This is everything I am now. Anime song singer Ami Wajima, who has a unique presence, has released her first album!

Ami Wajima debuted in May 2016 with "Gensou Drive," the opening theme song for the TV anime "Maze Mayoiger." Her husky, rock-tinged vocals are powerful, and we were surprised when we learned that she was an active high school student. Since her debut, she has steadily released singles and appeared at live events, finally completing her first album!　It is a sincere album filled with everything Ami Wajima has to offer in her teenage years.

I am able to sing as Ami Wajima without pretending anything!

───Isn't 2016 a year of great significance for you?

Wajima: Yes. Everything has changed since then. Debuting as an anime song singer was a really big event for me.

─ You released two singles and appeared at many events.

Wajima: I was very happy to perform at "ANIMAX MUSIX 2016" at Yokohama Arena. I also had the opportunity to perform live overseas, and I can't count the number of events that have left a lasting impression on me.

─ Have you gotten used to living in Tokyo?

Wajima Well, I am not used to it yet. I am trying to do a lot of fun things that I can only do in Tokyo.

─ ─ For example, what kind of things?

Wajima: I want to go to live concerts. Many artists who tour throughout Japan are not able to come to Sapporo, so I would like to take full advantage of being in Tokyo and see many different kinds of live performances. Tokyo is not a city I would want to live in (laughs), but there are many things that can only be done here. I think I have come to an attractive place to challenge myself.

─ Before you moved to Tokyo, you were living alone in Sapporo, right?

Wajima Yes, I did. I entered high school in Sapporo and could no longer commute from my hometown of Kutchan-cho. In Sapporo, I worked part-time while attending school and taking singing lessons.

─ So you started working to become a professional singer? Your debut came when you won the Grand Prix at the "HORIPRO x PONY CANYON Next Generation Anime Song Singer Audition." Was this your first audition?

Was this your first audition? No, I had tried various auditions before that, but the results were slow to come. But when I had this audition, I knew I would definitely get it.

─ ─ Why is that?

Wajima: I had always liked anime songs and wanted to become a singer, so I thought this audition would be a good fit for my goals. I thought that if I was accepted, I would be able to do everything I wanted to do, and I had a feeling that I would be accepted.

So you had a hunch. But the fact that you were able to pass the audition is amazing. Did you move to Tokyo right after you were accepted?

Wajima: In the beginning, I commuted from Sapporo to Tokyo. I was preparing for my debut single and shooting my first music video. It was a lot of fun at the time. I thought, "It's going to start! I thought.

─ ─ Your debut single, "Genso Drive" was released on May 3, 2016. That was the first time we heard Ami Wajima sing, and we were surprised by her powerful vocals, which were hard to believe for a high school student. We were surprised by her powerful vocals, which were so powerful that it was hard to believe she was a high school student. We wondered how in the world she acquired that singing voice.

Wajima: I had a loud voice from the time I was born. I was born with a loud voice (laughs). I was always singing at home.

─ ─ Perhaps to match your voice, the performance of "Illusion Drive" was emotional rock. The guitar sound was intense, and I thought it was a very sharp song for an ani-song.

Wajima: The anime "Maze Family Mayoiger" was a rather unusual work, and I thought a song that did not sound like an ani-song would be more suitable. I love female rock singers like Nanase Aikawa and Mari Hamada, partly because of my father's influence, so I was happy when I received the song "Genso Drive. I thought, "I can sing this kind of song! I thought, "I can sing this kind of song! Actually, I was told later that one of the criteria for the audition was to have a voice suited to "Genso Drive.


─ ─ At the time of the audition, "Genso Drive" had already been composed as the opening theme song for "Maze Family Mayoiger," and you were looking for a singer to sing it.

Wajima That seems to be the case. I was also happy to encounter the work "Maze Mayoiger," and I thought, "I have to sing the theme song for this anime! I thought, "I have to sing the theme song for this anime!

─ ─ Oh, what do you mean by that?

Wajima: I would say that the characters are sickly, or that the work is not fresh (laughs). (Laughs.) It is a work about a group of 30 participants in a bus tour who are all emotionally scarred, and there is a theme of redoing one's life. It was at a time when I was also thinking about starting my life over, so I felt like I was destined to do it.

─ ─ You mean you were close to the characters in "Lost Family Mayoiger" in terms of what you were thinking?

Wajima: Yes, they were close. I am the type of person who worries easily, and I don't think I am a fresh person.

───Now you are very happy to talk with them, aren't you?

Wajima Yes, I am trying to be refreshing (laughs).

─ ─ Hahaha (laughs). But after you made your debut and met "Illusion Drive," you must have felt that you had gone through a troubled period, didn't you?

Wajima That's right. After "Illusion Drive," I was able to find many songs that suited me. I feel that I am able to sing as the real Ami Wajima, without pretending anything. I feel that the songs have guided me to this point.

─ And you have finally completed your first album.

Wajima: It is an album that I could not have made without it.

───I felt that it was a sharp and sharp album, typical of teenagers.

Wajima Sharp? (laughs). (Laughs.) But the unfounded confidence and uncertainty that comes with adolescence is something unique to the teenage years, and I think there is a lot of that in these 10 songs.