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OTOTOY: Manager Hiromitsu Shimizu looks back at the last 5 years with Especia

INTERVIEW: Hiromitsu Shimizu

Especia who began their career in April 2012 in Horie, Osaka, will be pulling down their curtains for the final time this March in Shinjuku, Tokyo. By comparing the group’s current standing with their humble beginnings, it is clear how much they have transformed; from idols to artists. It would be a lie to say that this transformation did not meet any challenges along the way. After becoming a trio, the members of Especia had lost their platforms to communicate publicly due to the removal of their Twitter accounts and official blogs. Members Haruka Tominaga, Erika Mori, and Mia Nascimento expressed their frustrations and frank thoughts in their last interview with Billboard JAPAN published last month.

However, they were not the only ones who had lost their privileges to communicate publicly. The man who conceived Especia, Hiromitsu Shimizu, also suffered the same fate. Starting from a certain period, Shimizu faded away from forefront of the group. Whilst this may be a topic that need not be discussed in the media, or may be a matter he is unable to discuss, it is unfathomable that he has not uttered anything even leading up to Especia’s final hours until the group disbands. Curiously, a photo circulated on Twitter after Especia’s Osaka leg of their “SPICE” Tour of the members—current and former—and the man himself, all with beaming carefree smiles. There, we saw the man who loves Especia more so than anyone else on this planet.

Original article published on OTOTOY (25 March 2017) Interviewed by: Hiroo Nishizawa

Translated by: @especia-va-bien

Especia’s indie era (2012-2014)

Especia was a project that you began when you still worked at the Osaka branch of Tsubasa Plus. When exactly was the project put into motion?

Hiromitsu Shimizu: “It was in April of 2012. I made a proposal to company to make a girl-group which centred around Haruka Tominaga who was runner-up of the SOKUDEBI audition which we co-operated with karaoke chain JANKARA. At first I wanted to make a group which centred around jazz and other sorts of sophisticated genres.”

Why did you want it to be centred around Haruka’s achievements as a runner-up?

Shimizu: “As a runner-up, she was entitled to free tuition at our music training school. She was with us for a whole year as she completed Year 12 at high school. I put the project into motion around the same time she finished her vocal coaching. Chika Sannomiya was also a student at that school at the time. The ones who Chika and Haruka invited to audition and actually passed were Chihiro Mise and Monari Wakita.

While the group began with 10 members, the group began their activities with 7 members two months after, and released their debut EP DULCE which was sold exclusively at TOWER RECORDS Shinjuku. Yokohama (Schtein&Longer) was their sound producer from the very beginning, right?

Shimizu: “I made a phone call to Yokoyama the moment I was thinking of starting the group. I was blown away at his production and arrangement of the “pink ver” and “white ver” of Pour Lui’s Elegant no Kaibutsu!! Having those songs in mind, I asked him if he could send over any scrapped BiS demos he had lying around, but instead he stated that he wanted to make something properly instead of simply sending over leftovers. From there, we began to reformulate the group’s entire concept completely.”

Especia began to centralise their activities in Osaka for a while. But what do you think was the cause for the group to have their name spread around Tokyo?

Shimizu: “It was that day! The day we were interviewed by OTOTOY for the very first time. At the POP SONG 2 U event at Nishi-Azabu eleven on the 4th of November 2012. Before that point, we only ever had about 3 people in the audience at the idol events we performed in, or some of the members had no choice but to only be part of the audience since they couldn’t make it to rehearsals as they had commitments with school. Gradually our circumstances began to change.”

Was there a reason why the group’s debut EP DULCE was sold exclusively at TOWER RECORDS Shinjuku at the time?

Shimizu: “We were still unknown at the time and I didn’t think we would sell much. So we mostly sold our CDs independently at first. But at the time, Furuki-san, who was a member of staff at TOWER RECORDS heard the record and thought how amazing it sounded. It was then decided that it would be sold exclusively at the Shinjuku store.”

You left quite an impression at the beginning with those videos of the girls singing along and dancing in odd places such as the desert and along Yokohama.

Shimizu: “Somehow we were invited to perform in Tottori, so we decided to shoot a video at Tottori Sand Dunes because we could and I thought it would be fun (laughs).”

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(Laughs). Moving along, you managed to collect 1.3 million yen through crowdfunding the Taste of Spice vinyl. What was the overall response at that time?

