Interview with Hitomi Yoshida, who has a lineup of great songs from "Sora no Otoshimono," "Pretty Cure," and "Lupapato." ...... Interview with Hitomi Yoshida on her best album "10rder," celebrating the 10th anniversary of her singing career!

Hitomi Yoshida, a singer, voice actress, and singer with diverse activities, released her first best album "10 rder" on June 27, 2018, celebrating her 10th anniversary as a singer.

It includes memorable songs loved by a wide range of people from her debut song, songs from the unit blue drops she formed with popular voice actress Saori Hayami, and her latest representative songs. The album contains 17 songs, including new songs prepared especially for this album, making it a very satisfying album to listen to.

To commemorate the release of this album, we asked her to share her thoughts on her career as a singer and to talk about some of the songs on the album!

--Congratulations on the release of your 10th anniversary album. Do you remember when you made your debut as a singer?

Hitomi Yoshida (Yoshida): It left a deep impression on me. Originally, my name was "Hitomi" and I was a singer for a children's TV program called "Utter Odoronpa! I was not very good at singing when I was chosen to be the singing girl, and I had never learned to sing before, so I never thought I would become a singer. When I was a child, I was told that I was rather tone deaf, so I was aware that I was not a good singer.

--So you are right! That's very surprising. By the way, what was your original experience with music?

Yoshida: I really liked "Chibi Maruko-chan," and the first CD I begged him to buy for me was "Odoru Pompokolin. I was always singing and dancing to it. But at that time, I didn't really want to sing in front of people. So I never thought I would come to sing. ...... And I never thought I would like singing. When I first started as a singing sister, I was under a lot of pressure, and I had to record a new song almost every week, and I worked so hard just to sing each song, that I didn't think it would be fun at first. After about six years of working on the show, I finally started to be able to sing freely by myself, and I was starting to get some sense of the joy of expressing myself through singing, but then the show ended.

--How did you decide to make your debut as a singer after that?

Yoshida: I had been in an environment where I had been singing all my life, so when I stopped singing in my life, I gradually began to want to sing more and more. However, just because I wanted to sing did not mean that I could make my debut as a singer, nor did it mean that I would only be offered such jobs, I was thinking vaguely about what I should do. The anime was "My Family's Inari-sama. That anime was "My Family's Inari-sama.

--So you are related to Uemura-san from your days as a singing girl?

Yoshida: No. I graduated from singing sister. After I graduated from singing sister, I was asked to sing the ED theme for Sanrio's "Sugar Bunnies" anime, and Uemura-san happened to hear the song and approached me. I thought I would be asked to sing a cute song after hearing that song, but I was surprised to hear a cool song (laughs). I have never sung such a cool song! I wondered if I could sing it. I wondered if I could sing it (laughs).

--Before your debut as a singer, you made your debut as a voice actor.

Yoshida That's surprising even for me. I feel like I've been singing for a long time.

--What kind of existence does singing have for you?

Yoshida I think it is the same feeling as breathing. I always sing when I do something at home. I probably couldn't live without singing.

--What was the turning point at which singing, which you were not good at, became such a presence in your life?

Yoshida I don't know. I was really in pain at first (laughs). I was afraid of recording, I didn't know if I could sing properly, and I didn't know if the finished product was really the right one. However, I had been acting for a long time, so I had the feeling that singing was similar to acting, and that is why I sang with a lot of nuance, as if I was escaping from acting, and I was good at that. However, because of this, I tended to sing with a rattling rhythm, without pitch and without pitch, but Mr. Hara, the producer of Nippon Columbia, and Toshiyuki Omori, the composer who wrote the new song for this project, guided me very carefully. However, it is not something that can be learned overnight, and I think it was probably not until I was in my 20s that I was able to make it my own. I think it was only in my 20s that I was able to make it my own. It gradually became second nature to me.

--So the period leading up to your debut as a singer was truly a period of training.

Yoshida That's right. And since "Utter Odoronpa! is a singing and dancing program, so I would lip-sync and dance while playing a song I had recorded earlier, but it had to be done with my voice or it would sound fake, so I always danced with my voice. I always danced while singing because it would sound fake if I didn't. At that time, I was really trained in the basics of dancing while singing. I think that is why I was able to sing and dance so naturally in "Pretty Cure" and other productions later on.

--Looking at the lineup of this best album, there are cool songs like "KI-ZU-NA ~To the Faraway Ones~," dance songs like "Pretty Cure," and character songs. And even the character songs, it's a compilation of your best works.

Yoshida: I think it is difficult to include character songs in an artist's best album, but this time I was a bit selfish and included them. Especially "SUKI! SUKI! SUKI!", the theme song for the TV anime "Itoshi no Muko", was only available for music distribution at the time, so I had a personal wish that it would be released on CD someday. I am happy that my wish has been fulfilled this time by being included in a best-of album.

Since this is a best-of album, we started with a lineup of "Hitomi Yoshida" songs, and then asked the director and manager, "What other songs would you like to include? I was talking with the director and manager, and at the end of the discussion, I suggested, "This is a little different, but how about a character song? I suggested "How about a character song?

I was very selfish and asked them to include the "Uoshin-kun Song". Actually, it had not been announced that I was singing the song until now, so this time I was allowed to put my name on it again.

--In that sense, it is a representative song plus a rare song.

Yoshida That's right. This is completely unrelated to the audience, but there are four different labels, and I really appreciate the efforts of everyone at each label. The songs are all important to each work, so it was a miracle that we were able to complete this album with the help of all the people involved.

Memories of the debut song "KI-ZU-NA: To the Faraway Ones

--Let's start by talking about the songs on the album. The album starts with "KI-ZU-NA: Haruka Narunaru Mono ni" (KI-ZU-NA: To the One Far Away).

