Erika's Oricon Style Interview

The "Revival of the cold and blunt Erika" or similar are the headlines at "Rakuten" and other news pages. What are they talking about? They are talking about the interview in the "Oricon Style" (issue 12/10, released: 11/30) magazine.
Now Oricon Style published a very long 9pages special about ERIKA this month. In the beginning everything is normal and nice. You have the nice pictures and a very interesting interview. Here a quick translation of some parts of the interview Oricon published on their website.

The lyrics for her new song "Destination Nowhere" have been influenced by her trip to the desert. The whole song is somewhat based on her experience there. She talks about the complete emptiness and how gradually the whole scenery changes with the sunrise and sunset. Especially the sunset left a really great impression. The sunset alone already is an amazing spectacle in the desert, but once you witness the clear night sky and all the stars..it's just great. "You completely forget the time while watching such a clear night sky", she explained.

This impression also continues when it comes to the case jacket design. She describes the theme as being "psychedelic" and somehow resembles the feeling you have in an empty desert. Erika herself wanted it to be this way and for the PV it is the same. You can find similar images like on the cover in the PV, making the "psychedelic" theme complete.

Oricon also is interested in her feelings towards her first live performance of the song.
"When thinking about performing on stage, I am really in high spirits." There are a few small concerns like how is it going to be and whether she will present it the best she can, but she is really looking forward to it. Erika thinks a lot about the performance and therefore often seems to be completely absent. "People often ask me 'Hey, are you okay?' Actually I am 'super' happy right now. Well, there are a few things to be concerned about and I also have to think about some other concrete things, but I still want to do it at any rate."

Hydetetsu already wrote about the press event of Kanebo's new cosmetic brand "COFFRET D'OR" and that Erika has been pretty cold there already. However, she still kept a smile on her face and talked about things like her shopping habits. All in all it was still a somewhat normal interview back then.
Now Oricon Style published a very long 9pages special about ERIKA this month. First everything seems to be nice. You have the nice pictures and a still normal interview during the first pages. When asked about 'Led Zeppelin', Erika answers "Of course I will go. To see Zeppelin is...unbelievable!," still in a very nice mood.
The magazine then comes to a corner where fans are able to ask artists, Erika a questions. This is when the bad thing begins. For 11 of about 24 fan-questions, Erika only answers in very cold way, often even with one word only. A few examples:

"What kind of (casual) clothes do you usually wear privately?"
Erika: "Rough."

"Do you treasure something (a personal item)?"
Erika: "I don't."

"When do you have the most fun?"
Erika: "Bed time." ["...and I enjoy to work", she adds later.]

"Erika is really beautiful, but has she already been popular during Junior High School?"
Erika: "No."

"Is there a message in your songs." [or: "Is there a message for the people who listen to your songs?"]
Erika: "Not really. You can feel whatever you want to feel."

Erika should really think about what she is saying. Such feelings towards your own music and towards your own fans can easily be described as 'exploiting'.

From HPriest

Erika on Oricon Style 12/10 Issue

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Oricon: Beauty in Boots

With boots in style for the winter, Oricon surveyed a thousand men and women to find out which female celebrity looks best in boots.
The top two answers were pop singers Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki, in that order. While Amuro was ranked first by women, she only made #3 on the men's list. Hamasaki was the opposite, topping the men's list while only being ranked third by women. Model Yuri Ebihara was second on both sexes' lists, placing her at #3 on the overall rankings.
Model and actress Karina placed 4th, one spot ahead of Erika Sawajiri. The bottom half of the top ten were Yu Yamada, Kumi Koda, Rinka, Alisa Mizuki, and Nanako Matsushima (tied with Mizuki).

Destination Nowhere Wallpapers

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Also, 'Destination Nowhere' has stayed at the #4 spot on oricon charts today!

Destination Nowhere Debuts At #4

xx->01 - TOKIO - 9448 (x1.75) = 16,534
xx->02 - Acid Black Cherry - 9361 (x1.75) = 16,382
xx->03 - Berryz Koubou - 9244 (x1.75) = 16,177

Destination Nowhere has ranked at #4 on the first day of release. However, the top three singles are all extremely close in sales, only around 400 copies difference from the #1 to #3 singles, so I expect that Erika is right on their tails.

Oricon Daily Singles

Oricon Special 'Destination Nowhere' Page

Oricon has put up a special page for the release of 'Destination Nowhere' with information, preview, and more photos.

Visit page here.

