The following interview is from the October (2002) issue of "J-Groove Magazine."

Mai Kuraki
under the sun

-So how was your summer, Kuraki-san?

Kuraki Mai: An eventful one. (laughs) As soon as summer break started, the "Hotrod Beach Party" tour started. But now, all the outdoor concerts have finished. So it's been sort of lonely recently.

-You jumped straight into it, with a very short rehearsal time. So, how were the outdoor concerts?

Kuraki: They were very energized. This time, it wasn't my concert alone. We held the concerts as "Mai-K & Friends," with several other artists, so it was a different kind of energy from usual. ...... The "Hotrod" concerts started in Awaji, and as we were holding rehearsals there, a lot of bugs were attracted to the stage area by the lights. So when we'd be singing, these bugs would fly into our mouths! (laughs)

-Did it go alright? I'd just seen it, and I was surprised when you suddenly turned around for some reason.

Kuraki: At that very moment, I'd been wondering what we'd do if a bug flew into my mouth during the actual show. It left me thinking, "This is what outdoor concerts are all about!" (laughs) But it was pretty rough. It was a small lady-bug looking thing, and it almost went down my throat... On top of that, after we were finished, there was this squished beatle on the stage... I was wondering if I'd stepped on it.

-That alone must have made rehearsals hell. (laughs) How about the actual show?

Kuraki: It was really fun. This time, the stage had different levels. There was this white house, and behind that was a coconut tree and lots of other stuff. It really felt like being beachside during the summer. There was also some water in front of the stage.

-How did it feel to sing on a stage without a ceiling?

Kuraki: That felt just absolutely fantastic. Looking up at the sky as I sang, I felt as if I could send my voice, the sound, even my feelings flying far far away.

-I hear you also sang as a guest vocal.

Kuraki:I sang with Tony-san (Tony Cartwright), who played bass for us in the backup band, and it was just this new and fun experience. I'd sing together with Tony on certain lines, or sing just the chorus part in others. Of course, there were difficult parts, where the feeling of the melody would force me to sing almost falsetto, but it was fun doing chorus-work. It's really fun to listen to the voice of the main singer, and let your own voice become a part of the orchestra.

-I think that this time around, "The ROSE" was very impressive. The sound of the ballad "The ROSE" just seemed to reverberate through that wide space.

Kuraki: The subtitle for "The ROSE" is "~melody in the sky~," so it really did feel as if that melody was reverberating in the sky, and it was really easy to put feeling into it. It was a great experience to sing that song outdoors.

-Moving on, after "Feel fine!," comes your new song, "Like a star in the night" that has a feel to it we haven't heard in a while.

Kuraki: I knew that I just wanted to sing "Feel fine!" during the "Hotrod" concert. So, I sang it at the very end of the performance, and everyone jumped to their feet! (laughs) It was kind of like, "This has to be it," so when the intro started, I was thinking "At last, at last, at last!" (laughs) Then, the song, "Like a star in the night," which is almost symmetrical to "Feel fine!," became a single.

-It's a quiet song, with a seemingly large scale.

Kuraki: When I heard the melody, I thought "This has to be at night, when the stars are shining," and the image just kind of expanded from there. In terms of content, it's the first song in a while that talks about a young girl's romance. (laughs) Because the melody is very quiet, it slowly builds to a climax, and the melody being as it is, if I wrote the lyrics with a dark feeling, the song would become very heavy. So, I tried to write bright lyrics, that emotionally are optimistic.

-These lyrics really let you see the scenery, don't they.

Kuraki: The girl who's the main character in this song had gone to see the ocean at night with her boyfriend. At that time, she started to feel uncertain if they'd always be able to be together in that way. So, the next time, she tried going to the same place, but alone. At that moment, the constellation of the Southern Cross was out, and as she made a wish on those shining stars, she made a decision in her heart to be optimistic and return to her beloved.

-So it doesn't end with her still feeling uncertain.

Kuraki: I wanted to show the strong determination of an optimistic girl. This song is quite straight-forward. It was hard to put the proper feelings into it, and I had to re-sing it many times. At any rate, handling the song was very difficult. I had to think about how should I start off, and how to make it so that I could comfortably put my feelings into this story, that was about coming to a decision and looking ahead, and energize it into a crescendo at the end.

-Like how best to express the flow of the story?

Kuraki: The melody and lyrics both have a story to them, and the melody itself had it's own atmosphere, so conversely, I didn't want to emphasize that in my singing. Rather, I sang effortlessly, gradually letting the song build on it's own. That's why, for the refrain, there was lots of background vocals to energize the song.

-The whispering in English in the second half, that was really effective.

Kuraki: Oh, that. (laughs) At first, that was in Japanese, but it started to sound like speaking. (lauhgs).

-Speaking?

Kuraki: Somehow, if it's in Japanese, it seems kind of enka-ish. (laughs) Because I thought it would be better if I can just say it naturally, I chose to write it in English.

