CHiCO with HoneyWorks took on the challenge of rock music!

CHiCO with HoneyWorks' third single "Pride Revolution" is the opening theme song for the TV anime "Gintama°. The song is sung by a female vocalist, CHiCO. The coupling song "Historia" also challenges the darker side of CHiCO. These two rock songs open up a new world!

The song is simple, but I was particular about the tone of the guitar.

─ This is the third single collaboration between CHiCO and HoneyWorks. What kind of songwriting did you aim for with "Pride Revolution"?

shito: Since it is the opening song for "Gintama°," I wanted to make it sound like a band. Usually HoneyWorks aims to create a sound that is filled with various sounds, but this time, I wanted to keep the number of notes small and simple. I also paid a lot of attention to the guitar tone.

I was also very particular about the guitar tone.

shitoI used a Les Paul, and I tried various pickups, both front and rear, and changed every single setting to check all the tones before deciding on the settings. It reminded me of myself when I used to be in a band, and if I were in a band now, this is the kind of song I would want to play, so it's a new song for us. It has a different feel from the previous CHiCO with HoneyWorks songs, even in the sense that there are no synths or strings in it.

CHiCO When I first heard the song, I thought it was very "Gintama°" like. I have always loved "Gintama," so I was very excited just to be able to sing the opening song, and I was really happy that the two members of HoneyWorks wrote such a cool song.

It took 12 hours to record the vocals!

─ The lyrics were co-written by you and Gom, weren't they?

Gom: I wrote the lyrics while imagining the scenes in which the characters of "Gintama°" are active. As usual, we prepared a sheet to write the lyrics, and the two of us wrote the words that came to mind, and then rearranged them.

shitoThe first chorus was written by the two of us after consulting with each other, and was based on the world of "Gintama°." From the second chorus, we tried to add a storyline that is unique to HoneyWorks. There are a lot of elements that are unique to HoneyWorks.

CHiCO I immediately thought of Gin-san (Gintoki Sakata) and Sensei (Matsuyo Yoshida).

Gom The lyrics in this song are less specific than in the previous songs, so you can imagine a lot of things about the story written in the lyrics. The lyrics are straightforward, such as "hit it straight," so it was a matter of how to get them sung in a good voice. I think the vocal recording was a simple process.

shitoWhat we were looking for in the vocals was a sense of attack. We asked the singers to sing the chorus in a way that would have a strong impact, especially in the chorus, with a rock band vocalist in mind.

Gom It was like a clash of the power of the vocals and the music, and it took a lot of delicate work to bring out the power of the vocals. In fact, it took 12 hours to record the vocals.

shito And CHiCO's vocals got better and better with each take.

CHiCO I was conscious of singing in a masculine way, as if I were hurling words at her. I am a woman, so it was difficult to know how to make it sound masculine. I sang the song with the image of the strength of the male characters in "Gintama°" in mind. There were parts in this song where I sang in a key that was at the very limit of what I could sing, and I think that's why it turned out to be so powerful.

──What did you think when you saw the opening image of "Gintama°"?

Gom I could really feel how much effort the animation staff put into it.

shito I was very impressed. I was happy that the lyrics were so beautifully linked to the video.

CHiCO When I first saw the opening video, I cried a lot. Actually, when I was recording the vocals, I was singing the lyrics while imagining in my own way what it would be like to see such an image. I was so moved that I burst into tears when I saw the finished video, which was almost exactly as I had imagined.

Gom As I mentioned earlier, from the second chorus, we start to get into the HoneyWorks world, so if you watch the MUSIC VIDEO of "Pride Revolution" uploaded on Nico Nico Douga, I think you will get a better idea of that part.