UPDATE: Thanks to full scans by Taki, the whole interview has been translated without cut off parts!! =)

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Scans by wincci@iloveayu.com

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Hamasaki Ayumi talks about “Love songs”

“Aside from understanding and feeling with me, if I can become the mirror that reflects my listeners, so that they can truly see themselves…”
With that idea, new album “Love songs” was completed!
ayu sings about many different kinds of LOVE, and with that, what questions does she have for everyone?

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“Love” gets you excited, it is fun, sweet, gentle, and makes you yearn for that someone.

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Quote: I can sing, because I can imagine myself. Because of that, I want to live. That was my 2010.

Interview

With a title like “Love songs”, we were fully expecting a rosy pink album. Guess that was stupid of us. (laugh)
There’s no reason to expect that. I’m ayu after all. (laugh) From the very first song”Love song”, we’re well away from ballads.

Firstly, we’d like to ask why you decided to make this album.
It started during Yoyogi 7days Live. At first, I thought that I’ll be burnt out after fighting for 7days, and I planned to take a breather after that. However, after I finished the live, I felt that “It’ll be wrong to stop now. I need to absorb what I’ve gained from these 7 days and move on.” To put it in another way, I guess I felt that I was “released”.

Released?
As someone who sings, what I should be and what I want to be is very simple. I just want to be a vocalist. That’s what I thought. To use whatever gimmicks to tell my message, and if I can’t, make it even simpler, so long as I can express through song whatever it is that I imagine. This is probably how I should be like.

I see. So the first song expresses the whole album.
I’ve always chosen my words with care, to hide meanings, to cover something, or for some certain reason. But this time, I want to make an album that sings about lots of love in a simple way. With that, the title “Love songs” soon came up.

It’s an album filled with different kinds of LOVE. So what does LOVE mean to ayu?
It’s probably the biggest theme in any person’s life, and the most important too. Without it, there is no meaning to life. With it, one becomes able to live. It is the biggest, the most beautiful, the most difficult, and the most talked about thing in this world. It is also the worst thing that can happen to you, emotional-wise. Sort of like trying to climb a super tall mountain. (laugh)

I see, I guess it’s important to hear and understand what ayu feels about Love songs herself, then.
“Love songs” is a general category for all the songs in the album, but “Love song” is the piece that describes what love is for me personally. It describes the person I am now. The piece “Love song” is not talking about is falling in love, nor is it a song about being in love, it’s just a song of LOVE. Love is the feeling that gets you excited. It’s fun, sweet, gentle, and makes you yearn for that someone. Isn’t that “love”? We don’t know what love looks like. We don’t know if it’s something warm or cold. It may feel really hot when you are in the moment, and the next thing you know, it’s become freezing cold. It’s not something real, and we can’t touch it. Furthermore, when you love someone, it is impossible to tell if it’s good or bad for that person. There are surely people out there who deny that love exists, so I wish to sing lots about love, honestly and straight from my heart. And that was how the album started.

The last song is a live version of “SEVEN DAYS WAR” recorded during 7days live. Is there a reason for that?
To LOVE is to LIVE. During the live, it felt that everything that was me was focused into that moment. Because I was a teary mess, I couldn’t sing very well. But that day, when I sang that song, I felt that it represented my all. How I wish to be a singer, how proud I am to actually become a singer, and lots of other indescribable things. And when I realized that, I had it made into an audio recording.

This is an album containing all sorts of love, but “November” is the one song which I don’t get…
I’m not saying. (laugh) I knew that was the only song which is hard to interpret. But do look forward to the day when you understand what it means~

Could it be related to your own personal life? I imagine that you’ve found your fated partner?? (laugh)
Who knows?

Is he born in November?
Ahaha. That won’t be the reason why I named the song that!

Aww! We wanted to talk to you about love, but I guess we’ll have to wait till next time.
The 50 questions we did the last time was really fun. I want to do it again. It’ll be easier to talk about love then.

Can we ask “Are you in love now”?
You’re persistent~ (laugh) That’s something to talk about next issue.

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Without love, there is no meaning to life. With love, one becomes able to live. That is love.