"RAINBOW" and "A BALLADS" Director's Notes

[evolution7931]

Ayu's director's notes from the Vol. 1 of the Special page of Ayu's official website. Here is the link:

http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/special/rainbow/index.html

These are all the "From Ayu" notes.

Track 00 - RAINBOW:
まだ詞は付けてないんだけど、スゴク綺麗な曲だよ。

Track 01 - Everlasting Dream:
色んなインストがある中で、“1番歌メロっぽい”と思った作品。聴いてすぐに歌を入れたいと思った。詞が自 然と浮かんできたんだよね。

Track 02 - WE WISH:
「WE WISH」はスゴク強い曲。詞やメロディーだけじゃなくて、ヴォーカルもいつもより強めにちょっと荒い感じ で歌ってる。丁寧に言葉を置く感じじゃなくてね。それが特徴かな。

Track 03 - Real Me:
私はあまりコーラスを厚くしたりするタイプではないんだけど、「Real me」はその特有の世界からコーラスがバンバン入ってる感じになってる。だから、その作業にいつもより時間 がかかったんだけど、出来上がった時は感動したね。

Track 04 - Free & Easy:
“自由についてくる責任も抱えて生きていける人間になりたい”“そういう言葉が似合う自分になりたい”って 、今ayuが感じているコトを描いた「Free & Easy」。でも、その“書きたいコト”のイメージが既に完成型に近い状態だったから、その後、詞の世界観 に合わせたメロディーをつくる時はいつもより苦労したな。

Track 05 - Heartplace:
レコーディングの状況は、いつもならヴォーカルブースに入って、一気に歌って出る！んだけど、この曲の時だ けは、ちょっと歌って、出て、考えて、で、またちょっと歌って、出て、聴いてって感じで・・・。いつもとは 違う流れで作業をしてたよ。そういう意味でスゴク印象的な曲だね。

Track 06 - Over:
詞はホテルにこもって書いたんだけど、Bメロの英語がなかなか決められなくて、そこだけずっと手こずってた 。あとはサビのメロが今までにはないタイプでいきなり上がる感じだから、いろんな歌い方を試して、今の形に おさまったんだよね。

Track 07 - HANABI:
「」の3曲をつくっている時に、“もの悲しく終わってしまう夏”を表現した曲を最後にもってきたいと思って制 作したのがこの「HANABI」なんだよね。

Track 08 - taskinillusion:
ある意味このアルバムって、すごく統一感があるようでいて実は定まってない感じがあったから、真ん中あたり にその定まってない感じをあらわすモノが欲しいなと思ってた。そしたら本当にちょうどいいものが上がってき た。これはマジックだ！と思って、だからイリュージョンなんだよね（笑）。

Track 09 - everywhere nowhere:
この曲は私の後ろでキーボード弾いてるpopがつくってくれた曲で、初めて聴いた時から“アルバムに入れよ う”って決めてた。イメージがよかったっていうか、シュールなんだけど、スゴク爽やかって感じがして、いい なって思ったんだよね。詞は最後だけ“いた”ってなってるんだけど、これは過去形にすることで前を向くコト が出来るというか、そういう感じにしたかったんだよね。

Track 10 - July 1st:
詞は明るいけど、メロディーはどこかマイナーな所もあって、でも突き抜けている所もある「Ju ly 1st」。この詞の世界観ははじめてで、私自身びっくりしたね（笑）。

Track 11 - Dolls:
詞は、出来上がった曲を聴いてる時、“どんどん花が咲いて、その花がいっぱい広がる絵”が浮かんきて、それ で、“綺麗な花を咲かせましょう”になって、で、そこからどんどん膨らませていった。何度も繰り返す言い回 し“ましょう”は、綺麗な曲に仕上げたかったのと、日本語が持っている繊細なイメージを強調したかったから 。

Track 12 - neverending dream:
詞は、出来上がった曲を聴いてる時、“どんどん花が咲いて、その花がいっぱい広がる絵”が浮かんきて、それ で、“綺麗な花を咲かせましょう”になって、で、そこからどんどん膨らませていった。何度も繰り返す言い回 し“ましょう”は、綺麗な曲に仕上げたかったのと、日本語が持っている繊細なイメージを強調したかったから 。

Track 13 - Voyage:
私とD･A･Iくんのメロがあって、私の詞とヴォーカルがあって、その先あともうちょっとプラス・アルファ がないかなぁと思っているところに、島健さんのアレンジがきて。ああ、私が広げきれなかったところがものす ごく広がった曲になったなぁと思った。

Track 14 - Close to You:
私なりのクリスマスソング。いや、私なりにクリスマスの感じを出したらこうなった（笑）って感じの曲がこの 「Close to you」。もっと“ズバッ！”とクリスマスでもいいのかな？と思ったりもしたんだけど、私は言葉でストレー トに伝えるよりも、全体の中で感じてもらうことを大事にしてきたから、その辺は変わらずにいきたいなと思っ てね。

Track 15 - independent+:
何て言ったらいいのかな？「independent」をベースにしてさらに長くなった作品。“＋”は聴いて のお楽しみ（謎）みたいな（笑）。『ayu ready?』のエンディングにテーマソングとして流れてるって言えば分かるかな？“＋”ではHamo Hamo Boys & Girlsとしてtasuku、マネージャー2人と番長、夏来といったいつも私の側にいる人や友達にコーラ スで参加してもらってます。どれが誰か分かるかな？




------
[Edited by AHS Staff]
Discussion/Thanks:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47426

* Did my best to make this sound fluid. It's mostly Ayumi's train of thought and some terms that don't really have an English equivalent. *

Track 00 - RAINBOW:
Though the lyrics haven't been included, it's still a beautiful song.

