BAND-MAID released the new single “SPIN” on Oct. 28. The release features three tracks, including the title song, written specifically as the ending theme for the anime BEYBLADE X Bey Kingdom Arc. The five members of the band chatted with Billboard Japan about the title track “SPIN.”
You performed at summer festivals every weekend this summer. At Summer Sonic, you reunited with the three members of The Warning, right?
Miku Kobato (Guitar/Vocals): That’s right. Dani (Daniela / Vocals/Guitar/Piano) joined us onstage for a collaboration during our set.
Was that the first time you’d seen them since your 2024 show together?
SAIKI (Vocals): Actually, we saw them last year. The three sisters came to Japan on a private trip.
Kobato: We all went out to eat together then, BAND-MAID and The Warning. Unfortunately MISA (Bass) couldn’t make it, so for her, Summer Sonic was the first time seeing them in a while, po.
It’s great that your friendship is still going strong! How was the show?
Kobato: It was so much fun. I was really happy we got to perform together again after so long. Pau (Paulina / Drums) and Ale (Alejandra / Bass) were also watching from the side of the stage, so it felt like we were all playing together, po.
SAIKI: Seeing The Warning play live in Japan for the first time in a while was really amazing, too. It got us fired up right before our own set.
You’ve been releasing new music at a steady pace while putting on “OKYU-JI” (live shows) on tour and at festivals. How did the production process go?
KANAMI (Guitar): The title track, “SPIN,” was written especially for the anime BEYBLADE X Bey Kingdom Arc after we were approached about it in February this year. The production side asked us, “The anime is enjoyed by kids and adults alike, so we’d love it if there were parts everyone could sing together, that kids could sing along to,” so I created a section in the chorus where everyone can sing. It’s the part in parentheses, “(spin, grin, don’t give in),” and the three of us in the instrument section (everyone except Kobato) joined in on backing vocals to make it clear that this is where we want everyone to sing along. Also, I watched footage of Beyblade tournament battles for reference, and what struck me was how great the Beyblades sounded. I use a lot of sampled sounds in my songs and thought the Beyblade sounds could work as samples too, so I asked Kobato to record them during her vocal session.
Kobato: I was asked to “record the ‘whoosh!’ of the Beyblades crashing into each other and the sound of them spinning,” so I did it while checking with KANAMI like, “How’s this?” po.
KANAMI: While bringing out a sense of playfulness by putting in actual Beyblade sounds like that, I also wanted to include a lot of twists and turns in the structure so people would want to listen more closely. I also wanted to make a song with a sense of speed that would match the image of Beyblade.
What did you keep in mind when you were playing for the recording?
MISA: Since it’s a song for Beyblade, which is loved by people of all ages, I wanted to make a song and a bass line that everyone from kids to adults could dance to. For example, I don’t use octave playing much in other songs, but I tried doing more of it this time. The vibe changes completely from section to section, and I went all-out melodic in places. I recorded it wanting to create a bass line that makes you think, “This is fun!” when you listen to it.
AKANE (Drums): True to the title, the song unfolds at a dizzying pace, so on drums I used phrases that evoke a speed overlapping with the Beyblades in the intro and first verse, and in the pre-chorus I was conscious of space and atmosphere, going for phrases that give a thrilling, cat-and-mouse sense of, “What’s going to happen next?” Then in the chorus, while keeping that battle-like, driving feel, I repeat phrases to establish a solid backbone. The chorus is pretty long, so I split it into first and second half, didn’t move around too much, and anchored it in the quiet moments, aiming to create a sense of story within my own phrases. Also, recording the backing vocals all together this time was so much fun.
Kobato: SAIKI and I sang the core parts of the backing vocals, and then everyone else joined in, so it turned into something really new. I think it makes what we want to convey, “We want you all to sing along too,” come across even more strongly, po. This time, I also got to sing a little more of the lead than usual, not just backing vocals. The second half of the second chorus is different (from the first), and I was told to record that part as cute as possible, so I got the lyrics for that part from SAIKI early so I could go all out on the cuteness.
SAIKI: I decided on that part first, while the lyrics for the rest still weren’t set. I wrote words that fit Kobato perfectly so she could sing them with perfect cuteness. Like, “Only Kobato could pull this off.”
The “I’ll chant the magic words for you” part, right?
Kobato: Right. She wanted me to go all out and sing it as cute as possible, so I got it ahead of time and was told to have it worked out before recording. I thought it through, wondering if I should try this or maybe that, po.
KANAMI: We’re a band that can take advantage of having twin vocals, so I wanted to highlight that as something fun. Every once in a while, I want to see Kobato’s cute side too, and I’m sure our Masters and Princesses [fans] do as well, so we made everyone’s dreams come true.
Did you come up with the title “SPIN” while writing the lyrics, SAIKI?
SAIKI: Yes. It was there from the very beginning among the title ideas I suggested, and in the end it was like, “Yeah, it has to be this,” so we went with “SPIN.” For the lyrics, I kind of restudied Beyblade for the first time in years, looking up all sorts of things while writing. I felt it was a game where the fun is in spinning and spinning is what matters, and the word “spin” just feels really good in your mouth when you say it. Beyblade is hugely popular and well known overseas too, so there’s actually an all-English version as well. The song is somewhat unusual in that it will be localized into different languages over the course of about a year and go out into the world along with the anime. That was also a first for me in terms of production and writing lyrics.
Right from the opening with “SPIN, CRASH,” the lyrics sum up the appeal of Beyblade in a word.
SAIKI: Like KANAMI said earlier, I feel like the battle already begins with the sound of the Beyblades. They spin, crash, and then it starts all over again. With that in mind, I made the lyrics’ timeline, so to speak — the narrative and the emotions of the person battling — follow the progression of a battle. It’s fired up all the way through, and the parts in parentheses that we want everyone to sing actually rhyme too, like “(spin, grin, don’t give in)” in the second verse. I want little kids to sing that, and I kind of want to tell them, “You see, there’s this thing called rhyme…” [Laughs] I also wrote it hoping it’ll become a song those boys and girls will listen to when they grow up and feel nostalgic about, one that somehow stuck in their ears. Even if they don’t understand the meaning now, I’d be happy if they come to understand it someday, so I wrote it with the kids’ futures in mind, too.
—This interview by Takayuki Okamoto first appeared on Billboard Japan
