This interview was originally published in Japanese on thefirsttimes.jp. Translated by VK Chronicle.

ClariS Interview: “ふぉりら” – A New Chapter in Bright, Clear Love Songs

ClariS has released their new single “ふぉりら.” Coming three months after their previous release “コイセカイ,” this is their 27th single overall. The title track was written specifically as the ending theme for TV anime ‘Kanojo mo Kanojo’ Season 2. It’s a cute and sweet love song absolutely brimming with “cuteness,” and in the music video set at a school, the members don full uniforms and perform a dance choreographed by themselves. As Clara and Karen approach their 13th debut anniversary this October, they continue to open new doors with each release. We spoke with them about their latest work.

“We felt like we were confessing to someone, or experiencing love ourselves as we sang”

Q: First, tell us about your feelings when you found out you’d be handling the ending theme for TV anime ‘Kanojo mo Kanojo’ Season 2.

Clara: Among the anime we’ve worked with so far, this felt like a type we hadn’t really done before. Since it’s an anime with lots of cute girls appearing, I was excited wondering what kind of song it would be, and the image grew in my mind that we could show a completely new side of ClariS. I was really happy about that.

Karen: Like Clara, it felt like fresh content, so there was excitement about what would happen, but also a bit of nervousness (laughs). Plus, since the anime is set in high school, it felt really nostalgic too. Watching the anime together, we found ourselves remembering our school days and youth.

Q: What kind of youth did you remember?

Clara: This anime really depicts a lot of everyday school life—going to school, attending classes, that sort of thing. So rather than remembering special days like the school festival, I found myself remembering the everyday as a whole and feeling nostalgic. And those thrilling romantic feelings you have in high school…

Karen: Like just passing by someone and feeling happy.

Clara: Right, those romantic feelings you can only experience in that moment are portrayed so well. Watching it made me feel nostalgic, but also gave me that heart-pounding excitement.

Karen: It’s like experiencing that flutter now, thinking “If I’d been dating someone back in high school, would I have felt like this?”

“Because of this anime work, we wanted to challenge something new”

Q: How did you feel when you received the new song “ふぉりら”? I was a bit surprised—it’s cuter and sweeter than anything before, and there’s even rap in it.

Clara: There were other candidate songs, but we felt like this was something we could only do because of this anime work, and we wanted to challenge something new. We’re marking our 13th anniversary on October 20th, and even so, we’re still challenging genres we haven’t tried before. We always tell our fans “We’ll show you a new ClariS every time,” and I think this song really embodies that. In a sense, it also represents ClariS opening a new door, so it’s become a song I really love.

Karen: There’s newness to it, but through the genius melodies and arrangements of Shingo Shigeaki, it also has that ClariS feel. The song is packed with playfulness, so it was fun to sing from the moment we started recording. We’ve never expressed “liking someone” with such full force before. We’d deliberately avoided choosing songs like that, and while we’ve had songs that convey “like” indirectly or in ways listeners could interpret as “like,” expressing those feelings so directly felt fresh. We felt like we were confessing to someone, or experiencing love ourselves as we sang.

“It’s like an unspoken feeling in your heart—something you can’t really say out loud”

Q: Karen was right—the lyrics really do convey “like” directly.

Clara: It straightforwardly expresses those feelings a high school girl experiences once—emotions with nowhere to go. It’s like an unspoken feeling in your heart—something you can’t really say out loud. I think girls who listen will relate, thinking “Yeah, I’ve definitely felt like that before.” And since those hazy emotions are expressed so cutely, I was careful in how I sang to make sure everyone could feel that.

Karen: It’s less like “poetry” and more like a girl speaking her raw emotions. It’s written about how you’d say “Yeah, exactly. You don’t bring it up on purpose, right? Because if you do, it’ll fall apart,” and like Clara said, I think lots of girls will relate to it. That’s why, whereas we usually sing unison parts with a unified approach, this time we treated each other as individual girls.

Clara: Right. Not rivals, but like the different characters in ‘Kanojo mo Kanojo.’

Karen: Actually, we deliberately didn’t align our feelings when recording this time. If we’d sung the solo parts the other way around, it would probably sound different, and since the vocal lines match each character, I think we were able to bring out our own individuality.

Clara: The rap part ended up sounding like whisper vocals.

Clara: Yeah. You’d expect cool rap (laughs).

Karen: We’d told the fans beforehand only about the rap part. So they probably expected something more like “Chekira!” vibes (laughs).

