Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 “PROPOSE”
Interview & text by: Kazumi Namba
You could call them a heretic born from Japanese idol culture, or a mutant. It’s already been ten months since Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 (the idol group formed with the gimmick of the unit being ‘polygamy’ with Ryujin and his several wives sharing the same ‘Kiyoshi’ surname) released their debut song “Will♡You♡Marry♡Me?” which left a striking impression at many levels, and now their first album “PROPOSE” has been delivered. Ryujin Kiyoshi and his six have wives created a complex collection of pieces which are choke-full of love, insanity, and humor, performing in an energetic, theatrical manner throughout the entire album.
“I think about live performances and the music video(s) first. I have those images before composing, and then make songs out of them. I even think about which part of music video would be excerpted and featured, and try to divide up that part evenly among the members so that everyone will be appearing on the video equally.” (Ryujin Kiyoshi)
This album contains 13 stories. Just by hearing the sound, we can imagine that Ryujin and his wives are playing around in a musical-like scene, and what makes this album a masterpiece is a hint of crudeness and lightness that we can feel in this solidly conceptual and elaborate plot.
“The concept of Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 itself is a ‘creation’ of mine, so there’s the image that the album was born from that ‘creation’. It might sound strange, but in that sense, the album is like my son’s son. So I feel like I shouldn’t give him too much care. As long as he is a decent man, I don’t really care what kind of personality he would have. In other words, as long as we, as professional musicians, maintain a certain quality, the album will be something that represents our concept in a better way.” (Ryujin)
“I don’t think Ryujin expects us to be great dancers or singers. So I decided to do my best to let the audience know how happy and enjoyable we are through my performance.” (Momoka Kiyoshi)
Another interesting feature is that Ryujin Kiyoshi didn’t arrange any of the songs on this album himself. Instead, arrangers such as DANCE☆MAN (musician/arranger/composer), Tom-H@ck (producer/artist/composer), Seiji Muto (musician/composer/arranger/producer), and MOSAIC.WAV (a group of two composers/arrangers) worked on the arrangements as if trying to act as the liaison between the elements of HELLO! PROJECT, AKB, and Akihabara style.
“I don’t think installing my musical tastes in the songs would be necessary for this type of idol group. As long as the melody and lyrics are good, the album would sound better if the songs were arranged by different people when played all through.” (Ryujin)
We also asked the ‘wives’ about the highlights of the album.
“I had a spoken line on “Chikai no Waltz (meaning Waltz of Vow),” which was kind of embarrassing to perform. And with “Yappari Wife ga No.1♪(meaning My wife is No. 1 After All),” Ryujin only emailed me the lyrics of its bridge part, telling me to ‘do it in rap,’ even though I didn’t know what kind of song it was.” (Misaki Kiyoshi)
“Yeah, I hated that.” (Momoka Kiyoshi)
“So did I. And on "Please… My… Darling§," I never imagined my voice could sound that cute. I felt embarrassed when I heard myself later on.” (Misaki)
Well, let’s enjoy their embarrassing moments then! In the meantime, considering Ryujin Kiyoshi’s characteristic as an artist that presents different expressions on each release, we can’t help being unnecessarily worried about what will be of the group after this nearly perfect album.
“If this album was going to be our last record, they should’ve mentioned that this was a ‘temporary job’ when recruiting the members. I’m not okay with that! But we never know what Ryujin is thinking, so he might just let us go without mercy. We have to be careful.” (Misaki)
“I feel a sense of accomplishment because I’ve done everything I could do. But we can only receive the feedback after it’s out there, and I also think there will still be some space for what we can do. I hope we can continue Kiyoshi Ryujin 25.” (Ryujin)
“Don’t worry. We are married man and wives. Unless Ryujin gets to hate us, we’ll be okay. We’re family, right? And we’re very close, right?♥” (Momoka)
“……Yup♥” (Ryujin)
