Interview】Asakika releases her 2nd album "Pontoon". It includes a new song inspired by a playing card symbol!

Anime song singer Asaka will release her second album "Pontoon" (Pontoon). 13 songs in total, including anime tie-up songs such as "Seize The Day", the opening theme of the TV anime "Yuru Can△ SEASON 2", and new songs, plus one bonus track. The album is a voluminous collection of 13 songs, including new songs and one bonus track. The album title was taken from a card game, and the songs are based on the heart, diamond, spade, club, and joker, making the album a very enjoyable listen.
In the fall, the band will be touring Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka with "Pontoon" in tow. We interviewed the singer, who is always smiling as she continues to make her mark on the ani-song scene!

Diamond's song "Make a BIG WAVE! is Asaka's first summer song!

─ ─ Congratulations on the release of your 2nd album "Pontoon". I heard that the album title was taken from the card game of the same name.

Asakika: I have been using album titles related to my age for my mini-album "19box" and my first album "HEART TOUCH," so I looked for a word that fits my age (21) and found it. I searched for a word that fit 21 and found a card game called "blackjack," which is a game in which the sum of the cards is close to 21. But "blackjack" sounded too adult, so I wanted to use a softer, fluffier word. Then I found out there was a game called "Pontoon," which is a relative of "blackjack.

─ ─ Compared to "blackjack," the spelling and pronunciation of "pontoon" is much cuter.

Asakika: And since it is an unfamiliar word, I think it will leave a lasting impression. This time, I also took the idea from the album title and created new songs based on the playing card symbols. For example, "Heart" is a love song, and "Club" (clover) is a heartwarming and peaceful song inspired by the image of a four-leaf clover. We created the songs based on the image of each mark. Creating new songs with a clear concept from the beginning was a different approach from my previous albums.

─ ─ I thought that was also interesting. Never Give Up! is a heart, "Make a BIG WAVE! is a heart, "Make a BIG WAVE!" is a diamond, "Peace Will Shine" is a club, and "Guilty JUDGEMENT" is a new song written with the image of a joker. The opening theme song for the PS4 game "Senran Ninja Ninja Taisen Neptune - Shoujo-tachi no Kyoen -" is "Sing and Dance, Otome wa Tsuyoshi (Maidens are Strong). as a spade, and all types are now available.

Asakika: The shape of a spade looks like the tip of a sword, so I thought a song with a battle theme would fit. So I decided to use the song "Sing and Dance, Otome wa Mighty Maidens" as the opening theme for the PS4 game "Senran Ninja Ninja Taisen Neptune: Shoujo-tachi no Hibiki Tsuyoshi," in which girls engage in ninja battles. was made into a song in spades.

─ ─ The album starts with the diamond-inspired "Make a BIG WAVE! which is based on the image of diamonds. The lyrics were written by Asaka and composed and arranged by TAKE of FLOW, a remarkable tag team, and it is the lead song on the album.

Asakika: As the title suggests, this is a summer song, and it is Asakika's first song about the season. It's a song that makes me feel really uplifted, and I knew the moment we finished recording it that it would definitely be a lot of fun at a live performance.

─ It is a classic summer song that reminds me of the beach, isn't it? What kind of image did you have in mind when you wrote the lyrics?

Asakika: The theme of the song is my own summer (laughs). (Laughs) I wrote the song imagining how I would spend a summer in my early twenties, playing at the beach with friends, having barbecues, and enjoying fireworks at night. I would write things like, "I'm super high!" I thought that strong words such as "I've become super high!" and "I'm all for fooling around" would suit me, so I didn't hide the fact that I was having fun to the hilt (laughs).

──There are also lyrics about drinking alcohol and talking with everyone until morning, which I thought was very mature (laughs).

Asakika: I wonder if I'm an adult (laughs). I think it's more like an energetic way to spend the summer that you can only do now. Forget about work, study, and love, and just have fun with friends you know well.

─ ─ What was interesting was the incorporation of reggae rhythms in the middle of the song.

Asakika: The reggae chorus is cool, isn't it? The vocals are also processed here, so it's like listening to a song on the radio.

─ ─ The lo-fi sound is deliberate and evocative of a relaxing summer vacation. I thought it created a great effect.

Asakika: For the reggae part of the lyrics, Mr. Take asked me to write the lyrics with the audience at the concert in mind. In that sense, it is a part where my feelings for the fans came straight out.

─ You mean "To you who are here now, I will never forget this time we spent together"?

Asakika: Yes. By adding "", I emphasized that I was speaking directly to everyone.

───What other communication did you have with Mr. Take?

Asakika: Mr. Take also directed the recording. When recording the song, he asked me to "show the side of a cute 21-year-old girl in the song," but I had never expressed "cute" in a song before, so I struggled because I didn't know how far I could go (laughs).

(laughs) ─ Ah, I totally understand (laughs). (Laughs) Asakka, your songs are always cool first.

Asakika: I managed to finish singing the song, and when I checked the recording, I thought it was too cute. I took the cutest take and sealed it (laugh). I took many takes to complete the song, trying to find a balance between the 21-year-old me and Asaka as an artist.

─ ─ Now that you mention it, I want to listen to the cutest version of the song that I had sealed off.

Asakika: I know that feeling! (laugh) I talked about it with TAKE-san, but I thought it would have been good to have a cuter version that was cute from beginning to end. We got excited and thought it would be interesting to make it a single only for fan clubs and live venues.

─ This song has a music video (MV), and it too was full of summer fun, playing on the beach and barbecuing with friends of the same age.

Asakika 's "Make a BIG WAVE! is a friendship song with an image of diamonds, so I told the music video director that I wanted the song to be about just friends enjoying the summer, without any romance. I was friends with everyone in junior high and high school, regardless of gender, so I think the atmosphere of this music video is really the life-size Asakana.


I was attracted by the performance scene, which became cool all at once.

Asakika: The band scene was shot using a drone. The camera work from the sky gave the video a grandeur that I love.

───Are there any other memorable moments from the music video shooting?

Asakika: It was very windy when we were shooting on the beach, and we couldn't move forward if we had to worry about every mess in our hair. I stopped checking the footage halfway through the shoot (laughs). So, in some scenes, you can see me being extremely excited, and the smiles in this music video are completely off my face (laughs). (Laughs) On the other hand, I was able to sing with all my might in the summer sun, and the music video is filled with all the Asakibana of the summer of 2021.