INDEX
Sadness, Happiness, and Anger as Products of Love
I’ve noticed that the motif of “love” appears frequently in your songs. I especially felt this strongly when listening to your 2nd album, 1999. When you write about “love” in your lyrics, what underlying feelings or thoughts do you think are driving it?
Nishina：I think emotions born from “love” include self-love and love for others. When I write songs, I always want to capture some aspect of humanity. I’ve never written a song that simply describes scenes without conveying human feelings. I believe I’m always depicting human emotions. Sadness, joy, anger—these kinds of emotions seem to stem from love. If something doesn’t matter to you, no emotion would arise from it. So, even though it might sound strange, I think love is something that inevitably accompanies everything. It’s inseparable from both living and creating.
It seems that both loneliness and love are seen as fundamental aspects of being human in your view.
Nishina： Yes, even though it’s unconscious, I believe they are fundamental aspects within me.
It’s strongly felt by listeners that you have portrayed “humans” rather than just “scenes.” Why do you think you ended up focusing on depicting people rather than scenes from the beginning?
Nishina： I’m not entirely sure why… It’s difficult to pinpoint. But I think it might be because I’m human myself. Maybe I’m continuing to depict my own kind. If I were a tree, I might only write about trees. I don’t know the answer, but it just happened that way over time.
Have you ever experienced realizing something about your own thoughts when reflecting on the songs you’ve created?
Nishina： Yes, I have. For example, there’s a song called “Yoru ni Natte” (When Night Falls). When I look back at this song, I remember the anger that triggered it. I realized, “Oh, I was really angry. I hated that.” Even though I thought I was being calm, creating the song made me more aware of my emotions. Also, in “Yoru ni Natte,” there’s a lyric that goes, “Even if humanity were to become extinct someday, I wouldn’t mind.” When I wrote that lyric, I thought, “Yeah, I might not mind if humanity went extinct” [laughs].
I see. Indeed, “1999” also seemed to depict the end of the world.
Nishina： At some point, I became more consciously aware of the concept of “endings.” Living and working aren’t things that continue forever; there will always be an end eventually. By becoming more aware of this, I started to think, “How we enjoy the present is incredibly important.” For me, the awareness of endings and the pursuit of enjoyment are closely connected.
It seems like being aware of endings also ties into accepting the “unknown.” Since when and how things will end is often something no one can predict.
Nishina： Indeed. To put it drastically, everyone has parents, but even they will eventually be gone. And even if someone is as close as a parent, you can never truly know the depths of their inner self. These are things that accumulate as life progresses, as you meet more and more people. The sense of endings and the unknown will likely continue to deepen as time goes on.
Starting in November, you’ll be kicking off the Zepp Tour, “SUPER COMPLEX.” What does your ideal live performance space look like to you right now?
Nishina： We, as performers, are the ones showcasing the music, but I’ve come to realize that it’s not just about us sending energy unidirectionally to the audience. It’s more about exchanging energy: we give out energy, receive it back, and the cycle continues. Lately, I’ve felt strongly that a live show is a constant exchange of energy throughout each performance. So, my ideal is to create a live experience where both we and the audience can be ourselves and freely express one another. That’s what I aspire to achieve.
Nishina： For the next tour, I’m planning to approach it with a completely different concept from the previous one.
Nishina Zepp Tour “SUPER COMPLEX”
November 10 (Sun) – Zepp Sapporo
OPEN 17:00 / START 18:00
November 15 (Fri) – Zepp Namba (OSAKA)
OPEN 18:00 / START 19:00
November 17 (Sun) – Zepp Fukuoka
OPEN 17:00 / START 18:00
November 26 (Tue) – Zepp DiverCity (TOKYO)
OPEN 18:00 / START 19:00
November 27 (Wed) – Zepp DiverCity (TOKYO)
OPEN 18:00 / START 19:00
November 29 (Fri) – Zepp Nagoya
OPEN 18:00 / START 19:00
<Ticket Information>
Pre-sale tickets
https://eplus.jp/nishina2024
