Interview with OLIVIA in Paris

On July 6th, OLIVIA performed for the first time in Europe in Paris, France. On the day after her performance, we got the chance to ask the cheerful, kimono-clad star a few questions.


Your show yesterday was really great. What did you think about it?

OLIVIA: It was very, very nice. The hall, the sound- it was very nice and clear. The band performance was great, the audience was absolutely warm and loving, and I could feel their feet stomping on the ground. Every time I said something, right afterwards they yelled like ‘waaaah!’. And during a ballad, they would all have their lighters and cell phones; it was so nice, I definitely felt the love (laughs).

Were you anxious before the concert?

OLIVIA: Yeah, I didn’t think that many people would come, that’s why we had to start the show fifteen minutes late because we were trying to get everybody into the live house. So when I heard that, I started to get very nervous. I was going to wear high heels that night but my legs were trembling so I was like, "oh my god I’m not going to be able to perform in these heels," so I took them off.

Seeing as it was your first performance in Europe, does it have a special meaning to you?

OLIVIA: Oh yeah, definitely. I love the people here. Everyone has been so full of heart. They’re working so hard and are such sweet people. I kind of had an image that everybody was going to act indifferent. But it wasn’t like that at all; everybody was so helpful, so funny, so passionate. I love it, I want to move here for two years or something (laughs). It’s been a dream of mine to actually live here for a couple of years. So I think, maybe, sometime, I will (laughs).

Your songs sound very diverse. How do you decide what kind of ‘feel’ a song will have? Do you decide this before you start to write it, or just start on it and see where it takes you?

OLIVIA: Well first I always have a theme, something that I’m thinking a lot about, or a way that I’m feeling, so that will be the ‘root’ of the sound, kind of. If I’m feeling a little frustrated or whatever then it probably will end up being distorted and darker. If I’m feeling happy and laid back, then it will be lighter sounding.

So it’s not like you sit down and go like "today, I’m going to write a ballad".

OLIVIA: Well, sometimes. I definitely write about what’s going on at the moment. It’s exclusively my extreme highs and my extreme lows.

It seems that recently, the sound of your songs has changed a bit and they seem to sound more mature. Was this a conscious decision, or did this happen gradually?

OLIVIA: It happened gradually. I think during The Lost Lolli and afterwards, I got really tired and depressed a little bit. During that time, the music that I tended to listen to, was more like... I needed something to lift me up. I didn’t want to go down anymore. So I found that these songs were very helpful to me, and I thought that maybe, that’s the kind of thing that I would want to do, these are the kind of songs that I would want to write. Make something that someone would put on as the first thing when they wake up, and leave the house, something that will pump ‘em up for the day. So going through that kind of low made me think differently.

Now that you have done various songs for NANA, has this changed your approach to writing music in any way?

OLIVIA: Yeah. I think the whole 'trapnest' started to make me like making pop more. And I realized how pop easily connects with the majority of the people. I found it challenging to write pop too, because usually when you write something like experimental or something very new, it’s easy. But when you’re trying to write pop, you really got to think of something that will stick with people. It’s got to be catchy. It was fun and it made me want to have catchier choruses.

Pop can be mixed with a lot of other things, can’t it?

OLIVIA: Yeah, for example you could have a more experimental song with a very poppy chorus. That’s something that I caught onto.

A while ago you and Anna Tsuchiya did the "NANA premium live" concert. What was it like to perform with her and sing each other’s songs?

OLIVIA: That was funny (laughs), that was so hilarious. We knew that we were gonna do a show together, but it was decided on the last moment to do these last two songs together. So we were like 'we don’t want this to be cheesy, we gotta do this so it's cool.' It could've gone wrong very easily and we were really worried about that. But I think it turned out okay, though we both didn't have each other’s lyrics. So it was kind of funny like, she came on stage with the lyrics, I came on stage with her lyrics, singing while looking down on the paper, so it didn’t turn out cheesy (laughs).

A lot of your song titles are very interesting! Color of Your Spoon, The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny and so on. Where do you get the ideas for these sort of titles?

OLIVIA: (laughs) I don’t know, I have a lot of strong visuals in my head. And usually when I start to write, there’s like a main theme or visual in my head or something that links to what I’m writing about.

