As this is your first solo interview with JaME, please introduce yourself and tell us how you came to be a vocalist.
Hamasaki Yoko: Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Hamasaki Yoko. I'm usually one of the vocalists of the Japanese trauma techno pop band URBANGARDE. I joined URBANGARDE when its leader Matsunaga Tenma sent me a message via SNS (mixi).
What is your world view on music?
Hamasaki Yoko: I love techno pop (YMO, Kraftwerk, etc.) and chanson (old French songs, Serge Gainsbourg, Édith Piaf, etc.), and I'm largely influenced by these two genres.
What did you set out to do differently with your solo releases from what you do with URBANGARDE?
Hamasaki Yoko: I wanted to express ‘femininity’ in a way that URBANGARDE can't express.
The concept of your new solo album, Blue Forest, revolves around the themes of ‘blue’ and ‘love.’ What kind of message do you want to deliver to listeners through these themes? How is your message important?
Hamasaki Yoko: ‘Blue’ is a mysterious, wonderful word. It can express a depressed feeling, and it's also used to express ‘immaturity’, meaning not being able to grow up enough. And I simply imagined rain, the deep sea, and pieces of glass. ‘Forest’ is actually not a forest in nature. I got the idea from high-rise buildings, the streetscapes of cities, and the nightscape, and I tried to blend visual images and electro sounds.
When it comes to ‘love’, I especially focused on sexual love. If you were to set the goal of love as marriage, you could be united with only one person, so other love relationships would eventually reach sad, agonizing farewells. Thinking like this, most relationships have bad endings, and I wanted to express the ‘dark’ and ‘shade’ of love rather than the excitement.
What inspired you to do a cover of Italian singer Gazebo's 1983 hit I Like Chopin?
Hamasaki Yoko: Of course one of the reasons is that I really like this song, but it is also because URBANGARDE's band leader Tenma and the other members thought this song would suit me, so they strongly recommended it.
The music video for I Like Chopin was directed by Eisuke Naito. How did you get the opportunity to work with him, and what was it like working with him?
Hamasaki Yoko: Director Naito directed the live-action movie of "Raichi☆Hikari Club", which is based on a manga with cult-like popularity in Japan. He works with my former classmate from middle school, and this is how I was connected to him. Also, URBANGARDE has worked many times with Usamaru Furuya, the author of "Raichi☆Hikari Club", so it feels like it was meant to be that director Naito shot my video.
Director Naito is very stoic and pays strong attention to visual beauty. When creating this together with him, I was really inspired about how I face my work. He is one of the people I would love to work with again if given an opportunity. I would like him to shoot URBANGARDE's videos.
Nee, track six on the album, was written, composed and arranged for you by your close friend Takashi Hattori. What are your thoughts on this song?
Hamasaki Yoko: I've been friends with Takashi Hattori for 10 years, and I love him as if he and I were one person in our previous lives. He told me that he always heard in his head a song with my voice, and Nee is the song he wrote. The lyrics were written by him, and when I read them I felt a cry from the heart of someone who faced a strange fate as a musician and a deep-feeling person. This is a really precious song for me.
Who would you like to collaborate with for future solo releases?
Hamasaki Yoko: For artistic direction, I'd like to collaborate with Pierre et Gilles and David LaChapelle someday. For music, there are too many to name.
What other themes, music genres, and styles would you like to explore in future solo releases?
Hamasaki Yoko: I'm actually thinking about the next one. I want to explore the theme of ‘Shaman’ and the image of ‘Asia’ next, but that's going to take a lot of time to explore, and it will be difficult to gain understanding from people around me, so it feels like my next work will be something universal, pop, and accessible.
To conclude our interview, please leave a message for our readers.
Hamasaki Yoko: Please step into your own blue world.
JaME would like to thank Hamasaki Yoko and RESONANCE Media for this interview opportunity. Blue Forest is available to purchase on iTunes.
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