Ai Nakajima x kz(livetune) Special Talk──Their first collaboration in 6 years is swinging!

Ai Nakashima, who is enjoying her 10th anniversary year, has released a new single, which includes two tie-up songs, "Bitter Sweet Harmony," the opening theme for the TV anime "Sunoharasou no janitor-san" and "Shiranai Kazei," the new ending theme for the TV anime "Kakuriyo no Shukuhan. This is a powerful disc containing two tie-up songs, "Bitter Sweet Harmony," the opening theme of "Kakuriyo no Shukuhan-san. The sound producer of "Bitter Sweet Harmony" is kz (livetune), who collaborated with Mamegu for the first time in 6 years! So, a special dialogue was realized.

After reading the original story of "The Caretaker of Sunoharasou," I knew I wanted to ask kz-san to do it!

─ ─ The single "Transfer" by "livetune adding Ai Nakajima" released in September 2012 was the first time you two met, wasn't it?

kz I had liked her as a vocalist since the "Macross F" days, so I asked her to join us. I know it's been said repeatedly, but all of Ranka Lee's songs are truly memorable. I have always thought that the appeal of your voice is that it is both soft and powerful.

Nakajima I am glad to hear you say so. I heard that "Transfer" was the first song that kz-san produced with real vocals, so I was a bit worried about whether it would be okay for me to sing. But I thought that if I accepted the project, I would like to have my singing voice accepted by your fans. Since the song had a tie-up with the arcade game "Gunslinger Stratos" (theme song), I was very enthusiastic about recording it.

───After that, "Transfer" became a long-time fan favorite, didn't it?

kz I am very grateful. The music video made by Fantasista Utamaro was also highly acclaimed and has over 2 million views on YouTube, and I hear it is even being used in a video class at a university.

Nakajima: After recording the video, I saw the finished music video and found it to be on the cutting edge of culture and appealing to many people, so working with kz-san was a very valuable experience. I had several opportunities to sing the song live, and it really gets the crowd going. I would say that they get really excited, but it would be more accurate to say that they get really excited (laughs).

kz Ha ha ha ha (laughs). I was happy to hear that Neko Ume-sensei, the author of "The Caretaker of Sunoharasou," tweeted on Twitter that she had always liked "Transfer" when the tie-up was decided. It made me realize that there are people in the world who have loved this song for a long time.

─ ─ You once performed "Transfer" with kz as a guest performer at your live concert, didn't you?

Nakajima That was "Megumi Night Fever" at Nakano Sun Plaza (September 22, 2013). That was the first time for me to be on stage with a DJ at a solo concert.

kz It was the first time for me to make a guest appearance at an artist's live show, too. But I didn't talk much with Mr. Nakajima during the recording of "Transfer" and the live performance at Sunplaza. Back then I was a very complicated communicator (laughs).

Nakajima I am also quite shy (laugh), so I think we were both concentrating on our work rather than chatting and getting to know each other. The first time we talked for a long time was at the launch party for the Nakano Sun Plaza concert.

kz The launch party at that time was a lot of fun. It was so great that I can't tell you the details (laughs).

Nakajima That's right (laughs).

kz My impression was that we didn't talk much while working together. That is why I was trying to communicate properly during this recording session. I wanted the audience to see how much I have grown in the past six years (laughs).

Nakajima: Me too.


─ ─ How did you decide on this collaboration?

kz: I was first approached by Flying Dog President Shiro Sasaki.

Nakajima After I returned to work, in a meeting with the staff, we talked about what kind of artists we would like to collaborate with. One of the artists I mentioned was kz.

kz Oh, wow.

Nakajima I was waiting for the right moment to meet the right artist. At that time, it was decided that I would be in charge of the opening theme for "The Caretaker of Sunoharasou" and when I read the original work, I thought, "I want you to do this work! I read the original work and thought, "I want kz to do this work! The "Caretaker of Sunoharasou" is a work that calmly depicts an unchanging everyday life, and I felt that it would be a little different to create the opening theme with the same calm and gentle atmosphere. Rather than a song with a soft and fluffy image, I wanted the viewers of this work to be cheered up by the opening theme.

kz It's quite a challenge for me to write a song for this work (laughs). (Laughs.) Since "Transfer" was a very fast-paced electro song, it was quite unexpected that I was asked to do the opening for this work.

Nakajima: I wanted to try a pop tune here. The staff of "Manager of Sunoharasou" gave me the OK, so I said to President Sasaki, who is also my director, "Mr. Sasaki, please convince kz-san to do this! I told him.

kz Now I know how it happened for the first time (laughs).