KISS A dialogue

nao

Singer. Starting her singing carrier from 2002 as fripSide.
After leaving fripSide in March 2009, she debuted with "シンクロしようよ" as a solo vocalist called nao.
Since that, she has sung songs in many games and anime's. She keeps on challenging herself with serious songs, rock music, dempa music and more.

Yamato

Representative of KISS.
He is the only person who has been here since the brand was made, and is the god father of the "Custom" series.
He is known to be a techno DJ, and to have very characteristic hair styles and hair colors. He is really keen about his music, and you can see that in the songs and dances after "Custom Maid 3D".

Ever since she sung on "Entrance to You" nao-san has been singing on almost every song on KISS products.
It was heard that nao-san who just started working solo, and KISS who made a song for the first time, were very nervous during their first recording session...
There's a lot of stories that you can only hear about here!

Yamato

Do you remember the first time we considered you for "Custom Maid 3D"? I actually don't remember it that well.

nao

I think Yamashita Shinichirou, who's still making the Custom Maid songs now, and Yamato-san were connected through a different job, and I was introduced to you through that, haha.

Yamato

Ahhh, that was it haha.

nao

I think I got this job offer when I just left my group, and was starting to work as a solo artist.

Yamato

Nao-san, were your songs at the time made is a IOSYS studio?

nao

Yes, "Entrance to You" ( "Entrance") was introduced to someone in the studio, and that's when I worked with ARM-san for the first time.

Yamato

That's right.

nao

This is kind of off topic but, I thought ARM-san was more of a 'hard-core dempa type' but, when I heard "Entrance" I was surprised.

Yamato

I really like techno, so I didn't want to make songs that sounded like idols or a cute girl game. I'm a lot more flexible now, but at that time I didn't accept anything other than that haha.

nao

Yeah haha.

Yamato

And talking to ARM-kun we thought, this might be a good way to go. And that ended up being techno pop. I still understood that gener so I was okay with it.

nao

From around that time it wasn't about four on the floor, but was more towards techo-ish and EDM (Electronic Dance Music) sounding music. That kind of genre wasn't really famous at that time, but it's a sound you hear a lot now. So, in a way, I think you really read ahead of time. Listening to it now, I can't believe that was a song from years ago.

Yamato

I know right.

nao

This is all because of Yamato-san's great taste haha.

Yamato

My DJ taste was able to come in had at work haha. What did you think when you first heard "Entrance"?

nao

This is super personal but, I wasn't used to someone who I didn't really know give me advice about singing and recording at that time.

Yamato

Is that so?

nao

I wasn't really used to recording in a studio at that time. I was so nervous when I was heading to the studio.

Yamato

Is that so. I didn't know haha. We made "Scarlet Leap" ("Scarlet") in the cosmic cube.

nao

We did.

Yamato

At that time, it seemed like the cosmic cube wasn't used to it either.

nao

Yeah, that brings back memories haha.

Yamato

Neither did we or cosmic cube have any experience at the time.

nao

We had them give us advice about small nuances. Since I wasn't really used to recording in the studio it was hard to understand what they wanted.

Yamato

Back then, we recorded the lyrics one by one.

nao

We did! Like being told, "Right here, "I want you to receive it but I can't give it to you" think of that. Sing it like you want to say it but you can't in a way ." haha

Yamato

I was there watching, But since I wasn't used to that I just thought, "Hmm, you can do it like this too" haha.

nao

It was important for all of us to have the same image, but it took so much time when we were fitting all of that together.

Yamato

We did it one word at a time.

nao

We did!

Yamato

How was "Rythmix to You"? ("Rythmix")

nao

My first impression was, "The intro is so long!" haha.

Yamato

I know! That's where the hypertrophy of the song was starting haha.

nao

There were places in the song for dancing too.

Yamato

That's right, that was the beginning. I wasn't really thinking about dances during "Entrance". But from around "Rythmix" I started to think more about dancing.

nao

From around then, it was like "I'll show you songs and dancing!".

Yamato

Yeah. When I think about it, I can remember a lot haha.

nao

I know haha. But, I'm amazed that people still like to listen to these old songs that were made back then. All the songs don't sound old, but sound now.

