connected in making a step up as OWV.
Fumiya: Even during the one year when we were active, I felt that steadily more boys groups were born.
Kosuke: True.
Shuta: Because it’s the sengoku jidai.
Fumiya: Now we live in a world where being from an audition program is no longer a special title. It means that people who chase the same dream as us have increased opportunities to challenge themselves, so it’s something really good. We keep in mind that there are rivals in a good way and I hope that we can work hand in hand to make this generation’s scene more exciting from our second year on and beyond.
TN: sengoku jidai = The period of warring states from 1467-1615. A nearly constant period of civil war in Japan. In the case of boy groups, this term is also often used since the start of PDJ S1 since more and more groups from different backgrounds come into the market which used to be more or less dominated by 2-3 agencies.

Comments from creators involved in OWV’s music

ReiNA (choreographer)
• My Flow
• Get Away

Your impression of OWV
I felt that each one of them has his own colour and they are a group that has individuality. During the training, I thought it was great that all four of them worked so hard, actively asked questions and so on.

What you imagined when making the choreo, and what you focused on
The choreography for “My Flow” is intense, powerful and energetic.
Also, I made it a dance that is slow and wavy by letting go of the intensity in the song and by adding groove to it!
I made “Get Away” with the image of a refreshing summer! I especially like the movements of the chorus and it’s a choreography so that fans, friends and everyone can have fun together.

Show-hey (choreographer)
• Party

Your impression of OWV
All four of them have their own personalities, which makes it difficult.
Their relationship of them that consists of the coexistence of cuteness and coolness, seriousness and comedy and their team power of transforming a performance that diligently captivates the choreography and the song is amazing.
Simply, the range of their expressive power is wide.
Also, they are handsome.
That’s not fair.

What you imagined when making the choreo, and what you focused on
First of all, I imagined the whole song having a sense of being intertwined and each one having fun.
Then I made the form of four people who host PARTY gathering and scattering away, entertaining everyone and having fun, and in the chorus, I tried to bring a groove and catchiness into the intense movements, so that it feels more like a PARTY and the four of them are the main actors of it.
I also like the party sign that the four make at the beginning.

Lauren Kaori (Lyricist)
• Roar
• Get Away

Your impression of OWV
OWV who combine a prince-like feeling and a Boy Next Door one are cool of course, but I feel the affection from all the members as if they were close to me. Each one’s voice, dancing and also personality is wonderful and I think they are a group that makes you naturally want to support them.

What you imagined when writing the lyrics, and what you focused on
I kept in mind to make word choices that both songs flow smoothly when you take words as sounds. In “Roar” there are the feelings of the preciousness of each one’s difference and continue to aim high that these four can express. These are incorporated. “Get Away” has a cheerfulness that makes you forget your worries and it’s a reminder that even in this situation where the future is uncertain you can drop the burden and enjoy yourself.