ClariS's Third Winter-Themed Mini Album: The Impact of Distinctive Cover Song Selection, Vocal Performance, and New Original Tracks with Lyrical Contributions
This interview was originally published in Japanese on thefirsttimes.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.
ClariS Interview
In 2017, the two-member unit ClariS—consisting of Clara and Karen—revealed their faces for the first time at their career-inaugural concert “ClariS 2nd HALL CONCERT in Pacifico Yokohama Kokuritsu Daigaku Hall ~Beyond Goodbye… The Melody of New Beginnings~”. In 2022, they released their sixth album Parfaitone, followed by two singles in quick succession, and appeared on television programs as well as THE FIRST TAKE. Furthermore, in December they released the third installment of their conceptual mini-album series centered on seasonal themes, WINTER TRACKS -冬のうた-, and in addition to their two-day, three-show hall concert “Let’s Snow Parade!” at TOKYO DOME CITY HALL, they have various festival and event appearances lined up for next year. We spoke with this dynamic duo about their ongoing energetic activities.
Contents
New Challenges and Expanding Our Range in 2022 The Widest Variety of Cover Selections Among the Four Seasons Covering a Male Artist’s Song for the First Time: “WHITE BREATH” Respecting the Original While Arranging It in ClariS Style Such Powerful, Assertive Lyrics—Taking on a Male Perspective, Feeling Carnivorous Myself There Should Be Songs Our Generation Finds Nostalgic Songs That Make People Think, “That’s So ClariS” A Flavor That Only Clara Can Bring Out We Participated in the Songwriting If We Were in a Male-Female Relationship, a Couple, This Is What It Would Be Like Clara Took the Lead in Holding Hands Since I Was Imagining Her as the Girl Among All of ClariS’s Songs, This Is the Only One with So Many Choruses in the Instrumental Break The Sparkling Winter Feeling—”Snowlight” Expanding to Overseas Events and Various Things While Enjoying Ourselves
New Challenges and Expanding Our Range in 2022
Q: 2022 saw you release one album and two singles, perform your first audience concert in two years and ten months, and actively appear at various events and media. What kind of year was it for both of you?
Clara: This year marked our twelfth anniversary since debut. When we hit our tenth anniversary, we started performing outside of concerts with our masks off, but then the pandemic hit and we couldn’t do much of anything. This year, things finally started moving again, and at that perfect timing, we got to challenge ourselves with all sorts of new things. We appeared on THE FIRST TAKE, which generated a lot of buzz, so I think this was a year where more people got to know the name ClariS. For ClariS as well, challenging ourselves with new things gave us a year where our range really expanded.
Karen: Because there were two years where we couldn’t move due to the pandemic, this year I really felt the reality of us being active again. When the pandemic subsided, our first instinct was wanting to do concerts. But beyond that, we received offers for things like the special TV program “ClariS ‘New Chapter’” that exceeded our expectations, and that made us genuinely happy. There are so many fans who live far away and we can’t easily meet, so we were able to deliver our songs through TV programs and YouTube. I felt like we were finally able to return the gratitude we couldn’t express at our tenth anniversary. But the various opportunities we received this time were chances created for us by all the people who’ve supported us, so I want to make sure we don’t let that end here—we want to build on what we’ve been given and do our best to connect it to the future.
The Widest Variety of Cover Selections Among the Four Seasons
Q: And in December you’re also releasing a mini-album. This is the third installment of your mini-album series themed around seasons with classic songs. What does this series mean for you both?
Clara: We’ve released spring and summer so far, but even though we perform cover songs at concerts, we don’t often deliver them as singles or albums. We get to properly rearrange them into our own ClariS version and add our own flavor, which is really fun. Unlike our usual original songwriting process, being able to cover great songs by existing artists is something I genuinely enjoy every time—personally, the production work is always a pleasure.
Karen: (laughs)
Clara: Creating originals from scratch is fun too, but being able to sing songs from various genres and try different things means this time was enjoyable to work on as well.
Karen: The mini-album has actually broadened the genres we can sing as ClariS, and that’s connected to the flavor of our original work. There’s always this kind of new encounter happening with the mini-album. It’s really a series we treasure, where we have fun while expanding our range, and this time in particular I think we’ve put together the widest variety of cover selections among the four seasons.
Covering a Male Artist’s Song for the First Time: “WHITE BREATH”
Q: How did you go about selecting the songs?
Clara: We first made a big list of winter songs, changed the keys around, and actually sang through various songs while discussing what might work best.
