Wakana on FM FUJI’s “Saturdays!”
Once again a HUGE THANK YOU to @mowskyuu for providing a recording of the radio program. I don’t know what I would do without you!
February 2 FM FUJI’s “Saturdays!”
This time Wakana was much more cheerful. As she mentioned in her blog post, she was quite nervous during the last radio program since she hadn’t done a radio appearance in quite a while. Don’t get me wrong, she was quite talkative during “60TRY Bu” as well but here she was laughing and giggling all the time. I think it might have had something to do with the radio host. I feel like those two really got along well together.
Once again it’s split into two parts. We start off the first part by briefly talking about her symphony concert back in August last year and how that was the first time she performed her song “Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni”. Wakana says how it still makes her quite uncomfortable to do promotions all by herself but it makes her super happy that so many people showed up at the studio to watch her recording [ahh, I am so glad there were some people despite Inu Fes]. Then we continue with Wakana’s tour from last year. The host noted that a lot of the merch was plant based so she asked if Wakana is into plants. Of course that kicked off a huge discussion about Wakana’s love for plants. How she really got into gardening after she had moved into her new house. How she really didn’t know anything at first especially when it came to watering her plants. How her house is starting to overflow with all kinds of plants, etc...
Going back to the tour they talk about Wakana’s Fukuoka performance and how many of her friends attended the live. There is one guy-friend of hers that couldn’t come because he was in Tokyo at that time but his wife came and she brought their little kid who really wanted to see Wakana’s concert. They were seated pretty much right in front of the stage so that made Wakana very happy. Then there is some talk about Wakana having trouble entertaining the audience during MCs. She has mentioned before that it is quite hard for her since she doesn’t directly interact with anyone in particular so it’s hard to keep up a proper conversation even for someone as talkative as her. The host then points out Wakana’s Hakata dialect and how lots of things get repeated frequently in this dialect like the typical “tottoto”. They both agree that Kanto dialects are much softer and less in-your-face than let’s say the Kansai or Hakata dialects.
The second part contains all the juicy stuff. But first they talk some more about Wakana’s hobbies. Wakana says that she really spends a lot of time at home these days. She loves to go to the supermarket though. There she will buy all kinds of veggies because she love to cook. Recently she makes a lot of nabe since it’s perfect for the winter time. Then there is a fan mail asking about some book recommendations. Wakana starts out by saying that she is mostly a movie and TV show fan and that she pretty much has to watch a movie or a show every day. She likes to do that while doing something else, for example she will watch something while taking a bath. Recently she has also been reading a lot off books but honestly, she doesn’t know the titles of any of them *major fail* so she can’t really recommend them. But she says that she really loves Miyuki Miyabe’s books (as we all know already) and that she bought her newest book, a hard-cover version of it. She hopes that the fan can find it with this description. At some point the conversations ends up being about sharks (of course). What she likes about them, what sets them apart from other majestic animals such as lions, etc...And naturally, Wakana also talks about her love for photography.
Now we get to the awesome content. A FULL VERSION of “Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni”. YAY!!!! I KNEW that wasn’t the full version last time. There is a bridge and then we get another chorus that’s a lot grander than the previous two. I stand by what I said last time. I am utterly in love with this song, I have been listening to it on repeat ever since we got that first sample and so far I am not getting tired of it. The melody is just so freaking pretty no matter how repetetive it might be. I guess I am really into generic ballads from the 90s XD. The audio is not as good as last time but it’s good enough to get an idea of the whole song. After getting to hear the full version there is only one thing I would criticise, Wakana’s voice sounds a bit thin during some parts, not bad, not “off” but thin. I feel like this is a conscious choice to make her sound more mainstream/more “pop-ish” and I think it’s something that will barely be noticed during live performances because there she can adjust her voice. I don’t remember much from the orchestral performance back in August but I know for sure that her voice sounded much fuller compared to the studio version.
Wakana and the host then talk a bit about the writing process when it comes to lyrics. Wakana says that she started with the first verse. It’s something she has mentioned in a previous interview. How normally you would start wiritng the lyrics for the chorus and then work your way up to the various verses. But Wakana did it the other way around which in retrospect made things harder be she guesses that is just her style. Wakana explains how there is a sense of sadness in the lyrics but then there is also a fragment of hope because there is this chance to meet again “on a night that transcends time”
And this is followed by the other awesome part of the program. A FULL VERSION of “Tsubasa”!!!! YAY! I love how there is so much “oomph” in her voice here, especially towards the end. She does that thing with her voice that I am used to hearing from Hikaru but I certainly don’t expect it from Wakana. Either way, I love it. Makes her voice sound so much more gritty and edgy. Out of the two songs I still prefer the ballad though, I am just that kind of girl. But I can’t wait to see her perform this live. There is just so much energy in this song, I am dying to see her facial expressions.