=LOVE on Their New Era: How Members Interpret the Unrequited Love Song in Different Ways
This interview was originally published in Japanese on thefirsttimes.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.
=LOVE Interview: “この空がトリガー” – A New Chapter for the Group
=LOVE (Equal Love), the idol group produced by指原莉乃, has released their new single “この空がトリガー” (This Sky is a Trigger). Following 齊藤なぎさ’s graduation in January at Pacifico Yokohama, the group has started their new era. In this interview, we hear from the members about their feelings as they navigate this transition, and explore their interpretation of the unrequited love song centered by 佐々木舞香.
“When My Mic Number Changed From 11 to 10, I Felt It a Little”
Q: First, tell us about how you’re feeling as you start this new chapter with the new lineup.
大場花菜 (Ohba Hanana): Now that なーたん (齊藤なぎさ) graduated in January, =LOVE is in a new era. I think fans must feel a lot of uncertainty alongside the chance to see new sides of us. I want us to show everyone that we’re okay in this new formation.
諸橋沙夏 (Morohashi Sayaka): The reality hasn’t really sunk in yet, and honestly, I’m not sure what the fans are thinking. But I don’t want them to feel that our stage performances are lacking or lonely without なぎさ. I want to aim for lives that feel even more powerful and passionate than before.
瀧脇笙古 (Takiwaki Shogo): We’re going to work together even harder than before to deliver better performances. I’d be so happy if everyone keeps supporting us with even more enthusiasm.
齋藤樹愛羅 (Saito Kiaira): I’m still getting used to being a 10-member group, but to make sure fans don’t feel anxious, we’re all working hard to show them the new =LOVE.
音嶋莉沙 (Otoshima Risa): Even with the new lineup, I want people to feel like supporting =LOVE, standing by us, and wanting to see us on even bigger stages.
佐々木舞香 (Sasaki Maika): Of course it feels lonely, but we’re all going to work together to fill the parts なぎさ was handling, and we want to keep raising the level of =LOVE’s completeness.
大谷映美里 (Otani Emirito): Since we sent なぎさ off, we’ve been doing 10-member rehearsals every day. I’m really feeling how important each individual member is. We’re all inheriting なぎさ’s parts, and while it’s tough, we’re really coming together. I want to deliver the finished product to the fans as soon as possible.
野口衣織 (Noguchi Iori): It’s incredibly lonely. I still have this feeling like there’s a hole in my heart. But なーたん left us with messages saying things like “I want to see all kinds of =LOVE” and “I want to see everyone standing at the Tokyo Dome.” Even after graduating, she’s thinking about the group, so I realized we have to work even harder. The =LOVE group itself hasn’t changed since we were formed, so I think we can take this group—with なーたん’s feelings and everyone’s feelings together—to even bigger stages.
高松瞳 (Takamatsu Hitomi): I was really sad on the day of her graduation concert, but since なー supports us and we support なー, I switched my mindset the next day to one of mutual encouragement. Now I’m just filled with determination to work hard, and I hope fans will keep loving the new =LOVE.
山本杏奈 (Yamamoto Anna): It was during tour rehearsals when my mic number changed from 11 to 10 that I really felt it. I got sad and lonely, and like everyone’s saying, I really felt just how big and amazing なぎさ’s presence was. But it’s not just about なぎさ—each member has their own strengths and potential. Since the group was formed until now, I’ve thought =LOVE was the strongest at every stage, and I want to keep updating that as we move forward.
Q: Your 13th single “この空がトリガー” comes out just one month after the graduation concert. How did you feel when you first received this song?
諸橋: I was really happy to sing a classic, bittersweet youth song for the first time in a while.
高松: Same here—I was excited to get back to a classic idol song. Knowing we’d record it and shoot the MV with =LOVE made me feel so excited.
音嶋: A lot of fans tell us they love all kinds of =LOVE songs, but ultimately love the classic ones. So with this classic idol song after a long time, I think fans will be happy about it.
樹愛羅: This is our first classic youth song since our 8th single “青春”サブリミナル””, so I was really happy. Between that song and our latest single, we’ve done sad songs and all kinds of stuff, so everyone’s vocals have gotten even stronger. The song has a bright, classic sound, but there’s this bittersweet sadness to it—it came together as a really wonderful track. I’m excited to perform it.
