iLOUD’s Interview with minato (Ryuusei-P)

Cover image for minato's latest album "magnet -favorite plus" by yunomi

Recently iLOUD has carried out a interview with minato (Ryuusei-P) as we get to know more about the person behind popular Vocaloid songs such as “RIP=RELEASE” and “magnet” as he talks about his latest album “magnet -favorites plus-” as well. To know more about the interview just continue reading after the break~

And here’s the interview below:

Since about two years ago, minato (Ryuusei-P) has uploaded songs using Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, etc., and has recorded million hits with magnet and RIP=RELEASE. Gaining a lot of fans as Utatte Mita singer “Turai” as well, he is a creator that shows multiple abilities. Starting from his videos on Nico Nico Douga, today he got really famous. So, what was the trigger that made him interested in composing music?

minato: At the first, I’d been practicing the piano from 4 to 15 years old, and I loved playing piano arrange of popular J-POPs. When I was about sophomore in college, I found my friend composing music by DTM (Desktop Music), and I was excited like “What the heck is that, I wanna do it too!”, and that’s how I started composing music. At the beginning, I created my own homepage, and I posted my music there just really occasionally. The first time for me to share my music in more like public was when I uploaded a song to Nico Nico Douga. There are too many musicians that I’m influenced by, so I can’t really count, but basically I almost always listen to ordinary J-POPs. I love music that have Japanese catchy melodies, so for example, I listened to Komuro family (Komuro Tetsuya is a very famous composer) in 90s, BEING and avex (one of the biggest Japanese music productions) J-POPs in 00s quite often.

How did he become interested in DTM and Vocaloid? What is the concept of minato’s sound? Here’s his answer:

minato: I do not quite remember where I first got to know Vocaloid, but I suppose it was online news. I don’t limit my concept by the name of minato. Balancing “music for people” and “music for me”, I try not to compose songs just for self-satisfaction.

minato released an album, “magnet -favorites plus-“. This album is filled with songs based on J-POP from an up-tempo pop-tune to a romantic ballad. It has a very satisfactory content including remix of his popular songs and 2 new songs. What is the concept of the album?

minato: There is a clear concept for each song, but to be honest, no concept for the album itself. Based on the songs in the album “magnet” that I released last year, the album includes songs which I suppose listeners want to listen, and songs which I can never omit. Song selection was actually very hard as I really could not decide.

One of the biggest issue for composers is how to make Vocaloid sing very naturally. The sound of minato’s Vocaloid adjustment, on the other hand, is frequently praised as “Kami Chokyo (wonderfully operated as if he’s a god). Those emotional vocal and natural melodies are strengths of minato, who is also a vocalist. How does he create the unique image of his songs?

minato: For example, I composed “Soar”, one of the songs in the album, by imagining “What if I could compose a song for the OP of a anime?”. The lyric is like a condensation of a short story that I have in my brain. That’s why there are a lot of hidden stories for it.

What is the most impressive song in the album?

minato: I do have a lot of thoughts in every song, but personally, I’d say it’s “Himawari”. This song, I made it last summer when my grandfather passed away. Looking back, I created the song just as I wanted to do, so the song is very memorable for me. I think “Himawari” is the best song that shows my own style.

Finally, here is a message from minato to you.

minato: Thank you for reading my interview article although this might be a bit too serious and lack of humor! From now on, I’m going to focus on human vocal songs as well, but anyways, I’ll do my best to release a new song as soon as possible. And I would like you to listen to my songs! Thank you.

For those of you who are interested in knowing the full song listing in the “magnet -favorites plus-” as well as to order the album you can go here.

Interview & Text by HIROKO TORIMURA
Info source: iLOUD
Article translation thanks to Rebecca

About: DT


4 thoughts on “iLOUD’s Interview with minato (Ryuusei-P)”

        1. Pronounced and romanized as Tourai. He thought it was spelled Tolie and English, and that’s why it is so right now.

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