Can’t imagine myself not expressing myself
I heard some songs were requested to be added in the best album through a Twitter poll. May I have a word from you about this?
Wakeshima: I wasn’t very surprised because the songs that received most of the votes were the songs that I sing often in my live shows that I wanted to add to the album anyway.
Chiba: I was glad that songs like “Mujuryoku” (4th single Signal’s coupling song) and “Sansukumi” (Listed in the 3rd album “Tsukinami”) have made it to the list.
Wakeshima: I’m glad. Especially “Sansukumi” was just another song in the album but it had become my go-to song since I sang a lot at live shows even before releasing the song online.
It’s a rare electro-pop song for you, right?
Wakeshima: But on the stage at live shows, I ask the band to arrange it, or do the jazz arrangement depending on feasibility. Maybe that’s why people were surprised when it was released online.
Chiba: Didn’t Wakeshima say something very interesting at the end-of-the-year live show?
Wakeshima: Oh, I said, “Originally, I wrote the song hoping Perfume would sing this song.” That’s why I’m trying not to laugh right now (laughs).
And a relatively new song, “Unbalance by Me” (4th album “Luminescence Q.E.D” released in November 2016) was also listed in the best album. But the lyrics of the song are rather…
Wakeshima: Did it? I sing anime songs, write songs as a singer-songwriter and I like drawing… I’m the kind of person who’s interested in many things and want to do everything. There’s a saying that “if you run after two hares you will catch neither” and there are people who think they should concentrate on one thing instead of doing that. But for me, even if I focus on the one thing that I want to do, I end up worrying about the other thing that I also want to do and can’t concentrate on what’s in front of me. This is a huge problem for me.
Chiba: I think I can understand what you are saying as someone who’s seen you from your side.
Wakeshima: At first glance, I might look unbalanced but I don’t want to cut anything out. And if I do cut something out, it would mean I’m losing all of them. So I’ll pursue two or three rabbits and whether I am standing on my two feet or on all my fours—I am going to do what I like doing no matter what others say. There are people who become a fan of my music through anime songs and others who support me for being a singer-songwriter. Both fans are very important to me and I don’t’ want to let go of either of them. I wrote the lyrics of the song thinking about that.
It’s greedy, isn’t it?
Wakeshima: To put it differently—it’s all I have. I can’t really imagine myself not expressing myself and this had become everything in my life. For that, I think I’m lacking some things that a normal human being should have (laughs). But jokes aside, I have lived all my life focusing on expressing myself, so I want to challenge myself to continue to do so to the best of my ability.
I’ll make music for others’ sake
What has changed your way of expressing yourself as a singer-songwriter in the last 10 years?
Wakeshima: There were a lot of crazy changes. In the beginning, I didn’t have the slightest sense of making music for others. Before my debut, I didn’t do live shows and didn’t have anyone listening to my songs. I’ve spent most of my time making demo tapes by myself so I think there were a lot of songs that manifested my personality of being an introvert. After the debut, I had a producer and I was writing lyrics to the songs that were given to me. So it felt like I was writing a story as opposed to expressing myself.
Chiba: Right.
Wakeshima: On the other hand, however, I was struggling to figure out what kind of language I should be using because I didn’t know who was listening to the songs that I was making. But once I started producing my own songs, I was able to think deeply about my own music and what I want to express through my music. From there, I was able to reflect my inner side through music. Well, at the time, it was more like “I sing because I want to express myself.” But that has changed to “I want more people to listen to my music” which then has changed to “I want to write the lyrics about the message that I want to deliver to these people.” And the feeling of “I’ll make music for others’ sake” grew inside me. I used to focus on making anime songs that would accurately reflect the world view of the anime. But now I’m thinking about creating a song that will make the audience happy through the anime.
Chiba: I feel like her demos have changed more outwardly.
Wakeshima: What about the melody? Do you think the melodies are still have the originality? Or do you think there are all over the place with too many variations?
