From pop’n music Magazine Vol. 1, pop’n music staff and artists discuss the production of the 2008 greatest hits album, “pop’n music Request Best!”, in which fans voted for songs they would like to be included on the album in celebration of the series’ 10th anniversary.
To start, what let to the decision to produce this CD?
masaru: For a long time now there have been discussions about how we’ve wanted to make a Greatest Hits album, and how we thought that would be really exciting for Poppers nationwide. That’s pretty much how it started.
Out of the songs on the album, which one ended up being the most requested?
wac: It was “Little Rock Overture.” Generally speaking, there were a lot of requests for songs from pop’n 15 and 16.
Seiya Murai: Probably because it hadn’t been on a soundtrack yet. And the song itself hadn’t really been made known.
saori: The timeframe for editing the soundtrack was pretty tight too.
wac: After that was “Sorrows” and “Echoes.” Those were the top 3.
saori: Now that you mention it, the votes were a mix of song names and genre names, and wac was the one who sorted all of them.
wac: They were all sorted by pure manpower. It was really rough.
Were there any songs that ended up getting more votes than you expected?
wac: There were a decent number of requests for songs that already had long versions.
Seiya Murai: It felt like people were just picking their favorites.
wac: We got quite a few votes that just had artist names. Like ones that just said “Asaki.”
Seiya Murai: There were ones that just said “something from Nekomata” too. (laughs)
wac: There sure were. There were a lot that wanted the Cyber series1 compiled together too.
1. Cyber series: A nickname for songs with “Cyber” in the genre name, derived from the medley song “Miracle 4.” Songs like Cyber Arabian, Cyber Flamenco, etc.
masaru: At that point aren’t they basically hoping for a new song?
All: (laughs)
So on top of just compiling the songs, you requested each of the composers to make a long version?
wac: That’s right. So we had to choose from the top requested songs while considering balancing the workload of composers.
By the way, who chose the order of the songs on the album?
wac: In the end, it was me. I ended up putting a lot of thought into the song order. Every part of it has meaning. Like the Starry Sky zone2. (laughs)
2. Starry Sky zone. When ordering the songs on the CD, wac put songs relating to the night sky or stars together. These are the 3 songs from “Break on Through” to “Shiroi tobi hane.”
shio: When I was making the illustrations for the songs, I remember thinking that I was drawing a lot of stars.
wac: From there, I connected the heavenly river3 to the canals4, and then from the canals it went to “Angel Fish,” and by then it just became a word association game. Beyond that, the ordering of the 3 instrumental songs was really difficult. With “fffff” in particular, my thinking ended up being “it builds up to 5 pianos, so it’s gotta be song #5!”. Sorry about that. (laughs)
3. Heavenly river: The 8th song on the album, “Shiroi tobi hane”.
4. Canals: The 9th song on the album, “Canal Grande”.
I see. Were the other songs ordered similarly?
wac: At first I thought “Soul On Fire” could work as an opening statement-like song, so I thought it would be song #1. But no matter where you put it, “Echoes” has a special presence to it, and I remember hearing from Nekomata-san that the theme of the song is “the birth of sound,” so I saved it for the first song. So in other words, song #1 is more like song #0. And “Soul on Fire” became song #2, and after “fire” comes the bazooka5.
5. Bazooka: The 3rd song on the album, “LOVE☆BA☆ZOOKA!”.
All: (laughs)
wac: I was tempted to end the album with “Sorrows,” but rather than leave on a sad note I decided to end on a hopeful note with “Little Rock Overture.”
Seiya Murai: If you end with “Sorrows,” I don’t think you’ll be able to have a very happy new year. (laughs)
Now that we’ve gone over the songs themselves, can we discuss the packaging?
saori: pop’n has lots of fun-looking CDs, so we always get lots of ideas from shio-san and the others.
shio: I did my best as the CD designer! Because this CD is Konami Style exclusive, I wanted to do something fancy this time. We wanted to make something original right down to the color of the plastic case. I was worried over what color it should be, but I decided on yellow like the pop’n arcade cabinet. We included extra stickers too, so you can make your own totally unique custom design!
