Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Niigaki Risa
http://wotaintranslation.com/2018/11/18 ... gaki-risa/Of note: she adressed the whole CM recording prior to joining 'controversy' head-on
It must have been especially difficult for you, what with the misunderstanding that surfaced right after you had joined the group…
Niigaki: Prior to joining Morning Musume, I had passed a certain audition and I got to appear on a TV commercial. I wasn’t a part of any agency; I had done it as a private individual. Yet, people mistook it as me having been able to join the group all because of some sort of a connection. So they started bashing me. All of a sudden it felt like I was starting in the group from a losing position. People at our concerts would be cheering on the other three when they were doing their self-introductions, yet they would start booing during mine. They would hold up signs that said hurtful things about me.
Times sure have changed, just look at all the girls in H!P today with prior experience, even coming from other idol groups (Momohime, Saori, Manaka,.. to name but a few).
On the Platinum Era:
— So this was actually a rather positive period in time for you?
Niigaki: Yes. This might be surprising to people, but that time period was just so much fun. The songs we were releasing were all so great, and since the average age of our members was relatively high, we could have mature conversations together. When there are kids in the group you always have to tell them to properly greet others, or stand straight in line or whatever — things that have nothing to do with performance and technique. But this was a time when there was none of that, and there was no discord between the members. It was just a very stable environment. There was a strong sense of unity between us and we all felt very ambitious about our activities.
