IRyS interview

IRyS, a VTuber affiliated with Hololive EN, released an EP, "Quarter Bravery", on July 11. Elements Garden, which has composed songs for numerous anime productions and singers, was in charge of music production for this EP.
Based on Celtic and Irish music, the album contains four songs with a rich variety of themes based on the emotions of "joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure".
IRyS made her distribution debut on July 11, 2021, and released her first EP, "||:Caesura of Despair", the following day. Since then, she has consistently released original works and has made her presence known as a singer.
Her musicality varies widely from rock, electro, R&B, etc., depending on the song, and her vocals, in both Japanese and English, allow her to express herself in a variety of ways.
This is almost the first time that Elements Garden has provided music for the members of Hololive, and the EP fully demonstrates the chemistry between IRyS and Elements Garden, who are both originally fans of Japanese anime.
Real Sound interviewed Fujita, Tomaru, and Kondo of Elements Garden, who were in charge of music production.
In the midst of recording, they talked about the production of the EP and their impressions of IRyS's singing voice.

※Interviewer questions are in blue※


Your connection to Hololive is that in the past, you have been a part of "Bandli! Girls Band Party!" and Mr. Tomaru and Mr. Kondo appeared in a special live performance by Tokino Sora's fan club, but this is the first time that you have provided a song for a member of hololive. How did you frankly feel when you received the offer?

Fujita (henceforth denoted as "F"): First of all, we were simply very honored that she wanted to work with us.

Tomaru (henceforth denoted as "T"): Yes, IRyS performed at Sora's birthday stream this year, and I heard IRyS sing for the first time there, and I thought "she has a very nice singing voice".

You had always been attracted to her as a singer.

Kondo (henceforth denoted as "K"): Since IRyS is a member of HololiveEnglish, I thought it would be a great opportunity for people around the world to hear her music. I felt pressure, but at the same time I was looking forward to it, and I was also very honored.

F: We had just recorded her a few days before (the interview), and the moment she sang to me, I had the mysterious feeling of "Yay!". I said it so that even the recording booth where IRyS was in talkback could hear it lol.
Of course, at that point, we were still in the stage of having her try out the song, but I felt that "it was going to be a great recording" because she had made the song her own at the voice-over stage.

K: I couldn't help but applaud, too. It was in practice, but that take of hers was wonderful. So the moment IRyS sang in practice, Mr. Fujita's "Yay!" and my applause was ringing in the studio...

T: She had some idea of how she wanted the song to be sung and the nuances she wanted to add, so when we practiced, she had finished the song to the point where I thought, "How can I direct it any better?".

I know that everyone in Elements Garden has contributed songs to various singers, but what do you find attractive about IRyS's singing voice?

F: First of all, I thought, "The words are easy to hear in her singing voice". The rhythm is tight, and the words do not lag behind it at all, making it easy for the listener to hear the lyrics.
The first song she recorded, "BERSERKER," had a fast tempo, but even there, each lyric seemed to come in and I was impressed by the groove in her song itself.

T: The BPM of "BERSERKER" was around 190, which would normally make it difficult to keep the rhythm, but she was able to keep up perfectly with the rhythm without any delays at all.

F: Also, as a matter of course, her English pronunciation was extremely beautiful, and on top of that, her Japanese was really good.
But there was one word that IRyS asked me "what it meant?". I believe it was the word "燦燦と(san-san to)". (it means "brilliantly")
I was so grateful that she asked everyone "I want to figure out how to express this, so please tell me what this word means".

How did you come up with the overall idea for this EP?