So everyone can show off their own artistic sense.
shio: That’s right. I’d be really happy if people uploaded their completed versions to the homepage (laughs). Also, instead of including a booklet, we included individual cards for each song. Because this is an album of everyone’s requests… there’s a mentality like “every song is number one!”, so I made them like single jackets for each song. I didn’t have much time so I thought I would just try to quickly get through it, but I had so much fun I ended up working hard through the very end. It was hard trying to consider the color balance of all 14 songs, but I think they all turned out great.
Can I ask you all about your favorite songs on this CD?
TOMOSUKE: “Soul on Fire” has to be one. It really fired me up. Like, “do your best. Keep looking forward.”
wac: It really gets you pumped up. “Break on Through” is also cool. I was there when it was being recorded so I have personal attachment to it.
TOMOSUKE: Then you have the lyrics in “Negaigoto”. His persistence ends up paying off. (laughs)
wac: “Negaigaoto” has some funny lyrics. He’s really quick to reach conclusions (laughs). Also, “Shiroi tobi hane” is good.
Seiya Murai: It’s been a favorite of mine since it first appeared in the game.
wac: Seems like there a lot of Poppers who liked it too.
TOMOSUKE: It has this Impressionist arrangement style, but the melody itself is very light and enjoyable.
Seiya Murai: It’s the kind of song that gives you this warm and fuzzy feeling if you listen to it in a quiet room or alone in your car.
wac: I like that. It’s a song that suits dark places well.
Were there any songs you were personally hoping would be on the CD?
wac: Hinode-san’s “Oh-Misoka”. It got a decent number of votes, and the CD is releasing close to New Year’s. Plus, I wanted to sing on the chorus.
Seiya Murai: The songs I wanted were included on my “plug+program” album. “fffff” was a candidate for it, but I didn’t think it would quite fit, so it made the trip over to this album instead.
TOMOSUKE: So many songs from other artists. Like Asaki, Des-ROW, TËЯRA… I was hoping for something from them.
wac: Yeah. Hopefully artists not included this time will have another chance.
Of the songs included this time, are there any new parts or particular points you want fans to listen to?
wac: The most drastic change is “CURUS”. It’s totally changed to a band-type sound.
Seiya Murai: “Canal Grande” has changed quite a bit too. The buildup in the middle is great. I think everyone will really like it.
wac: Q-Mex said that one would be difficult to make a long version of, but he worked really hard on it. “Angel Fish” also had its vocals redone, and has an adult-vibe now. I was happy I got to ask Ota2 to arrange it.
TOMOSUKE: Those bells in “LOVE☆BA☆ZOOKA!” are good.
wac: I really love the intro of “MOON” with the vocals coming in and building up.
TOMOSUKE: The sound in “Echoes” is also quite good.
wac: That’s right, it’s unmatched. You can hear all the sounds extremely clearly, but it all works together.
By the way, are there any particular points in your own songs you want people to hear?
TOMOSUKE: [With “Sorrows”,] I tried to really highlight the difference between the soft sections and the intense sections, compared to the game version. Dark and degenerate. I thought it would be tough to write vocals for such intense backing. But Yoshihiro-san put in the effort and wrote some great lyrics fast.
Seiya Murai-san?
Seiya Murai: [For “fffff”,] I was worried that the song would get grating if I extended it to 5 minutes. The song was specifically made for being played in the game, so I made it quite chaotic. The first half is about the same as in the game, but from then on it gets even harder.
wac-san?
wac: Neither the lyricist nor I had planned on a long version [of “Little Rock Overture”] at first, so my first thought was “no wayyyy” (laughs). I tried composing it against my will, and the guitarist also lamented to me that he didn’t understand (laughs). Also, we wanted to give the game version an exhilarating “ba ba-da-bum!”-type ending, but thought it would be good for the long version to fade out. I like it when a CD ends with a fade out. Other than that, I was happy that Sana-san helped us out with the chorus. By the way, if you hear a part that sounds awkward, that’s my voice. (laughs)
Now, please give a final message for the people who purchased the CD.
TOMOSUKE: Merry Christmas!
wac: Thank you to everyone who submitted their requests.
Seiya Murai: Also check out “plug+program” and pop’n Magazine Issue 2.
Thank you very much.