So what does Color of your Spoon’ mean?

OLIVIA: When I was little, my mother and father, we didn’t have that much money. And I remember one day they came back with these new spoons and forks, and they put them in the drawer and I was just like going around and I opened the drawer and I was like 'ohhh woah, that's SO beautiful!'. It was so shiny! And I picked up and I was like 'oh my god!' and I STOLE it, and I put it in my pillow case and every night before I went to sleep I would take it out, after my mom left, and I was like 'it’s my treasure, it's my wand'. And I remember playing with the spoon and looking at it, and my eye being flipped around and stuff like that. So basically what I was trying to say, the reflection of my eye in that spoon, it’s like, the color of your spoon. It's like the innocence of taking that spoon and finding out it's your treasure.

Your lyrics are often about your own feelings. Isn’t it hard for you to let these out and show them to the world?

OLIVIA: No. No, I don’t mind at all. A lot of people find it hard to find to talk about their problems or whatever, and I don’t. I don’t mind at all; I like to talk about it, everybody has problems, and people can relate.

You use a lot of complex phrases in your songs, what are your lyrical influences?

OLIVIA: I don’t know, I’m not really good with words, I’m not really good like putting words to the way that I feel. I try not to go along with the rules and kind of figuring it out on my own kind of thing. Or I just write it in my own way.

So you’re not really inspired by a particular writer?

OLIVIA: Not really, no. I like to read, I like to read a lot of books, but I don’t really have favorite poet or something.

What kind of books do you read?

OLIVIA: My favorite book writer would be Herman Hesse. I love some kinds of philosophy. And what els... Murakami Haruki.

The music video of Stars Shining Out looks quite different from your other ones. How was the idea created? How did the shooting go, weren’t the costumes uncomfortable?

OLIVIA: I picked one of my favorite designers to do to the video with me. And I told him, the whole story behind my album and stars shining out, and I definitely wanted that theme to be in the video. So he came up with the idea of having the paper puppet girl being chased by the monsters. And there were all these different stylists and I wanted to do something a little more challenging, because I think I got a little bit bored with the norms, like fashion and things related. I wanted to be challenged on the fashion department a little bit, so we went to a specific place to do the styling and they were awesome. And then make-up too. We had problems with the make-up, though.

Are there any songs you would have liked to make a video for, but didn’t?

OLIVIA: Yeah, there were a couple of songs I wanted to make one for. Purple Box, and Sugar Bloodsuckers. My sister and I were planning to make it on our own, cause we do it for fun sometimes. So we were going to do that but then she moved away, so I don’t have my clan with me (laughs).

Who is 'SPACE CRITTER'? (credited for lyrics in the 'A Little Pain' single).

OLIVIA: Space Critter is one of my friends, Japanese friends, that helps me translate. Because I have a lot of problems, like, when I pass my song onto a translator, it always changes, the main thing that I was trying to say changes, and I don’t like that. So this Space Critter is a close friend of mine, so I was like ‘dude, it has to say this’. I think this person knew me, knew what I was really trying to say, who I really am, where my core is. A lot of the people don’t understand the core of me so they can’t translate it properly.

In your songs you use a lot of words like 'space', 'sky', 'stars'....

OLIVIA: Yup, and nature.

Why’s that? Does it have a very special meaning for you?

OLIVIA: Yeah, the nature is so important to me, it’s what calms me down. It shuts my mind off, when I feel the nature that’s when my brain shuts down and I can really hear my heart. I think so much, it’s unbelievable, I’m so sensitive, lots of rapid thinking sometimes. When I see like, the night skies, that’s the moment when I go like phew (relax), and I really hear my heart. So it’s what inspires me. It’s almost like a kind of meditation.

A few years ago, you did a cover of Toto’s song Africa (Sea me single) which is your only cover-song so far. What made you decide back then to cover this particular song, and would you be interested in recording more cover songs?

OLIVIA: Yeah, I’m interested in doing other songs. I love Africa, that was one of the first songs I listened to and was like ‘I like music’, I realized that I really liked music. (hums the tune) And the meaning of the song.... My father listened to Toto a lot, so I had been wanting to do that song for a really long time, to cover it. And now, I want to do another song but it has to be a song that I really want to cover. We do a lot of covers for shows though. Like, I covered Radioheads' Where you end and I begin, U2’s Pride in the name of love. And Like a virgin meets Nirvana. I definitely want to do something like that the next time I come down here.