F: When she first offered me the project, she gave me a firm request that "it should include 4 songs, each with a theme of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure".
Perhaps, by setting a different theme for each of the four songs on the EP, she wanted to create a work that would be worth listening to. We thought, "We can show the different faces of IRyS in each song".
In addition to that, she was also asked to "make it a piece with overall Scandinavian and Celtic elements".
At that point, she had given me rough ideas for each of the four songs, saying, "this is the kind of atmosphere I want", so I decided on the members in charge of each song based on those ideas. When I was thinking about the lineup for this project, I had confidence in Tomaru and Kondo that they would be able to produce a good product.  I asked them to write "BERSERKER" on the theme of "anger" , and "ENJOY! JOY!! JOYFUL!!!" on the theme of "pleasure".
For the other 2 songs, while I composed the music, Yuta Kasai arranged "Delight," which was inspired by "joy," and a newcomer, Seong-wu, arranged "Ai no Jikkai," which was inspired by "sorrow". What did you talk about with them at the first meeting?

T: First of all, when putting together a piece with Celtic elements, if we all included the royal tin whistle and other instruments, the pieces would be similar, so we discussed the division of instruments to some extent, saying, "Let's use the tin whistle for this piece", and "Let's use the fiddle for this piece".

F: We thought it would be uninteresting if the sounds were similar, even though we were trying to separate the themes. As a result, "ENJOY! JOY! JOYFUL!!!" intro that Kondo came up with is gone...

K: lol. In fact, the 4th song, "ENJOY! JOY!! JOYFUL!!!" had another part that we had originally, but as a result of eliminating the intro part, we were able to create a beginning song for this EP, which I think was a good change from the other songs.

You have thought to include elements of Celtic - Irish music, but also to give a sense of the range of musicality in each song.

F: Yes, I think so. I think we were able to express the differences in each song not only in the instruments used but also in the musical scale. However, since we were asked to participate in the project, we thought that the audience might expect a certain anime song flavor, so we added some Celtic elements to the songs, which is our specialty. Especially, Kondo, you played around in the music.

K: This time the song has quite a playful element to it lol.

Now, please tell us about the production of each song. First of all, how did you go about creating the first song "Delight," which expresses the "joy" of "joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure"?

F: In the case of this song, there is another song with the theme of "pleasure," so I imagined it as a fresh departure song rather than a happy direction. I don't really want to call it "anime song rock," but the general concept was to try to put forth an orthodox rock style that is set in stone for me. Then, I added tin whistles to the intro and Dorian scales to the melody to puzzle out the ethnic music atmosphere.

The tin whistle is often the first typical instrument that comes to mind when you hear Celtic - Irish music.

F: I knew it. Besides, I have an image that many Japanese people like it.

I feel that the presence of this song as the first track gives the impression that "this EP is about Celtic music," and since "Delight" has a royal feeling music, I imagined the scenery as if it were the OP of an "otherworldly reincarnation" anime work.

F: I may have subconsciously made the chorus in 89 seconds lol (the on-air length for an anime song). Also, I just recorded a violin solo this morning, and this time I asked Atsutaka Yoshida to do it. He is a violinist who also specializes in country, bluegrass, and Scandinavian music, and I have been wanting to ask him for a while. As a result, he was able to capture and express the parts that could not be written in the score.

T: This song has the most Irish elements of the four songs on this album, and it has a fresh, fast-paced atmosphere that makes it very easy to listen to as the album's OP.

K: Also, Fujita mentioned that "I wanted the rhythm to be 8 beats". I think he was conscious of this so that the themes of "joy" and "pleasure" would not overlap with the fourth song, which has a similar theme to some extent.

I see, the 4th track, by contrast, was impressive for its rhythm that utilized cutting guitar.

K: That's right. Fujita also ordered us to "use a 16-beat style", so even from the rhythm stage, I felt as if I were creating two songs with different rhythms.

How did you like IRyS's vocals on "Delight"?

F: IRyS is good at singing in really low keys, and we have prepared such notes from the beginning of the song, but I think you will enjoy both the charm of such notes and the charm of the highest notes in the chorus.
The highest part of the song is the lyrics, "疾風迅雷(Shippu Jinrai)" which should also be a cool part of the song.

Then tell us about the second song "BERSERKER".