-Did you get the title, "Like a star in the night," from your impression of the demo tape?

Kuraki: That's right. I got the feeling like I was watching the stars, because the night is dark. But you can feel happy, even in the darkness, if only the stars are shining. That's where I got the title from. For lyrics, when people read it, of course the scenery pops out in their mind, but I personally feel it's really great when the lyrics are in a form that allows people to compare what they can to themselves. That's why I hope that I was able to do that with this song. This is the first time I've written lyrics about the night, so I think I was able to create a new type of song lyric within myself. I kind of feel like I've grown.

-Do you, yourself like night-time?

Kuraki: I've recently become a night person, so yes, I like it very much. I especially like it when the stars are out, and I'm riding home on my bicycle from shopping or something, looking up at them. I also like night, because it's very relaxing.

-Do you do any stargazing?

Kuraki: Recently, I haven't really been looking at them, but I remember when I was small, I used to go to the planetarium. Just outside of that planetarium were all these little woods, and the air was just so clean, so when you look up, you could see some stars. From there, I would look for the Summer Triangle, or other stars. (laughs)

-Was the star formation, the Southern Cross, also something you thought of?

Kuraki: That... (laughs) This year was the first time I'd heard of those stars. I was in my hotel room on a tour, and just as I turned on the television, they had an astronomy program on. So when I heard that there was a cross shaped star formation called the Southern Cross, I thought "Oh, neat!" (laughs)

-Very romantic, isn't it? (laughs) One of the coupling tracks is the a capella version of the same song, and I think that brings across the melody even better than the original.

Kuraki: It's very nice when one's voice alone forms its own music. It feels very gospel-ish, and I would like to try doing an a capella song completely solo someday. (laughs)

-That would be great. I'd like to hear it.

Kuraki: Just being able to hear the voice alone. That's very nice.

-The other coupling song, "Give me one more chance," is a very original and cool sounding song, with lyrics that makes one feel a very strong sense of affinity.

Kuraki: This song, I managed to finish in a flash. Just like the title says, the content is about getting "one more chance," and it's about a girl who can't express her own feelings honestly. She's feeling like if she can't tell him on this night, at the fireworks festival, then the summer vacation will end, and the new school semester will start, and she'll never be able to say it. So she wants to try expressing those feelings through the fireworks. (laughs)

-Giving a timid girl a chance to be bold?

Kuraki: Yes. And just the fact that the both of them are going to the fireworks festival together must mean that he has noticed how she feels, doesn't it? That's another aspect of the situation. Even if a girl who can't usually put her feelings into words can't bring herself to say "I love you," her actions or expressions might send the message to him. But if feelings are running high because of the event going on, then maybe she might be able to put her own emotions into honest words.

-That's also a new view point for you, isn't it?

Kuraki: I guess it is. Before, the confession of love to the other person was what I'd treasured the most, but this time, it's the hidden feelings, and the thought that even without words, her feelings might get across to him. I think I was able to write about the strong will of a girl.

-Have you, yourself, ever felt like saying "Give me one more chance?"

Kuraki: Often! (laughs) Because I feel as if, ignoring everything else, if I just get one more chance I'll be able to do it. Like I'd like to do the concert once more, or sing the song once more. I always have a certain sense of desire in me.

-Where do you draw the line with that?

Kuraki: When I feel as if what I did was the best, and because I can say that I had put out the absolute best I could, then I can leave that as is, as a sort of passage point.

-If you can't make something of a chance, then I guess you might start to regret it... For you, since your last summer of your teen years will soon be coming to an end, I guess you also must make sure to leave no regrets behind.

Kuraki: Yes, that's true. When August ends, it'll be time to say "Sayonara, teenage summers." (laughs)

-Isn't twenty an age that is so easy to see as the transition point from child to adult? Have you become the 20 year old woman that you'd imagined you would when you were small?

Kuraki: No, I don't think I have. (laughs) I guess with just the passing of one year, your entire image of being twenty can change. In grade school, someone who's twenty is just so much older, with an image of being a woman who can do everything on her own. But in reality, as I get closer to it, that woman seems like something just so distant. Like being twenty is still a kid. (laughs)

-It is that way, isn't it, when you actually reach that point.

Kuraki: I'm sure there are some people who are twenty who have it all put together, and there are some people who are still in their teens that have it all put together. But the age of twenty that I imagine, is an age when you look towards your coming-of-age ceremony, and can drink alcohol, and have to start living on your own. But, of course, there are still childish parts of yourself, and it would be nice if you can grow into being an adult in little steps once you've passed the age of twenty. After all, I'm not living on my own, and I'm still my parents' little girl! (laughs) But I want to grow to become a wonderful woman.

-Do you dread your twenties?

Kuraki: It's really hard to say, as a girl. (laughs) But, in a good sense, I'd like to be able to transform myself. *

TEXT: Yamada Junko, PHOTOS: Yamaguchi Nagisa, translated by Ryu