Interview] Returning to her roots after 10 years since her debut!　Ai Nakajima's refreshing album "green diary" with the theme of "green," the color of her beginnings.

Voice actress and singer Ai Nakajima's fifth album "green diary" will be released on February 3, 2021. For Nakajima, who made her debut as Ranka Lee, the heroine of "Macross F," "green," which was also Ranka's image color, is a special color. This album, with new songs written on various "green" themes, is a return to her roots 10 years after her debut.
A variety of artists, including Yuki Ozaki (BBHF), Sei Ryuto, Soulife, tofubeats, and Yasutsugu Miura (□□□), participated in writing the lyrics and composing the music, which is typical of Ai Nakajima, who is known as a deep music fan, and makes the content very listenable. And for those of us in the midst of the Corona disaster, this is a work that can provide green healing and should be listened to now!

We decided on an image color for each song and wrote the lyrics and melody!

─ ─ In 2020, despite the Corona disaster, you were still actively involved in your work, weren't you?

Nakajima Yes, I did. Although invitations for overseas gigs and events were cancelled, I was able to release CDs as planned, and I felt that I was able to be more active than I had expected.

─ ─ Looking at the special website and other information, I got the impression that the production of this album started around last summer.

Nakajima: The idea of making a new album first came up at the end of 2019. The character song collection "FULL OF LOVE! was also decided around the same time, and we decided to release that first, so when the production of "FULL OF LOVE! was settled, I started to think about the theme that would be the basis of the new album, and it was during the summer that I started talking with the writers about the specifics. The title was decided in the summer, and things started moving quickly from there.

───Did you decide on the theme of "green" for the album earlier than that?

Nakajima Yes, we decided on the theme of "green" in early spring. It was already three years ago, but I made the last album with the theme of "curiosity" and felt that I was able to have a different adventure in terms of the tone of the songs and the content of the lyrics. Beyond that, I wanted to decide what would be my core next. I like milestones and anniversaries (laughs), so I wanted to do something special with my fifth album, and I wanted it to be a return to my roots.

───Did this return to your roots lead you to the theme of "green"?

Nakajima One of my origins is my debut as "Ranka Lee = Ai Nakajima," and the other is my first album "I love you. I would like to go back to that. The color of Lanka's hair is green, which is why the penlights you see me wave at my live performances are green, and the jacket of "I love you" has a lot of green in the background and in the outfit. At that time, I think the staff and customers around me associated green, Lanka's image color, with me. After that, I began to think that I needed to present other colors, and I had been daring to avoid green. By going back to green this time, I thought it would be a return to my roots.

─ So you decided on the album title "green diary" in August.

Nakajima: I decided on the title first this time because I thought it would be easier to convey to the writers that I had a clear image in mind when I asked them for the title.

───This time, there are many new composers and lyricists.

Nakajima It is not so much that I chose them for this album, but rather that I asked them whom I have been interested in from time to time during my singing activities. Not only from me, but also from the staff and the director, the names of people who might be able to explore a new world came up, and we combined them to decide who we would ask to compose the music.

─ So you didn't hold a competition for the music, but rather decided on an author and asked that person to write the music and lyrics?

Nakajima That's right. I think competitions have their advantages, but we specified this type of song and where it would be placed on the album, and each person wrote the lyrics.

─ ─ Was the order of the songs decided at the ordering stage?

Nakajima: Of course we changed the order of the songs during the production process, but the order of the songs was almost the same as what I had in mind when I ordered the album. This was the first time that I had the opportunity to say what I wanted to do at this stage of the music order process, so I was very firm in my image of what I wanted. Thankfully, I was able to communicate directly with all the artists, which was also a new experience for me.

─ So the album is very much self-produced.

Nakajima As a listener myself, I think I was able to realize the sound I wanted to hear right now.

Nakajima──Throughout the album, there is a sense of cohesiveness and a beautiful gradation within the large frame of green.

Nakajima: For the visual design of the album, I proposed the idea of applying the 10 colors of green to each song, and I think the songs themselves match the colors. When I placed the order, I told the artists what colors I imagined for the songs, and I think everyone kept that image in mind.

Nakajima──The songs were created from various variations of "green," so the overall sound has a sense of calm, doesn't it?

Nakajima Yes, there are some cute songs and bouncy songs, but there is also a sense of calmness. I realized once again that the word "green" in one word has a variety of colors with different temperatures. The single songs "Aquarium" and "Tenshi Hair Ornaments" are included in the album, and I thought they fit in well with the album as a whole, and sound different from the singles.

─ I think it is good that both "Aquarium" and "Tenshi Hair Ornaments" have a clean and fresh image.

Nakajima The color of the water in "Aquarium" sometimes looks green, and "Tenshi no Keshikari no Tenshi" is the ending theme for the first season of "Honkaku no Gekkoujo," and I play the role of a green-haired girl named Turi in this work. Moreover, during the "Hair Ornaments Angel" single, I also took a jacket photo wearing green for a long time. Because of this connection, the two songs fit nicely on this album.

─ ─ I thought that an album with such refreshing and transparent songs would be one that people would really want to listen to in this day and age.

Nakajima: I did not make this album with the Corona disaster in mind, but I am glad that I was able to create an album with a sense of calmness, especially in this time when everyone's shoulders are tense and we are not at ease.