Interview] "With songs that have no name, we accompany nameless despair" - ReoNa releases long-awaited first album "unknown".

ReoNa, an anime song singer with husky vocals and lyrics that encompass the pain she feels in life, makes her solo debut in August 2018 and releases her long-awaited first album "unknown". The album features a total of 12 tracks, including new songs in addition to her previous singles. The single songs, which have been tied up with various anime such as the "Sword Art Online" series, are catchy. On the other hand, the songs that express personal feelings are full of power that will gut the listener's heart.
We spoke with them about the songs on the "unknown" album!

I feel that my dream of becoming an anime song singer is coming true now.

─ ─ ReoNa, you appeared on Akiba Research Institute with your debut single "SWEET HURT". Two years have passed since then, right?

ReoNa Yes, two years have passed. It was something I had never experienced before, so I wondered if it had only been two years. I feel the flow of time is completely different from before my debut. 2 years has made me realize once again that my dream of becoming an anime song singer has come true. I am very happy to be able to release my first album at this time.

─ Your first album "unknown" contains all the title songs from your singles released up to now. To look back over the past two years, I would like to talk about the single songs first, but as a preliminary step, you sang as Erza Kanzaki, an artist in the TV anime "Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online" before your debut. You had an experience singing as Erza Kanzaki in the TV anime "Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online" before your debut.

ReoNa Yes. When I was asked to sing as Erza Kanzaki, it was my first experience singing as someone who is not myself, so to speak. I love anime and I love music, and Erza was the one who told me it was okay to sing and gave me a reason to sing. Through the release events and live performances, I have come to feel closer to the people who listen to my songs, but back then, I could not imagine what kind of people were listening to my songs and how they felt. At that time, singing as Elsa was a great help to me.

─ I felt that you sang the song in your own unique way while staying close to Erza.

ReoNa The people who made "Gun Gale Online" told me, "Please sing as Erza as you feel and think. I think it was very important that I was allowed to sing freely.

And then came your full-fledged debut. Your debut song "SWEET HURT" was the ending theme for the TV anime "Happy Sugar Life.

ReoNa This song was my first step as a "despairing ani-song singer. With this album, I hope that "SWEET HURT" will reach even more people.

─ ─ In an interview at the time, you also said that the song became a kind of self-introduction.

ReoNa Yes. The lyrics of "Happy Sugar Life" was the first work that ReoNa and I worked together as ReoNa. I believe that it was fate that brought us together for the first time as ReoNa in "Happy Sugar Life".


───The 2nd single "forget-me-not" is the 2nd cool ending theme of the TV anime "SWORD ART ONLINE ARIZATION".

The song was written by the same creators as "Pilgrim" by ReoNa Kanzaki Erza (lyrics by Hayashi Kei (LIVE LAB.), music by rui (fade), arrangement by Hair Crab (LIVE LAB.)). From the path of "Gun Gale Online" paved by Erza, this song became the first song that I was able to accompany the main story of "Sword Art Online". I have always watched "Sword Art Online," and in singing this song, I hope I was able to learn about the path Kirito will take and the path Eugio will follow, and I hope I was able to be close to the painful and painful parts of the story.

───The song has a cheerful tone, but the lyrics are lined with words that strongly pierce the heart. What did you keep in mind when singing?

ReoNa I gave a lot of thought to the intro chorus. Because it is a painful story, I sang the song with a ray of hope that at least a small flower will bloom at the ending. I still vividly remember the colors of the ending image of the anime, the expressions of the characters, and the blooming flowers.


─ The first song of the third single "Null," "Monster's Poem," is a non-tie-in song. I understand that this song already existed before your debut.

ReoNa "Kaibutsu no Uta" was the first original song I wrote. Until then, I had been singing covers of my favorite anime songs and Western music, and I had been searching for the right answer to the question of how I should sing the original song, but I was really worried about how I should sing an original song. This song is the first step of ReoNa's singing, in which she sings to someone else by overlaying the pain inside of her on music, so I hope you will listen to it as the beginning of her first album.

─ ─ "Monster Poem" is a song that goes into ReoNa's personal side, isn't it?

ReoNa: This song was created by reflecting the pain of the lyricist, Mr. Kekani, and the pain inside of me. I was able to sing this song believing that if Mr. Kekani's pain and mine overlap, someone else's pain will also overlap.

───There is a chorus lyric, "It hurts, it's not here, it's dark, it's scary," and I thought the words used in the song are simple and universal, and each person listening to the song can relate it to himself or herself.

ReoNa Yes. For me, the part about "just standing on two legs" seems to be my origin, as if I am just there singing while feeling the pain.