60 Minutes with The Beauty; Sayumi Michishige Interview

 

This is the translation From her interview on Monthly Takarajima May 2014 vol 34, "60 minutes with the beauty"

Before, I've always looked at Sayu as someone self-centered, mostly because of her narcissistic personality and so I was really inclined when she became leader. But I'm happy that Sayu has proven me wrong, her being the leader had significantly changed my views towards her. She's a great person, someone you can really rely on not only as a leader but as a member.

 

 

 

――The group name has changed to "Morning Musume '14" and recently is coming back with an amazing vigor
从*・ ｡.・）＜ With Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa / Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai / What is love? getting the 1st ranking in Oricon Weekly ranking, we were able to set a record of our group's first ever 4th consecutive weekly 1st. As part of MM '14, I would love cut open a new path for the group so this makes me very happy.

 

――Musically, your recent songs have been pretty aggressive and your dance routine have also become more complex. Is it hard for you to keep up?
从*・ ｡.・）＜ Singing and dancing are not at all my specialty... well, I mean I'm actually pretty terrible at it (lol). So all this time I'm just frantically trying to keep up with it. If there's a part I don't understand I just casually ask my kouhais "Teach me about this part". You won't hear me saying 'but I'm their senpai" or "but I'm the leader"

 

――That's pretty admirable.
从*・ ｡.・）＜ Well up until now I usually asked my senpais or my generation mates but they're not here anymore. If I don't do at least that the group won't be put together properly so I won't hesitate to get the kouhais to tell me things like "you should do it more like this"

 

――Do you feel a sense of isolation or loneliness now that your senpais and generation mates are gone?
从*・ ｡.・）＜ I thought I would. After Tanaka Reina-chan graduated, the one who's been doing this for over 10 years is only me now while the rest have only been in the group for 2-3 years or less. But now that it comes down to it, contrary to expectations with this formation my distance with everyone gradually became closer. If I still have my generation mates by default I would always spend most of my time with them. They'd also always tell me when I made a mistake and if I don't understand something I could always ask them. Now on the other hand, I have to talk with everyone or things wouldn't get settled. I really love the how current relationships work between all 10 members right now.

 

――As the leader, are there things you feel you have to be strict on correcting?
从*・ ｡.・）＜ I'll just say this clearly . Even though innate talents and the things you're just naturally bad at is not something I or anyone else can help with, simple things like remembering your positions and choreography, things that everyone should be able to do... it  bugs me if they messed it up. I'd always remind them that we're doing this as group.

 

――Do you start thinking "As a group" when you became leader?
从*・ ｡.・）＜It starts blooming around 1-2 years ago (lol). I used to think as long as I get a nice position/role I'd be happy with it, or other self-centered ways of thinking like that but now I become focused on thinking more about the balance of the entire group. Even when we appeared on variety shows, I always think about ways to swing the conversation to the other members and how to get them to say something fun.

 

――Sayumi-chan now is the longest serving member among all the successive generations at 11years, your youthful/teenage days....
从*・ ｡.・）＜ I gave a~aallll of it away (lol)
 

 ――What is the reason you keep continuing?
从*・ ｡.・）＜ Because I love doing it. When I think of Morning Musume all I feel is how fun being a part of it is. I love it too much (lol). Even at home all I listen to is mostly Morning Musume.
That's simply just all there is to it.

 

――You declared this is the "Year of the Battle" before
从*・ ｡.・）＜  Yes. The current Morning Musume is a group mostly made up of new members. So after getting consecutive 1st in weekly rankings, instead of getting carried away, we have to take everything we've done until now and step by step move forward, all the while keeping your aim at the top and trusting everyone who have supported you all the way.

 

ALL CREDITS TO TRANSLATOR  randompasserby@jplop