Interview - Angela Aki

Angela Aki. Her songs combine her unique melody, her skill in piano, and her vocal abilities into one pure sound that is like no other. There is no other artist like Angela Aki, and her first major Japanese debut in September with “Home” is a testament to that. Everyone can interpret her songs differently, but what is music to Angela Aki? We hope in this interview, we can find out.

Junko: I'm very interested in the sound source and the life source and reassurance that over flows in the songs that you play during your lives. So, first, I'd like to ask you about what led you to music and the piano.

Angela Aki (Angela): I didn't really grow up in a musical family, but it was a house that loved music, and my mother often sang along with us children. It may have been an American custom. In the house, we had a keyboard, and I learned classical piano, but for some reason, because I knew I was very young but also a person who could play the piano, I only said "I want to quit" to my parents about once.

Junko: So you really did like it.

Angela: Yeah (laugh). About the time I was in middle school I loved karaoke, so I was always going with my friends. We sang everything from the popular songs to "Tsugaru Channel's Winter Scenery". That was old reliable (laugh). Anyway, I loved singing, but, it's a weird story, I thought I was bad at it. My friends were all really good, so if I had to list the order I was good at writing songs, playing the piano, writing lyrics and singing the song, singing was always last. Recently, I think I finally realized how good I am... so maybe its second-to-last now? (laugh)

Junko: What led you to think "I'm going to sing in front of other people"?

Angela: After that, I moved to America, and Americans are good at singing. Then, whenever I'd sing, I always had such a complex about it, but in college I'd do opening acts at live houses. Once, two girls in the front heard my song and cried. When I saw that, it confused me inside. I forgot the lyrics and all that, but I wonder if I realized something there? Maybe, "Even if I'm not really good, this is what it's like to touch someone's heart..." I stopped refusing to get good, and decided to take into account whether or not it was moving people.

Junko: That's something you take with you to your lives even today, isn't it? You go in knowing full well that the song and the piano are one and the same, with no connection to the melody, and you don't think, "The melody is like this", and "The piano is like this" too much?

Angela: Now that you say it, that may be true. I don't think about "This is pretty here", really. When I feel something during the melody, I adlib, and if I mess up on the piano a little, I think that's fine because it expresses the emotion, and it feels a little rough then. That may be a bit different from classical [piano].

Junko: So, singer-songwriters have an image as being more quiet people. Your expression is a bit different, isn't it?

Angela: I think that the intense part is born from the quiet parts, quite simply. First I talked about my life force, but I'm not always intense and I'm not always quiet. I cry sometimes, I laugh loudly sometimes, and I want to scream because of difficulties sometimes. That's what living is, and my songs might be that kind of expression.

Junko: Your debut song, "Home" is powerful and painful; it has a lot of different feelings squeezed into it. How do you usually go about making songs?

Angela: I generally start with the melody. I like writing songs the best, and I'm good at it. Depending on the melody of the piano, which is my backing, sometimes it jolts my heart and makes me gasp. Of course, there are times where it's born and others where it isn't born. The times where I can't make a good one no matter what I try are hard. But, the times where a really good melody comes along really are the center that expands out of my life force (laugh). And, from there, depending on the words that come out and whether it becomes a song are even happier, they're exciting! It's like 100 times the excitement of the night you can't sleep before your first field trip (laugh).

Junko: This time, out of your songs, you chose "Home" as your major debut.

Angela: This song is the song that I think will live for a long time, and always come back in my career. Whether I always sing it, to tell the truth, is something that I feel like if I say it, I feel like it might not go on, so I'd like all my songs to be like that, and if it doesn't work out and I can't go on singing music, I'd like to at least be as express my honesty as much as I can.