Aimer has released two new albums on 10th April, Sun Dance and Penny Rain.
Following her hall tour that recently concluded Aimer Hall Tour 18/19 “soleil et pluie”, she worked on two albums with following those keywords with Sun Dance being the Sun (soleil) and Penny Rain being the Rain (pluie). Featuring many bright songs with a dance ensemble is Sun Dance, and Penny Rain features many deep songs with some darkness within them. Two albums with entirely contrasting themes.
The first of two interviews is Aimer’s Sun Dance, originally posted on Natalie. This is the second of four parts.
Since we have ONE and 3, let’s make Two.
And after ONE, we move to We Two. And the song immediately after that is 3min. So the beginning feels like you’re counting with ONE, Two and 3.
Aimer: Actually We Two was the last song we made in Sun Dance. As I said earlier, 3min was the first song we made. Since we already have ONE, let’s make Two. (laughs)
That’s easy to follow (laughs) For the tune of We Two, it’s a dance rock so, it feels similar to ONE, and it connects smoothly into 3min.
For ONE Two and 3, it felt like a series of dance pop songs along the same reigns. With We Two, I felt like I was teasing myself in a sense.
The lyrics felt very bold coming from you.
It might be similar to what I mentioned previously but, it felt like 3 years since daydream was released, and I’ve been performing lives ever since. Especially in this tour, it’s unbelievable to see Aimer sing up-tempo songs and getting everyone excited that late in the evening. I was actually worried because I’m not used to doing call-and-response in that situation,
Oh is that so?
I used my worries in lives directly as the lyrics to the songs. I thought “It’s not really my style but whatever”, and in doing so I can sing better. Just expressing my feeling like out into a song is a bit cynical. But amongst all my new songs, I enjoyed playing around with the lyrics in this the most, but it is also comes with experience from soleil et pluie.
It has lyrics ideal for dance music. To put it simply, it feels empty is a very good way.
That’s true. (laughs), It makes me laugh at my troubled self without thinking,
You can’t dance while thinking of every small little details. For your singing, you sing it pretty roughly as well right?
That’s true. I have a bad habit when approaching the speaking and tone for this song. I use more of my throaty voice like an American rock vocalist. Also, even if We Two is a simple song, that doesn’t mean you have to sing it very simply. You can follow the rhythm and melody and just sing it, but it won’t have meaning and it won’t leave an impression. Therefore, you have to work on the inflections, and working on all aspects can be tough. In that sense, I’d really have to think of all sorts of little details while singing. (laughs)
A song made to make a 3 min MV
Following that was the first song you completed, 3min, which had a new wave funk style to it.
When making Sun Dance, I talked to producer Kenji Tamai, and he said he “wanted to make an 80s style dance number that would refine the current pop sound“. This can be seen especially so in 3min and Monochrome Syndrome in particular. I said earlier that 3min was performed for the first time at the Fanclub tour, right? We felt we didn’t have enough up-tempo songs for it so we thought “let’s make a song for this event.” And that’s how it came out. (laughs)
Utility first. (laughs)
And as I said earlier, as soleil et pluie didn’t have enough up-tempo songs, Monchrome Syndrome was made for the same purpose. Of course both are in the Sun albums.
For the soleil et pluie tour, these songs were at the beginning correct? Put it at the start to surprise the fans and increase the voltage in the hall.
That was good. 3min has a theme of circling around the world in 3 mins, and it was also the base for making the music video. In 2018 I went on an Asian tour, and went overseas to take photos as well. We filmed scenes of my back with me walking down the street. I thought it would be interesting to connect all of them into a 3 min MV. Therefore it is a song created for an MV.
Very assertive. (laughs)
Actually we started filming without having a song. Therefore, Sun Dance has a strong image of the Aimer team having fun making an album. However, the only downside to this song is, even if it was done in 3 min, adding the space between the songs makes it go a little over 3 mins.
My CD player at home says 3min 3 seconds. But it’s rare to see a song so simple that ends in 3 minutes in your discography.
That’s true. Most of my songs usually go over 5 minutes, but I felt like a high tempo song that ends in 3 minutes is perfect for lives. We didn’t have issues in recording as well. It is the exact opposite of We Two in a sense that it’s okay to sing it cleanly, and you get addicted to that. Explaining it in words isn’t easy tbut, following the rhythm is fine, adding a bluesy inflection is also fine and doesn’t ruin it too, fitting it perfectly even.
It feels perfect with Black Music perhaps?
Perhaps. That’s why maybe it is easy to sing. I used to listen to a lot of blues back then.
Source: Natalie
