Interview] These are the 11 songs that make up "I" - Aimi Numakura releases her 2nd album "Ai".

Voice actress and artist Aimi Numakura has released her second album "Ai". It has been about 1 year and 8 months since her last album "My LIVE". This album has 11 songs including single songs "Aya -color-", ED of TV anime "Kakuriyo no Shukuhan" and "Desires", ED of TV anime "CONCEPTION". She herself decided on the theme for the new songs for the album and communicated it to the writers. The album is a mix of various genres of music, but one that expresses the current state of Aimi Numakura.

I think it is fair to say that about half of it is self-produced.

─ ─ This is your second album after about 1 year and 8 months since your first album "My LIVE" released in June 2017. What kind of work do you feel it has become?

Numakura: For this album, I decided on the theme of each song and asked the creators to write the lyrics and music. Therefore, compared to my previous albums, this album is one in which I participated more intensively in the creation of the songs. I checked the finished lyrics and melodies and gave my opinions, so I would say that about half of the songs were self-produced.

Numakura──Did you and the producer plan to make it that way from the beginning?

Numakura No, it was something that came about as the production progressed. There were times when my workload was so heavy that I was in a rush, and I thought to myself, "You're not listening to me" (laughs).

─ ─ Ha-ha-ha (laughs). (laughs) But you were able to make it the way you wanted to make it, right?

Numakura: Producers have always listened to my opinions about what kind of sound I wanted, but this was the first time for me to put the overall theme of a song into words and tell the creators what I wanted. Sometimes, the producer and I would listen to other artists' songs that were associated with those words, and we would work out the image between us.

───This is a different approach from that of the first album, isn't it?

Numakura That's right. I had to decide the theme of the new songs, but I also wrote the lyrics for the title song of the album, which would also be the title of the tour, so I had to make a lot of decisions myself. But in the end, I think it ended up being an expression of myself. It is an album with 11 songs that make up "me.

─ How did you go about creating the album's title track, "Ai"?

Numakura: After I had finished coming up with themes for all the songs, I decided to write a song that would sum up the album. I started by thinking about the title, and decided that "Ai" could contain various meanings and could be used as a song to summarize the whole album.

─ ─ First, you had the creator (composer: Ryoto Takahashi) write the music, and then you wrote the lyrics, right?

Numakura: For "Ai," I chose the song by Ryoto Takahashi that had the most positive feeling out of the three.


─ The arrangement was co-written by West Ground and Mr. Takahashi.

Numakura: From the demo stage, the song changed quite a bit and became more powerful than I had imagined. I left the arrangement completely up to the two of you, and I concentrated on writing the lyrics.

─ What was the theme of the lyrics?

Numakura: I wanted to write about "me" singing the song. I am usually seen as a rather solid person, but in fact, when I am home alone, I am lazy and really don't want to do anything (laughs). I am type AB, and I call my outside self type A and my inside self type B. When it comes to my musical activities, these two types of people fight each other in my mind. My Type A self says, "If you work a little harder, there may be more fun awaiting you.

─ ─ Type A, who is hardworking and firm, and Type B, who is lazy.

Numakura: Both are me, and I can't do without both. In "Ai," the two of them fight in the A melody and the B melody, and in the end, my Type A self, who is fascinated by singing, wins. It is a song about how I will continue to sing in pursuit of enjoyment.

─ ─ It is true that the lyrics depict a conflict, but that is something you experience on a daily basis, isn't it?

Numakura From the time I get out of my futon in the morning, Type A and Type B are fighting (laughs). (Laughs.) I want the people around me to think I'm well-behaved and I want to work hard, so my Type A self usually wins and I can stay positive, but it's always a close battle. Type A wins in "Ai" as well, so it's a very positive song in my mind.

─ I felt that "Ai" also expresses the pride you feel after two years of your solo debut. I think it is because I have come this far that I was able to write these lyrics.

Numakura: That may be so. I don't think I would have come up with the lyrics if I hadn't been so active. I am sure that one year ago, I would not have thought of writing lyrics about myself singing, and two years ago, I would not have even imagined it.