Track 01 - Everlasting Dream:
Amongst the instrumentals that we had, I thought "This is the most melodious." Right when I heard it, I wanted to add this (to the album). The lyrics came very naturally.

Track 02 - WE WISH:
「WE WISH」 is a powerful song. It isn't just because of the lyrics and melody, the vocals are also strong and wild sounding. I didn't want to deliver the words politely.

Track 03 - Real Me:
I'm not really the type to have a heavy chorus but for 「Real me」 it was characteristic for it to be dramatic. So since we spent more time than usual on this song, when we finished it felt really great.

Track 04 - Free & Easy:
"I want to become a person who can live with freedom as well as responsibility." "I want those words to be fitting to me." That's what ayu felt as she wrote 「Free & Easy」. But since the "things I wanted to write" were already pretty much done, afterwards, it was very difficult creating a melody that would match the lyrics.

Track 05 - Heartplace:
During recording, I normally go in a vocal booth and record a song in one go! But it was just during this song that as I sang it, I would leave, think about it, then sing a little more, leave, and listen to it a bit... The flow was different than usual. Because of this, I think it's an impressive song.

Track 06 - Over:
I wrote the lyrics while secluded in a hotel but the B melody's English lyrics didn't come so smoothly. This is where I had a lot of trouble. Later, since I'm not the type to have a sad melody at hand, it just came to me. I tried different ways of singing it. It settled calmly.

Track 07 - HANABI:
When I wrote the 3 songs for "H", I wanted a song that represented the "bittersweet end of summer" and that was 「HANABI」.

Track 08 - taskinillusion:
For the meaning of this album, I hadn't quite settled on anything yet. Midway, I wanted to show that there was no decisiveness. Then, a really good product was produced. "This is magic!" I thought, so I went with illusion (laugh).

Track 09 - everywhere nowhere:
This song was made for me behind my back by pop the keyboardist. When I first heard it, I said, "Let's put it on the album." The image is good, although surreal, and quite refreshing. That's what I thought. The lyrics didn't come until the end. They are in the past tense but I wanted it to come off as looking towards the future.

Track 10 - July 1st:
The lyrics are cheerful but there are places in the melody which are in minor key. But there are also parts which break through in「July 1st」. This was the first time I had lyrics like these so even I myself was surprised (laugh).

Track 11 - Dolls:
When I heard the song, the lyrics came like "a flower gradually blossoming, the flower would stretch out to it's fullest." It became "I will grow a beautiful flower" and it grew from there. I repeated "mashou" many times over but a beautiful song was created. The Japanese emphasized the subtle image.

Track 12 - neverending dream:
[site posted same comment for Dolls]

Track 13 - Voyage:
With my and D･A･I-kun's melody, my lyrics and vocals, I thought "There's no plus alpha" then Shima Ken-san arranged it. Ah, the places where I couldn't expand upon were then unfolded (by him).

Track 14 - Close to You:
This is my Christmas song. Rather, if I were to have something with a Christmas-y feel, it would be like this. I wondered if this type of song would be ok for Christmas. Rather than convey straight through the lyrics, I think that feeling it through the body is more important. I hope that doesn't change.

Track 15 - independent+:
What should I say? 「independent」 was mostly bass. I think when you hear "+" you will enjoy it (laugh). If I said it is the ending theme for 『ayu ready?』 will you know what I'm talking about? For "+", Hamo Hamo Boys & Girls, tasuku, my two managers, Bancho, everyone who is by my side, and my friends made up the chorus. Can you tell who is who?





------
[Edited by AHS Staff]
Discussion/Thanks:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47426

The A Ballads notes on the "Special" site only included two comments by Ayumi, so here they are. Pardon the odd wording, I will try to make it sound smoother later.

001.「RAINBOW」
Up till now, I had not yet written lyrics based on the hearing everyone’s voice personally, so I took the chance to do that with ‘Rainbow’. I was so happy to have received over 100,000 letters! At first, I was like, “How do I go about this?”… (bitter laugh). I had wanted to hear (or read) everyone’s voice (through lyric and theme); amongst them there were some really sad themes but contrarily there were also happy ones. If the colors I’d write became images, there would be 100,000 feelings for 100,000 people… So, to tie together bits and pieces of the words, I thought those who are writers would do it much more skillfully than ayu. It wasn’t that the subject would be 1/100,000, as I had looked through them all, so ayu had written about the feelings and image I got from reading them in their entirety.

002.appears "HΛL'S Progress"
Prior to singing this song, the lyrics were not quite finished as I had just gotten the idea. In ayu’s songs up to now, “me” and “you (anata)”and“you (kimi)”were used for the protagonists, and I had my own ideas of how boys felt [about love]. I’ve sung a lot about “what’s in the heart” but in 「appears」 was the first time that I had used “lovers.” Passing by a happy couple is an everyday occurrence. It has the feeling of seeing this from the third person POV. Also, it was the first time I used the word “like.” When I was filming the PV, I got really embarrassed! (laugh). （from beat freak #142　Nov 2000, a VERY old comment!)




------
[Edited by AHS Staff]
Discussion/Thanks:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47426