Yamato

Yeah, I think so too. Let's talk about "Custom Maid 3D2". This was an easy decision to choose nao-san.

nao

Thank you so much!

Yamato

what did you think when we were considering you?

nao

I thought, "3D2!?". The thought was "What's going to change?". I thought of that first before the songs or music haha.

Yamato

I see, as a game.

nao

I was happy to be used in the game, but I was more interested in the content haha.

Yamato

The vocalist were chosen by the personalities form here. We had you as "Jyunshin".

nao

Yeah. When you talked to me about personalities I was like "What!?". I'm kind of careless so I thought "Jyushin!?" at first haha.

Yamato

You still say that to this day haha.

nao

I'm just a singer, but there's other actors who act out the character too. I was thinking about how to approach this with someone acting out the character while I was singing.

Yamato

We weren't clear about it either. We were just thinking "We want the normal nao-san" haha.

nao

There are singers that would be perfect for the part, but I was able to make myself sound like the character as well. So I thought "What part of me are you wanting?" even more.

Yamato

The personality "Jyunshin" was a center position, so we had you and Misonoo-san as a set from the start. What is the image of "Jyunshin"? You're in the position being asked "what is Jyunshin?".

nao

I know! We're asked "what is Jyunshin?" all the time. In Nikonama I just say "Netorare!" as a joke haha.

Yamato

You're right haha.

nao

For example, her reward was a smile and a thank you from the master when she gave him a cup of tea. For me the image of "Jyunshin" was, if the master is happy I'm happy. I just thought about singing straight up front.

Yamato

Okay, I see.

nao

Especially for "Custom Maid 3D2" ("3D2") the first song was "Dokidoki Fallin' Love" and acted like the theme song for the game. And it was Jyunshin-chan's main song, so I wanted to show her sincerity through it.

Yamato

We were going into a season of making a lot of songs for '3D2'. Making "Stellar My Tears" (Stellar), "Happy! Happy! Scandal!" (Happy sca), "Sweet Sweet Everyday" and "Sunshine Summer" (Sunshine).

nao

yes, they were being made a lot haha.

Yamato

Can we listen to one song at a time?

nao

"Stella" is more of a mature feel for Jyunshin-chan, and "Happy Sca" and "Sweet Sweet Everyday" was Jyunshin-chan breaking out of her shell.

Yamato

Yep.

nao

Compared to "Dokidoki Fallin' Love" there was more of her high spirit. It was more like "I love you, I love you!" instead of "I love master" haha.

Yamato

Like going to the front without being influenced by your emotions.

nao

Yeah, like having your foot on the accelerator. For "Sunshine" I just thought "Sunshine, Summer!" haha.

Yamato

This was a song expressing a season so haha. Around this time each song was starting to have a theme to it. Were there any hard songs to sing?

nao

This was a song I'd sing later but, "Reformation Heart Graph" was hard to sing.

Yamato

Oh, is that so.

nao

There was a lot of lyrics going towards Bokukko. There were elements that were like Jyunshin-chan such as her straight forwardness, but since it was like Bokukko I thought about changing the approach. So I got kind of confused there.

Yamato

Ahh, I see.

nao

And "Can Know To Close" (Can Know) was really hard to sing.

Yamato

Ohh, I didn't know that.

nao

Yeah. Personally I thouhgt it was cool and I liked it a lot but.

Yamato

"Can Know" is a really famous song.

nao

Yeah. I was able to sing at KISS-san's event in March last year. I sang it while dancing!

Yamato

You're right haha.

nao

I got on the stage thinking how can people move this smooth, and it's a really memorable song haha.

Yamato

And about our newest "Custom Order Maid 3D2" (Order Maid), we had you sing 5 songs from the start.

nao

"Night Magic Fire" (Night Magic) had long interludes and measures haha.

Yamato

I had a clear view for "Night Magic". Like the length of the bridge. It became long when I thought "I want them to dance here!" haha. What did you think nao-san?

nao

When the dancers were dancing, we were taking takes for the breath controls for the dancing parts. I heard that the 1st verse's measures were short, but they were really long haha.

Yamato

I know haha.

nao

Some places I thought "What is this interlude?". And when I asked, there was going to be dances in it.