山本: And back with “青春”サブリミナル””, we all had super colorful individual outfits. This time too, for a new start, the outfits are colorful again. At a moment like this with a new beginning, it really made me reaffirm that each individual person is important—that this group needs each person’s individuality.
瀧脇: A lot of people think of “青春”サブリミナル”” as =LOVE’s classic idol song, but actually there was a sequence: 6th single “ズルいよ ズルいね”, 7th single “CAMEO”, then 8th single “青春”サブリミナル””.
音嶋: Right—a mature breakup song, a sensual girl crush song, then a classic youth song.
瀧脇: So this time, after 11th single “あの子コンプレックス” and 12th single “Be Selfish” with its Korean MV shoot, I was hoping we’d get back to a classic idol song next. When this song came along, I was like “Yes!” (laughs). But the lyrics are a bit bittersweet. Lines about the sky knowing things, the sky as a trigger—it’s amazing how they use the sky as a motif.
大場: I didn’t understand what “trigger” meant at first. We looked it up in a dictionary together and learned it means “pulling a trigger,” and then it all made sense.
Q: What about you, 佐々木, who’s centering this track?
佐々木: When I first heard this song, it was so sparkly and bright, I thought “Here we go!” But as I read the lyrics more carefully, I realized “…wait, maybe this isn’t a happy song?” The intro doesn’t hint at how bittersweet the lyrics actually are. I really love songs with bright melodies but sad lyrics, so this one hit me even harder emotionally with its sadness and longing.
大谷: It’s a classic youth song—very =LOVE-like, so I loved it. But the lyrics aren’t easy to understand in one listen. We worked through them together as a group.
野口: For me, the D-section lyrics “春へ向かっていく風が〜心にずっと 君がいる” (The wind moving toward spring / You’re always in my heart)—I think of なーたん. The new =LOVE is moving forward positively toward spring, but なーたん being there and the days we spent together will always stay in our hearts. That’s how the lyrics sound to me. Maybe that’s not what they’re actually about, but every time I hear or perform this song, I feel なーたん in my heart. Of course I cherish the new =LOVE too, but there’s something really reassuring and precious about carrying なーたん with us.
Q: Speaking of that verse, how do the rest of you interpret it?
大谷: A few different people, yeah.
大場: We talk about how they’re just friends who have good conversations, but I’m the one with unrequited feelings, and I think the other person is just a really good person who gets along with everyone.
佐々木: When you watch the MV, you realize there are so many different ways to interpret this. I think it’s interesting that each person can take it differently.
高松: It could be a man and woman, or woman and woman—anything’s possible. That’s very Sashihara-like (laughs). That kind of open-to-interpretation approach where people can understand it however they want is what makes it interesting.
“The Intro Makes You Imagine One Thing, But the Lyrics are Unexpectedly Bittersweet”
Q: You can read these lyrics multiple ways. What kind of couple did you imagine?
樹愛羅: When I read the lyrics versus watching the MV, I got confused, but based on the MV, the other person seems really kind and nice, but that kindness becomes misleading. They don’t mean anything by it, but somehow they make people fall for them.
山本: That line “勝手に好きでごめんね” (Sorry for liking you without permission) is so sad. That phrase hit me the hardest when I first watched it.
樹愛羅: But then there’s “君と2人で あの日会ったこと” (That day we met, just the two of us)…
野口: Yeah, that’s what stuck with me too. When I thought about what it meant, if this is a love story told from just one person’s perspective, maybe they didn’t arrange to meet directly? Like maybe it’s similar to a childhood promise between kids, like “I’ll marry you when we grow up.” And only one person remembers it. That’s how I interpreted it. So when we were shooting the MV and I saw the structure and script, I was like “Ah, that makes sense.” It was more complex than I expected, and it turned out to be such a touching MV. I felt like a whole new world opened up to me, and it made me really happy.
諸橋: The lyrics alone versus watching the MV—they really do feel different. When you watch the MV, it’s mainly about 舞香 and 衣織, and their expressions are so bittersweet. You feel like it’s a really sad song. But if you just read the lyrics, in a way the main character girl is enjoying this situation too. I think she loves being in love with someone. The first two verses are really sad, but then at the end she says “勝手に好きでごめんね 私 このままでいい” (Sorry for liking you without permission / Me / This is fine as is). And I thought, “Oh, this is fine for her?” I thought it would hit harder like “あの子コンプレックス”, but instead it’s “this is fine,” and she doesn’t even mention meeting that day—she just wants to “keep longing.” I realized the protagonist loves being in love.