Erika on GDC Cover (Vol4 Fall/Winter Collection)

11/28 Releases You Are Most Interested In

For this week (26 Nov to 30 Nov), there's a couple of new CD releases other than ERIKA's Destination Nowhere, artist like Crystal Kay, Salyu, TOKIO and Kazumasa Oda will be releasing their Albums/Singles as well.
Yahoo! Japan Music has set up a poll to ask visitors for their vote of the Albums/Singles which managed to interest them the most. ERIKA managed to top the chart with a overall percent of 19% (567 Votes), Currently Kazumasa Oda holds the 2nd place and is just short of a few votes to win over the 1st place.
Hopefully fans will be able to cast their votes to help ERIKA maintain her 1st place spot.

To vote, first go here. (music.yahoo.co.jp)

Scroll down until you see this:


Select ERIKA, and submit the vote!

Download FULL Destination Nowhere Single

01 Destination Nowhere
02 ESCAPE
03 FREE -overrocket101007 mix-
04 Destination Nowhere (Instrumental)

Click 'Read More...' for download.

DL: Sharebee

This is to preview the single! If you like it, please support ERIKA and purchase the single!

Credit to KMC!

Destination Nowhere CD+DVD Scans

Click 'Read More...' for the rest of the scans.



Credit to ESC

Destination Nowhere #2 On Ninki Scale

Erika's second single 'Destination Nowhere' has gotten the #2 (61.40) position for 11/28 releases on Oricon's Ninki scale. She is only second to TOKIO (whose sales haven't been all that great recently) If you don't know what this is, it's just a poll given to about 400 people to see how interested they are in upcoming releases, if they plan to purchase or not, etc. Of course this is only 400 people, and this is never 100% accurate, so the ranking may be useless. Even so, it shows that the single will probably do moderately well. Erika's first single, FREE, was #8 (26.70) on the Ninki scale before its release. Do you think Destination Nowhere will have better sales? After all it has a drama tie-in, she will perform it on CDTV, and the Ninki ranking is higher (but this might have no effect on sales at all). There has been a lot of negative attention towards Erika in the past few months though! We will have to wait and see.

Erika #8 In Wonderful Voices

In a recent survey, research firm Oricon asked 2,000 people, "Which celebrity has a wonderful voice?"
Among male celebrities, popular actor and singer Masaharu Fukuyama ranked first. Akira Kawashima of comedy duo Kirin came in second, followed by Shosuke Tanihara, Hiroshi Tamaki, and Hiroshi Abe. Akira Nakao and Leo Morimoto tied for 6th, ahead of Takuya Kimura, Gackt, and Koichi Yamadera.
On the women's side, actress/singer/seiyu Keiko Toda topped the list. She was chosen partly for her range of voices in anime, which includes Matilda from "Mobile Suit Gundam" and Anpanman. Nanako Matsushima, Yukie Nakama, Sayuri Yoshinaga, and Masami Nagasawa filled the rest of the top five. Hitomi Kuroki tied with Miwa Yoshida for #6. Erika Sawajiri and YUI tied for #8, while Ai Otsuka and Hikaru Utada tied for #10.

Yuu Abiru Criticized For Defending Erika

Erika's close friend, actress Yuu Abiru is now being criticized for trying to defend Erika. Abiru probably thought that nobody would talk about this scandal anymore, but her harsh criticism in order to defend Erika backfired and now her thievery-scandal is back in the headlines. In 2005, NTV brought up the news that Abiru has been involved in a group theft when she was a 3rd grader. A 2month punishment by her talent agency "HoriPro" and a police questioning has been the result of the uproar followed by the news. Abiru then stayed under the radar for almost two years and came back in November 2007 with a full-scale schedule. She often appeared on various shows, released a photobook, a mook and even got the leading role in the horror movie "Tomie vs Tomie". During one of these events, they somehow started to talk about her friend Erika. ZAKZAK quotes her the following:
"Nobody except Erika herself knows the reason for her sudden bad mood during the event. Whether it was a bad or a good attitude is not really the problem, the problem is that people anonymously started to write very bad things about her. I really hate people who do that." The Fuji evening paper later commented that Abiru's comment has been more than thoughtlessly, confronting a huge enemy.
The net soon is filled with counterattacks, asking her "how she can say that attitude isn't the problem, when she doesn't even know the reason herself." and things like that. On 2ch the users didn't stop writing about the speech of Abiru and soon became a popular topic.
Entertainment critics also say that it was very foolish of her to comment on a delicate matter like this and newspapers commenting like "Who does she think she is?" or "Did she learn nothing from her own scandal and the uproar of the public back then?".
All her recent efforts like the marathon she attended, her mook and the new movie seem to be worthless already. The media event wants a real explanation about the thievery scandal and not just an apology like 2years ago. Let's hope that this won't affect her career that much. After all she seems to be a good friend of Erika and even tried to defend her in public, even thought she could have done it in a more careful way..

information/translation from hpriest

Erika Live on CDTV - Dec 08

Erika will be singing live on CDTV on December 8, 2007 to promote her new single 'Destination Nowhere'! This will be Erika's second time total, once last year as 'Kaoru Amane' and now this year as ERIKA!

