Furui Riho released her new single “Hello” on July 30. The eponymous title track on the single is the opening theme song for CITY THE ANIMATION, a new TV anime (and the first from Kyoto Animation in some time) which began airing on July 6. This is Furui Riho’s first-ever anime tie-up song. “Hello” is a brisk, exciting song whose theme is “reunion,” but it also has a lot of depth. The artist has said that she wrote the lyrics while struggling with the question of what kind of relationship she should have with the process of creating music. That’s why she made it a song with a positive message that would immediately resonate with listeners. Billboard JAPAN recently had the opportunity to talk with Furui Riho about her music.
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You’ve just released your new single, “Hello,” the theme song to CITY THE ANIMATION, a new anime from Kyoto Animation. I know a lot of people have been waiting for this anime for a long time, so I’m sure that there’s also a tremendous amount of attention being paid to the theme song. How did you feel when you were chosen for the song?
Honestly, I was like “Me? You’re really okay with that?” Of course, I was happy, but when I heard I’d been chosen for the theme song, and the opening theme song, no less, I also suddenly felt an immense amount of pressure. I was like, “What should I sing?” This is Kyoani’s first anime in a long time, so I’m sure that they thought a lot about what kind of anime to make before deciding on CITY. So that made me vaguely anxious about what kind of approach I should use—what kind of lyrics I should write and what kind of message I should convey. I couldn’t just go with a carefree approach, singing “Keep your head up and keep on pushing forward!” That would just feel irresponsible.
Did the Kyoani staff have any requests about what kind of song they wanted?
Yes. First, we had a meeting, and they played me a few Western songs for reference. Then they said “The feel of your song ‘LOA’ perfectly matches what we’re looking for.” But I can’t remake the exact same song, so I decided to make an even better song that incorporated the qualities of “LOA.” But, you know, at the same time, I realized that I was just setting the bar higher for myself (laughs). Keiichi Arawi, who wrote the comic the anime is based on, said he wanted to express “his memories of childhood, just laughing away without a care in the world and experiencing pure joy.” I wanted to write lyrics that depicted that same childhood purity but blended with the reality that, as an adult, you can’t really live your life that way.
Did you get any inspiration for the art style or the way the characters moved?
First, I read the entire manga and developed my own mental image. The word “fun” encompasses a lot of different types of fun. CITY is kind of surreal, and it makes you giggle. Also, the characters are running around a lot, so I expressed that feeling of running around in the music. For example, I thought that a chugging beat would convey the feel of the anime.
So you decided right away that the tempo would be important.
Right. And CITY is about the people of the city, so it has a big cast. I put in clapping and a chorus, like lots of different people clapping and the people of the city all singing along. It was like I could hear that music coming out of the pages of the manga.
So after you got this mental image of the sound you wanted, how did you come up with the melody?
The whole structure—verse, bridge, chorus—all came to me at once. I was getting ready to go out, and boom! It feels strange even to me, but when I’m not planning to create a song, one will just come to me. So I made a voice recording of my ideas right away.
Is this something that’s happened to you in the past, too?
Yes, several times. But they’re not always winners. Every once in a while it’ll just be terrible (laughs). So I was lucky this time. Plus, the melody fit right in with the kind of sound I was imagining, so it surprised even me. Like I said earlier, when they first approached me about making the theme song, there was a lot of pressure and I was really nervous, but when the song came to me, I was like “Yes, this is it! I’ve got this!” I felt so relieved.
The theme of this song, whose lyrics include “let’s go meet again,” is “reunion.” This has a lot of meanings, right? Reuniting with your childhood self, back when you’d laugh without a care in the world, or meeting friends again, or even meeting yourself again, as a “new you.”
Right. The song is about the desire for reunions like that. Wanting to reunite. Wanting to meet again. Those were the kinds of desires I had in mind when I wrote the song. I wanted it to have that spirit of meeting up with everyone, reminiscing about childhood, laughing, and getting through the hard times and the loneliness together to approach the future with optimism.
The first line of the song, “Hello, Dear my friends,” has that same spirit of reunion, and it makes it clear who you’re singing to.
This line came to me together with the melody. Then I wrote the rest of the lyrics by working forward from this first line.
In the chorus, you sing “The rain has stopped, let’s sing together.” It points out that the rain always stops sometimes. The night is always followed by the dawn.
Exactly. And this anime is set at the end of the rainy season, going into the hot midsummer months, so I thought this matched up with what I was trying to express. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of rain during the bridge. So the song links up to the anime in these subtle places, too.
The song starts with piano, and then the beat and the singing start right in, and then the horns come in. The song has a very physical, band feel. It felt like this was another conscious decision.
I think having that live feel is important. Warmth is important. I also wanted there to be a sense of wistfulness in the middle of that joy.
You mentioned the clapping and chorus earlier. It gives the song a bit of a gospel-like feel.
I guess my own gospel roots just kind of come out unintentionally. They pop out in all kinds of places.
That said, it’s not like it’s smothering. The amount of emotion you put into the singing is perfectly balanced. Is that something you’ve consciously thought about when singing?
I don’t want to write the kind of stifling song that is like “Listen to me, I’m going to share what I’m feeling.” I could’ve sung the chorus with more force, but that’s not the feeling I was going for. When recording it, I was picturing more the image of everyone coming together, laughing together, and at the same time crying together.
There are a few times in the song where you hear shouts of “Hey!” It felt like those were cues to throw off the dark cloud over you when you’re feeling down. I really liked that aspect of the song. Thinking back on it, you have a few songs with those kinds of calls in them.
True. When I put calls like that in my songs, I feel like it gives them a bit of a freer, more innocent feel. That’s what my own personality is like. I’m not pretentious, I express things as they really are. What’s fun is fun. So that’s why I use that technique a lot.
So being true to yourself, not trying to come across as cool, is important to you. I think that comes across in the lyrics to the song, too.
When I met with the people from Kyoani, they said they were making an anime that everyone could enjoy, whether they were children or senior citizens. So I wanted the lyrics, especially in the chorus, to use simple words that everyone could sing along with together. Also, that’s all I myself was capable of expressing. I couldn’t go deeper, and I didn’t want the song to be shallower. The lyrics express my full desire. My prayer.
Kyoani’s animes are extremely popular overseas, too, so I’m sure a lot of people outside Japan are looking forward to seeing CITY THE ANIMATION. How would you like for them to receive “Hello?”
They can take it however they’d like, but I think it’s interesting that I was born here in Japan, with its anime culture, and I grew up listening to gospel, which has American roots. I think there’s something significant in the fact that I sang the new theme song.
Do you have any overseas musical ambitions?
I’d love to perform overseas. Being an exchange student in Canada opened my eyes to the good qualities of the Japanese language, and I proudly sing in Japanese. I also have a sincere love of J-pop, and I’ve gotten to where I am from a desire to create J-pop, but now that I’m here doing this, I’ve also become interested in my music being listened to not just by Japanese people but by people around the world.
Is that a recent change?
Yes, it’s pretty recent. I guess I’ve started to get some reach here in Japan, and that’s given me an ambition to increase my number of global listeners. But more than anything, I think it would be wonderful to connect with people around the world through my own music.
So you’re emotionally ready for that.
Right. Until now, I’ve only had my sights set on Japan, but now I find myself looking outward more.
—This interview by Junichi Uchimoto first appeared on Billboard Japan