Interview] 1st full album "A PIECE OF CAKE" is completed! Interview with Kiyono Yasuno. The production of the full album was like a festival.

Kiyono Anno will release her first full album "A PIECE OF CAKE" on July 27, 2022. This is her first full-length album on the fifth anniversary of her debut as a singer, which is unique for a singer who has been working at her own pace, mainly with mini-albums.
The title "A Piece of Cake" is an English idiom meaning "It's no big deal. As the phrase suggests, the album is a collection of songs that can be listened to in a relaxed manner. The songwriters and composers who contributed to the album range from familiar faces who have written many of her songs to fresh newcomers. The production of a full album with so many people involved, including musicians, was like a "festival. What kind of songs were created and what kind of album was it?　We asked him about the new songs on the album.

For our first full-length album, we wanted to make it lighter than ever before.

─ ─ Five years after you started your singing career, "A PIECE OF CAKE" is your first full album. How did you feel when the release was decided?

Yasuno: I had always been active mainly with mini-albums, so I was happy when it was decided to release a full album on our 5th anniversary. Moreover, the release date is one day different from that of our first mini-album "Tears," which was released five years ago. released five years ago. At the meeting to decide on the release date, as soon as we found out that July 27 was a Wednesday, it was unanimously decided. I think it's wonderful that the motif of the album is a cake, as it gives a sense of celebration.

─ That's why the album title is "A PIECE OF CAKE"?

Yasuno: All of my previous mini-albums have been titled in Japanese, so I thought maybe I should use Japanese for this one as well, but the producer told me, "You can use English," and I thought, "Well, that's fine" (laughs). That's how I came up with the word.

───What did you have in mind when you named it "A PIECE OF CAKE"?

Yasuno: "A PIECE OF CAKE" is an English idiom meaning "It's no big deal" or "It's a piece of cake. I learned it from a certain manga, and I thought it was nice because it was pleasant to the ear and casual. I named it "A PIECE OF CAKE" to mean that it is a small cake that I gently offer to everyone.

─ So you named it not as an idiom, but as the meaning of the letters themselves?

Yasuno: Yes, I wanted many people to pick it up with a light heart. My previous mini-albums were all minimal but had impressive worlds, so some fans might have thought that a full album would be dense, like a full-course French meal, but this time I wanted to go the opposite way. But this time, I wanted to go the opposite way and make it light.

──The existing songs include the four title tracks from the 2nd to 4th singles (the 3rd single is the double A-side of "felicita" and "echoes"). I felt that they all fit easily into the flow of the album.

Yasuno: That's right. The 4th single, "Onnaji Kimochi," is gorgeous and cute, but the 2nd single, "FELICHITA," is a bit more subtle. The 4th single, "Onnaji Kimochi," is gorgeous and cute, while the 2nd single, "Haruremata" and the 3rd single, "echoes," have a pleasant acoustic instrumental sound, and I feel honored if this kind of atmosphere is recognized as the color of the singer Kiyono Yasuno.

─ ─ "Felicita" is also sandwiched between new songs on the album, and it flowed very well.

Yasuno: "Felicita" has an extraordinary sense of contrast between the beauty of the piano and string melody and the electro sound, and it takes you to another world.


─ ─ Excluding the first song, "Cut the cake ~overture~," which is a short instrumental, there are eight new songs on the album. What kind of production process did you go through to complete these songs?

Yasuno: First of all, the producer brought us candidate new songs. From the seven or eight songs, we chose four: "Laws of the Universe," "Celebration of the Century," "Summer Gone in the Waves," and "OUT na Yoru" (Night Out). The other four songs, "The Laws of the Universe," "The Festival of the Century," and "The Summer Gone Between the Waves," were the producer's first choice.

───What was the process for the remaining four songs?

Yasuno: "Bad Temptation" was Kohei Dojima's choice (laughs). (Laughs) Since Mr. Dojima has written a song for each of our mini-albums, we asked him to write a song for this one as well. Yoshiki Matsumoto, the composer and arranger of "A piece of cake," is also someone who has helped me every time. I asked him to write a title song to end the album, and he wrote a song with a gentle and soft touch.

The remaining one is "Hanajigure".

Yasuno: When the other songs for "Hana-JiAmure" had been decided, we decided that we wanted one solid, heavy ballad, and the producer gathered a list of candidates. The producer gathered a list of candidate songs and I chose one of them. I think it became a heavy song, something I had never done before.

─ To summarize, there were four songs that were chosen first, and then Kohei Dojima, yuigot, and Yoshiki Matsumoto were asked to write a definite song, and then you chose one ballad. Since new songs make up 2/3 of the total, I think this album is fresh even for fans who have been listening to Yasuno's songs for a long time.

Yasuno: The number of new songs alone exceeds the number of songs on each of our previous mini-albums. So the production period was quite intense. We were able to concentrate on two songs this week and two more next week, so it was a very memorable recording session. I realized that a full-length album is something you really have to put your back into. I thought it was like a festival, with so many people involved, including lyricists, composers, musicians, and engineers (laughs).