PSYCHIC FEVER Find Strength in Their Differences on New Album ‘DIFFERENT’: Interview

Billboard Japan had the opportunity to interview the septet in London on the occasion of the release of their second album.

Desde seu debut há quatro anos, PSYCHIC FEVER tem se mantido ativa tanto no Japão quanto no exterior. Através de suas experiências musicais, eles perceberam que sua força reside na individualidade dos sete membros do grupo.

Conversamos com eles extensivamente sobre tudo, desde a criação do álbum até como a experiência de turnê os levou a ver a música como sem fronteiras, e o valor que atribuem à “diferença”, conforme expressado em suas próprias palavras.

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Para começar, vamos falar sobre seu novo álbum. DIFFERENT, seu segundo álbum, foi lançado em 10 de julho. Nos quatro anos desde seu debut, você acumulou muita experiência no Japão e no exterior.

RYOGA: With DIFFERENT, we wanted the album to reflect what we’ve been feeling over the past four years, and the ways we’ve changed and evolved. We’ve been fortunate to be able play not only in Japan but in many other cities, in 15 countries around the world.

Over the course of those shows, we’ve realized that all seven of us look different, think differently, and express ourselves in different ways. Each of us has our own way of performing and our own strengths.

I think that’s unusual for a modern boy band, and that variety is a good thing. It’s one of PSYCHIC FEVER’s strengths. That’s why we were able to make DIFFERENT.

JIMMY: Apenas um mês depois de estrearmos, fomos para a Tailândia por seis meses de treinamento hardcore, e então as pessoas começaram a compartilhar “Just Like Dat feat.

JP THE WAVY.” Por volta desse período, percebemos, graças aos nossos fãs, que, do ponto de vista do público internacional, cada um de nós era realmente único e distinto.

Up until then, as a group we had this feeling that we needed to have unified objectives and a unified concept. Our overseas experience showed us that all seven of us have our own individual qualities, so we wanted to put that into our album.

We also wanted to share a message with our listeners, that it’s okay to be different, that everyone is unique in their own way, and it’s important to cherish the value of each and every person.

The album covers a wide range of genres, but it never loses that core “PSYCHIC FEVER feel.” Was there anything you focused on when making the album to make sure it came out like that.

JIMMY: Começamos a trabalhar no novo álbum no início do nosso quarto ano juntos, depois de termos experimentado todos os tipos de gêneros diferentes, então focamos na música que ressoava com nossas próprias raízes.

Hip-hop and R&B is what got us into dancing, and we’d always admired African-American music. I’m part Nigerian, so my roots are also intertwined with Afrobeat. We chose genres that related to us—that we had close ties to.

This time, we actually went through the things we’ve tried and pared away different elements to focus more tightly on our roots. I think that makes for a really fresh-feeling album.

No álbum, cada um de vocês expressa sua própria individualidade. Há alguma parte em que você acha que o caráter de algum membro realmente se destaca.

Did you discover any new aspects of PSYCHIC FEVER’s appeal through the process of making the album.

REN: We tried our hand at Afrobeat for the first time, and after we were done with the recording and I listened to the finished song, I remember thinking that, yes, it was Afrobeat, but it also had a strong PSYCHIC feel to it.

All ten of the songs on the album, including the R&B, hip-hop, and dance music songs, feel like PSYCHIC FEVER. So through the new album, I discovered that we also have our own sound, that only we can create.

I feel like the lyrics to the songs on DIFFERENT also resonate with people in all kinds of different environments and situations. When you were writing the lyrics, was there anything you paid special attention to when it came to putting yourselves in the listeners’ shoes or striking a chord with them.

JIMMY: Our music turns our experiences, our ethnic roots, our different ways of thinking, and the like into messages that we share with listeners. Our music and our performances turn them all into positive energy.

When writing the lyrics, I really focus on keeping a good balance of Japanese and English.

WEESA: Eu presto muita atenção em permanecer fiel à vida. Tenho certeza de que diferentes ouvintes tiram coisas distintas das letras, mas no novo álbum, esforcei-me para escrever letras com essa sensação de fidelidade à realidade.

I pick the English and Japanese lyrics very carefully, but I never forget to keep it catchy. For both languages, catchiness is important, and I also want overseas listeners to experience how fun the Japanese language is.

People often talk about how music is an art form without borders. Have you had any experiences that made you feel that way.

TSURUGI: When we played “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY” at different venues in the US, the local audiences would even sing along with the Japanese parts. It really demonstrated the power of music.

Muitos ouvintes aprenderam o significado de nossas letras através da nossa música e comentaram sobre o quão divertido foi aprender japonês em suas redes sociais.

Isso realmente me fez sentir que, com a música, não há fronteiras.

So, you’ve realized that one of PSYCHIC FEVER’s strengths lies in the differences between its members. Is there any message you want to share with the world using this strength.

JIMMY: I want to tell people that there’s no need to compare yourself to others or to feel inferior. We weren’t all that great when we started out. We just practiced hard, and we really delved into what we loved.

We were able to successfully do it as a group, and I want to share that with everyone out there. I think in our world, individuality comes from turning what you love into one of your strengths and from doing something different from everybody else.

PSYCHIC FEVER não tem realmente um 'conceito', o que eu acho que é uma boa coisa. Em vez disso, é um grupo formado pelas forças de cada um de seus membros. Assim, com os Avengers, você tem o Iron Man, o Spider-Man, todos esses super-heróis que se juntam, e eles são o que torna a equipe forte.

We try to make music that people with different backgrounds and different ethnicities, living in different environments, can all enjoy.

Since we’re all in London, I’d like to ask a question about London, actually. One of the likes in the song “Uh Oh” is “No idea where I’m going tmr, Paris NY LA, next is London.” Was there some special reason that you put London last.

WEESA: Eu escrevi essa parte. Sinto que, ultimamente, temos tido essa forte conexão com Londres, e toda vez que vamos, fico realmente inspirado e quero colocar ainda mais shows aqui.

Of course, I want to play at all the cities in the lyrics, and all kinds of other countries, too, but lately we’ve had a lot of opportunities to go to London, which is why I put it last.

KOKORO: I’d really like to perform in the UK. We’ve just released DIFFERENT, and we’re going to be really showing what it means to be PSYCHIC FEVER, so you won’t want to miss it.

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