Interview with Runa Haruna! Which do you like better, ponytails or twintails? Newness of Runa HARUNA can be felt in her new album "Candy Lips

Pop, cute, and a little bit sexy: Haruna Luna tries on a ponytail for the jacket of her second album "Candy Lips," which will be released on March 25. The new songs on the album are a colorful collection of songs about life-size girls. Of course, her original appealing fantastical and two-dimensional LOVE worldview is still there. We take a closer look at the ongoing Haruna Runi, who has broadened her range of expression!

Pop and colorful new album. A more life-size version of herself!

─ ─ It's been about a year and a half since your last album "OVERSKY", the release of your second album, hasn't it?
Haruna: Yes, it's finally finished and I'm happy to be able to share it with you all. For the past year and a half, we have been releasing singles consistently, but I feel that the album is finally finished.

Candy Lips" contains four singles: "snowdrop," "Startear," "Kimiiro Signal," and the limited-edition "Runatic Word.But the coupling songs for each single are not included. I felt it was a consideration for the fans who bought the singles.

Haruna: It was the same with "OVERSKY," but we want to include many new songs on the album, so we generally don't include coupling songs. This time, since a tour is scheduled for May after the album release, I wanted to deliver many new songs even more so.

─ ─ There are seven new songs, so I think this album will be fresh even for fans who have been following the singles. What did you want the album to be like overall?
Haruna: As you can probably tell from the album title "Candy Lips," I decided to include more pop and cute songs this time. But there are also some sexy songs and ballads in the album as a gap from the image of Runa Haruna, so there are a lot of songs in the album.

─ ─ Prior to this album, I felt Haruna's pop line from her latest single "Kimiiro Signal" released in January this year. I wondered if your direction as an artist had changed a bit.
Haruna: Compared to the last album, I feel that the color has changed drastically. I feel that the one-man live performance ("HARUNA Luna LIVE 2014-WINTER-" at Shibuya Public Hall on December 12, 2014) has determined the direction for me.

─ ─ When you first debuted, you had a gothic and lolita atmosphere, didn't you?
Haruna: Yes, my costumes used to be mostly black and white, but recently I have started to incorporate color. I think I can be more myself when I wear colorful clothes and sing pop songs like I do now. I feel that I enjoy my live performances more now.

─ ─ In the new song "Otome no Wish", there is a lyric "Ponytail, twintail, which do you like better? in the new song "Otome no wisheshi. I think these words most accurately express Haruna's image change.
Haruna: It's a lyric about wondering which hairstyle to wear before a date (laughs).

─ ─ I interpreted the twin-tail hairstyle as more of the gothic Haruna of the past, and the ponytail hairstyle as a way to broaden her image as an artist for this album.
Haruna You could say that. I felt that at the live performance, the smiles on everyone's faces while singing pop songs made me feel like they were having a lot of fun. I felt like this is what I should express, and I became more conscious of my pop self.

─ What you felt at the live performance was the direct reaction of the audience, wasn't it?
Haruna: Yes. Of course, I would like to continue to show my ability to sing dramatic songs like the debut single "Sora ha Takaku Kaze ha Utau" (The Sky Is High, The Wind Is Singing), but I also felt strongly during the one-man live that I wanted to emphasize the importance of being cheerful and excited together with the audience.

The lead song on the album, "Minna Tetsumo Kimi ga Suki" is a straightforward love song!