Karen: A lot of our preconceived notions before singing them got overturned once we actually tried. With “WHITE BREATH” (T.M.Revolution) especially, it was hard to imagine until we tried singing it. This was our first time covering a male artist’s song, and there were other male songs as options, but this one felt like we could bring out ClariS’s color while singing it.
Respecting the Original While Arranging It in ClariS Style
Q: That selection was surprising.
Karen: Right? (laughs) I don’t think we would have chosen it a few years ago. But this summer we got to sing “ALIVE,” which had that upbeat, fast-paced, powerful feeling, and I think that experience made this song possible this time around. Winter tends to be full of slow ballads, but we wanted all four songs to have different tempos, so both of us really wanted to do “WHITE BREATH”.
Clara: It’s just such a fun song to sing. This time we referenced Nishikawa-san’s cool, exhilarating, powerful delivery, and we slowed it down a bit from the original tempo to make it our ClariS version. We were able to respect the original while arranging it in a ClariS way. When it first came up as a candidate, I wondered if it would really feel like ClariS, but when we actually sang it, the improvements we’ve made in our vocal technique over the past year or so really paid off—we found we could sing it with more power. People told us it sounded really good, so I’m incredibly happy we were able to record it.
Q: By the way, were you planning to perform it at “Inazuma Rock Fes 2022”, which you were supposed to appear at?
Karen: We were still in the candidate song stage, but we said if we ended up being able to cover it, we wanted to report it to Nishikawa-san.
Clara: It’s too bad that “Inazuma Rock Fes 2022” ended up being cancelled. It would have been such an exciting opportunity for us to challenge something we’d never done before, but it didn’t work out. If they call us again next year, I’d really love to perform and sing “WHITE BREATH” in front of Nishikawa-san.
Such Powerful, Assertive Lyrics—Taking on a Male Perspective, Feeling Carnivorous Myself
Q: The lyrics have quite a sexy nuance to them, so that was surprising too.
Clara: Right. The phrasing and word choice is from a guy’s perspective, so it uses words we wouldn’t normally say. But precisely because it’s so committed to that, we were able to commit to it too and have fun with it. Recording was genuinely enjoyable. Before recording, we watched T.M.Revolution’s music video to get ourselves pumped up.
Karen: (laughs) Yeah, we opened ourselves up to it. Once we actually sang it, it required way more power than we’d imagined. After each chorus we’d be like “phew…” because it takes so much stamina. Unlike other songs, there’s no letting up—you have to stay powerful the whole way through, so it felt fresh for us. We definitely felt that ClariS singing “WHITE BREATH” is pretty novel. The lyrics were so assertive that I really leaned into a male perspective and sang it with a kind of aggressive, carnivorous attitude.
There Should Be Songs Our Generation Finds Nostalgic
Q: (laughs) Were there songs you both selected?
Clara: “ORION” (Mika Nakashima) and “White Love” (SPEED)—those two are the ones we chose. Among ballad options, “ORION” was the one that felt most right to both of us. I was in elementary school when it came out, and I watched the drama Ryuusei no Kizuna that used it. I’ve sung it at karaoke too, so it’s the song in this project that our generation has actually listened to, which is why we covered it.
Karen: We wanted to include songs from various eras, not just different tempos. We thought there should be songs our generation finds nostalgic, so that’s how we settled on it.
Q: It’s arranged kind of like an R&B ballad.
Clara: It has such a tender, ephemeral arrangement, so I think it came together as a song where ClariS sounds more grown-up and mature while expressing deeper emotion.
Karen: Mika Nakashima’s voice has such a unique quality that if we leaned too far into that, it would get really heavy. So we had to think carefully about how to blend our voices in unison and how to preserve that delicate arrangement without breaking it, and how to express that quiet inner strength. Personally, I’m not as delicate as the main character of the song (laughs). I have a stronger side, so rather than putting myself out there, I sang it by really embodying the song’s protagonist.
Songs That Make People Think, “That’s So ClariS”
Q: You’ve covered “White Love” before—at your first Christmas livestream concert, as part of a medley, right?
Karen: Yes. From the moment we sang it together, it just clicked so well. SPEED is also a two-member group, and the tempo and the way we imagined the finished product were so compatible that it felt right to us. That’s why we chose it this time.
Clara: Among these four songs, this is the one that really feels like “That’s so ClariS.” It really brings out each member’s character and vocal strengths, and the chorus has parts where we sing alternately, not in unison, which is really special. Our voices are so different, so personally what stands out most to me is Karen’s piercing high notes in the high part of the chorus. That’s definitely the part I want people to listen for.
Q: Karen, what part of Clara do you want people to pay attention to?
