Interview with Minako Kotobuki Release of single "save my world", a song of longing for "positive escape

Voice actress artist Minako Kotobuki will release "save my world", her 12th single. Both the title track and the coupling track are created under the theme of "positive escapism," with each song offering a different genre of music to enjoy. In particular, the title track "save my world" is dance music, which she is currently working hard on, and various challenges can be seen in it, including the dance moves in the music video. Let's take a look at her expression that she has refined during the recharging period of Sphere.

What she saw and felt from the dance lessons she took in Los Angeles

─ This new single "save my world" seems to be positioned as an extension of the dance tune that you opened up with "emotion" from your third album released a year ago.

Kotobuki: I did think about the direction of the single that would come out after the album. It was the same when I released "black hole" after "Tick," my second album. When you make an album, there is a strong sense of accomplishment, and you are aware of the next step, but at the same time, there are things you can do only after completing "emotion". I wanted to make a single that was connected to the album, but also a step higher.

───While establishing the line created for the album, I also wanted to show a new aspect of the song with this single.

Kotobuki That's right. However, I don't know if digging deeper into the elements expanded on the album is really the right way to go as a single, so I feel that this song is a challenge.

Kotobuki: You are proactive about your own challenges, aren't you?

Kotobuki That's right (laughs). I often say "I am challenging myself" (laughs). This time was also a kind of challenge, and it turned out the way I envisioned it with a sense of excitement. I think it was a challenge both in terms of the theme of the single and the content of the lyrics. Personally, the underlying theme of the single was "positive escape. I had never really thought about this before, because I had always been in the stance of just going forward, but I learned a lot through this single. Usually my "escapes" are traveling, watching movies, reading manga, and listening to music. I feel that I can go to another world because I concentrate on my work, so "escapism" does not have a negative impression in my mind. It is a kind of recognition that by going to another place, you can love the original world.

─ ─ You wrote the lyrics for this single as well as the album, but did you have the theme of "save my world" in mind beforehand?

Kotobuki: I had decided on the general theme of "escape" in advance, but I had not decided whether to have a lyricist write the lyrics or to write them myself. However, I decided early on that it would be better to write the lyrics myself in order to show how much of an "escape" feeling I was getting from the song, so I decided to write the lyrics myself. After listening to the song, I decided that I wanted it to be an "escape," with parts of lamentation for myself and parts of looking back on the past, but also with a sense of hope.

─ ─ What was the theme of looking back that came to mind?

Kotobuki: It came from a combination of what I expected would happen to people in society today, and the society as I see it. Rather than looking back at the past from the present, I look back in the sense of looking at the present from the future when something falls into place in the future. I wrote this with the hope that people would think that sometimes it is necessary to try to escape once in a while.

─ Did you have time to absorb in 2018?

Kotobuki: Yes, there was a lot. I traveled to Los Angeles (LA) by myself in 2017, and I went there again this year, and I was able to take dance lessons there, which I had longed for. I like the jazz/funk genre, and there were lessons where we choreographed anyway, and there was also a class called "grooves" where we just worked on the basics to various genres of music. In LA, there were already professional dancers who came to improve their skills, and there were also people who came to learn because they just love to dance, and it was very fun and exciting just to watch them. It was very fun and stimulating. It was very enjoyable and stimulating to watch them. It was interesting to see how the dancers over there were so self-expressive that it made me think, "I shouldn't be weak-minded," and on the other hand, I felt that the sensitive side of them is unique to Japan and other Asian countries. Some Japanese dancers also said that they felt Japanese dance was amazing after going abroad, and until then I had thought, "Even if you say so, isn't the home country more amazing? But when I actually went there, I realized that I was right. Everyone expresses what they learn from their teachers rather loudly. I learned that it is fine over there, but what is considered cool or beautiful in Japan is a bit more subtle and detailed. I was also able to face many of my favorite things, such as going to Korea for the first time. It was a very fulfilling period of input that I was able to make because I was in the middle of recharging my batteries.

─ What are some of the characteristics of singing dance tunes?

Kotobuki: First of all, I place importance on expressing the rhythm properly in the song, fitting the lyrics to each note, and giving nuance to the parts that can be expressed, but not too much seasoning, and how to season the song in a way that makes it easy to listen to musically. Dance tunes have the feeling of being applied to a loop that is repeating all the time, and that is why rhyming is so important. This song has a solid melody line, so it can be sung in a flowing way while still being applied to the rhythm. I wrote "Accelerating high heartbeat" on the D melody because I thought the melody line of this song alone made the heart beat faster and faster. It was such a challenging song to sing.

─ ─ You have always liked dance songs, haven't you, Kotobuki?

Kotobuki: Yes, I have. One of my longings was fulfilled this time. I also danced in the music video. This was the first time I asked the choreographer for this song, and I left everything to him. The more I danced, the more I was pleased to see how they interpreted my lyrics and choreographed them. I like the choreography of the D-melody, "Tears fluttering out of my eyes, loosening unexpectedly," the best. I had written positive and hopeful lyrics for this part, but when I turned them into a dance, I could see the hope and sadness added to them. I am looking forward to seeing how the music video will change once it is finished and I sing it again. The director is also a former dancer, and he has an exquisite sense of how to make the music video look cool and how to make it not too cool. To create a sense of "escapism," he filmed us floating on clouds and paper airplanes. The film has a fantasy, pastel, and cute feel, but when the song is combined with it, I think it creates a perfect balance of cool and cute. The person I asked to do the styling for my costume for the first time gave me a lot of ideas and prepared a one-piece dress with a lot of movement that would easily bring out the nuances of my choreography. I was a bit nervous about the new essence, but I think it ended up opening up a very interesting world.