[OWV] B-Pass 240719

OWV - A hyper dance-rock tune that takes them to even greater heights!

OWV, whose previous single “BREMEN” brought them the 1st place in the Oricon weekly ranking for the first, are at the height of their power currently. Now aiming for even greater heights, they next unleash a hyper dance-rock tune that mixes band sounds into a dance track! We asked the four members to talk about “LOVE BANDITZ”, a challenging song just at the right time.

Your new song “LOVE BANDITZ” is a passionate song that is perfect for summer. What kind of discussions did you have when the song was chosen?
Fumiya: Our basic idea was that we didn't want to lose the steam that we gained from reaching the first place on the Oricon charts with “BREMEN”. We also talked about how we wanted to create an atmosphere where people who didn't know us would think it would be fun to support us, and that they would always be somewhat energized.
Kosuke: I feel that people who had only heard of OWV or had seen the one of the members but did not know the group existed, finally became aware of the group because of the hype related to our previous release “BREMEN” and Fumiya’s first place in the Akasaka Marathon at the “All Star Thanksgiving Festival”.

Right, it feels like the winds are blowing in the right direction for you now.
Kosuke: I am grateful and happy about it. That was also the reason why we chose “LOVE BANDITZ”. When it came to decide on the next song after “BREMEN”, we listened to a lot of candidates, but only “LOVE BANDITZ” was obviously the right one. But there was also the talk about whether the song would be a bit of a challenge when chosen, but we all felt that it has to be this song.
Shuta: Honda-kun’s excitement was huge back then.
Katsunari: He was happy like a child finally getting the toy he wanted. (laughs)
Kosuke: That’s how impactful it was!
Shuta: He felt alien in a good way.
Fumiya: Right, just like OWV’s Shuta.
Shuta: Hey, who are you calling alien?!
Everyone: ahahaha
Shuta: But well, in a good way… am I an alien?
Fumiya & Honda: Yes.
Katsunari: Physically you might be.
Shuta: From space!?
TN: This part was tricky to translate cause 浮いてる usually means “floating” but can also mean “being out of place”. I tried to find something that could somehow translate the jokes into English.

Let’s go back to the topic. (laughs) The song felt aggressive.
Kosuke: I think we have established a band sound since implementing this into “Gamer”. “LOVE BANDITZ” is even more metal oriented with a very fast BPM. But I believe by choosing such a song now, we can establish OWV’s identity even more.
Katsunari: When we first decided on this song, I felt like this was not a song boy groups tend to do. I wondered what kind of dance it would have. But at this moment with “BREMEN” getting the first place, we felt that if we hadn’t chosen the song with the current momentum, we would have never been able to release this song. Hence, I thought this was the moment to release it and I was excited that it would be a fresh breeze of air for OWV.

If you can showcase this song well, it will increase OWV’s strengths.
Katsunari: I think the most important thing for a group is to express something unique, so I thought this song would allow us to do that.
Shuta: The hook of the song is the dance break. The choreographer of the song is YORITO-san with whom we worked since “Bling Bling”, but in the songs we entrusted to him previously we did not dance much in the dance break. Pretty much that there was not even a dance break in the MV. However, this time the moment we enter the dance break we dance fiercely. There are a lot of movements and sound frames, the formations are also detailed. The difficulty level is quite high, but I think this makes a good hook.
Katsunari: This time there was not much time for the choreography…
Shuta: And the difficulty level was also high. But me and Kacchan were told “you learnt the choreography faster than last time”, which made us really happy. Last time I could not remember the choreography after one day, but this time we were able to gasp the flow in one session, so I felt that we improved.

Honda-kun and Sano-kun, do you feel that the two have improved in dancing?
Kosuke: I feel it, but they made some big mistakes during the “Poka Poka” changeover dance…
Shuta: (cuts him off) Next question please!
Kosuke: That was fast. (laughs)
Shuta: No~, during the changeover dance I made a big mistake and I ended up having a mental blackout…
Fumiya: So your head was Poka Poka? (= fuzzy)
Shuta: It’s a live show!
Fumiya: Well, they surely became faster in learning the choreography. When we are rehearsing on tour, they remember things faster, and they are also learning additional choreography faster. I think the quality has also improved.
Shuta: …! (seems happy)
Fumiya: YORITA-san is someone very busy, so we made a quite absurd request this time. But not only have we worked together many times, but we have also improved our ability to absorb things, so we were able to discuss and create together, which was really amazing. YORITO-san also contacted us outside of practice hours and we communicated closely if there was anything we wanted to change. I knew that YORITO-san was a reliable and experienced partner.
Kosuke: While there is a formation in the chorus this time, there is no dancing. That’s how much we devoted ourselves to the dance break. I felt that the dance that incorporates every single sound is a masterpiece by YORITO-san. It became pretty much the highlight, so I hope you will anticipate it.
TN: Poka Poka is a TV show on Fuji TV in which Shuta & Katsunari appear every two weeks on Tuesdays. Sometimes when they change the studio interior during the live broadcast, the two will dance to a popular song and this segment seems to be called 転換ダンス or “changeover dance” when literally translated.

The lyrics have been written by ZERO-san like the last time.
Kosuke: I really like the whole idea of not letting go of the momentum and recognition we gained with “BREMEN”, and making people like us and become fans.
Shuta: Until now it was often that we told QWV (through the music) “we go ahead and you follow us”, but now that the people who support us have increased, the urge to release lyrics that say “Let’s go to take over the world” is there.
Katsunari: I love the words that ZERO-san chooses. It is also wonderful how our name was inserted in a cool way like in Fumiya’s part “CODE: Operation OWV starts”. In “LOVE BANDITZ” there is also the meaning that we want to steal everyone’s hearts and make them like us. It’s really typical for OWV and once more I was glad that we asked ZERO-san to write them. It became a powerful song in which each part has its highlights.

ZERO-san wrote lyrics for all 3 featured songs, right?
Katsunari: We are totally addicted to his lyrics!
Fumiya: Not only are the lyrics cool, but there is no mismatch between each member's part, and the lyrics fit the characters nicely. It's because ZERO-san wrote the lyrics with a clear understanding of us which makes them easy for us to interpret, and it feels really good to sing them. It's great that there is absolutely no contradiction between the message we have and the lyrics written by ZERO-san.
Kosuke: He is originally a rapper, so he has a cool way of phrasing things, and he puts what we want to say into words in a cool way, which really surprises us each time. He always writes things beyond our imagination, so we are really happy that we could ask him to write all three songs this time.