If you let yourself get affected by negativity, you lose sight of yourself, right? That’s what I wanted to communicate. I realize it’s easier said than done, but I think the most important thing is to not let it get to you. If you get in their crosshairs, it’s almost like an accident. Some of the people who criticize others online are doing it because they’re stressed. So on the album, you’re focusing on that issue. That’s a problem that’s become particularly prominent as of late. If people want to criticize, let them criticize. The theme of this song is that you need to turn your attention to the positive. Even if the people around you are saying positive, uplifting things, sometimes it just doesn’t get through. It’s also common for the people making these abusive comments to be faceless. Recently there have been a lot of people struggling with bullying or violence online. You released “TALKIN’BOUT,” a single from CLOWN OR CROWN, on July 27, before the album was released. It sounds like an album that provides people with insights into various aspects of your character. That’s one of the things I want to convey through the album.Īnd the difference between “CLOWN” and “CROWN” is just the difference between an “L” and an “R.” In China, I’m known as “Liwan,” and in Japanese my name is “RIKIMARU.” I often hear that “When you’re just chatting, you’re ‘Liwan,’ but when you dance you’re “RIKIMARU’.” Looking at the first letters of the names I go by, it’s an “L” and an “R.” I only noticed that afterwards, but it’s an interesting coincidence. It’s up to you to determine what to accept and what to reject, and if you change your perspective, you can get insights into all kinds of different worlds. The majority opinion isn’t always the truth. For example, I think about 80% of what I read online is fake (laughs). I’m getting the feeling that album is encouraging people to broaden their perspectives. CLOWN OR CROWN has this deaf clown and this blind king sharing information and their own sensibilities, so I want listeners to also share their own ideas and impressions. The stories could be interpreted differently if taken in different ways. But it’s not just a deep, heavy album - it has a lot that will also resonate with listeners. Based on that foundation, I wrote songs as stories of what I myself have seen and felt, and what I’ve heard from others. The album’s themes revolves around these two people, whose outlooks on life and whose perspectives on the world are so totally different from each other. The king lives in a dark castle, and he doesn’t know what kinds of lives people outside his castle are living. He is totally immersed in his own world, which is why he can’t hear others. The deaf clown is a symbol of freedom and craziness. I had this mental image of a deaf clown and a blind king. Why did you choose that name for the album? You’ve released your first full album, CLOWN OR CROWN.

I wanted to make songs whose themes would resonate with listeners, which is why I launched the project. Through my songs, I wanted to examine societal issues and interpersonal relationships, not romance.

That’s why I decided to make an album whose image is more along those lines. I felt like an image of “craziness” would be a closer fit. In the past, the images associated with my music were “freshness” and “youth.” That was fun, in its own way, but looking at myself as a person, it felt like that image didn’t truly connect to the real me.

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