Feel how close you are - Saori Hayami's 2nd single has a fascinating trick up its sleeve!

Following her previous single "Yasashii kibou" (Easy Hope), Saori Hayami sings "Sono koe wa chizu ni naru" (That Voice Becomes a Map), the opening theme song for the TV anime "Snow White with Red Hair". Her second single including that song will be released on February 3. The point to note this time is that it is treated as a double A-side with "Installation," a non-tie-up song. We asked her to talk about the current status of her first album, which will be released in May!

I wrote a song from a melody that was ringing in my head.

Hayami: Thank you very much for the two days of interviewing for the custom earphones "Just ear".

Hayami: Thank you very much. I have been using the "XJE-MH1" you made for me on a daily basis since then.

─ Have you also listened to the new single?

Hayami: Yes. It was totally different from listening to it through the speakers of my computer. It was expansive and sounded like the sound I heard in the studio during recording.

───The new single, which was still in production at the time of that interview, is finally completed. This time it is a double A-side single, "Installation" and "Sono Koe ga Chizu ni Naru", right?

Hayami: Yes. The artist version and the anime version are recorded in a different order, with the non-tie-in "Installation" being the first song on the artist version. I'm very excited (laughs).

─ ─ That's how confident you are in this work. You wrote the lyrics for this song, didn't you, Mr. Hayami?

Hayami: I wrote the lyrics on my own, but I co-wrote the music with Kana Yabuki. Wataru Maeguchi arranged the music.

───How did this song come about?

Hayami: I had a melody that had been playing in my head for a long time, and I thought it would be interesting to turn it into a song. With the help of Mr. Yabuki, I added some flesh to the melody, and this song was the result. I sang the melody first, and then Mr. Yabuki played the melody on the piano, and we discussed it with the director and made revisions. It was a little embarrassing at first to say, "Well, I'll sing the melody I have in my head" (laughs).

─ Did you write the lyrics after the song was finished?

Hayami: No, they came out together with the melody. Actually, during the production process, I rewrote the lyrics in their entirety, but when I sang them to the song, I thought, "Hmm?　I thought, "Well, maybe this isn't right" (laughs). The rewritten lyrics were rejected after about 5 minutes, and in the end, the first version I wrote became the finished version almost as is.

─ ─ The title "Installation" refers to a method of expression in which the space itself is created as a work of art.

Hayami: I always liked going to museums and thought that installations were wonderful, so I decided to write lyrics on this theme. I thought it would be wonderful, so I decided to write lyrics on this theme. If you put that into the context of life, there is someone who I think is very nice, and then there is another person who is also very nice, and I thought that people would be connected in that way. I wrote the lyrics with the hope that I could sing about something close to home, while keeping the theme of installation as something special.

─ ─ From the beginning of the lyrics, "You are the gravitational pull of the universe," there is an atmosphere of entering into art, isn't there?

Hayami: I am glad to hear you say so. I wrote the lyrics with the melody, but when I finished it, it turned out to be a grand image (laughs).

Hayami──The lyrics are a series of abstract words, but there is one specific person's name, "Monet" in the lyrics.

Hayami: That's the part that really caught my attention (laughs). When I was writing the lyrics, it came to me as an inspiration, and I thought I could replace it later, but in the end, it stayed. It might give the impression that I had a special intention, but I think it would be fine if everyone who listens to the song replaces it with someone they like.

─ ─ What did you pay attention to when you sang the song?

Hayami: The arrangement of the song gave it a strong impact, so I thought the vocals would come alive if I sang it emotionally. I thought about which part to put more emotion.

Hayami──I was surprised to hear an inhalation sound at the beginning of the song.

Hayami: I dared to record the sound of breathing in. I thought it would be catchy and memorable at the beginning.

Hayami: I could feel that you were singing right here, right now.

As was the case with the first single "Yasashii kibou (Easy Hope)," we did not modify the music too much this time, but rather kept a natural and realistic atmosphere in the song.