Interview] Clara and Karen talk about the new ClariS with a more mature look and their 6th album "Parfaitone"!

ClariS will release their new album "Parfaitone" on April 6, 2022. It is a powerful work containing 17 tracks (19 tracks on the "regular disc"), and it is said to be a piece that challenges new songs while keeping the world view that has been created up to now.
The existing songs include "Alicia", the ending theme of the TV anime "Magia Records: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Gaiden", "Careless", the opening theme of the same TV anime "2nd SEASON - Kakusei Zenyasya", "Hataraku Cell! ending theme "Fight! and other single songs released after the previous album.
We asked the duo to talk about the new world of ClariS!

We ourselves chose the new song from among many candidates.

─ Congratulations on the release of your 6th album "Parfaitone". It's been about three and a half years since your last album, right?

Clara Yes. In October 2020, we released two best albums at the same time to celebrate our 10th anniversary, but this is the first original album with new songs in three and a half years, so I was very enthusiastic about the production (laughs). ).

Karen: On our 10th anniversary, I took off my mask and started to work with my real face, and I wanted to take advantage of that opportunity to try more and more things, which led me to this album. The album title "Parfaitone" is a coined word combining the French word "parfait" and the English word "tone," meaning that the songs, like parfait, are full of individuality and unite to create a tone. I think the album has become exactly what it says.

─ I thought it was a beautiful album, just as you said. Comparing the colorful contents to a parfait is very ClariS-like.

Clara Thank you very much. In the early days, there were many jackets with sweets as motifs, and in a way, I felt like I was going back to my roots. I think the title of the album expresses the fact that we are moving on to a new stage while retaining the character of ClariS up to now.

Karen The French word "Parfait" also means "perfect," like the English word "Perfect," so there is another meaning hidden in the album title: "perfect tone. I thought "Parfaitone" was a good fit in the sense that I wanted to deliver an evolved ClariS while going back to the basics.

─ ─ Perfect is quite a strong word, isn't it?

Clara: Yes, it is. The meaning behind the title is actually quite strong (laughs).

───Did your feelings change when you took off your mask and revealed your true face?

Clara The first time we took off our masks in a live performance was in September 2017 at Pacifico Yokohama, and the 10th anniversary live performance was meant to be the first time that our true faces were widely publicized through the Internet. So rather than a change of heart, I was more enthusiastic about creating a new ClariS from this point on.

Karen: We had always valued the unique worldview of ClariS created by hiding our true faces, but we became confident that the ClariS world we had built would not be destroyed even if we took off our masks, and we decided to go even further at the 10th anniversary live. I decided to move on to the next stage at our 10th anniversary concert.

Clara: When I read the feedback we received from fans, I was happy to see that they were able to appreciate the changes in our facial expressions with each song. On the other hand, I still feel that masks are an important element of ClariS, and I would like to continue performing with masks for some songs. The image of ClariS is a rabbit and cat mask.

─ ─ While respecting the ClariS of the past, we are challenging ourselves to try something new. That is the very concept of this album. When did you start working on the album?

Karen: We started recording new songs around November of last year (2021).

Clara: Before that, we had to choose the songs. As with the previous album, we listened to many demos and made our own selections this time as well. It was a lot of fun to choose songs that both captured the past ClariS and the new ClariS.

Karen: Unusually for an album of ours, the title "Parfaitone" was decided before we selected the songs. This gave us a clear direction for choosing the songs, and we didn't have any doubts, which was one of the reasons we enjoyed it so much.

Clara: Thankfully, we received a great number of submissions from all of the artists.

Karen: We listened to each song one at a time and chose the ones we liked the best. Most of the songs we chose matched Clara's. Clara: Yes, that's right.

Clara Yes, that's right. There were many songs from various genres to choose from, but the songs I wanted to sing were almost the same as Karen's. Karen's personality is very different from mine.

Karen We have different personalities, but we have similar views on music (laughs).

Clara We are the opposite of each other in terms of height, appearance, and what we are good at and what we are not so good at (laughs). (Laughs.) I have always thought of singing first, but when I met Karen, who is a good dancer, she taught me how to dance, and I have come to love dancing as well, which has broadened my performance range.

Karen On the other hand, I had been learning how to dance for a long time, but Clara taught me how to sing after I joined ClariS. I think the good thing about ClariS is that we can evolve by complementing each other in this way.

─ ─ Going back to the new album, I felt that the new songs you chose were somewhat mature.

ClaraCullen: I'm so glad. Thank you very much!

Clara: When we were selecting the songs, we weren't particularly conscious of it, but I think that as we've gotten older, the songs we've been drawn to have changed, so many of the songs have a more mature feel to them. But there are also songs that still have the girlishness that is unique to ClariS, so it's a good balance.

Karen: I think both of us are becoming more mature little by little, naturally.