Pakila.jp Special Interview with Maaya Sakamoto - 12/01/2011

The social networking service Pakila which hosts the official Maaya Sakamoto fangroup/circle posted up quite a long interview last week regarding the release of 'You Can't Catch Me'. When it comes to the part about each song there were actually questions posed to Maaya but all of them were just rewordings of 'how do you feel about this song?' so I basically just presented them as liner notes.

Enjoy!


Maaya Sakamoto Special Interview from Pakila.jp - 12th January 2011
Original Article
Interview by Tomonori Nakazawa


Last year, Maaya Sakamoto passed the fifteen year mark of her career. As the sixth wave of her fifteenth anniversary campaign she released her first original album in two years on the 12th of January. The release brings together an army of composers including, Horigome Takaki (KIRINJI), Tomita Keiichi, Tokita Shintaro (Sukima Switch), Suneohair, Shibata Jun, Sakurai Hidetoshi (Manshin Brothers), Suemitsu Atsushi, Suzuki Shoko, Kano Kaori, Yabuki Kana, Kono Shin, Kitagawa Katsutoshi (ROUND TABLE) and Kanno Yoko, it’s certainly a formidable lineup. On top of this the limited edition comes with a CD of live tracks from her fifteenth anniversary Budokan concert and a previously unreleased song [everywhere piano & vocal]. Interviewing over email, we unravel the story of this magnificent album.

To start off, can you tell me how you’re feeling about your fifteenth anniversary?

Sakamoto: It feels like it was only yesterday that I started, but time has definitely gone by because this high school student has now turned thirty. I think that creating something is quite a solitary activity because it’s always going to be linked with self-reflection, but when I look back I’m really grateful because I came this far supported at every point by the people around me. These fifteen years have been blessed by those I met along the way.

When you started singing you were still a high school student. At the time, what were you hoping for with regards to music?

Sakamoto: I was completely fulfilled by what was there right in front of my eyes at the time. That was all there was for me. When I think about it now, the lack of distracting thoughts, that lack of calculation on my part, must have been refreshing for the adults around me.

Up until ‘Shounen Alice’, you produced works together with Kanno Yoko, in a sort of three-legged race. I imagine you have a lot of memories of your time with her, when you look back on your days creating music with Ms. Kanno, what kind of influence do you think she had on you?

Sakamoto: Ms. Kanno and I have a natural relationship of producer and singer but we’re really close, for me she has always been like an older sister. I was at that young age where you absorb lots of different things at once and I think I learnt a lot from working together with her. She didn’t teach through stopping to explain every little thing, it was through watching her and the attitude with which she approaches music and how she approaches life.

Since ‘Yuunagi LOOP’ you’ve worked with various artists and composers; broadening your mind like this, has it been stimulating or had any effect on your own musicianship?

Sakamoto: If I was going to describe it, it was like I was being raised in a green house, sucking in everything I needed without knowing the world outside. Then I finally began to walk on my own two legs. Adventures are always scary, but I believed that at the end of the road something amazing was waiting for me, I was caught up in the endless challenges…and while I was doing this, one day I just found my own pace, and I think I was able to start walking with a set of values I had formed by myself.

You have a lot of artists and composers from the rock-pop scene taking part in your newest album ‘You Can’t Catch Me’. Could you tell me how you felt when you decided to make this album?

Sakamoto: Even though this album was put out during my fifteenth anniversary year, I definitely didn’t want to create an album that was a ‘summary’ of everything I’d done. For me, my previous album ‘Kazeyomi’ and then my best album ‘everywhere’ last year were releases that compiled everything I had done up until that point. This time I wanted to leap into the unknown without fear.

A diverse group took part, Horigome Takaki (KIRINJI), Tomita Keiichi, Tokita Shintaro (Sukima Switch), Suneohair, Shibata Jun, Sakurai Hidetoshi (Manshin Brothers), Suemitsu Atsushi, Suzuki Shoko, Kano Kaori, Yabuki Kana, Kono Shin, Kitagawa Katsutoshi (ROUND TABLE) and Kanno Yoko. How did you decide who to work with this time?

Sakamoto: All of the people I worked with this time are artists I like and, of course, have listened to for a long time.

I think it’d be a bit too much to ask you to introduce how you met each and every member of the composer army, but it would be great if you could give us an example of your relationship with one or two of them, and any interesting things that happened while you were completing the album?

Sakamoto: Well, I’ve been a fan of Suneohair since I was a student. His voice, his lyrics, everything. That’s why I was thrilled that I was able to get him to compose, write the lyrics and arrange a track for the album. Yabuki Kana, is a few years younger than me and is a composer with a really fresh youthfulness. We didn’t have any acquaintances in common but apparently Kana heard a demo tape and wanted to use my voice. I was ecstatic to be able to work with Mr. Tomita and Mr. Horigome as I’ve been a fan since I was a teenager.

Suemitsu Atsushi’s 'eternal return':

Sakamoto:The moment I heard that twinkling piano intro, I instantly thought: this would be great to open the album. It did turn out like that in the end, but the song has a feeling of running along that I think pulls the listener into the album’s world view. Love and dreams are don’t work out despite their beauty…but I still want to reach out my hand towards the things I want. I wrote the lyrics using those greedy feelings as my theme.

Shibata Jun's ‘Himitsu’:

Sakamoto: The first time I listened to the demo tape Ms. Shibata sent to me, I fell in love with the melody completely at first-listen. But then Zentarou’s arrangement made the song even better and I was completely taken with it. Even though I wasn’t conscious that there was a change taking place, this song had a brand new aura, so even for me it was fresh and new. We also made a music video for this song.