So seeing as we’re in France, do you listen to any French artists?

OLIVIA: I don’t listen to many French artists, no. Oh, but Daft Punk and Air. I love Michel Gondry, he’s French right? He’s like, my favorite director. Have you guys seen "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind"? And he just came out with "The Science of Sleep", I love that movie. Oh god, he’s amazing.

Going back in time even more, you started your musical career with the pop group D&D. Do you find it was difficult for you to be taken seriously as a solo artist after making your debut in the idol-group D&D?

OLIVIA: Oh yes! That was so hard. I was laughed at, but I don’t care. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t care, just as long as I was doing my best. So it took a long time to get out of that. But I just did my thing, I don’t try to think about that too much.

What’s your opinion about idol-groups nowadays?

OLIVIA: When I see it now, I think it’s... I don’t listen to it, but it exists. But I don’t judge them, I don’t judge them at all. Sometimes I feel like ‘I hope the record label is not too hard on them’, I wish the best for them.

But you can’t imagine yourself still being a part of it?

OLIVIA: No, not at all. I’d jump of a building, I do not want to do that again. No, no thank you.

If you had the chance to get one of your songs remixed in a total different style, what song would it be and what style would you choose?

OLIVIA: Hmm, I hear so many remixes for every song, for every song I can hear a crazy remix, or done in a different way. There’s this song called Ballerina that I have. I always imagined that song industrial. I wanted to do that, that was the original thing I wanted to do, but they were like, ‘no, it has to be cute, poppy’, but it turned out really good. I don’t know, there are many songs....

Maybe it’s an idea to release a remix album sometime?

OLIVIA: Yeah. I just came out with my official MySpace, and we have one remix that you can download for free. World’s end girlfriend, a very experimental Japanese group in Tokyo, remixed it.

You always seem a little nervous at the beginning of your concerts. What do you do to make this nervousness go away?

OLIVIA: (laughs) My feelings always come out. So if I’m like, feeling bad, you can tell ‘OLIVIA is feeling bad today’. It comes out, it’s something I cannot hide. So when I’m nervous, it will definitely come out, you can tell. But first of all I try not to listen to any music, because I’m so sensitive to music. When I listen to ambient, I go all like (waves her arms about slightly); I’ll be too relaxed. And when I listen to rock I feel aggressive, so I have to not listen to music and instead use aroma therapy and try to stretch, calm myself down. And I have to lose the heels, I can’t wear heels for my show.

When I see one of your live performances, in the beginning you seem really nervous, but later you’re really confident.

OLIVIA: I know, that’s so funny. It takes about two songs to shake of the jitters. When I see the fans, then I calm down and everything is fine. But before I see their faces, I’m so nervous.

What can we expect from your new single, to be released on July 25th?

OLIVIA: (jokes) What? I have something coming out on July 25th? I don’t know where you guys got that! (laughs) Yeah, I know, but I don’t know when it’s going to come out, maybe July or the end of August, because we’re having some complications.

What can we expect from the song?

OLIVIA: It’s very poppy. I wrote like, about five songs and they’re all in that direction. I don’t know which song we’re going go with yet, so I can’t exactly give you any details. But it’s definitely going to be in the JPop department.

Last night you also played a new song, that might be it?

OLIVIA: Yeah (laughs).

Do you have plans to focus more on Europe and the USA now, with performances and releases?

OLIVIA: Yes. Nana is going to be on air in many other countries soon. So I think I’ll have more chances to get out, in more parts of Europe. Anyway, I’m working on an album too at the moment. Maybe like two singles and then the album to come out.

Lastly, please give a message for your fans.

OLIVIA: I really like to see the fans at my shows, because there aren’t any walls. When you create songs in a studio and you record that, music videos, there’s everyone’s opinions on there. And sometimes things don’t go exactly the way I want them to go... with anything like the CD cover or songs. During the lives I feel like I can touch them directly. So if you haven’t seen any of my shows, come then, and check it out!


JaME would like to thank Olivia, Avex and Wasabi Records.