柿原 徹也

His stance on music is a way of life itself. The concept of the long-awaited new album is for everyone      to enjoy, just like enjoying everyday life. Even if I was something fun, he turned it into something fun.

Released on Kakihara’s birthday, the first mini-album “Don’t Let Mi Know” is the best. Kakihara: Thank you, hey. It’s dangerous, isn’t it. I have a lot of music and I like music. I think it will feel different, the image of the song, the image of the voice actor’s music.

This time it was produced with an aim. Kakihara: The music team that I work with are long-time friends. Will it just barely surpass the hurdles this time? Or clear them with time to spare? Or a step up from the last album “Live in Tokyo”. I thought it would be. What have I been doing in the one year since then, in a way that no one else can see? I thought that this album would show how I have refined my music. The image theme of the album for this song is “Negative”. Negative things that I never sang. I’m singing about things that not only I but the people around me feel, that I can’t say even if I want to.

It’s true that Kakihara-san said on the spot that he didn’t ike what he didn’t like, and he never turned it into a song. Kakihara: This time, Saeki youthK wrote all the lyrics, but in preparation for that, I wrote down things that annoyed me and sent them to youthK. I hate being seen by people, so I’m doing it in the first place, I never leave negative thoughts in my writing (laughs).

YouthK made that into the lyrics. Do you have a lot of parts left? Kakihara: In some cases, they are expanding what I have said, and in others, they are just what I said. I won’t reveal what it is, so I’d like you to listen and imagine. It didn’t help me release my stress when I was writing it, but youthK knows that this work is stressful for me, so I’ll be like, “That happened!” I was relieved when he returned it to me. My stress was completely relieved the moment the song was completed. I sang it myself, got the orchestra, worked out the track down, and paid attention to the order of the songs.

Even before the album was produced, you had decided on a negative theme. Kakihara: I thought that now is not the time to sing happy songs. My previous album “Live in Tokyo” was an album commemorating my 10^th anniversary as a musician, so I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to make it a negative theme. I didn’t think this situation would end so soon, so I thought I’d sing about negative things in my next album. However, thanks to the fact that the release date was set for Christmas Eve, I managed to make it sound depressing. In the second half of the album, I brought a bright song called “Wooooork!” I wanted to put that into it, so I did a duet with youthK. It’s not like I’m negative until the very end. Instead of truncating with “I don’t know anymore,” the thoughts of “What are you going to do after this?” are interwoven into every song. Even so, I had no choice but to live, so it can’t be helped. However, you can’t untangle each song by one (laughs). There will be a lyric video for “Player,” so I would be happy if you could think about the thoughts behind it.

When you released a collaboration album with Nobuhiko Okamoto-san, you wrote the lyrics for the first time, but for this mini-album, you entrusted all the songs to youthK. On the other hand, he provided the lyrics for “Wonder.” Why don’t you write lyrics for your own albums? Kakihara: It’s nothing strange to me. If I were to write it myself, it would be good to write someone else’s song, and I would like to write it for my juniors whom I love. When I collaborated with Nobu (Nobuhiko Okamoto), I brought in three songs each, and since Nobu was going to write the lyrics for all three songs, I thought it would be a shame if I had to write at least one song as well. I wrote the lyrics for “In the Future,” if I feel like writing a song myself, I may write it, but if there’s a creator who would like to write for me, thankfully, it will be a job for that person, and I will be able to write a precious song for myself. I have a strong feeling that I don’t want to be overwhelmed by words. For Kou-chan (Nishiyama), I wonder if he’s like youthK to me. I thought that if there was some meaning in my writing, I had the image of Kou-chan singing as I wrote it.

Has your approach to music changed since you started playing music? Kakihara: It’s completely different now than it was in the beginning. To be honest, I didn’t start because I like it. however, it has remained constant since a certain period of time. Basically, when I’m doing music, I don’t say that I want that person to write it, or that this song is different. Because I believe in the people who made it. As a result, people will understand that “Tetsuya Kakihara accepts everything,” and the next song that comes out will be even better. So thankfully, there are a lot of so-called killer tunes. Not telling my ego means I would like to keep this as my motto.

What kind of year has 2^nd year been for year, Kakihara-san? Kakihara: Before turning 40, I’ve never had a year where I tried something new like this. I did so many things this year. I started YouTube and Instagram and created a personal channel on NicoNico. I also opened a channel on the Chinese video site Bilibili, and many people in China are watching it. It’s been a year since the world expanded. I don’t know what will happen next year. I will think about it next year (laughs)!

Column: Happy holidays My birthday is December 24^th, so when I was in Germany, it was the day I had to spend with my family. Since I came to Japan, my friends celebrated with me every year, so I only have good memories. I can’t do parties right now, but I’m happy that everyone is contacting me!