Interview] Collaboration with new creators shows where Uchida Marie is now!　2nd mini-album "you are here" is completed!

Marei Uchida started 2019 with a live performance at Nippon Budokan on New Year's Day. Beyond the single "Kodo Escalation," her next challenge is a mini-album, her first in about two and a half years. With fewer songs, she chose to collaborate with her favorite creators in a place where she could do something more conceptual than a full album. Some of these new encounters resulted in a work that further expands Uchida Marie's musicality!　And in November, she will start a tour that will take her to Zepp venues all over Japan. In the second half of this year, Marie Uchida will continue to run!

This mini-album shows where I am now!

─ ─ "you are here" is your second mini-album, following "Drive-in Theater" released in January 2017.

Uchida: As the title says, I decided to make this one to show where I am now. It says that I am now in a place that is expanding beyond the 5th anniversary through encounters with new people. The creators I am working with for the first time have brought me a new breeze.

─ ─ There are six songs, each by a different creator, but there are certainly a lot of new names on the album.

Uchida: I worked with the producer, Akihiro Tomita, to decide who to ask for help, and he almost always agreed to my wishes.

─ Did you have a chance to meet the creators of each song in person?

Uchida: Yes, in meetings and recordings. The only one I didn't have a chance to meet was Jun Asae (lyricist and composer) for the sixth song, "Seasons Come, Seasons Go," but I heard through the staff that he was in high spirits when he wrote the song. I wanted to accomplish something this time that I couldn't do back then.

Uchida──The most distant from the world of anime songs is Keiichi Sogabe, who wrote the lyrics, composed, and arranged the fifth song "Ano Hito Aitai" (I want to meet you).

Uchida I love Sogabe-san's band, Sunny Day Service, and I have played their songs on my radio show. In particular, I have been listening to the album "Dance to You" that came out in 2016. This album was my first encounter with Mr. Sogabe's music, and I was surprised that three years later, he would write a song for me.

─ But you requested it, didn't you, Mr. Uchida?

Uchida: When Mr. Tomita asked me if there was anyone I wanted to write a song for, the first thing I did was to ask him. When Mr. Tomita asked me if there was anyone I wanted to write a song for, Mr. Sogabe's name was the first one I mentioned. Mr. Sogabe's daughter is an anime fan and once took her family to see the movie "Even if the World Ends Tomorrow," in which I was in, and I heard that she immediately said "Oh, that Mr. Uchida" and readily agreed. I was reminded once again that animation is amazing.

───There are many other famous creators on the list.

Uchida: Mr. Take of FLOW is an artist that I have been listening to since I was a fan of "Naruto" and other anime of my generation. When I was making this album, I thought about what kind of songs I needed for the Zepp tour that had already been scheduled, and I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we had the power of FLOW? The song "Carry On Surfing" written by TAKE is truly a FLOW song. If anyone else had written it, I would have been furious, it is exactly like FLOW's (laughs). (Laughs) I felt really honored to be able to sing such a song as an original song by Marei Uchida. I was also invited to the recording session, and it was a lot of fun and I was in a groove.

─ ─ "Carry On Surfing" is the first song on the album, and it is a song that suddenly raises the tension, isn't it?

Uchida The song was recorded in Tokyo, and the lyrics are in Japanese, but it has an air of the West Coast of the U.S. The song was performed by TAKE, Tomita, and the Pony Canyon staff, who were all there to shout "Wave! Wave!!!! （Mr. TAKE has told me that he would like people to wave to "Surf Carry On" at the live performance.


─ This song is really suited to get people excited with waves.

Uchida And it has a rap part, which is cool. When I heard the demo, I thought, "What am I going to do? (Laughs) But I did my best, imagining myself singing it at Zepp.

─ I think the rap part was perfectly done. It was very sharp.

Uchida Thank you (laughs). At first I wasn't riding the wave at all, but as I sang the song over and over again, I started to get excited. When I realized it, all the staff members applauded me, saying, "You're doing great! You're riding it well!" They applauded me.

─ ─ It's not the kind of loose, fluffy rap often sung by female artists.

Uchida The rapping is completely FLOW's own. It was a challenge for me to really take it seriously as my own song. I sang it over and over again while injecting my fighting spirit into the song and letting it become familiar to my body. I would be happy if fans could hear "Carry On Surfing" and think, "This is the kind of Marei Uchida I can be. It is a song that has broadened my musical horizons. I would like to perform with FLOW on this song someday.

─ Oh, I would love to make that happen. Is this song performed by FLOW?

Uchida: It's a mix of several bands, led by TAKE (guitar), with GOT'S (bass) from FLOW, KENTA (drums) from SPYAIR, and kuboty (guitar) from TOTALFAT.

A rock band! That's a rock band!

Uchida That's right. Kuboty-san's guitar solo was especially amazing, and he himself said, "I may never be able to do it again. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of waves will be created in the live performance.