Saori Hayami, 1st album "Live Love Laugh". All songs were explained!

Saori Hayami has released two singles, "Yasashii kibou" and "Installation/Sono koe ga chizu ni naru. Akiba Research Institute has interviewed her after each single release. Finally, her long-awaited first album "Live Love Laugh" is completed. Here is a world with depth that only she can express!　In this issue, we will bring you the latest comments from Ms. Hayami about all 11 songs on the album.

The title of the album is also a message from me.

─ The title of the album is simple, isn't it?

Hayami: I was thinking of various ideas. Since it is the first album, I thought about using a word that means the beginning, but in the end, I came up with this title. The three words are arranged in such a way that when we look back on our first album in the future, we can go back to our original intention of making the album with these things in mind.

Hayami: "I'm alive," "I love you," and "I'm smiling.

Hayami: The combination of these three words is my own feeling, but I thought it could also be a message to everyone. Let's live," "Let's love," and "Let's laugh.

─ I thought the three words were well-designed. The typography of the jacket design is also very tasteful.

Hayami: Thank you very much. I owe it all to the art director. We decided to choose clothes for the jacket without a specific concept, and although there were some colorful clothes among the candidates we had prepared, we settled on natural and simple ones.

─ I got the impression from the album title and artwork that the simplicity is what makes the album so profound. Now let's talk about the songs on the album, starting with the first song "NOTE".

Hayami: "NOTE" is a new song. When about 60% of the album was completed, the staff and I discussed the idea of having a new song as the first song on the album, and we chose a tune that was appropriate for the first song from among many candidates. I think it turned out to be a refreshing start. Musically, we didn't put too much into the song, but rather subtracted. I made the most of the good points of the instruments and created a natural sound.

Hayami: "NOTE" was written and composed by Kana Yabuki.

Hayami: The lyrics were included in the song when we chose it, and it was the perfect way to start the album. I think Mr. Yabuki probably wrote this song in anticipation of it being the first song. So we adopted it as it was, with only a few minor changes to the lyrics.

─ The second song "Yasashii kibou" and the third song "Sono koe ga chizu ni naru" are both singles, and they are also the opening themes for "Snow White with Red Hair.

Hayami: These two songs were the theme songs for the same anime, so I wondered if I should put them on the album in succession. I thought the image of "Snow White with Red Hair" might become too strong, but when I thought about the atmosphere and taste of the songs, the flow of "NOTE," "Kind Hope," and "That Voice Becomes a Map" went very well together.

Hayami──"NOTE" starts with "sayonara," while "Yasashii kibou" starts with the word "hajimari," which is an interesting contrast.

Hayami: If you say so, that is true (laughs).

─ ─ "Yasashii kibou" is your debut single as a solo artist.

Hayami: The more I sing this song, the more I feel differently about it. I have many opportunities to sing this song at events, and every time I sing it, I feel the power of this song and realize how difficult it is.

Hayami──This song was recorded in the pre-production stage before the actual performance, and then turned into the finished version, wasn't it?

Hayami: That's right. Since it was the first single, we decided to preserve the fresh voice of the singer.

Hayami──Did you feel that the song grew as you sang it live?

Hayami: The more times I sang the song, the more I wanted to express it this way. I had been singing character songs up to that point, but now that I was debuting as a solo artist, "Yasashii kibou" was the song that marked the boundary between character songs and solo songs. When I first recorded it, I still had the voice and mindset of singing a character song, and looking back on it now, I feel that it is a song that is unique to this period.

Hayami──And you are playing the main character, Shirayuki, aren't you?

Hayami: That's right. That is why I sang this song as Shirayuki.

Hayami: Did the vocals change in the second song, "Sono Koe wa Chizu ni Naru" (That Voice Becomes a Map)?

Hayami: There might be some slight changes. I recorded the song after I had played Shirayuki for one cool season, and I had become somewhat accustomed to singing as an artist.

─ ─ "Sono Koe wa Chizu ni Naru" is a tricky song with some tricky parts, such as the way the bass drum enters and the odd number of beats.

Hayami: It has a playful feel to it. I feel that from this song onward, the album enters a zone of unique songs.

─ The first three songs are all credited to Kana Yabuki as composer and Wataru Maeguchi as arranger ("Yasashii kibou" is written by Saori Hayami and composed by Kana Yabuki; "Sono koe wa mizu naru" is written by Saori Hayami and arranged by Wataru Maeguchi. (For "Yasashii kibo", lyrics by Saori Hayami, music by Kana Yabuki, and "Sono koe wa chizu ni naru", lyrics and music by Saori Hayami and Kana Yabuki).

Hayami: That's true. It was a coincidence. This is not a conscious arrangement, but a coincidence.