Mashiro Ayano's 4th single is an epic ballad. It is also her first attempt at writing lyrics for the title track!

Mashiro Ayano sings "Lotus Pain," the ending theme song for the TV anime "D.Gray-man HALLOW," which started in July, and will finally be released as her fourth single on August 3, 2016. The visual theme of this single is "Liberation". In the music video, she sang with so much emotion that she couldn't help but cry. She also took on the challenge of writing lyrics for the title track "Lotus Pain" and all three songs in the album. She has grown as an artist, and we look forward to seeing more of her!

I am thrilled to be involved in a work that I have loved since I was in elementary school.

─ ─ Just before the interview, I watched the full version of the music video for "Lotus Pain". The staff told me that the highlight was the close-up of your tearful face at the beginning, and that those are real tears.

Ayano: That was just an accident, I'm a bit of a teardrop (laughs). (laughs) I was so emotional that the tears just fell out of my eyes, and it was caught on film. I wasn't sure if it would be used or not, but it was the first thing that came out, and I was surprised myself.

───As the title suggests, a lot of lotus flowers are used in both the music video and the jacket.

Ayano: The theme of this visual is "liberation. The debut single was "Birth," followed by "Flight," "Rally," and then "Liberation. We shot the image of unleashing our power. The music video is simple, just a shot of the singers singing with their emotions, so I hope you will pay attention to their facial expressions.

───What was the point of your costume this time?

Ayano: The base color is white, but the opposite is black. It matches the coloring of "D.Gray-man HALLOW" and expresses the duality that all humans have. I like this costume very much. D.Gray-man" is a work that I have followed since I first encountered it in elementary school, so I was happy to see the start of a new anime series, and I was very moved to be able to be involved in the work through my own singing.

─ ─ It's been about 8 years since the last TV series, right?

Ayano I have been waiting for it! I myself wanted to see it as soon as possible. The work has many female fans, so I am hoping that my songs will reach new listeners. When I sang at the event, some women cried, which made me happy.

─ ─ "Lotus Pain" was composed by Fumio Yasuda, wasn't it?

Ayano: I had a motif for the song, but when I heard about "D.Gray-man HALLOW," I thought it would be a good fit if I built on this motif, so I worked on it while consulting with Yasuda-san. Therefore, the melody was familiar to me from the beginning.

Ayano: "I wrote the lyrics by myself.

Ayano: I was a little nervous when he asked me if I wanted to try writing the lyrics on my own. I was a little nervous, but I had the theme of the lyrics from the beginning, and I wanted to depict the relationship between Yu Kanda and Alma-Karma, because I feel that they have a deep attraction to each other that they are not even aware of, It was a lot of fun. I wrote the lyrics as if I were speaking for the fans of the work.

─ ─ The lyrics have a sadness to them.

Ayano: The lyrics are indeed sad, with the two having to fight with each other and meeting a harsh fate. But in the end, I came up with the word "smile (kotae)" and gave it a redeeming quality. Actually, it started out darker, but Katsura Hoshino, the author of the original story, advised me that it might be good to have some relief, so I rethought it again.

─ So there was some communication with the original author?

Ayano: When he heard the completed song, he drew an illustration inspired by "Lotus Pain" and posted it on Instagram, which made me very happy. I was very moved.

───How was the recording process?

Ayano: This song has a BPM of 87, but I don't usually use odd numbers. That alone gave me a different feeling than usual, and it was difficult to sing in terms of tempo. The tempo is not that slow, but I was conscious of singing as if I were speaking to the audience. I think it became a ballad while retaining a sense of dynamism.

─ I felt the vocals were very dramatic.

Ayano: I sang the A and B melodies with a lot of emotion and tried to expand the chorus. The song gradually gets stronger and stronger. This time, I was involved in the melody, lyrics, and title of the song, and since it is my favorite "D.Gray-man" song, it quickly became a part of my heart. I am sure it will come alive at the upcoming live performances.