Digital Artist "AR performers" General Producer Akinori Uchida's Talk Live: A Stepping Stone to the 3rd Live Performance

A talk live by producer Akari Uchida, creator of AR performers, digital artists created with augmented reality (AR) technology, was held on December 1, 2017, at the Animate Yokohama store. This talk live was a special event planned to celebrate the release of the mini-album "A'LIVE3," which will be released on December 20, 2017, and brought together fans who qualified to attend. The author, who has been following the event since the first live performance, reports on the details of the event, which lasted about an hour and centered on talks related to the new songs!

For those who have never heard of AR performers, the basic premise is that this is not a typical two-dimensional character or idol content; instead of characters played by AR technology, there are "V cast" in charge of singing and talking, "A cast" in charge of dancing and moving, and "A cast" in charge of hair and clothes. The "A-Cast" is in charge of singing and speaking, the "V-Cast" is in charge of dancing and moving, and the "A-Cast" is in charge of hair and clothing movement control.

→ If you want to know more about "AR performers," check here! (Link to our sister site " Price.com Magazine ")

AR performers released a new song with the theme of "New Direction".

Takuya Hoshino, the navigator of AR performers' radio program " Amazing Radio Performers on the WEB " (every Saturday from 10:00 p.m.), was Uchida's partner in this talk live held at a special venue of Animate Yokohama Store. He is a familiar face to fans. Since he is a familiar face to fans, Mr. Hoshino was the first to take the stage, and he threw his customary (?) call to the audience. When Mr. Hoshino, who is a familiar face to the fans, first took the stage, he gave his customary (?) call to the audience, and the audience responded in unison! The audience was instantly united in a good mood when Mr. Uchi-P appeared on stage, and everyone's eyes were glued to the poster in his hand! It was a poster announcing the first release of the mini-album "A'LIVE3" and the next live "3rd A'LIVE. I can't see it! fans, Ms. Hoshino held up the poster like a round girl and circled the venue in a circle. How sweet!





The event started with the tension at its peak, and then finally came the main topic, the mini-album "A'LIVE3". A'LIVE3" contains 5 songs, 4 of which are new songs for the "3rd A'LIVE". For some reason, AR performers has been releasing CDs of new songs after their live performances, whereas most artists release CDs of new songs before their live performances. The author also wondered why, but since DVDs of movies and animations are released after they have been screened or broadcast, AR performers may have followed this trend in the beginning. However, this time it was different! I thought, "If we release the DVD before the live performance, it will be easier for the fans to learn the songs and perform the live performance. With a single word from Uchi-P, the decision was made to release the CD before the live performance. However, the decision to release the CD was made, the schedule became very difficult. The schedule of releasing a CD once every six months to coincide with the live concert was disrupted, and the production period for "A'LIVE3" was shorter than before, (Laughs)! (Laughs)

Uchi P., who was a little bit tight-lipped, talked about the new song as well. Since the creation of AR performers, Uchi-P has been aiming for a quality that would be appreciated by professional musicians, so there is no doubt that the songs are outside the boundaries of so-called "anime songs" and "character songs," but in order to realize the world view that Uchi-P envisions, it was necessary for the composer/arranger to create a song that could be enjoyed in a live performance. However, I believe that it would not have been possible without the presence of Shoichiro Hirata, who is in charge of composing and arranging the music. I am not a musician, but Hirata's music is unique and exquisite in its sense. They are very catchy to the ear, but they are not simple, and they are quite difficult to sing! The AR performers are also amazing guys who can sing such difficult songs with ease. They are already performing at such a high level, but this time they were challenged to take their performance in a new direction. They exchanged opinions with Uchi-P and Mr. Hirata, and worked on the songs until they were satisfied with the final product.

Leon "Turn Up Baby !

First, Leon's new song "Turn Up Baby ! which appeared like a comet at the 1st live. As Leon said on the radio, "Turn Up Baby ! But in the early stages, it was a difficult song with more of a black music feel to it. However, we decided that even if Leon could dance to it, Tintin couldn't. So we modified the song to make it somewhat easier to understand. So they modified the song to make it a little easier to understand.

The live concert will be held in January, in the middle of winter, but the image of the song is the West Coast. The image of the song is the West Coast, which is perfect for Leon, who is like the sparkling sun. Just by listening to the song, you can see Leon dancing happily and lightly!　The dance incorporates James Brown's steps and other elements, arranged in Leon's style, so I am looking forward to seeing it live.