T: The theme of this song is "anger," so I think I was able to create a sound that is typical of Elements Garden and one of my specialties, utilizing a heavy band sound. IRyS's vocals are also very cool. The English lyrics that appear in places, we decided while recording whether to pronounce them in a Japanese way or in a native-like way. In the end, most of the lyrics were pronounced more like native English speakers, but if I thought that the Japanese pronunciation would convey the intention better, or if I thought that it would fit with the melody, I decided to use Japanese way.

I see. You have paid a lot of attention to very fine details.

T: I got the impression that IRyS values the meaning of the lyrics. In the "燦燦と(san san to)" part, which was mentioned earlier, the first verse "高らかに(takarakani)" was sung strongly, but when the lyrics changed to "燦燦と(san san to)" in the second verse, she tried to make the song more sparkling and lively.

F: We were happy that she went well beyond what we had hoped for in terms of the kind of music we wanted her to write. Tomaru is good at playing the guitar, so he lets us hear his charm to the fullest, and I thought it was wonderful how he created the development of the chorus by creating a accumulate moment and then going into the chorus all at once.

K: I really feel the Elements Garden and Tomaru in this song. Also, when I listened to all 4 songs, it was the rock song with the lowest center of gravity, and I thought it would look great if she sang it at a live performance.

How about the 3rd song, "Ai no Jikkai"?

F: I originally started this song with the order of a "fragile ballad," but I actually had to make a major reworking once. At first, I was going to make it more of a straightforward weepy ballad with piano and strings, but IRyS asked me to "make it a little more wordy and to make it a song that continuously exposes something that makes the heart tighten". So, in terms of the number of notes, I think it has about three times more than the original. In addition, as a song that expresses "sorrow," I thought it would be possible to express the world breaking down and the distortion of dimensions. So, when it was time to rework the song, I consulted with Seong-wu the arranger, and added some sounds. In the initial ballad stage, the rhythm was not as strong and the guitars were not distorted, but it became a bit chaotic.

T: The new arrangement brings both percussion and rhythm to the forefront, giving the song a cinematic feel, like the ending of a movie.

It is a beautiful song, but if I listen carefully, I will find that the guitar is acoustic, like drone music, and in a sense, it is a strange song with a breakbeat-like rhythm.

K: That's right. It's a beautiful melody at first glance, but there are noises in the background and the piano is very modern music-like at key points. I thought, "This is such a new sound" because it combines a beautiful thing with an approach that is inherently incompatible with it.

F: When we reworked the song, we decided to make some major changes to the arrangement itself. As a result, the music ended up like this.

Finally, please tell us about the 4th track, "ENJOY! JOY!! JOYFUL!!!".

K: When Fujita first gave me the image, he asked me to "mix elements of Irish music and funk", but it is not easy to find such music, and I could not think of any songs that would serve as references, so at first I wondered what I should do.

Usually, Irish music and funk don't mix easily.

K: That's right. That's why I was so worried lol.

F: I left some of that to him, but when I thought about how it would fit in with the other songs, I thought it would be nice to have a funk-based, one-chord song with Irish elements mixed in. However, I thought I had already presented Irish elements in the previous three songs, so I told him, "You can have less of that in this song".

K: Although he said so, I am also conscious of Irish elements, and I used bagpipes in this piece. I also thought that another Irish element could be added by using scales, so I used the mixolydian scale, which is often used in Scandinavian music, to express "pleasure". I also used funk and blues scales/chords in this song, so I thought the two elements would blend well if I used a mixolydian scale, which has a similar sound to the scale and is compatible with the chords.

I see. You are like a creative French chef, aren't you? You look for commonalities between seemingly unexpected combinations of ingredients and turn them into delicious dishes.

K: I also wanted to make it a fun and lively song as the last song in the "joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure" series. This song has a chorus, and I thought, "I'd like to hear IRyS's rap",  so I had her rap at the beginning of the song. I tried to pack in a lot of different things.

The chorus also has a gorgeous party funk that sounds like it could be "Earth, Wind & Fire".

