Hello, everyone. Today, I'd pick up "May Dream," the 12th studio album by aiko, a Japanese popular diva. Like the title explains, this album was out in 2016 May. Not just that, she said the "May Dream" also meant the will to make dreams come true.
On making this album, aiko changed her close arranger; Shimada Masanori. Shimada is a popular music arranger who'd arranged most of aiko songs since her major debut in 1998.
Then, did the songs in this album change clearly? My answer's no. Every song was written by aiko, and aiko's special feature is, as many musicians and musical critics have pointed out, the melody lines. She uniquely uses blues notes and tension notes. Sometimes it sounds like jazz. It means her songs don't change so boldly no matter who's in charge of arrangement.
Don't misunderstand please, everyone. I don't mean that it was meaningless to change her arranger. I don't long to be as foolish as jumping to conclusions all the time. I believe that it changed aiko's attitude on making the songs to use different arrangers.
Working in collaboration with new arrangers means aiko loses the old arranger who easily understands her unspoken thoughts. Then, it's considered that she needed to communicate more tightly with the new faces. The lyrics in this album sound more frankly and directly. Directer communication brought her to writing franker lyrics, it is guessed.
aiko first writes lyrics and then composes. On "May Dream," the lyrics seem to have changed a little, although the songs don't totally sound changed so boldly. Someday her future composition may also change in a chain reaction. The sign might be hiding in the "May Dream."