The recording took over 4 hours to complete. Hirata-san kept raising the bar and giving him bad advice, and Leon kept doing the same, and by the end, it became a battle of wills. In the end, it became a battle of wits and it just didn't end.... During this time, Uchi-P was eating snacks in the studio and said that he ran out of snacks on the floor. I was worried while interviewing him, wondering if his abs would be okay. I was worried while interviewing him (laugh).

(Laughs.) Also, Mr. Uchi-P said that he would like Leon to sing a ballad someday. He said he wants Leon to sing a song that only Leon can sing, or a song that makes Leon look sexy (although he already looked sexy in "FANTASISTA"!). ).

Shinji "Dahlia"

Shinji, the leader of AR performers, is a born elite whose parents are prominent musicians. He is an honor student, the top student in his school, and looks and acts like a prince himself. He is so well behaved, gentle and kind that he even calls the audience "princesses" during live performances. It seems that he has broken out of his shell. He asked Uchi-P and Mr. Hirata to try the same vocal style as in "TENDER BLUE" at the 3rd live, and a new song "Dahlia" was created based on his opinion. Dahlia" has a completely different feel from Shinji's previous songs, and is based on the concept of a life-size boy, not a prince. Shinji always says "me" but in this song he says "me," says "I," says "I," says "I," says "I'll take your hand," and even though he would normally say "please take my hand," in this song he says "I'll take your hand," and he even sounds as if he is squeezing his voice out from the bottom of his stomach. Uchi-P was so moved by the song during its recording that he was even swooning while listening to it (laughs).



When the song "Dahlia" was first submitted to Uchi-P, he felt that it had an atmosphere of Japanese song-rock from the 90s, and he asked him to create a sound with that kind of sound in mind, such as by bringing the vertically chorded guitar to the forefront. At the same time, he also wondered if it would sound a bit old-fashioned. But for Shinji, a high school student, the 90's taste sounded original or fresh.

Dahlia" is a love song that expresses the feelings that well up in the hearts of the audience, so it is sure to be a great live performance. You can't miss how much Shinji gets emotionally involved in the song!

REBEL CROSS "rrrrrrrrride On !

The new song "rrrrrrrrrrride On !!!" by AR performers' only duo "REBEL CROSS" is a song that is hard to describe. The name of the song "rrrrrrrrride On !!!" is hard to say at first! (Laughs) For the "rrrrrr" attached to it, you have to say "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrride on". The reason for this song title was because of the diamonds. Because originally, it was usually "ride On ! was. But to be honest, Uchi P and Hirata-san thought it was unmemorable ....... Then they heard Dia singing "raa" during a recording session, and they thought it would be better if they added a lot of "raa" to the song. He thought, "Why not just add a lot of 'la's? The title was born from Dia's singing style, but she also requested Dia and Rage, "Let's try using more curly tongues," as if she had been doing so from the beginning (laugh).



(Laughs.) The song "rrrrrrrrrrride On! is also included in "rrrrrrrrrrride On !!!". Up until now, Rebel Cross' music has been "Look at me! I'll show you! Look at me, you guys!" but they wanted to do a song where they could get the performers in the audience on stage, so they decided to make it a party tune. In other words, whether or not the direction of "rrrrrrrrrrride On ! is a party tune, and the success of the direction of "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrride On !

Another point to note is that this time you can hear Dia's bare-bones rapping. For "THE KISS," Uchi-P had ordered a softer rap that was easier to listen to, but the second song, "D.O.A.," brought out Dia's true colors and was accepted naturally by the fans, so the third song, "rrrrrrrrride On ! A" was accepted naturally by the fans! and it turned out to be quite good.

And so far, there has been no mention of Rage! Rage fans may be getting nervous, but "rrrrrrrrrrride On! is mainly about Dia's rapping, so the only thing about Rage (......) was that recording was done separately from Dia, and that he is not the type to record in parts, but to sing through the whole song (Rage is so good and handles it all so well that there were so few comments). (The author thinks that because Rage is so good and handles it so well, there were so few comments!) ). ) But at the end, Mr. Uchi-P said that he would like to hear a song composed by Rage someday, because Rage has a lot of knowledge about music and likes to compose. Mr. Hoshino also reminded us, "You said that, didn't you? so let's wait and see. Rage can also play the guitar, so it would be nice to hear him play!