Suzuki Ami Supreme Show interview for bounce magazine

reporter: Dejima Koji
publisher: bounce vol. 305 (Tower Records free music magazine)
published: November 25 (print) – December 4 (online), 2008

A worthy masterpiece for the turning point of the tenth anniversary of her debut!

Ten years. After getting her first break on an audition program, she made her debut in 1998… That preamble may not even be necessary; taken purely on its sound, unrelated to any greater context or story, Suzuki Ami’s new album Supreme Show is magnificent! Since her vivid single “FREE FREE / SUPER MUSIC MAKER” last year, Nakata Yasutaka has shown their compatibility through several fine collaborations, resulting in an album he wholly produced. There may be some whose ears perk up at that fact alone, but in terms of emphasis on a danceable style, DOLCE, her previous album released under the umbrella of her collaborative “join” project, also focused on her “joining” up primarily with creators from the club scene, likely making this a logical continuation along that path for her longtime fans. The album, expanded around singles like “ONE” and “can’t stop the DISCO,” is naturally electronic and house-y, but not only that, it’s a cohesive work unto itself.

“The first single I worked on with Nakata-san, ‘FREE FREE,’ was released at a time when I had just decided to go all in, thinking it probably wouldn’t be long before this sound was no longer considered unusual,” Suzuki explains. “I thought I had nothing to lose by broadening my musical horizons, and even if no one could tell who was singing, it was like, ‘As long as it sounds cool, what’s wrong with that?’ More than fixating on the vocals, I thought that if the sound was good, the people who heard it might think it was cool as well, and I think that even those who’ve never had an interest in me as Suzuki Ami before have become just a little more curious about it because of that — like, ‘She’s doing something kind of different.’”

If you’re someone who tends to associate the words “electro” or “disco” with a formulaic, hackneyed sound, then perhaps the exceedingly aggressive, in-your-face Nakata style found on this record will change your perspective. Did the singer herself ever imagine such a result, or was it just what she wanted?

“I didn’t have any mental picture of it whatsoever beforehand,” she answers. “The only things I expressed to Nakata-san directly were that I wanted kind of a ballad track and that I wanted to do something that he considered new. But all along, I was positive that whatever he came up with, I’d love it. I had faith in that.”

The songs included on her previously released singles synchronize with the edgier and more ravey style of recent electro (“climb up to the top” is unreal!) and steer the wheel in a more upbeat direction, but “LOVE MAIL,” unique in being the only collaboration between Suzuki’s lyrics and Nakata’s finished arrangement, is perhaps a symbolic progression in the album’s latter half.

“I suddenly sent over those lyrics, and Nakata-san turned them into a song for me. A lot of the songs on the album don’t show that instability of human emotions, so I think a sort of human warmth managed to successfully penetrate the digital aspect of this one. That was the challenge I took on this time.”

As if drawn out by that “challenge,” the humanistic charm not so commonly seen in Nakata’s work over the last few years seems to reveal itself in the sound of the tracks making up the last half of the album, and they’re truly nothing short of emotionally moving.

“There were many songs that Nakata-san himself would talk about as he worked like ‘This is the first time I’ve made something like this,’ or ‘This is new for me.’ He handles the recording, arranging and mixing all by himself, so he seems not to let others near as he works, but I wanted to see his process, so he let me observe that — while I silently put pressure on him the whole time,” she adds with a laugh.

Ten years. A simple demarcation as it may be, to have drawn a masterpiece like Supreme Show to herself in a year such as this undeniably makes Suzuki Ami a kind of chosen one.