The campaign we did for this single was complete murder. In a single day I’d go from Tokyo to Osaka, then after I finished my event in Osaka, I’d head to Okayama, then hurry over to Yamaguchi all in one day. We did events in every one of those locations. Then the next day, I’d go back home to Osaka, take a bath in Osaka, spend the night in Tokyo, then appear on a live broadcast singing and playing the piano. My voice got all scratchyーI had a cold or something, but still played. I was super busy. I can’t drink alcohol anymore because of this song. It was reception after reception, every night. (laughs) I also was played pretty extensively in all the prefectures in Kyushu once that year, just for that summer. “Hanabi” made that happen for me. In fact, it happened so often that I topped that month’s power play chart. That made me so happy! We campaigned in every prefecture. That’s how I found out how sweet the soy sauce in Kagoshima is. I said, “Can you even eat this with sashimi?” (laughs) I spent every single day feeling really nervous. On the bullet train home from Tokyo to Osaka, the person in charge of handling artists called and left me a message that I’d be on “Music Station”. I was so happy, I cried on the bullet train. It was my dream to appear on “Music Station”. I was also starting to feel a bit of pressure then. “A singer’s 3rd single is what makes them or breaks them. Things will be pretty rough for you if your 3rd one’s not a hit,” people told me. For me it was this period of feeling like, “Oh my god, really? What do I do!?” I even made some business cards. I actually composed this song around the time I debutedーso basically, the summer before. “How about next summer?” I asked. I was glad that it got released. What sparked this song was not getting to go to the fireworks display because of my debut. I was busy with work and didn’t get to go to the fireworks display I used to go to every year because of it. I was like, “Man, I wish I could go…” I went to bed that night sometime around 2 or 3 feeling pretty lonely and tried to go to sleep. I turned off the lights one time, got into bed, and spaced out… but then the line “I dangle from a summer constellation and watch over the fireworks from above” popped into my head. I immediately went to my piano and wrote this song. But despite writing the song like that and campaigning crazy hard, people treated me like I was doing a schtick because of the way I am. I feel like it rubbed some of my staff members the wrong way. “You’re just known for your bit more than anything, right? Say something funny,” people would say to my face. I figured I would anyway if it meant they’d remember me, but apparently it pissed my manager off. (laughs) Everyone was talking about “Hanabi” though. It was picked as the ending theme song for a TV show. I also remember seeing my own commercial for the very first time and feeling really happy. It wasn’t a landslide; more like a single rock fell, then everybody followed suit. When everyone was going nuts about the song I remember thinking, “Wow, awesome!” Like, “Huh! Okay then.” I was pretty shocked.
Oyayubi no Tsukaikata
Of all the songs I’ve ever made, this one has the melody with the most impact, I thinkーI don’t often express myself like this when I’m singing. Anytime someone asks me what song I want to sing during a concert, I tell them ****“Oyayubi” every single time because this song just feels irregular to me of all the other stuff I’ve done. That’s why I wanna sing it almost excessively. I can’t remember when I wrote it, though. (laughs) Writing the lyrics went pretty smoothly. I started by writing one chorus, same as always. The song’s about crying really hard so I wondered to myself, “How do I wipe my tears when I cry?” I went like this and wiped with my thumb. Then I wrote the lyrics. I remember people telling me they thought it was repulsive for a title. People at radio stations were saying, “It’s a little unpleasant, don’t you think?” I usually say I wanna sing “Oyayubi” and ****“Momoiro” before concerts. I don’t have many songs like this one, you know? I say it every time because I wanna sing it. I can’t write songs like it even when I try. I always end up with a completely different song. Hopefully I come across another song like it someday. I think the lyrics were one of those things I could’ve only written in the momentーsometimes I get jealous of how I wrote lyrics then. There are definitely songs that use words I wouldn’t write now. I still use my thumb to wipe my tears to this day, but I try to cry in a way that won’t ruin my make-up because I wear it now. That’s why I’m using my ring finger and my pinky finger right now! Just, patting away the tears with my ring finger.
On “Hanabi” it’s more of a slow-medium tempo shuffle, but it was in 8-beat when I wrote it. The version of “Aiaigasa” on the album “Aki Soba ni Iru yo” is a lot more like it was at the very beginning. This sometimes happens when I have people listen to a songー seems like the guys tend to prefer when I play the ‘wetter’, softer version. Oh, also, I recorded this with Shimayan and the gang. Yokohama Grand Studio, at the Shimada estate. The Great Yokohama Studio? There was a bed, and a dog. When I brought the dog with me into the vocal booth, you could hear the dog panting in the recording. (laughs) We recorded the song there, so it didn’t take long at allーwe didn’t do a lot of takes. I personally wanted to do it in 8-beat though, so I was like, “We doing that tomorrow, or?” Well, we did record it again… years later. (laughs) I’m glad this one made it on the maxi single, though. The lyrics are exactly the same, but I learned how you could make something totally different by changing the arrangement of a song. That was really great.