Yamato

Yep.

nao

But at that point I have already danced during KISS-san's stage at events. I'm sure I'll be dancing at these parts at events…

Yamato

Yeah, you will haha.

nao

that'd be hard to keep calm haha.

Yamato

If you think "I have to dance here!?" that puts a lot of pressure on you.

nao

That's right. So there's a part of me that can't watch the videos thinking "That's so cute!" haha. I was surprised by that for "Night Magic".

Yamato

The next song "Blooming∞Dreaming!" was a song that we've never really tried before haha.

nao

Haha. To be honest I thought "What!?".

Yamato

It was kind of like 'something live'.

nao

Yeah haha. There's also a shouting part where they say "Try! Try!".

Yamato

I know right haha. Well, we've been wanting to do new things from the start. So, we thought that the customers would like a song like this.

nao

Ahhhh.

Yamato

But I thought I would be squeamish about the huge difference haha.

nao

"Love Delicious to You" (Delicious) was really 'delicious' to me haha.

Yamato

It was a really cute song, but how was singing it?

nao

It wasn't so different from "Happy Cas" or "Sunshine"s energetic feel, so I was fine with it.

Yamato

Oh, so you were fine.

nao

Yeah. You know how I was appointed to Mutaku-chan in "Order maid". It was my personal image, but I thought Mutaku-chan had more of a cuteness and childless to her than Jyunshin-chan did.

Yamato

Yeah, you're right. "Delicious" itself sounds like more of a childish song too.

nao

This is my image but, I can see her with a plastic knife and a carrot in her hand just smiling haha.

Yamato

I have that image too. I have a image that a elementary school student could be dancing this.

nao

Yeah, you're right. So, it felt really new as a song.

Yamato

On the other hand "Luminous Moment" (Luminous) is more mature sounding.

nao

You're right but, I felt like Muku-chan's mom ever since "Delicious".

Yamato

Ahhh, I can see that haha.

nao

It isn't like Muku-chan was trying too hard but, I thought about bringing out her woman-likeness in her while I sang.

Yamato

Yeah, I see that. But that was a huge change.

nao

It was. But, when I started to think that change was because Muku-chan tried her best, I started to feel like her mom.

Yamato

The final song "Melody of Empire" was a type we haven't had. That was some song we made.

nao

It was. It was hard with the up beats in the rhythm.

Yamato

I really wanted this song to shine the most in the story. I wanted it to feel emotional because the Empire Club was being rebuilt again. So, it's like a song that raps it all up.

nao

When we were recording this song, MIYA-san also came in. She showed me a video of the dances, and thanks to that, I had a better idea how to sing this song.

Yamato

Ahhhh, I see.

nao

Since this song was a medium ballad, it was hard to put Muku-chan's voice to it. We never had a ballad, so I had no idea what the dance would even look like too. But, thanks to the video, I was able to know what to do in the right places.

Yamato

I see, I see.

nao

So, my view might have been leaning towards the video, but it was a good opportunity for me to see the song from other view points. Nao was able to grow with Muku-chan too haha.

Yamato

We've been working with you for awhile, but is there anything new that you would like to try out?

nao

Let me think… It might be cute to do things that don't make sense like Dempa music haha.

Yamato

Ahh, I see. You haven't done that once yet.

nao

Serious nonsense Dempa music. I want to do things like "Denpagumi.inc" when they say fast phrases like "Na Chala can Chara Na Chara can Chara Na blah blah can Nanchara Daaa!" and "Where's the broom?" "there it is!" haha.

Yamato

That might look amazing on stage haha.

nao

I think it'd be hard for MIYA-san though haha. There's a lot of singers, so I think it would be something fun to do.

Yamato

You've been thinking of this?

nao

Yeah. But, I doubt this will become reality haha.

Yamato

I'll just say, you never know. Please say something to our fans reading this.

nao

I know I'm really different from Muku-chan who stays at home all day and sings, but I really think this 'Real Empire Club' stage happened because you all have loved it. So, at the same time please enjoy my performance, and enjoy loving all of your maids as well.
※ Not only have we made a memory book for KISS's 20th anniversary, but we've also held a real event in Akihabara, too.

Yamato

Thank you very much.