Erika #4 in Best Actress Ranking

Goo.ne.jp has put up a new ranking of the best female actresses in Japan, and Erika ranked #4, right under her 'rival' Nagasawa Masami. Read more for the full list.

01 Yu Aoi
02 Aoi Miyazaki
03 Nagasawa Masami
04 Erika Sawajiri
05 Aya Ueto
06 Ishihara Satomi
07 Haruka Ayase
08 Yui Aragaki
09 Maki Horikita
10 Mao Inoue

'Destination Nowhere' Promo Images

Click 'Read More...' for the rest.

Three #1 Singles?

In August 2006 Erika released 'Taiyou no Uta', under the name Kaoru Amane. In July 2007, she released 'FREE' under her own name. Both of these singles went to #1 on the Oricon charts. Later this month she will release 'Destination Nowhere'. If this single reaches the #1 position, she will be the first artist in almost 39 years to have their first three singles get #1.


According to research done by Oricon about three weeks before the release of the next single, about 52.5% of people were aware of the single. Usually when over 50% of people they ask know about the single, the sales will be fine. Most of the people who were interested in the single were younger, in their teens and most female. There isn't much of a gap between the ages and genders, but when they were asked if they were interested in the release of the single, and planned to purchase it, males from the 10-20 y/o age group had the highest support. It is believed that they are the key group who will purchase and support Erika's next single.

Erika Goes Overseas Again

Yahoo! Music is now reporting that after Erika's second single 'Destination Nowhere' is released, she plans to go overseas again, in search of more inspiration.

Apparently the reason for this trip is to 'train' herself in being a singer/artist. Erika has gone overseas before for inspiration, once to a desert in America to write 'Destination Nowhere'. Erika was recently invited to the reunion concert of Led Zeppelin on December 10th, and will begin her trip after this event. On December 12th, MTV will air a special program about Erika and her trip.

Oricon: Erika's Year, June 2007 - November 2007

Oricon has put up a special page for Erika on her year. It tells you all of the important things she has done from June 2007 until now. View the page here (in Japanese) or click 'Read more...' for a basic translation.

07 June
Nagasawa Masami was invited to the radio show "Real Erika" which was hosted by Erika herself, this help to clear the rumor about their fued with each other. Lots of things were discussed in the program, from how they celebrated their birthday, to photos taken by themselves when they went overseas.

04 July
Erika Sawajiri under the name of 'ERIKA' released her 1st single 'FREE' and it managed to debut at the 1st place on Oricon Charts. On August 30, 2006 under the name of 'Kaoru Amane' her single 'Taiyou no Uta' also manged to get the number one place on the chart. She is the only artist to get their first two singles to hit number one since Hiroko Yakushimaru in 1983.

21 August
The start of the new stick biscuit 'Fran Aromatier' campaign. You are able to see Erika change into 7 different hair styles in the CM. Hirai Ken's 'FAKE STAR' is used as the theme song for the cm.

11 September
Erika Sawajiri, together with other cast of "Closed Note" arrived in "都内" to begin promotion for the new movie 'Closed Note'.

12 September
Oricon had set up a poll with the topic as 'Which female actress do you think has the most beautiful face?' Erika Sawajiri together with Aragaki Yui both got the 1st place position due to same number of votes.

23 September
Erika Sawajiri was chosen as the spokesperson for the new fountain pen, she attended the event wearing a kimono with a rose design on it.

25 September
Erika Sawajiri was chosen as the person for Sony Ericsson new 'W53S', the new mobile has a new function which allows user to change the panels up to 100 different design, this function enables the user to change the panel easily to suit different mood and event. For this CM, we will be able to see Erika changing into 100 different styles and Erika had personally design 2 panels with the themes of "Love" and "Married" for "W53S" as well.

29 September
The 'Closed Note' PR event which started an uproar on Erika's attitude as a actress. News report and TV program had been pouring down news about Erika's negative attitude on the stage and sites had been setting up poll with Erika as the topic as well.