K: LOL. I wanted to make the chorus part easy to understand and catchy. The refrain is a pentatonic scale that is commonly used in both Irish and blues music.

F: I was like, "Thank you for making a song that is exactly what I wanted," but at the same time I thought, "She's so unreserved" lol
There are so many sections, some rap, some D-melody, and so many other elements that the same section will never appear twice, and I think it was very difficult for her to sing, but I felt "IRyS can handle it".

T: It's a long, elemental, and challenging song to listen to. I think this is the same with the music for Hololive, but with the trend toward shorter songs, I thought it would be very interesting to have a song like this one. I think it is great to have a song that dares to go against the trend as one of the songs.

Is there anything else that you guys were impressed with in IRyS's recordings?

K: She can speak English, so I felt the groove that can be produced only by such a person. This is especially true for "BERSERKER". I could feel the groove in the song alone.

T: It felt very fresh to me, too.

F: Also... she drank a lot of water during recording. I knew she was recording every single session as best she could. I even went out to buy more water for her to drink, thinking that she might run out halfway through the session lol.

Were there moments when you felt the unique appeal of VTuber music?

F: Did Tomaru and Kondo originally watch VTuber's stream?

T: I usually listen to the stream as if it were a radio. Some VTubers stream very frequently, so I feel that they are very close to me. I get the impression that the distance between the music, the VTubers, and the listeners is very close.

You have the impression that the person's personality is deeply conveyed through the stream and other means.

T: That said, depending on the song, we may be able to express a side of you that you don't normally see in our stream, and you may enjoy that gap as well.

K: Certainly, when you hear a song that has a different atmosphere from the one you normally get from the stream, you can't help but feel a little bit excited.

F: During the production of this album, IRyS talked about how her songs should be sung in anticipation of live performances, and during the production she even asked us to "lower the key of this song" in anticipation of singing it at live performances. I felt that she had a clear vision of "ultimately singing in front of the listeners".
And then, I watched the IRyS stream before the recording session, and I was never bored by the long game streams of "Minecraft" and other games, but she was able to make a lot of interesting points. I enjoyed watching her all the time. I was captivated by the way she was enjoying herself in a natural way.

T: As for the IRyS stream, I really like the "Eikawaiwa lesson" that was planned by Mori Calliope and featured IRyS, AZKi, and Tsunomaki Watame. It was very interesting to watch as they taught everything from simple self-introductions to the latest slang while having a good time together.

This is a project that is typical of Hololive, which is watched by people from English-speaking countries, Asia, Europe, South America, and many other countries besides Japan.

K: I was also impressed by the way IRyS talked about "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED". She spoke very fast and spoke very good Japanese, which was very memorable.

What are your expectations for IRyS and everyone at Hololive, if any, in the future?

F: Due to my age, I didn't know about the appeal of VTubers until much later, but I think it is a very interesting form of entertainment, and it was a great experience and fun to work with IRyS this time.

T: When I watch the streams and videos of IRyS and everyone at Hololive, I realize how much the VTuber culture has spread globally. I have high hopes that this will continue to spread, and I would be happy if they hold festivals overseas.

If you were to make another song with IRyS, do you have any ideas you would like to try?

F: I'm basically the type of person who likes to respond to requests, so I am not the type of person who thinks "this is what I want to do" on my own, but I would be very happy to be asked to compose music again.
If she has something to say, I'm confident that I can come up with the best out of it.

K: There are many VTubers now, and it would be very fun if we could collaborate with them to produce music.

T: Indeed. Also, if there is another opportunity, I would like to make a song with all English lyrics. The groove of a song with English lyrics will be different, and I think it is something that IRyS can do.

K: There is a Japanese-style song with Japanese lyrics called "Akatsuki to Hana" in IRyS's music. For example, it would be interesting to have a song with all English lyrics, but with a Japanese sound.
Also, since IRyS is a very expressive person, I personally would like to see her create a song with the kind of sound that trackmakers are creating these days.