SUGAR BABE's 'DOWN TOWN'

Sakamoto: I realised how hard covers are for the first time when I sat down to do this. I hadn’t written the lyrics, and throwing myself into music that had already been written meant that I had went back to concentrating on singing as *just* a singer once more. It was a good opportunity to remember what my original mission was now I’m in my fifteenth year. I was really grateful that I was lucky enough to sing a song I love, I really enjoyed recording it.

Kanno Yoko's 'Utsukushii Hito'

Sakamoto: Well, because we have a long history together since my debut I was happy that [Ms. Kanno and I] could make something together again for my fifteenth anniversary. It was quite emotional. As it was a theme song the world view it had to express was quite clearly laid out, the sound became quite majestic, with this oriental atmosphere, and we also put Chinese into the lyrics.

Suneohair's 'Kimi no sei'

Sakamoto: The sound, lyrics and melody are all very Suneohair, but when I sing it I find it really fits with who I am as well, so I think it was a good collaboration. It turned out to be quite dramatic thanks to the gorgeous, fluid string arrangement; it really stands out.

Tokita Shintarou from Sukima Switch's ‘Zero to Ichi’

Sakamoto: Zeros and ones are how mobile phones communicate digitally to each other, and I’d really like this song to be heard by people in a long distance relationship. Digesting the lyrics and imagining this couple’s feelings, it was quite sad and I really felt for them.

Kano Kaori's ‘Mizuumi’

Sakamoto: I get the same feeling from Ms. Kano’s songs that I get from Ms. Kano herself: really romantic and overflowing with mature femininity. The complicated chorus work intertwined on the outro was actually my own voice over about 40 different takes which we laid one on top of the other. I felt a real sense of achievement when we’d finished it (laugh).

Suzuki Shoko's 'stand up, girls'

Sakamoto: For this album, I had a clear cut objective right from the start that I wanted to create one song that was a pep song for women by a woman, and I took that request to Shoko. I think that no matter how much you like a guy, there’s some points that the sexes will never understand about each other. So I wanted to do a song that was like girl talk: ‘we can’t just rely on men!’ (laugh)

Sakurai Hidetoshi's ‘Mirai Chizu’

Sakamoto: Mr. Sakurai’s lyrics were much cuter and more girl than anything I could write, even though I’m a woman – that was surprising when I first read them through. I think that asking others to write the lyrics for this album rather than doing them myself was interesting because there was that element of surprise. Mr. Sakurai is cool, gentle guy, a really wonderful person.

Tomita Keiichi's 'Moonlight (mata kimi ga nemuru ongaku)'

Sakamoto: This is a really serene, calm song but when you try to sing, it’s a lot harder than you think it’s going to be (laugh) Mr. Tomita who arranged it is someone I’ve been a fan of for a long time, but working together on this I was drawn into his world all over again. I really do love his piano playing.

Kitakwa Katsutoshi's 'Tegami'

Sakamoto: In the midst of lots of elaborate songs, any of which sound like they could be singles, this is a really short song with a really simple orchestration, but I think that is exactly why it stands out. Listening through the album, I think you can feel its impact quite strongly. I wrote the lyrics imagining the two figures, ‘you and me’, and Mr. Kitakawa joined in on the chorus which meant that we were really able to that ‘two of us’ come through.

Kana Yabuki's 'Topia'

Sakamoto: Up until now I’ve always tried to avoid having specific locations appearing in my lyrics, but right at the beginning of this song Tokyo Tower appears. It’s a symbol of my home town Tokyo. I love gazing at it, I find it really relaxing. Even though I look forward to the new symbol that the construction of the Sky Tree will bring to the city, it feels a little sad in a way I can’t really express. I wanted to leave a part of my precious feelings towards Tokyo Tower in my work somehow.

What meaning does the completion of ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ hold for you? Could you tell us how you felt upon its completion?

Sakamoto: I love all the songs I’ve sung up until today. There are deep feelings, memories, and the journey I made to produce them wrapped up in them. I’m thankful to each and every one, and I have a deep respect for them, and from that I wanted to meet a new me [with the new album]. I was able to go on this new adventure because I believed that even though I was working with new people, challenging new things, there was an unchanging ‘me’ inside of my core being. Though I’ve been doing this for years, I really thought about how lucky I am to still be this excited, and to get all worried, about the process of recording after all this time.

Regarding the bonus disc that came with the limited edition version of the album, tell me about how you chose the six lives tracks and why you decided to include them.

Sakamoto: You can already watch the Budokan concert on DVD or Blu-ray, but I think you’ll find that listening to just the audio brings a different flavour to the tracks. If you try listening to them through headphones it sounds exactly how it did on the day when I stood on that stage, you can lose yourself wrapped up in the atmosphere of the venue.

There’s also the previously unreleased ‘everywhere – piano & vocal’. I’m really interested to hear why this version was buried until now.

Sakamoto: We recorded this version the same day as the one included on my best album. After that, it was also used as the finale to my Budokan concert, but I’m glad that it was finally put down onto CD. I’m so happy that the beginning and end of my fifteenth anniversary will be marked by this important song ‘everywhere’.

From March you’ll be starting the 7th wave of your fifteenth anniversary campaign, your tour of Japan. What are you hoping to do in the tour, and what are your feelings towards it?

Sakamoto: When I was making this album, I was imagining how they would sound performed on tour. I think there’ll be definite links with ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ the album on this tour. As this tour is the finale of my fifteenth anniversary year, I want to keep running right up until the goal posts.

Finally, this might be a cliché but please could you give a message to our readers and tell us your aims for this year.

Sakamoto: We’re currently in the coldest season. I had to have my flu jab the other day, I suppose that’s also part of my preparations for the tour in March (laugh) I’m really looking forward to it. I hope you all have a fun winter, and take care not to catch a cold. I’d also be really happy if you took the time to listen to my new album this winter!

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. We’re looking forward to your work this year.

FIN