聴き手の心をふわりと解く美声が世に放たれて20年――記念プロジェクトの第1弾は、多彩な個性の手によってたおやかな旋律が装いを新たにしたトリビュート盤!
この春にCDデビュー20周年を迎えた坂本真綾。まだ高校生の時にシングル“約束はいらない”でデビューし、菅野よう子のプロデュースにより刺激的で上質なポップ・ミュージックを生み出してきた最初の10年。そこからさまざまなアーティストとのコラボレーションやセルフ・プロデュースで新たな魅力を楽曲に刻み続けた次の10年と、ミュージシャンとして独自のキャリアを積み重ねてきた。
「こうして20周年を迎えましたけど、当時16歳ぐらいだった私がどんな20年後を想像していたかなんて覚えてないし、想像もしてなかったんですよね。その時その時をがんばることだけで精一杯で、その精一杯がずっと続いていまに至っていて。私の感覚では、目の前にあることをとにかくがんばれば、その先にあるものがちょっと見えてくるということの繰り返しでした。でも20年やってこれて良かったなと思っています」。
常にいまの自分に満足することなくストイックに歩み続けた坂本真綾。「これは20年やってこなかったら出来なかったな」と思ったのが今回のトリビュート盤『REQUEST』なのだとか。
「トリビュート盤の企画はスタッフからの提案だったんですけど。今回の制作を通じて、いままでの出会いのなかで――特にこの10年、いろんな人と出会ってきたなかで、これだけ素晴らしい人たちと巡り合ってきたんだなと改めて思いました。そんな方たちに私の曲をカヴァーしてもらうなんてことは、これはもう、リスナーというより完全に私のためのご褒美アルバムです（笑）。すごく幸せなことだと思います」。
この20年、さまざまなアーティストと共に制作し、そしてさまざまなアーティストに影響を与えてきたからこそ、ジャンルも年齢層もヴァラエティー豊かな顔ぶれが揃った豪華ラインナップ。ほんとに贅沢な内容だが、人選や選曲などはどのようにして行われたのだろう。
「人によっては〈曲は好きに選んでください〉とお願いしたこともありますし、〈この曲か、この曲でどうですか?〉とお願いしたパターンもあります。真心ブラザーズさんやKIRINJIさんにお願いした時は、〈私に提供していただいた曲のセルフ・カヴァーでも良いですし〉というお願いをしたんですけど、お二方とも〈どうせだったらセルフ・カヴァーじゃない曲をやりたい〉とおっしゃったので、それはそれですごく嬉しくて。TRUSTRICKの神田沙也加ちゃんは、今回のトリビュートをお願いしたらその日のうちに〈歌いたい曲を発表します〉って返ってきて（笑）、そのなかからお願いしました。ほんとにそれぞれのやり方でカヴァー曲を選んでくださいました」。
いろんな繋がりのなかで集まったアーティストたちだが、なかでも異色のオファーとなったのが渡辺麻友。ファンにも人気の高い“トライアングラー”を、坂本真綾へのリスペクトと楽曲への愛情を目一杯に感じさせる渾身の歌声でカヴァーしている。
「トリビュートに参加してくださってる方たちのなかで渡辺麻友さんだけ、実際にお会いしたことはなかったんですけど。どうやら私の曲を聴いてくださっているらしいという話を聞いたことがあったのでお願いしました。今回“トライアングラー”をどうしても入れたくて誰かに歌ってほしいなといろいろと考えたなかで、麻友さんがいいんじゃないかなって、どの曲を歌うかも込みでお願いしたんです」。
この企画を通じて「ずっとワクワクしている状態でした。出来てきた音源を聴いて、その都度泣いてましたから!」と語っていた彼女。心から制作を楽しんでいたようだ。
「自分が学生の時からリスナーとして聴いてきていた、青春に寄り添ってくれたアーティストもいれば、自分よりずっと歳下の、私の曲を聴いてきましたと言ってくださる世代の方がいたり、ほんとに年齢層も幅があって。男性の方が私の曲を歌ってくださるのも、私が書いた詞を他の方が歌ってくださるのも、もういろいろと楽しいんですよ。聴いてくださる方もいろんな楽しみ方をしていただけると嬉しいですね」。
初回限定盤にはトリビュートと同じ曲順でオリジナル音源が収録されたDisc-2〈ORIGIN〉が封入されるのも嬉しい。CDジャケットのあやとりからは、同じ1本の糸なのに人の手に渡ることでまた違うものになる楽しさが伝わってくる。20周年を記念したスペシャル企画は5月30日に行われる嚴島神社でのスペシャル・ライヴや、6月に届けられる〈坂本真綾 コーネリアス〉名義でのシングル『あなたを保つもの／まだうごく』とまだまだ続く! 華やかでアグレッシヴな彼女のメモリアル・イヤーを楽しみ尽くそう。
[English Translation]
Maaya Sakamoto -“REQUEST”
Interview & text by Miki Ueno
20 years since the heavenly voice that tenderly unwinds the hearts of the listeners was brought out to this world – the first of the projects celebrating her anniversary takes form as a tribute album with the silky melodies given new faces by a variety of personalities!