Chiba: No, I don’t think it’s all over the place. I already know that you can make a wide variety of songs from the beginning. I can see your style when I see the melodies and chords, so I would say there’s a general style and originality in all of your songs—and same with the lyrics too. In fact, I listened to songs before “Foul Play ni Kurari” which was selected in the best album and I think you’ve established your style after “Princess Charlston” (2nd album “Shoujo Jikake No Libretto ~Lolitawork Libretto~”released in July 2010).
Wakeshima: Really?
Chiba: I think your voice was a bit cuter then. Just a bit.
Wakeshima: Well, I was still young back then (laughs).
Something Wakeshima wants to say to everyone
The best album included the new song “fragment ornament”. I think this song represents how Wakeshima feels right now at this point.
Wakeshima: That’s right. I’ve been doing music for 10 years. So I asked myself whether I’ve become someone who my fans could proudly say “My favorite artist is Kanon Wakeshima” when asked about their favorite artist. But I think there’s a lot of room for improvement. Basically, I’m not the type of person who can put out goals so that it would be easier for others to understand. But if I stay silent, I’m worried I’d make those who support me worry about me. So on the previous live show, I told to my audience that “I want to bring everyone to bigger stages and how I want to be someone that my fans can be proud of and I want to make more interesting songs my fans won’t get sick of.” So I made a song about the feelings I had thinking about these things.
Chiba: I’m also the kind of person who keeps things to myself and I don’t say things that I want to say straightforwardly. But I thought there are things that others will never understand if you stay silent when listening to the song.
Wakeshima: In “luminescence Q.E.D” (4th album “luminescence Q.E.D”), I wrote the lyrics “Couldn’t chase after things that were leaving you behind” but it’s really sad to be left behind. So I wrote “fragment ornament”. I’ve always been bad at keeping people around me or saying “I don’t want you to go” or “I want you to come back” and I’ve regretted a lot. I’m really bad at forming up words to speak what’s in my mind, but learning from my previous mistakes, I think I have to communicate exactly what I have to say.
This song was arranged by Shota Horie (Penguin Research), but this was the first time you’ve worked with Horie, right?
Wakeshima: This was the first time I’ve asked Horie to arrange a song in my name. There were numerous occasions I’ve worked with him to make songs for other artists. One example would be “Pink Lemonade” (As Miss Beelzebub likes, please read the roundtable article for more) which Mia from Sangatsu no Phantasia sang. I was passionate about this new song which would be in the best album, so I asked Horie to help me.
It became a loud guitar rock song as expected of Horie’s style.
Wakeshima: Yes. I told Horie that I’d like him to make the song in his style with his unique guitar arrangement. And yet, the sound of the strings and the piano were in place in harmony.
What do you think of Horie’s arrangement, Chiba?
Wakeshima: It’s kind of awkward. It feels like I cheated on him (laughs).
Chiba: (laughs) It might be rude but everything in the song was without a doubt in Horie’s style, especially that long outro.
Wakeshima: I was worried because of how long that was.
Chiba: It was about 2 minutes long. I didn’t have the idea of putting a guitar solo so that the song would never bore the listeners. Yeah when I was listening to the song, I thought, “There was no mistake that the song was in Horie’s style”. He made such a good song so I’m jealous (laughs).
A song that conveys the feeling of gratitude to everyone
I thought “fragment ornament” was the final song, but there was a bonus track “Arigatou no uta” (Live) at the end.
Wakeshima: Yeah, this was a song I wrote down for my 10th anniversary concert at Yokohama Landmark Hall in July 2018. And as the title says, I wanted to express my gratitude to everyone but the audience sang with me so I added the live version in the best album.
Chiba: It must’ve felt like an encore. Must’ve been really nice.
Wakeshima: Yeah, after all, it’s about a live show— a place where you can get your voice directly heard and talk to all the fans. I wanted to cherish that so I practiced a lot before I am up on stage to talk with the audience. I don’t talk all that often so I try to do it perfectly when I do talk. It’s amazing that I’ve been able to do live shows for 10 years and of course I couldn’t have done it without my fans listening to my music, Chiba, and other people who support me. So I wanted to share this album with more people and I want to do well in live shows since I’ve released the best album.