Shimizu: “There was an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the songs. Before that, we had uploaded the songs over on SoundCloud and gave listeners opportunities to download the tracks if they shared the song over on Twitter. They were downloaded quite a bit.”

While Especia’s music has been refined from the very beginning, they weren’t destroyed by the intensely idol-approach of marketing you engaged in.

Shimizu: “Looking at the idol market of Osaka, I noticed that there were many idol groups who were content as just local acts. Since we were beginning to gain some recognition, I wasn’t settling on the idea of staying limited to the Osaka area. I wanted the group to be known as Osaka’s top idol group, eventually branching out.”

At the time, audience members were not sure about the way they could enjoy the group’s music at live venues. I felt that the members moving onto the floor with the audience mid-performance really helped build a bridge between the way fans could interact with and enjoy the performances.

Shimizu: “It’s all thanks to the song Good Times, which is available for free download on OTOTOY.”

At a glance, the girls of Especia have always seemed polite and obedient. Shimizu-san, could you tell us how you were able to nurture them?

Shimizu: “I don’t tell them directly that they can’t sing or that their choreography isn’t in sync. Of course I give them advice on how they can refine the finer details of their performances and practice. More importantly, I make sure to remind them to make necessary preparations even before rehearsals, or things like making sure they each send a message expressing their gratitude to all the staff whenever they release a song. I tell them that being able to officially release music is something that is never guaranteed.”

As a manager, it would be challenging to be able to perfectly balance your nurturing and care. Could you tell us what is the basis of your methods to nurture the group?

Shimizu: “This is something I’ve always believed myself, but I strongly believe that we cannot complete tasks alone; we always need the assisstance of others. I have no ability to compose music, and I’m not at all in tuned to what is at the forefront of leading ideas and trends. The basis of these ideas are inspired by the people who are around me. Thus, I have the belief that we need to work whole heartedly with the people who share the same ideas around us.”

In 2014, Especia were able to join forces with Negicco to form Negipecia.

Shimizu: “At the time, we performed alongside with Negicco at many different events. Especia’s joint concert with Negicco and lyrical school became a huge topic at the time. We decided to collaborate with Negicco as not only did they have a name for themselves, their music was also just as refined and sophisticated, and they were also local idols who represented Niigata.”

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Especia’s major-label era (2015-2016)

At the group’s tour finale at O-EAST in December 2014, the group announced their major-label record deal.

Shimizu: “I was still working at the Osaka branch at the time, so it was difficult for the group to get big jobs in Tokyo. Our promotional work was limited, resulting in tie-up endorsement deals and campaigns eventually folding before taking off, or being unable to make appearance on certain media platforms. I won’t doubt that our staff at Tsubasa Plus weren’t working hard, but this was something that I wasn’t able to put into motion as an individual. I envisioned that the group would be able to reach a wider audience by signing onto a major label.”

I remember there was a lot of negative reactions to the first track We are Especia ~Nakinagara Dancing~ off of the group’s major-label debut mini album Primera. People heard the lyrics written by the girls of their worries going major, leading to fans fearing the group would be taking a completely different creative route following the new record deal.

Shimizu: “The thing is, that song was a perfect disco tune. It wasn’t that listeners were uncomfortable at the music itself, but they were concerned at the contents of the lyrics. Especia weren’t a group who had the individual members’ personalities at the forefront of their image. But personally, I knew that Haruka, Erika, Chika, Chihiro, Monari, and even Akane who left, all had their own unique character traits, and I wanted the world to gradually appreciate them as well. We were given the opportunity to collaborate with Wakadanna who is very passionate, so it was interesting to see him fuse his vision with our initial vision.”

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Speaking of individual charms, Chika and Chihiro were known as being the dancers of the group, right? Each member was given their own platform to shine at the groups’ live performances.

Shimizu: “In terms of vocals, Haruka and Monari led the group, with Erika eventually catching up with them both with her own ability. Unfortunately, as Chika and Chihiro’s vocals fell behind they both expressed that they wanted to do more of the dance parts. The two of them were given most of the dance solos.”

As a result of performing under a major label for approximately an entire year, Chika, Chihiro, and Monari announced their graduation from the group at the Especia “Estrella” Tour 2015 -Viva Final- concert on the 17th of January 2016 at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST. Why exactly did these bleak circumstances eventually come into fruition?

