This is the true spirit of Ai Nakajima! New album "Curiosity" packed with new songs

Ai Nakajima returned to music in February 2017. One year later, her new album is finally released. The title, "Curiosity," is a reflection of her unwavering curiosity about music. Of the 12 songs on the album, 9 are new songs, making it a very rewarding album to listen to!

The concept of this album is "an album where you can hear my voice.

─ ─ Your new album "Curiosity" was produced by Mitsuyoshi Tamura. He has produced famous artists such as Kyoko Koizumi and Porno Graffitti.

Nakajima: Meeting Mr. Tamura was a surprise for me. Last May, Kyoko Koizumi's best album "Koizumi Chronicle - Complete Singles Best 1982-2017" was released, and I was reading an interview with Tamura-san from his director's point of view. Mr. Tamura's name came up. I love 80's songs, and I thought it would be wonderful to have a producer like Mr. Tamura who would produce songs conceptually, so it was a perfect match for me.

───Did you tell the staff that you were inspired by Mr. Tamura's interview?

Nakajima: Yes. I didn't tell anyone. Just the day before the meeting with the staff, I wrote a blog entry about my impressions of "Koizumi Chronicle. It was really a coincidence. I thought it was a coincidence.

───How did you and Mr. Tamura start working on the album?

Nakajima: At our first meeting, he said, "I want to make an album where you can hear my (Ai Nakajima's) voice. I think it was partly because I am a voice actor, and "voice" became the theme of the album. I had always felt that my voice and the music were part of my work, so his comment was a bit surprising to me. I felt from the beginning that my voice was going to be the core of this album.

─ ─ Do you think the concept of this album is different from your previous albums?

Nakajima: My 2nd album "Be With You" and 3rd album "Thank You" were made with an emphasis on musicality and style of music, so I had the impression that I was back to the time of my 1st album "I love you".

─ ─ I had the impression that as you continued your career as an artist, you became more and more a maniac as a listener. Does that mean that this album is a return to your roots?


Nakajima: Yes, I think it is no exaggeration to say so.

─ ─ My impression from listening to the whole album is that it is a work that does not stick to a single musical style. It is a work that lives up to the title of "Curiosity" (curiosity).

Nakajima: During a meeting with Tamura-san, we discussed the fact that I had been holding on to my curiosity to sing new songs and meet new people, which led to my return to the music scene, and that is how the album title "Curiosity" was decided. Curiosity" is a very broad theme, so we decided to go with any song that would excite us, regardless of genre. We decided to collect songs that we had never done before and were loosely bound by the idea of singing fun songs.

───A diverse group of writers wrote the songs, and I think that the songs gathered were ones that Mr. Nakajima had never done before.

Nakajima: While discussing with Mr. Tamura, we decided which writers to offer. It was about 50-50 split between those whom Mr. Tamura had mentioned and those whom I wanted to ask. Thanks to that, I was able to find a type of music that I had not imagined.