Q: So it could be like she’s in love with the idea of being in love, or genuinely devoted to one person—maybe it’s all just bravado?
瀧脇: With “あの子コンプレックス”, the line that jumped out at me first was “まだ好きでごめんね” (Sorry for still loving you), and this song has “勝手に好きでごめんね”, which made me so sad. “好きでごめんね”—that’s the most painful thing, isn’t it? The other person doesn’t feel anything, you know they don’t feel anything, and you know they just see you as a friend. I see her as someone putting on a brave face.
音嶋: It feels pretty opposite to “あの子コンプレックス”. I don’t think I could accept “this is fine as is.” I feel like I’d actually go for it, you know?
“When You Watch the Video, You’ll First Notice the Blue-Haired Person Appearing Everywhere”
Q: The MV, as 諸橋 mentioned, tells a story centered around 佐々木 and 野口. Tell us about that.
佐々木: We shot drama and dance scenes over several days, and the order was pretty jumbled, so we didn’t know how it would come together. At first they intentionally made it seem like I was in love with a man through the camera work and composition—it was a strange shooting experience. I shot it with the feeling of being in love with 野口衣織, but if someone who’d never seen this watched it, they’d first be curious about the blue-haired person who appears everywhere.
Q: He’s got it rough—everyone except 佐々木 fell for him!
佐々木: (laughs) Yeah. I think he had it the toughest in this shoot. He was on set the whole time with basically no breaks. Props to him!
野口: Yeah, it was difficult. My character was cheerful and bright, while 舞香’s was cool and quiet, so I kept getting told “Be cuter! More cutesy and adorable!!” I was overthinking it. When I saw the finished MV, there was a version of 野口衣織 I didn’t know. It felt fresh, but honestly I was more embarrassed than anything. It didn’t feel like me.
Q: Tell us about the highlights of the MV and behind-the-scenes stories.
音嶋: There were a lot of individual scenes, so we didn’t know what everyone else was shooting. When you see the finished MV, you notice each person’s bittersweet expressions and all kinds of emotions. I’d say pay attention to that.
大場: The director gave us a lot of acting direction. Everyone had different setups—I shot at a flower shop and at school. In the flower shop scene with the blue-haired kid…
Q: He had a name?
大場: 空田 (Sorata). The setup was that I liked this customer 空田 who keeps coming in and ordering the same flowers. We got lots of direction on eye contact and other details. I thought, “Wow, I’ve never done an MV like this before!”
諸橋: Actually, I was the one giving そらたん (Sorata) acting direction (laughs).
大場: (laughing)
高松: During scene changes and breaks, the director suggested the extras practice together. It was also the first time in a while we’ve done an acting-heavy MV, so it was fresh seeing everyone’s acting.
樹愛羅: I was a girl who loves video games. I was playing games the whole time.
Q: Yeah, you didn’t make eye contact at all.
樹愛羅: I actually forgot I even shot the bus scene. When I watched the finished MV, I was like “You’ve been gaming this whole time?” Then in the interlude, I was like “Oh, that’s when I shot that!” I dropped my train pass on the bus without realizing, then someone handed it to me, and I had to react with surprise. But I couldn’t really surprise effectively even when they told me to react bigger. I feel like I failed that part.
高松: In my solo section, I was practicing cutting hair after a hair salon closed. The spray I used to dye the hair blue wasn’t dry, and my hands turned completely blue (laughs). If you look closely, my hands are bright blue.
Q: (laughing) There was also that ramen scene, right?
高松: Actually, I was the one handing over money—the receiving part barely made it in. Just so blue.
大谷: I got to eat ramen too. At first they said “Eat the ramen,” and I ate normally, but then they were like “Maybe a bit much?” So I ate more carefully, and then after we wrapped, I ate a ton. It was really delicious.
高松: I had omurice, not ramen. There was a coffee shop scene with me and 樹愛羅, and we were eating omurice. I finished the whole thing!
樹愛羅: You kept saying “Delicious!” (laughs)
高松: I was definitely overeating. They told me to take it easier. It was just that good!
瀧脇: (laughs) 花ちゃん (大場) was a flower shop worker, みりに