Shimizu: “There were many different factors which happened actually. I moved back to Tokyo, so the group’s management was entrusted to another staff. As a result a distance grew between myself and the group. Ultimately, my goal was to get all members to make the move to Tokyo as well, but that wasn’t able to come into fruition as we did not meet our projected sales and audience quotas. I think this would have been a different story if CARTA sold more than 10,000 copies, but unfortunately we couldn’t achieve that either.”

To sum up, a spanner was thrown into the works with results not meeting their expectations as result of the physical distance between you in Tokyo and the girls in Osaka.

Shimizu: “Yes, I believe that’s one of the factors.”

Especia: The Second Chapter (2016-2017)

Thus, with Haruka and Erika making the move to Tokyo, and the introduction of Mia Nascimento as a new member, Especia began their Second Chapter. The group’s music and art direction was polished further, however, the girls lost their blogs and Twitter accounts. Just why was there this huge change?

Shimizu: “To put it simply, it was to present the group more as refined artists. They were presenting themselves too much like idols by posting selfies onto Twitter, even though they had such sophisticated and refined music. The truth is that I wanted to them to reclaim their autonomy—their own private lives.”

While the group were in training preparing for their return, it seems that the members were given the opportunity to study music theory earnestly.

Shimizu: “Yeah. For example, up until recently, whenever the girls would be ad-libbing, they’ve been just doing it by copying the way they were shown to do it. However, during that training period of studying music theory, they’ve learnt to ad-lib freely through improvisation based on the rhythm and key of the music.

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In other words, Especia restarted themselves completely so that they could be presented as trained musicians. Despite the group’s move to Tokyo closing the geographical distance with yourself, and the strengthened improvement of the artistic direction of the group, ultimately the response to the group also deteriorated.

Shimizu: “We had 150 to 200 people show up at Especia’s first performance in their Second Chapter. This dwindled down to around 100 by their next live performance. By their third performance, we only had audiences of about 30 to 40 people.”

Almost several months after only starting Especia’s Second Chapter, you decided to disband the group in October. Could you tell us what was the cause for the disbandment?

Shimizu: “Given the circumstances, I just could not save Especia any more. That is all. While it was essentially the job of the manager to boost the motivation and morale or the members along with overseeing the overall direction, I just could not envision any other ways we could continue the group.”

Putting it like this would have you painted as the villain who destroyed Especia, but I believe that isn’t the case. With the Second Chapter, you were appointed the role as producer and managed the group from afar, mobilising the cogs of the team involved in Especia.

Shimizu: “Even so, the fans would say that that has nothing to do with it. There are fans who noticed that I was eventually not a part of Especia’s production for a period of time. I wasn’t present at Especia’s performances and events during most of the group’s Second Chapter.”

No matter how much Especia changes, that does not change the fact that Especia are loved by so many people. Whether there are smiles or tears, the group will be holding their final concert on the 26th of March at Shinjuku BLAZE. How are you feeling about the group’s farewell tour?

Shimizu: “I feel that this tour is an amalgamation of the group’s previous incarnations with the current incarnation. While the group have been unable to do certain things in the Second Chapter, they have also gained so many other skills as well. I especially believe the three of them have strengthened their vocal harmonies as a group. While we will be supported by a live band for the Osaka and Tokyo concerts, we want the line-up to be simple instead of having three additional back-up singers supporting them. This is a chance for the group to really showcase the degree of their perfection of the last couple of months. However, the group have lost their cohesion with the songs. Before, I would change the setlist right in the middle of the performance without warning the girls countless times. They wouldn’t know what song was coming next, so the girls would just have to be ready and perform what I play. The girls each only had to know their own lines and that was it. But we can’t do that these days. What really I find really symbolic was when I realised Mia couldn’t sing Especia’s iconic track No1 Sweeper. I stopped doing that because she would get flustered if I just played something without her knowing what to actually do. We’re not that kind of group any more.”

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I feel that this tour is a way for Especia to reclaim their true quality by showcasing themselves at their peak, right at the very end.

Shimizu: “This tour is not to showcase what Especia has achieved in the last half year, but to summarise the fruits of Especia’s hardworking career over the last 5 years. The three of them have achieved so much just by going on their first tour together; through things they cultivated in their previous incarnation, and as a trio. This is their final performance where the members and myself will showcase our entire hearts and soul.”

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