Kaya Interview 2009

How was 2008 for you?

Kaya: 2008 was a wild year. It hasn' t even been a year since I made my debut in April but to me, it already seems like a decade. After my major label release, I' ve got different advice from many people and learned new ways to approach lots of things as an artist.

I experienced many new things like performing in the U.S. last fall and the school I graduated from invited me to the school festival. So, 2008 was definitely a year of new experiences, filled with great memories.

It sounds like you gained a lot from these new experiences.

Kaya: Yes, and thanks to that, I have progressed throughout the year.

Now this is your first release for 2009. Your new CD "Kaya Meikyoku Series 1 Bon Jour Chanson" that you released on Feb 18 is a chanson album. What triggered you to make a chanson album?

Kaya: I actually grew up listening to pop music, and so I always had appreciations for songs from the good old days. Ever since I was little, I always wished to keep on singing those songs. I have covered some pop songs and even tried singing chanson songs since I was an indie artist, and I now seriously took this into action.

So you chose chanson for this year' s first release because you have personal feelings about it?

Kaya: I wouldn' t exactly say that it' s just for my personal feelings. It' s more like it' s my thing right now (laughs). For the past few years I have been listening to chanson a lot and I really like it.

Like I said, I' ve always wanted to pass on the good old songs and that was a part of it. At the same time, I wanted this generally to be a challenge against narrow mindedness.

I' m not saying that old things are necessarily good. There could be lots of bad things about them as well. For instance, some traditional ideas about sexuality or something like family status could be fixated, and I think a lot of discriminations comes from it. So, I want to challenge them and break them down.

I think chanson may appear to be something that' s based firmly in traditions. It may not seem like it' s something you can get into casually. So, probably for lots of people it' s something that' s distant.

I also wanted to break that image too. So, I felt that there was a connection between the music I like and what I wanted to accomplish as an artist. That' s why I decided to start off with chanson.

I see. And I can tell that you have succeeded to do what you have intended when I listen to the album. Personally, I do agree that chanson does not appear to be a type of music we can easily get into.

Kaya: Yes. I agree with you.

But this time, I listened to this album and I realized that chanson is really pop and cute.

Kaya: Thank you. >Originally, chanson simply means "French song," and it really isn' t supposed to be stuck up or anything like that, but I feel that people in Japan think it's a little bit hard to call on. I think it is strange.

So, I talked to lots of people who enjoy chanson, and found that many of them agree with me, and that it encouraged me to try chanson in my own way.

Anyway, since this was my first time to release a chanson album, I mainly included songs that people are familiar with, especially ones that are cute and pop.

Isn' t chanson usually about love? I think that's really a good place to start for people who never listened much to chanson before.

Kaya: Yes, there are lots of chanson songs about love. Most people have the experience of falling in love, so I think it' s easy for people to sympathize with them.

It seems like you always have a sense of purpose.

Kaya: Well, I don' t really set any definite goals for any specific period of time, but I do keep in mind where I would want to be, and I continue to try to work it out.

Recently, I have had lots of opportunities to talk to young musicians that I meet, and I try to tell them that it' s better to think ahead.

For example, if you are going to drive your car to go to Mt. Fuji, it' s better to be thinking about going to Mt. Fuji while you' re driving. So, I try to do just that.

Wow. You really do have a sense of purpose.

Kaya: Oh, not at all. I still have so much to learn (laughs).

This is probably going to make a difference. Your enthusiasm will probably get more young people interested in chanson.

Kaya: I' d be glad if what I do garner more interests in this style of music I love. I am a visual kei artist, and I love visual kei music, and I am right in the middle of this music scene, but people who love this music tend to listen mainly and exclusively to it. While that' s great, I think it' s always better to broaden your worldview, and so I hope my take on chanson makes a difference that way.

I see. Were there anything challenging when singing chanson?

Kaya: Many singers sing standards, and so trying to work out a balance between wanting to be myself and wanting to be faithful to the way composers wrote the songs really was a challenge and I found it to be something that wasn' t easy at all. Until now, I always sang my own songs and I wrote the lyrics from my own experiences, so there really was no need to try to relate to them. This time, however, I really needed to do some research to try to learn about the history in order to connect myself to the songs, so as to be able to properly express the feelings of the songs. I spent a lot of time trying to find out details of the songs like when and where the songs were composed . . . and that kind of things.

So, there are differences in how you prepare yourself when singing chanson, compared to when you sing your own songs?

Kaya: I really wasn' t conscious about it, but I realize that there were differences. While I was recording a ballade song "Last Snow" that I released last December, I found myself meticulously going over the music and the lyrics over and over again so many times to make sure that I knew every detail of the song, and I realized that it was different from the way I used to record songs. So, having worked with chanson also made some difference in how I approach the task of recording music.

So, you evolved a lot through this experience.

Kaya: I hope so (laughs). I can say that I' ve learned a great deal from this experience, though.

And I thought your voice on this album was glamorous.

Kaya: Thank you. I' m very glad to hear that (laughs).

Was there anything you did differently on this album music wise?

