Pop singer Goto Maki sat down for an interview with the website "Josei Jishin", revealing a bit more about her latest mini-album, "LOVE", and herself.

Check out parts of the interview below!

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Q. This time (your album's) called 'LOVE', so the theme is love. Is there a story about how this came to be, or is it about your ideas of love?

Goto: To be honest, we began working on this in January, and we'd talked about me trying to write lyrics this time, but... well... since I had no idea what to write about, at first the theme was 'TRUE'.

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Q. So at first it was called 'TRUE'?

Goto: Yeah. I wrote lyrics based on that and looked at things that had already happened... but they all connected back to 'LOVE'. After that, (we decided to call it) 'LOVE'. I thought it would be easy for the people who listen to (my album) to understand.

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Q: Are there any parts that you really like because of a particular line?

Goto: In the second chorus of the B melody in "Utsumukanaide", when you're listening to the song, there's one part that's really painful in a piercing way. That alone makes you feel like you've been stabbed.

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Q. This time you challenged yourself by trying to write lyrics. Were there any discoveries, and was it fun?

Goto: I've been writing (lyrics) for about a year, but it was hard. We talked it out and decided that the theme would be 'TRUE' this time, and I made (lyrics) as I thought about each song... It was incredible to construct the view of that world (in the lyrics) and the story inside myself.

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Q. With "Nee,,,", what kind of 'world view' did you write with?

Goto: "Nee,,," is a song that's really (about) 'LOVE', but there are trivial feelings, like 'on days like these, I'm happy when we can be together'. But on the flip side, that's the strongest kind of love there is. Conversely, 'lalala' is the 'LOVE' from my own feelings of being grateful to my fans, friends, family, friends, and people who try their best together.

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Q. Do you think you've made some progress in lyric writing?

Goto: I had to write out the main points a lot. "Nee,,," is the only one where the lyrics just poofed into my head, but that was when I was riding an airplane. Writing lyrics is something I mostly do on my cell phone, so while I was on the airplane I couldn't use my cell phone... I asked the cabin attendant if I could borrow a ballpoint pen and just wrote what I could, then transferred what I'd written onto my cell phone when I got off the plane and wrote the song.

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Q: So is your private life filled with 'love'?

Goto: You're asking me? (laughs) Lately, after I finish work I go straight home. I focus on writing lyrics at my house. But other than that, I often play video games with my friends... we never go out. (laughs) When I'm with those friends, it's a really relaxing time for me since there are a lot of things we can do together. Maybe I don't have anything like a love life, but... I don't have time for one.

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Q. Is there anything you've been crazy about recently?

Goto: Something I'm crazy about? No, nothing. (laughs) At work, it's work, and during my free time it's those games I was talking about. (laughs)

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Q: This year, is there anything you'd like to do?

Goto: Yes. Actually, right now there's a demo song that makes me think, 'I wanna sing this!'. It'd be nice to... release it.

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Q: Please leave a few words for our female readers about your songs.

Goto: Having people who listen to (my mini-album) feels as if 'love is very precious' or 'it's no good to never experience love'... just that alone will make me so happy.

Source: Josei Jishin