Karen: Clara is really skilled at enunciating word by word during the slower-tempo sections, so that’s a highlight. And I personally feel that Clara’s voice is the core of ClariS’s singing, so I’d be happy if people paid special attention to how our voices blend together in unison.
A Flavor That Only Clara Can Bring Out
Q: Clara, you’re covering “Silent Eve” (Mitodori Karashima) as a solo. Did you already know this song?
Clara: I’d barely ever really listened to it properly. But my mother told me, “Long ago, this song was the theme for a drama that became really popular, and I loved it so much.” I was so happy to be able to cover such a song that’s been loved for so long as a solo artist. It clicked for me right away in a way that surprised even me. The staff told me it was “perfect,” and I could just slip into it naturally. Being able to sing such a bittersweet world was really fun, and I think it brought out the best in me.
Karen: When I heard it, I was just amazed—”Is there really an existing song that fits Clara this perfectly?!” It feels so right for her. Since we’ve shown our faces, we want to gradually let our individual personalities show through, and that’s why we have Clara sing “Silent Eve” as a solo. Personally, I think Clara’s voice is one that captivates with minimal notes. It’s a voice that feels like it would shatter if you touched it, but within that fragility there’s a certain lyricism. And the deeper you go, the warmer and kinder it becomes. I love it so much, and “Silent Eve” is the song that expresses all of that perfectly. It’s a flavor that our duo can’t express—a flavor that only Clara could bring out. Listening to it really heals me, and it’s the Clara voice I love most.
We Participated in the Songwriting
Q: And this time, the new song “Snowlight” is included on the album. You participated in the songwriting as well?
Clara: Since we were going to do a winter concert a week after the release, we talked about wanting an upbeat song that everyone could get excited about together on stage. Originally, Miyajima (Junko) wrote the entire lyrics for us. They were really beautiful, and it would have been great as-is, but since we could deliver it to fans right away on stage, we wanted to convey our own words and feelings to them even a little bit. So we consulted about it and ended up participating in the songwriting as well.
Karen: She’d already written really cute lyrics, but we wanted to think about how we’d express that cuteness given who we are now. So we consulted about it and made it a co-write this time.
If We Were in a Male-Female Relationship, a Couple, This Is What It Would Be Like
Q: What feelings did you want to convey to fans?
Karen: Basically, we thought about what it would be like if we were in a male-female relationship—if we were a couple (laughs)—and incorporated that into the lyrics. Something that would make people feel a little flutter…
Q: Oh? So the characters are Clara and Karen?
Clara: We imagined it that way (laughs).
Karen: Like childhood friends or old acquaintances—we’re drawn to each other, but because we know each other too well, we hesitate and can’t move forward. We wanted to express that kind of dynamic. But neither of us actually had that kind of relationship in real life, so we thought this duo was closest to that, and we rewrote it from our own perspective. We scattered in cute moments while keeping that ClariS sparkle we’re known for.
Clara: The relationship really comes through, especially in the second verse’s A-section line “The time we always laugh together is an irreplaceable gift.” Because we always have time to laugh together, we can create beautiful music, and the time we spend with fans at our concerts becomes that kind of precious time—like a gift. We put that feeling into that one line.
Clara Took the Lead in Holding Hands Since I Was Imagining Her as the Girl
Q: Who took the lead in holding hands?
Karen: In my imagination, I was the boy and Clara was the girl, so Clara was the one who took the lead in holding hands.
Clara: But she got shy and didn’t react to it right away.
Karen: Even though I was treating Clara specially, I couldn’t quite say it out loud. We’re always together and want to stay together forever, but if I made a wrong move it could break everything. So even though I couldn’t take that step, once I did, I realized we both felt the same way. We wanted a happy ending, so we made the relationship progress to a satisfying conclusion.
Among All of ClariS’s Songs, This Is the Only One with So Many Choruses in the Instrumental Break
Q: How did you approach the recording? It’s come together as such a bright, happy Christmas song.
Clara: It has all the ClariS qualities—cute and fantastical elements—so we sang it in a way that brings out that cute atmosphere. But this song is really characterized by having lots of choruses in it. We spent as much time recording the choruses as we did the main melody. Among all of ClariS’s songs, this is the only one with so many background vocals in the instrumental sections, which means it’s an updated version of classic ClariS. It was challenging, but the process of recording all those choruses was genuinely fun.
Karen: This is a bit of a spoiler, but we have something we want to do at the concert, and that’s why we needed so many choruses. So please look forward to that! I think it’s the thickest our voices have ever sounded in terms of vocal layers compared to our past songs. Because of that, we were able to sing the main melody in a lighter way, and since we participated in the songwriting ourselves, it’s a song we could sing from our own perspective. It was really enjoyable.