Clara: We did explore whether to sing it cool and energetic or cute, but given the lyrical content, we wanted everyone to feel the cuteness, so we went with whispered, breathy rap. The intro and B-section also have whispered vocals rather than rap, so the contrast with the chorus where we deliver emotions straight-on should be enjoyable.

Karen: Not just the rap—the A-section, B-section, and chorus all have different rhythms, which makes this a really distinctive song. I think it turned out to be a super catchy track.

Q: And as mentioned, it’s packed with playfulness.

Clara: It is. The effects on “karamawari” (spinning) were new for us, and even listening ourselves, it was different from when we recorded it—the song had leveled up even more. Plus the intro includes a section with the vocals played in reverse.

Karen: The “3, 2, 1” has my freshly-recorded voice with an energetic voice layered over it, but that came from data at the beginning of “ナイショの話” (our 4th single, 2012). And that “haah” sigh sound that comes after “nanchatte” (just kidding) in the second verse—that was taken from “眠り姫” (from the album ‘PARTY TIME,’ 2014).

Clara: Wait, they brought in just that one “haah” from a past song?!

Clara: Most people probably think it was recorded for this song, but when we heard the finished version, even we were like “Was that recorded?” (laughs).

Karen: We were thinking it might’ve been captured while we were nervous or something (laughs). But when I asked Shigenaga about it, he said “I wanted to add a bit of playfulness, so I brought it in.” I thought it was the best!

Clara: There are so many elements packed in there. I’d really like people to listen carefully—not just to our voices, but to the sounds in the back, the harmonies, and everything.

“We went back to being high school students, and wore uniforms”

Q: And you made a music video too. What was the concept?

Clara: Like I keep saying, since it’s an anime set in high school, we wanted to have a bit of fun, and we went back to being high school students ourselves. So we wore uniforms.

Q: With the midriff showing, no less.

Clara: That’s right. We wanted to show a slightly more wild side, a different side from usual.

Karen: It’s rare for us. The skirts were short too. We wanted to break our usual image in a good way. This song was the one to do that with. This time Clara designed the costumes too. Do you have any points?

Clara: Oh, points? (laughs) Since the word “like” comes up so much, I added pink elements inside the uniforms. We usually differentiate the characters’ costumes between the two of us, but this time both of us have short skirts. To make sure they don’t look the same at first glance, Karen has shorts while I have a skirt. We made them so we could show our own character through the necktie ribbons and socks and things.

Q: How was shooting at the school?

Karen: It had been a while since I’d set foot in a school. Since Clara and I went to different schools in high school, for just that one day, it made me feel what our youth would have been like if we’d gone to high school together. Plus, we could do things at a school you’d normally get in trouble for during the actual school day.

Q: Things you’d get in trouble for?

Karen: Running down the hallway, bringing a phone to school, having hair longer than shoulder-length and leaving it down anyway, wearing makeup—all the things you’re not supposed to do. We could do them because it was an MV. I definitely couldn’t do any of that normally, so doing a little “bad stuff” made it super fun!!

Clara: Karen kept saying from the fitting stage onwards, “It’s making me happy that we can attend the same high school,” “I’m happy we can take photos in the same uniform.” During the MV shoot, she kept that energy up all day. Karen’s always energetic anyway (laughs), but she was like 1.5 times more excited and having fun. I had a great time too. And when we danced in the classroom sitting at desks, I was remembering student life. Getting to come back to school in the world of the MV made me really happy, and even though we’re not students anymore, there was something wonderful about being able to go back (laughs). It was also the first time we shot with lots of dancers, so we got to feel that student life with bigger numbers.

Karen: It was like the school festival.

Clara: Yeah. It was really a memorable day. We kind of recaptured our youth through that whole day.

Karen: For me, the memories aren’t even about the MV anymore—I’ve switched them over to actual high school memories.

Q: (laughs) The dance scene with 20 dancers is quite a sight too. And I heard the choreography this time was something you two came up with.

Clara: Yes, that’s right. This is our first title track where we’ve done the choreography together. The song is super catchy, and the word “like” gets repeated so much in the chorus, so we aimed for moves that people could easily remember and want to copy. Until now, we’ve had a lot of ballet-like movements and soft movements, but this song maybe isn’t suited for that.

Karen: Right, it’s not that elegant of a song. We created it from scratch with Clara, exploring movements linked to the nouns in the lyrics, referencing all kinds of choreography, and we’re confident in this dance.

“We want people to feel both the fun of dancing together and a slightly rivalry-like quality from the moves”

Q: I love the flow where you go from bunny ears to cat ears and then do a straight punch.

Karen: At “聴き耳” (listening ears) we have rabbit-like ears, and at “邪魔したい” (want to interfere) it’s a bit cat-like.