Maaya Sakamoto celebrates the 20th anniversary of her CD debut this spring. Her debut single was "Yakusoku wa Iranai (meaning Promises Not Needed)" when she was still in high school, and the first 10 years was a period of ingenerating exciting quality pop music with Yoko Kanno (producer and composer, well known for game/TV commercials/anime music) as the producer. The following 10 years then saw a series of collaboration works with other artists alongside self-producing her own music, engraving songs with new brilliances. Through all those years, Sakamoto has been accumulating experiences that structure her unique career as a musician she is today.
"Although I am celebrating my 20th anniversary today, I don't remember how I used to imagine 20 years ahead back when I was 16 years old, and actually I probably wasn't even imagining anyway. I was just giving myself as much as I could with every opportunity given, and that comes all the way even until today. For me, it felt like whatever I had in front of me, I should be able to foresee just a bit of what’s next as long as I kept on giving those tasks my best. But anyway, I am glad I’ve come this far over the 20 years."
Sakamoto is the kind that keeps on striving in a stoic manner, never complacent of herself at any time. She feels that this tribute album "REQUEST" 'would never have been had she not been doing this for 20 years'.
"The idea of this tribute album came from one of the staff. The production of it actually made me re-acknowledge how many wonderful people I have gotten to know out of the various encounters, especially over the past 10 years. And having those wonderful artists cover my songs is in every way, a reward for me, rather than being something for my listeners (laughs). I couldn't be happier!"
Collaborating with a wide range of artists and being an influencer to other artists over the past 20 years is precisely what made possible this superb lineup of various musicians that spans across genres and age groups. Let's hear how the selection of artists and songs were made for this truly gorgeous package.
"Some people, I asked to 'choose whatever they want to', and some, I asked to choose from a song or two that I picked. When I reached out to Magokoro Brothers (Japanese rock duo) and KIRINJI (pop/AOR band), I did let them know that 'they could choose to sing the songs they originally made for me', but they both said that they'd 'rather cover a song that they didn't make themselves', which was something I was very happy about. When I contacted Sayaka Kanda of TRUSTRICK (pop/rock duo, Kanda is known most famously for her recent role as Anna in the Japanese version of the Disney animation [Frozen]), she replied to me saying 'I'll get back to you with which song I want to sing before the end of the day' (laughs), and then I decided which one she would cover from the ones she selected. I must say each artist had their very own way of choosing which song they wanted to cover."
The wide range of artists was brought together by many different connections, but there is one artist that stands out in particular, which is Mayu Watanabe (from the Japanese idol group, AKB48). Watanabe covers the fans' favorite, "Triangler", singing in full spirit, expressing her respect and love towards the song.
"Mayu (Watanabe)-san was the only artist on the album I had never met before, but I had heard in the past that she used to listen to my songs, so I decided to ask her to participate. I knew I wanted to have "Triangler" on the album and was wondering if I could find anyone to sing it for me, and so it came to me that Mayu-san might be suit, so I asked her to appear on the album, including which song to sing."
Sakamoto explains, (through this project,) "I was constantly feeling excited. And whenever I heard a new recording come up, I ended up crying!" She truly must have been enjoying the whole production process.
"There are artists whom I used to listen to from when I was a student and to whom I would snuggle up to during my youth, while there are also musicians much younger than me who kindly tell me that they have been listening to my songs, so the age groups are really broad-ranged. There are so many fun and enjoyable aspects, such as male artists singing my songs or other artists singing lyrics that I wrote. I hope the listeners would enjoy the album in many ways as much as I do."
The first limited edition nicely comes with an extra disc, Disc-2〈ORIGIN〉, that records the original songs in the same order as the tribute album. The artwork of the CD featuring cat's cradle (string figures) represents the excitement of a single piece of string transforming into something new just by changing the hand that holds it. Special events celebrating this 20th anniversary includes her special live performance on May 30th at Itsukushima Shrine (listed as the World Heritage Site known for the 'floating' torii gate) in Hiroshima Prefecture, followed by the single release "Anata wo Tamotsu Mono / Mada Ugoku (meaning What Keeps You / Still I Move)" under the name [Maaya Sakamoto + Cornelius](solo experimental/electronica/rock unit by Keigo Oyamada) in June, and more to come! Keep your eyes out to enjoy every single moment of her glamourous and active 'memorial year'!
