——You will be releasing an album next spring?
“That’s right. Right now, creating the album is surely the first step, though it’s troubling and difficult. I decided to take on a big concept, and I may be writing many songs, but I keep repeating, asking myself whether it’s different from this or that. I faced a turning point after releasing ‘kokorobakari’ and the ‘History’ tour, and right now, I feel I’m searching for the person I’m going to be hereafter. When I wonder what music I still want to sing in ten years from now, I tend to be too serious in my thoughts about them having a good meaning. I always feel I shouldn’t really listen to music, shouldn’t really watch television either, and when I went to my piano to write songs, I felt this J-pop through my veins before I knew it.
I often have conversations with fellow musicians, about things like A-B-A-interlude-C or A1-A2-B-C, but long ago I didn’t understand this particular organization of songs, nor did I write it. I quickly felt like it wasn’t like me at all to develop towards subdued gracefulness nor to be called that way. I now want to write my songs for once while completely forgetting that. Without thinking about things like songs generally being divided into four parts, I want to write my music freely. The same goes for the lyrics. I have the feeling that when I compare to before, I used to collect the things I wanted to say inside me, and looked at them like an honours student would.
I think it’s good that I have things I want to tell myself and that they’re personal, but I think it could be interesting as well to find some broader themes to work with, so I want to write more music with that in mind, and I look for a theme as I wonder what songs I’ll write.”
—— It seems you’ve already decided on the cover art.
“I went to the southern islands for a photoshoot. At the time of ‘REAL WORLD’ (2010), I went to the Sahara desert; this time, I went to the island of Bali. In contrast to the Sahara, it was very humid, and the people I saw there were quiet. I want the album to feel like the big-hearted openness of the relaxed atmosphere of the southern islands. So, I want it to be an album without songs that are pointed or are too clearly divided into four parts like a story. It’s a challenge: maybe this is a meager change compared to my other albums, and people might think it’s bland. But it’s the album I want to make. The concept for the album is ‘Color of Life’. It will have songs with pretty sceneries, sceneries that feel lonely, songs that remind of different settings; I’d like to make an album that colours up everyone’s lives.”
Hey the angel of your dreams is here, but wears a pink dress instead of a white one 