Kaya: I didn' t want this album to be stuck up, the way some people think chanson is. I wanted to make sure that people could relate to this album, and so I played the recorder for a playful touch. Please find where I play it.

Also, I wanted this album to be conceptual. The idea is like "let' s go to town and take a song with us" and so this entire album is supposed to be music that accompanies you when you go out on a date. Another thing I tried to do was to imagine characters that the songs are about. I imagined details of the characters such as age, gender, what kind of jobs they do, something like that. For example, with "C'est si bon," I sang it from a point of view of a woman in her mid-20s.

Anyway, the songs on this album are youthful, but as I continue to sing chanson, I' ll probably sing songs corresponding to people of gradually broader range of age.

What is the biggest reason why you are attracted to chanson?

Kaya: Well, I think the biggest reason I' m attracted to chanson is its beautiful melody. When chanson became popular in France, times were really nice. I think that' s why the melody is so beautiful and that' s why I' m attracted to chanson. Of course, there are lots of sad songs, and I also love those perspectives, too. I love the melancholies, moistness, and identity, and I really get drawn into it.

Which song on this album was the most challenging one to sing?

Kaya: Actually, the most challenging song was "Aux Champs Elysees," the main song of the album (laughs).

Really!

Kaya: Well, this song may be the most popular one among the five songs included on this album and a melody of the song is very catchy and it will linger on your mind, and so I was conscious about that, but technically, this song was very challenging.

Also, I tried to be faithful to the original French melody of the song which is a little bit different from the one that people have become familiar with in Japan. So, taking everything into account, it was quite a challenge to sing this song . . .

Another thing is, with jazz and rock music, for example, the rhythm essentially stays constant during a song, and you just stick to it, but with chanson, there is so much degrees of freedom, and there are so much room for free interpretations. While that' s a great thing about chanson, it compelled me to really go over the basics, because I feel that it would be impossible to be free without being familiar with the basics first. So, that' s what I tired to do on this album, and it was very challenging. I will continue with my efforts and hopefully showcase my free interpretations when I perform these songs live.

As I mentioned before, I imagined different characters corresponding to each of the five songs, but because of that I had to sing each song in different ways, and that put a lot of additional constraints while making this album.

Anyway, it really required some efforts to try to venture into a different style of music than what I was used to, and it was particularly so with "Aux Champs Elysees," because there is a very subtle balance between lightness and strength in this song. Also, the key was so high, and that was a challenge (laughs). On the other hand, I was able to sing "Padam Padam" the fourth track of the album very smoothly because there were some similarities to my previous Gothic Trance songs in terms of the key and the style.

What type of people would you especially want to listen to this new album?

Kaya: People who are into visual kei music, of course, including fans who listen to Kaya as a visual kei artist, and I would like people who do not know anything about chanson to listen to this album, including people who feel some type of aversion upon hearing the word chanson. This seems to be true especially with some of the people in their 40s and 50s, like my parents, who think that chanson is serious and depressing, and I want them to listen to this album to find out that there are many great songs.

Also, I think this song is perfect to listen to when you go out on a date, and I would like people to listen to it when they go outside, especially when they go out on a date. I would like to various people to listen to it without any prejudice.

Do you have any idea what other type of music you will try in the future?

Kaya: Many of them. As I told you earlier, I grew up listening to pop music, so I' d like to try classic pop songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Also, I' d like to try jazz and blues as well, and I would really like to do some musical songs, like "Over the Rainbow" or "Singing in the Rain."

Sounds exciting!

Kaya: Yes. Whether it' s jazz, or chanson, there probably are many people who are interested, but don' t know where to start. So, whatever I do, it would be great if it proves to be helpful for people getting into it

So, 2009 has just started, and do you have plans for new challenges this year?

Kaya: I really believe that the last year was a year to do lots of learning. I tried various new things, and some of them already began to take hold, and I feel that now it' s the time to work on them.

I'm interested in lots of things. Chanson is definitely one of them, and I' m interested in dance, and there are various other things. Whatever I do, I would like to really try to work it out.

This year, I would like to keep myself active as a visual kei artist creating Gothic Trance music, and also as a singer who sings famous old songs as I did on "Kaya Meikyoku Series 1 Bon Jour Chanson" and so I would like to keep focus on these two directions.

However, once again, I'm really interested in so many things, such as dance and ballet, and I would like to try a little bit of theatrical play as well. I am thinking about collaborating with artists from different fields, and hopefully mix chanson with Gothic Trance. It would also be nice to do some theatrical plays as well.

It seems like 2009 will be another challenging year for you.

Kaya: Yes. I would definitely try my best to make it another challenging year.

Finally, do you have a message for your fans?

Kaya: I talked a lot about chanson during this interview, and I' m hoping that lots of people read this. I think that people have different ideas and thoughts about chanson or visual kei music, and it' s OK, but perhaps some of them might be prejudiced because of the way I dress or whatever. However, I' m really into lots of different types of songs, probably including something they like, and I hope that my music will enable them to see that.

Thank you very much.

Kaya: Thank you very much.