Bigbang’s D-LITE has finally debuted in Japan with his highly anticipated solo album on the 27th of February! To celebrate his solo debut career we have started a short installment for D-LITE! Other than the album, we will also be talking about the importance of the song lyrics and how close it is to D-LITE’s character!

Vol.1 There is uneasiness and stress for my first solo! The suggestion V.I. gave me was also…..

Oricon Style (OS): For your solo album “D’scover”, you have collated the precious J-pop cover albums. There’s not only male singers songs like Saito Kazuyoshi’s “Singer’s Ballad” and Sukima Switch “Powerful Boy” but also female singers like Ikimono-gakari’s “Joyful”, not only are there solo songs but also songs from groups… you have collated so many colourful music, how did you select it?
D-LITE: From the list of 100 recommended songs, I did try singing all of it, but in the end I still selected songs that I really wanted to sing purely. Firstly, I listened to the audio version to understand the impression of the original song, then I will search for videos to observe the singer’s message and mood, then I will see if anybody else did a cover of that song and I will search it out and listen to it… if time permits. I have experienced everything related to the songs, from audio to video to covers. If at any point of time, I feel that there is a different feeling from me, the singer’s posture or we do not have the same view, I will then think that is a song that cannot be covered. Feeling the colors of the person, then what do I do with my own colors? I will think this way. Now that I have the chance to do a cover, I have to add my colors in properly if not I will be disappointing the listeners. I really considered many factors in this area, I listened too many times for the songs till it would be bad if I continued listening (laugh). I wanted to guide my own colors out and I did a lot of effort for it, however I am so satisfied because I have a piece of work that I am happy with.

OS: Any stress or uneasiness for your first solo?
D-LITE: Yes. To be honest, there’s a lot at the start. Am I able to sing out my feelings well with Japanese? I think singing and expressing its feelings is the most important thing, however I noticed that my Japanese pronunciation sounded unnatural, and I had to add in my own feelings too… so I was thinking of many things while recording. Also, Bigbang’s world tour was happening at the same time as well, so my mind became a mess (laugh), it was really tough. However, during the recording, I constantly hear people around me telling me that it is very good so all the uneasiness that I carried with me disappeared naturally.

OS: What is the difference recording as Bigbang’s D-LITE and solo artist D-LITE?
D-LITE: With Bigbang, because it will not be my voice from the start till end of the song, so I have to listen to how the member before me sang it, how he used his voice and what atmosphere was it in, to let the switching of voices be smooth, I have to consider tweaking my voice tone etc. However, for my solo album, each song contains my stories, so from the start till the end, I had to ask myself constantly what I am trying to express, and I have to sing together with my thoughts of how to present it and how I want to present it constantly in my mind. That is the biggest difference.

OS: For the production of this album, you stayed in Japan for quite a long period last year.
D-LITE: Actually I was already in Japan secretly for a few months since July.

OS: Since it’s during July, it means you will have met V.I. for his Japan activities.
D-LITE: Yes, I was there when V.I. had his Japanese programs to appear on but V.I. was really~~busy at that time. Although I was staying in a room beside V.I, however V.I had to travel to Osaka and many other places, so in the end, I could only see him once or twice in the two months I was there. Although we do send text, talk on the phone occasionally and report about our situation now, he was unable to accompany me at all…. It was really lonely (laugh)

OS: Did V.I san or any of the other members give you any advice or suggestions for your solo album?
D-LITE: Because I was shy so I did not ask the members myself, but V.I will come up to me on his own and ask “How is this song”, “I think it’s not bad”, “I think this song suits you”, and he recommended a lot of Japanese songs that he knew to me.

OS: So, what was the song V.I recommended?
D-LITE: Ahhh… That…. That is……

OS: Maybe it wasn’t recorded.
D-LITE: Ah~ Yes (wry smile). Ah yes! MISIA san’s “Missing You Now” was a song that was already decided but it is a song that V.I recommended as well!

OS: So the song that V.I san recommended is included in the album. In the album, are there any songs that you feel is rather difficult?
D-LITE: All are difficult (laugh). Especially the song that V.I san recommended “Missing You Now” and Hata Motohiro san’s “Love”, both are songs that are especially hard for me. Before recording I was really afraid of these two songs. Then I kept thinking, why was the impact so huge, also, MISIA san sang very nicely! Actually, this sentence should be told to all the original singers of the songs (wry smile). Everybody really can sing!

OS: That is true. But this has also proved that songs like this can only be sung by D-LITE with its forceful voice.
D-LITE: No, I still have a long way to go… Actually, this will become stressful; however, I kept thinking that I cannot spoil the original strong impression of the songs, so I stopped listening to MISIA’s version, I listened to purely the melody and to let the impression in my heart increase. I think in that way is how I can truly present my own “Missing You Now”.

OS: You performed in a TV show with JUJU san and sang “Like Overflowing With Kindness”.
D-LITE: Yes. At the start I was really nervous, but JUJU san is a good singer, as long as I look into her eyes, I am able to sing out comfortably. Also, usually when I sing this song I will have a very happy mood. When I first started listening to it, I felt the cold winter and warm summers crossing path with each other. I think this song suits the season that is about to arrive. JUJU san’s singing is really awesome, and also because it is a female song, there was a problem with the key. During verse A I sang really happily but when I reached the chorus, it suddenly turned high-pitch so it was tough (wry smile). Also, speaking about difficulty, for this song there are a lot of lyrics containing the word “tsu”, it is when I get a headache because of my pronunciation. However, the content of the lyrics is really interesting. Especially the part where it says “Located in an area with absolutely no change, even the most important thing seems to be invisible everyday”, what is this song trying to send its message, if I do not use my own way to explain it, I will not be able to sing it, that is why I spend much time on each song. Although it is not my original song, but whatever I sing, will be my story, my message, so if I do not understand the content of the lyrics, I can never be able to sing it.

OS: I can see how sincere you are towards music and it relates to your upright personality. Having so many meaningful songs in an album called “D’scover”, what do you mean about the title?
D-LITE: I combined D-LITE’s “D” and “Discover” together, I thought of it myself. After completing this work, I again noticed the beauty and difficulty of Japanese songs, there are many new discoveries, and it being my solo album, my new charm, different colors and when I sing, I realized there are many changes in me as well… Many new discoveries in myself.

OS: Bigbang fans will definitely like this album, but this piece of work this time is a good chance to let non-fans of Bigbang yet fans of J-pop to know about the singer D-LITE.
D-LITE: My song, although I don’t think it is up to standard yet, but by adding colors in the songs that I like…. It is listening to the original and new colors together, and people will realize the difference in it. If they are able to feel this, that is my greatest happiness. The common theme for all songs is “warmth”. It’s as though being in a mother’s womb, it should be that warm yet memorable feeling.. I want to emphasize on that point. When listening to the original songs, I feel warmth, colors, passion, messages, if I can convey these via my album I will be very happy. I do not have enough ability yet, nor do I have much experience, so I did many research, most importantly is to remember in my heart “singing sincerely”. If I don’t think about anything and just sing sincerely, it could be the best, but at the same time of singing sincerely, I must also add my own thinking and measure in, to be able to maintain and sing this way is my dream, and it is also the biggest problem… However, as long as I face the songs “sincerely”, my voice will also come out naturally, that is what I believe. To fans who have liked me for very long, they might already expect that I will be having an album like this, but for people who are unclear, for people who have strong impression with Bigbang, I guess they will be shocked. Also, how will the J-pop fans react, that is making me very nervous. But all in all, as long as everybody can feel my sincere singing in this album I will be very happy.