Yoshida: Until then, I had been active as a singing sister and sang cute and energetic songs in "Sugar Bunnies" and other groups, so I didn't expect to be given such a cool song for my debut, which was just a surprise at the time.

Until then, I had always worked with people I was familiar with, so I remember how nervous I was to record with a new person at a new place for the first time. It was at a studio in Shinbashi, I believe (laughs).

This song was released as a unit "Hitomi Sora" with Sora Izumikawa, but I didn't know about the unit at the time of recording. After recording, the producer, Mr. Uemura, told me, "We are going to make it a unit with a person named Izumikawa Sora," and I said, "Ha, yes" (laughs).

--(Laughs.) So you are the vocalist and Sora Izumikawa is in the chorus?

Yoshida Yes. When we recorded the song, I just sang the main melody and left, but it was Uemura-san and Izumikawa-san who made it come out that way.

--Yoshida: Another song "Hitomisola" is "Kiseki ~I believe in you~".

Yoshida: This song was written and composed by Izumikawa-san, and it was probably the first ballad I ever sang. Before that, I had sung medium ballads, but most of them had a bit more rhythm and energy because they were songs for children's TV programs. This was almost my first ballad, so it was quite difficult. I was asked to improvise a fake. Ad-lib? Huh?" I will never forget how nervous I was.

--I will never forget how nervous I was at that moment.

Yoshida That's right. If you sometimes add "Yay! sometimes, I would be scolded. So I didn't have the feeling of ad-libbing, so it was a new experience for me. I was nervous that they would say, "Try it, here you go." It was very fast, but I had already recorded "KI-ZU-NA: To the Faraway Ones" once, so I felt relaxed, and it was a very enjoyable recording.

Since we chose mainly tie-up songs for the album, all of them are very exciting, and since there are only three ballad songs, we wanted to put them in the right places, so we put them in the sixth song.

It is a memorable song from my debut single, and I wanted to use it in an important place.

Legendary unit "blue drops" marked a turning point for me, as I wanted to sing anime songs all my life.

--The album also includes many songs by the vocal and chorus unit "blue drops" with Ms. Saori Hayami. First of all, please start with "Heart Probability", the OP song of "Sora no Otoshimono f (Forte)".

Yoshida: This song is the OP song for the second season of "Sora no Otoshimono". "Ring My Bell" from the first season left a great impression and became a representative song of "Sora no Otoshimono", so I think this song, the next theme song, was very difficult to write. However, I like this song very much because it has a more powerful finish while retaining the "Sora no Otoshimono" style.

The other day, I sang this song at a "Sora no Otoshimono" event for the first time in a while, and the audience sang the part where Saori-chan sang the chasing melody. I had always thought of "Sora no Otoshimono" as "Ring My Bell," but I was very happy to hear how much they cherished "Heart's Probability" as well.

SECOND" (theme song for the movie "Sora no Otoshimono the Movie: Clockwork Lamentations") may be the song that took the most changes in the "Sora no Otoshimono" series. First, we had to record it for a commercial, so we recorded just the chorus first, but the tempo was different at that time, and I wonder if we made it a little faster for the full-size version. I thought it would be more like blue drops. I think we changed the song two or three times, including the way it was sung and the nuances, and I think we tried this way and that way during the recording.

--Yoshida: My personal favorite song is "I'm coming back" from the ED theme of "Sora no otoshimono f." Yoshida: I really like this song, too.

Yoshida I really like this song too. I cry every time I sing this song at events or live performances. Seiji Miura has a wonderful sense of lyrics. I think it is similar to "Lupin Ranger vs. Patranger," but even though it is a unit song, the two of us are not just singing the main melody together or just harmonizing, but each of us has our own presence. I think it was very difficult, but I sang it very carefully.

Saori sings as Icarus, so she sings the part of Icarus, and I sing from a third person's point of view. The same is true of the first season's ED, "Just to Be Beside You," but I have the impression that the second season has deepened the characterization of the song.

--I think you will discover something new when you listen to the blue drops songs after hearing those stories.

Yoshida: I think that the way Saori and I approach singing, or rather the way we attack a song, is a little different. I think that is another interesting element.

--This album also includes "Utopia Blue," the latest song from "Sora Otoshi" (used in "Pachislot Sora no Otoshimono Forte").

Yoshida: I think this song is a reward from Mr. Miura to blue drops. In many places, my name, words that remind me of Saori-chan, and the titles of the songs we have sung as blue drops are interwoven. The lyric "Blue drops" is a song that I think only Miura-san, who has been following us since the first season, could have written. It is the culmination of our work.

--Is blue drops important to you?

Yoshida: Yes, they are. I think the reason I have been able to sing for the past 10 years is because of my time as blue drops, and I am grateful to "Sora no Otoshimono" for giving me blue drops and to Mr. Uemura of Nippon Columbia for producing that work. I have a great sense of gratitude to Mr. Uemura of Nippon Columbia, who produced the work. I am very attached to the song, including the memories of singing it with Saori-chan.

--Is it because of this emotional attachment that "Ring My Bell," the song that started the unit, is the climax of the 15th song?

Yoshida: Yes, that's right. It is also my signature song, and "Ring My Bell" was the first song I thought I could sing as an artist.

At the time of "KI-ZU-NA: To the Faraway Ones," I still didn't know what was right or left, and I was worried. I liked singing, but I wasn't sure if I could sing as an artist, or what the world of anime songs was like. Then, when I sang "Ring My Bell," I strongly thought, "I want to sing ani-song all the way! I felt strongly that "I want to sing anime songs forever! So this song is very important to me.