Clara: The straight punch after that is to express “It’s obvious I’m in a bad mood so why aren’t you noticing?!” And…

Karen: We wanted to show the scene from ‘Kanojo mo Kanojo’ where Saki (Sasaki) punches Naoya (Mukai).

Clara: But Karen does this punch with so much force and power!

Karen: I watched karate videos to practice! (laughs)

Clara: So I’m standing opposite her and singing kind of nervously. Plus, since there are lots of different girls in the anime, we wanted to express that dynamic too.

Karen: Sometimes the girls keep each other in check, sometimes they realize the other person’s actually nice and get close. We wanted to express all that through dance, so we move close together and apart.

Clara: At the very beginning of the intro there’s a solo appeal time for each of us. This time, we’d be happy if you could feel both the fun parts of dancing together and the slightly rival-like quality from the moves.

Q: Looking at the “Dance Video,” Karen’s movements are so big it looks like your jacket’s about to come off.

Karen: I just got so into it (laughs). During shoots and live performances, I get so much more energy than in practice. I just end up pouring it all out because it’s fun.

Clara: The chorus has symmetrical choreography that we really align on, so I was dancing with the mindset of trying to stay unified. But when I saw the finished video later, Karen was dancing so sharply (laughs). I was kind of loose with it, so I was wondering if it was okay. But I thought that difference in character actually came through nicely. I’d be happy if people could receive that as part of our character too.

Karen: It’s like carnivorous versus herbivorous (laughs).

"’幻想恋慕’ feels like reading a classical work. A love song that’s taken another step up”

Q: (laughs) Tell us about the B-sides too. “幻想恋慕” is also a Shigenaga composition, right?

Clara: It’s hard to believe the same person wrote both. It has a completely different image. There are Japanese instruments in it, with some cool elements, creating this fantasy-like world. The word choice in the lyrics uses words that match Japanese instruments—words with a Japanese feel to them—and this kind of catchiness is different but still present.

Karen: There’s definitely a gap from “ふぉりら” in each word. This one feels like reading a classical work. You sense the character alone, pining for someone they can’t meet, building up their feelings, growing increasingly emotional. It’s comparatively mature, so while it’s still about love and romance, it feels like a love song that’s taken another step up.

Q: Is the other person someone they’ve broken up with, someone far away, or someone they’ll never see again?

Clara: It’s a song open to all kinds of interpretation. It’s the total opposite of “ふぉりら,” where we expressed things directly. I think it’s because of the Japanese instruments and the Japanese-style words, but it’s elegant somehow—a love song that conveys feelings without using the word “like.” The song has coolness and strength to it, so I changed how I sang completely and made sure it came across with a slightly lower resonance. I think it’s a vocal tone ClariS hasn’t really done before.

Karen: If we just lowered our voices, the song would feel heavy, so while singing together with Clara, we decided to keep it from being just low—we wanted to drop the resonance while keeping the brightness in the chorus sections. This one’s more about presenting that unison feeling between the two of us.

"’君色’ is packed with the cuteness of a girl whose whole world changes because of the person she likes”

Q: And then there’s “君色.” That’s a love song too, right?

Karen: All three songs are love songs!

Clara: And they all have completely different approaches.

Karen: Do they want to make us fall in love? (laughs)

Clara: “君色” straightforwardly portrays a cute girl’s feelings. It’s another song with that heart-pounding excitement, something that feels closer to school days.

Karen: In “ふぉりら,” each girl is living with her own sense of self, but in “君色,” as the title suggests, she wants to be dyed by her favorite person’s color. That’s right up front. She’s probably enjoying becoming the type her crush likes. The song is packed with that “quintessential girly” cuteness of someone whose whole world changes because of the person they like. Just listening to the song makes you think “Hmm, I kind of want to experience that too.”

Q: How do you feel about the protagonist who changes to match her crush’s preferences?

Clara: Personally, I’m the type where if someone says “Doesn’t that suit you?” or “I like that makeup on you,” I’ll immediately adopt it and keep using that color. So right now, I’ve pretty much been dyed Karen’s color (laughs).

Karen: Because you say things like “I like today’s outfit!”

Clara: I get dyed over immediately! “This bangs style looks good,” “I like the angle of your eyebrows today”—you say things like that. I take it seriously and end up getting dyed more and more Karen colors, so I relate to this a lot. It’s not just romance, but singing this song made me think about Karen a bit.

Karen: While listening to Clara talk just now, I was wondering if I’m also the type to get dyed

Read the original Japanese interview on thefirsttimes.jp