Interview] Covering her favorite songs with the latest sound. Ai Nakajima's 10th anniversary mini-album is completed!

Ai Nakashima's debut single "Tenshi ni naritai" (I want to be an angel) was released to the world on January 28, 2009. Ten years later, on the same day, her 10th anniversary mini album "Lovely Time Travel" was released. It is a collection of covers of songs from the 70s to the 90s that she loves. With the participation of Rasmus Faber, tofubeats, and others as arrangers, Mamegu sings with all her heart on these classic songs that have been reborn with the latest sound!

This is an album that we made freely in celebration of our 10th anniversary!

─ ─ The cover mini-album "Lovely Time Travel" is a piece that is full of Nakajima's taste. How did you come up with this album?

Nakajima: I was celebrating the 10th anniversary of my debut, so I was asked if I would like to release a cover album. It started when he suggested that we release a cover album to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our debut. After that, there was no activity for about six months, so I wondered if it was true. But last summer, I was told that it was true (laughs). (Laughs.) From there, I started selecting songs.

─ ─ Last year, you and Minori Kai co-authored a book, "What Music Taught Me," which was published last year, and there were events after that, so your love of songs became more widespread.

Nakajima Thankfully, last year was a year in which my hobbies bore fruit in various ways in my work, and this album is one of them.

───The seven cover songs on the album were all chosen by you, right?

Nakajima Only the sixth song, "Midnight's Door," was a suggestion from tofubeats, who arranged it for me. I had originally asked him to suggest a song that would suit me, and he responded with this song. I love Tetsushi Hayashi's songs, and of course I had heard "The Door at Midnight," but the original song by Miki Matsubara and I have very different voices and singing styles, so I had never listened to it from the perspective of covering it myself. It was a difficult song, but I decided to give it a try.

─ What criteria did you use to select the other six songs?

Nakajima: I chose the songs from about 10,000 songs in my iPod, on the premise that they had to be songs with female vocals. The selection criteria were songs that I liked and songs that gave me a vision of how I would want to sing them. There were so many songs that I wanted to sing, and it was really difficult to select the songs to be included.

─ Another key point of this album is the arrangers for each song. Was it also you who chose these people?

Nakajima: It was me. When I was selecting the songs, it occurred to me that if I wanted to arrange this song in a modern version, I wanted to ask this person to do it, and they all willingly agreed to do it, so my wish was granted.

───There are also people you are working with for the first time, aren't there?

Nakajima: This is the first time for me to work with tofubeats and Kai Takahashi of LUCKY TAPES. tofubeats and I have wanted to work with each other for a long time. I've wanted to work with tofubeats for a long time, and we are almost the same generation of artists, and I got the impression from your interview that we share a similar way of looking for music. In other words, I'm buying all kinds of music from the 80s and 90s at Hard Off (laughs).

Nakajima: I asked you to arrange two of the songs.

Nakajima I asked for the second song, "Blue Stassion," and I wanted someone from my generation to arrange a song that is rooted in my roots. Then, I asked tofubeats to give me a song from his roots, and I tried to cover it.

Nakajima: How did you meet Kai Takahashi?

Nakajima It started with Negicco. He arranged the song "Niji" on Negicco's 3rd album "T for Three". The fact that the three members of Negicco, Kai and I are of the same generation was also a key factor in my decision to ask him to arrange the song.

─ ─ The arrangers range from veterans like Tatsuya Nishiwaki to people of your generation.

Nakajima I feel that people from all generations participated in this project.

─ I listened to the album carefully, including the arrangements. If I had to sum up this album in one word, it would be "a fun one. It was filled with love for music.

Nakajima Thank you very much. That is the highest praise I have ever received (laughs).