02 October
Erika wrote a letter of apology on her offical homepage to apologize for what she had done during the event.

04 October
'Closed Note' hit the large screen in Japan in 29 Sept and managed to get third place in charts after the first week. Erika Sawajiri appear in TV program 'Super Morning' (TV Asahi) where she spoke about her feelings and thought about what she had done. This is the first TV program which Erika went to after the Closed Note PR event.

16 October
Erika Sawajiri was ranked the 1st place in the Oricon poll with the topic as 'Which Celebrities are the current fashion leaders and who they want to copy'.

14 November
Erika Sawajiri together with other ladies of COFFRET D'OR, went to a public event to promote the new product and people were able to stream it live at Yahoo! Live Talk.

28 November
ERIKA's 2nd single "Destination Nowhere" will be released on the 28th of November.

Yahoo! Special ERIKA Channel

Yahoo! Japan has put up a special page for ERIKA's new single Destination Nowhere. On the page you can watch the full PV for Destination Nowhere, and the making-of video. The page will be up from November 16, 2007 until December 15, 2007. Unfortunately, you need to be a resident of Japan to view the content on the page! But I have now a better quality, and longer clip of the making video for PV. Click 'Read more...' to download the video.

Sharebee Download [Making of Destination Nowhere.AVI - 47.4MB - 03:13]

Yahoo! Japan ERIKA Channel

Making of 'Destination Nowhere' PV

Here is the making of the Destination Nowhere PV!
It's nothing special, and we have seen alot of this footage before, in the PV preview. Click 'Read More...' to watch the video.

DOWNLOAD LINK ADDED

'ESCAPE' Lyrics

ESCAPE - ERIKA
作詩：野口圭 作曲：黒坂修平

今こうしてこうして　ひび割れた　鏡に
ねぇ　そっとそっと　つま先を　下ろすよ

迷い込んだ森のまん中で　木漏れ日は光と影のPhase
そうね少女はいつか向き合うの　ヤケドしそうな胸の奥と

想像通りの空想遊び　夢で君とキスした
さぁ今すぐに走らなきゃ　追いかける白ウサギ

※手を伸ばして　覗いてみて
Escape from the world Escape from the wall
傷つけたの？　泣いていたの？
Escape from the wind Escape from the rain yeah※

雨のやんだ空に虹かかる　いたずらみたいに胸騒がす
ほらね純真な思い込みだけじゃ　割り切れない心が叫ぶよ

状況的に衝動的に　ふいに手をつないだ
Ah消えそうに笑ってる
Black cat Black cat, black, black, black, black….

怖くないよ　痛くないよ
Escape from the world Escape from the wall
好きだったの？　隠してたの？
Escape from the wind Escape from the rain yeah

今日がそうだって　気付いたんだ
もう行かなきゃ　いけないって
目を閉じて　探してみて　ほら側に　いるから

(※くり返し)

Escape from the room Escape from the rules
Escape from the fate Escape from the safe
Escape from the world Escape from the wall
Escape from the wind Escape from the rain yeah

COFFRET D'OR CM (Erika 15s Version)

More Yahoo! Live Talk Information

On November 14, Erika Sawajiri attended Yahoo! Live Talk which was held in Tokyo. This is the first time she has made a public appearance since the Closed Note incident. Although during the interview there were a few questions which Erika replied with the so called "Erika-Sama" type of response, but the rest of the time she was very pleasant and had a bright smile, which is something she hasn't been seen with the past few months!

When asked questions about shopping, Erika stated, "I always go shopping in Aoyama, and other normal shopping areas, I love to personally pick out things I like." When asked about the CM shooting, Erika told us a story from behind the scenes. "I felt that it would be impossible to walk on the railing with those heels and have been worried about doing this." According to source by related staff, there was already a plan for a Yahoo! Live Talk last month and was open to Ladies only. The plan for all 5 actresses to appear on stage together was also followed as scheduled, and related staff said "There was no delay in the event and everything went smoothly." This is Erika's return in the public eye, and it managed to give others a strong image of beauty. There are chances that Erika Sawajiri will win the support of other females through this campaign. A lot of females in Japan have said they admired Erika's ability to bounce back after such a strong bashing by the public.

Erika in Sabra Dec 2007 Scans

Shooting COFFRET D'OR CM

Judging from Erika's hair, and how tired she looks, I am guessing this CM was shot in September.

Video of Erika on Yahoo! Live Talk 11/14

Mediafire Download

Erika on Yahoo! Live Talk

Erika was just on Yahoo! Live Talk to promote Kanebo's new COFFRET D'OR makeup line! This is her first public appearance since the Closed Note event that took place in September. She appeared very happy! It is good to see Erika has bounced back from the strong bashing she has received. Here are some images for now, and I will add the video soon!