New songs are bright and fresh. Aimi Numakura's first album "My LIVE" is completed!

In November 2016, Aimi Numakura launched her career as a solo artist, steadily releasing her first single "Shout" and second single "Climber's High!", and half a year after her debut. Finally, the long-awaited full album was completed. In August, she will be touring in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. We asked her to talk about the album and her live performances as she gains momentum for the summer!

Is the lead song "My LIVE" a bit of a problem song? I thought so!

Numakura: I think it has been a dense half year since my solo debut, with two singles and an album. The two singles were tie-in songs for anime productions, so I left a lot of things to the staff, but for the album, everything from the song titles to the visual aspects such as the jackets, was done based on my own opinions. So there were many new discoveries.

─ ─ What did you want the album to be like as a whole?

Numakura: Since the first single "Shout", I had the feeling that I wanted to sing regardless of genre, so I decided to make the album without narrowing it down. Since I had a live concert scheduled, I made the album on the premise that I would be singing with a band playing.

─ ─ It is true that the singles "Shout" and "Climber's High!" were both up-tempo rock songs, but when I listened to the couplings as well, I got the impression that you were playing a variety of music. Is the album an extension of that?

Numakura Yes, it is. In "Climber's High!", the second song "Hoshi no Furukurumachi" was also from the TV anime "Kazanatsu", so the third song "More Together" completely changed the world view. I hope that the audience will be excited by such a gap, and the same is true for the album.

─ ─ How did you decide on the album title "My LIVE"?

Numakura: It was decided from the beginning that I would write the lyrics for the lead song. The director told me that the lead song and the album title should be the same. However, the song that came out had a twisted impression that was not easy to write. I thought that if I titled the song as it was, it would be difficult to use it as the title of the entire album. But I decided to write the lyrics first, so I started writing.

─ ─ For now, I just tried to move my hand and see what would come out.

Numakura: The first thing that came out was the chorus, "Your choice is generally the right one. The first thing that came out was the chorus, "Your choice is generally the right one," and that set the direction of the song. But then I thought, "The lyrics are going to get more and more twisted, so what should I do with the title? (laughs).

(laughs) ─ So even the title was going to be twisted.

Numakura "Shout" and "Climber's High!" used strong words and gave a serious and dark impression overall, so I wanted to make the lyrics of the songs on the album more positive. The other lyricists wrote straightforward, upbeat, and positive lyrics, so I made a conscious effort to bring out my own positive attitude in the lead song. The title "My LIVE" came to me when the lyrics were almost finished. The meaning of the song is "My LIFE," not "My LIVE.

Numakura: So you knew what you were doing, but you chose "My LIVE" on purpose.

Numakura: I wrote the song with a positive attitude that was a bit twisted, and since it was written with live performances in mind, I thought "My LIVE" would be a good title for the album. Then I thought it would be a good title for the album. After thinking about it, I proposed it to the director, and he said, "I think it's a good idea," in a rather light-hearted way, and I was shocked (laughs).

(laughs) Numakura: Ha-ha-ha-ha (laughs).

Numakura Of course, I think he gave me an immediate answer because he trusts me (laughs). (laughs) For my part, once the words "My LIVE" came to mind, I began to think positively that it would make a good title for the album.

─ ─ Indeed, in the lyrics of the lead song "My LIVE," I felt a round-the-clock positivity, that although you may feel down at times, you are still positive.

Numakura: I guess it is impossible to have everything you want in life, and there are times when things go wrong more often than not, but even so, this place I am in now is not bad at all. That is the theme of the lyrics. The lyrics are ironic, and I think to myself, "Is this a bit of a problem song? But I would be happy if you could accept this kind of feeling as part of me. If people think this is all of me, they will think "Mr. Numakura is a strange person" (laughs).

(laughs) ─ I think you are quite a cynical person (laughs). But the lyrics are guided in part by the tone of the music, aren't they?

Numakura That's right. When I listen to a song with a certain direction in mind for the lyrics, there are words that just pop up, and I think about how to connect them.

─ ─ Are you the type of person who writes lyrics intuitively?

Numakura: Once I have decided on a direction, I start with a list of possible words and look for places where I can use them in the melody, and when I find one that fits, I start thinking about the words that come before and after it. I would write out a lot of words, and then look for places where they would fit in the melody, and when I found one that fit, I would think of the words before and after it. The song before it, "Dawn," was more inspired.