MIREI has released her Zak Leever-produced new single “In The Night Time” , a Chill House summer must-listen for dance music lovers who are getting ready to once again enjoy their nightlife after a long break due to COVID. MIREI’s love for Daft Punk and Chill House music can be heard prominently throughout “In the Night Time”. The song speaks out to the young generation who were forced to stay home and connect with each other more digitally than ever; MIREI has spoken about her own quarantine experience as follows: “Even though I had to stay home for months and was not able to party or dance to enjoy my nightlife, I had the chance to connect with my friends and fans through music. We were able to connect through a screen, and through the music in our earbuds as we danced to House music in our living rooms.”
The music video for the track was shot between Tokyo and Paris. The video features world renowned dancers including top House dancer and maestro, MamSon from Paris. The two young dancers, Kyoka and Miyu have both won world championship titles from various dance battles, including Juste Debout in France.
I sat down with the musical superstar to talk about her brand new single “In The Night Time”;
Hi Mirei welcome back to OLC! How have you been and how has 2021 treated you so far?
Hi OutLoud! Thank you for welcoming me again, I’m so happy that I have the chance to speak to you guys again. Everything felt like it had come to a haul in 2020, but now in 2021, it feels like things are beginning to start up again around me. I convey that feeling into my songs, covers, and my weekly livestreams almost every day; that’s how I keep in touch with my fans, and I feel like all of that effort is finally starting to sprout.
Did you have any goals set for yourself this year? And if so what were they and did you achieve them?
My goals for this year was to introduce more of myself to my fans. Most of my fans got to know me by through my song Lonely In Tokyo, which is a song which speaks up to problems in my city, Tokyo, so the song doesn’t speak much about myself in a way. But now, I’m able to express and interact more with my fans through social media, so I talk a lot about myself on my social media and livestreams. This also helps me get to know my fans. The new songs I’m making are also mostly about myself. 2021’s such an exciting year for me, and I feel like I can achieve my goal this year by releasing more songs.
You have a new single “In The Night Time”, what inspired you to write this song?
This song was largely influenced by Daft Punk. The video of Daft Punk disbandment was released all of the sudden, right? It made me so sad and I did kind of a memorial episode for them on my weekly livestream. I even tried playing drum pads, which Daft Punk iconically used in their songs! I was talking about that with my friends Zak Leever and DJ Shiftee. Then, Zak sent me this track and we were like, why don’t we do a Daft Punk 2021 edition? Why don’t we express our excitement for music and dance, in a time such filled with excitement? After that talk, the song was finished very quickly.
Who helped you work on the single, and where did you record it?
I made this song with my friends Zak and Shiftee. The track was produced by Zak, and we all wrote the lyrics and melody together. Shiftee always comes up with fun ideas, and in this song, there’s a line where I say many verbs such as “burning” and “shaking”; it’s chopped and played by him, and this was a homage to Daft Punk. Thanks to the technology, we’re able to do online writing sessions between three cities, Tokyo, New York and LA and I recorded all my vocals remotely in my house in Tokyo.
The video is incredible, how did the idea come about for it?
We can express our passion to music by dancing anywhere, right? When we were making this song, we were dancing in front of the camera in our own houses in different cities and different countries, at the same time. On social media, I received many videos of my fans dancing to my songs in their homes. I feel so connected through music with the world, especially with those experiences, and that’s magical for me. That made me want to create a video about thinking beyond where we are in the world, and connecting through dancing and music.
How did you select the dancers for the video?
Since this song is pure house music, I imagined how beautiful it would be if it was danced by house dancers. Also, this song has this floating vibe with a groove, so MamSon naturally came in my mind since his dancing had every aspect that this song has.
Another concept I had was to represent Japan with Japanese dancers. It’s very common in Japan to go to after school dance lessons, so many of the dancers in Japan have been dancing since they were very little. I was one of them too! That’s why I contacted Miyu and Kyoka, who were prodigy dancers with unique styles, and are now world champion professional dancers.
Can we expect a new album soon and if so what can you tell me about it?
YES! I’m writing many songs through online writing sessions and they’re all so good. My first album was full of messages and they were mostly about where I’m from; Tokyo. In this album, I wanted to let people know how I felt, and how I grew up on a more personal level. They’re all coming out soon after this new song, and I’m super excited about it!
Any plans to do some touring for the new music and if so where will people be able to catch you?
I’m not planning to go tour yet, especially outside of Japan, but I’m planning to do online live concerts. I live in Japan, and here, it’s still a mess to be honest. But I’m not taking this situation as a negative, but as a positive because I can still represent my city and connect with people all over the world together through my music! When I’m able to travel abroad, I want to go and see all of my fans as soon as possible though. Please look through my social media for further announcements; I’m always online.
What does the rest of 2021 hold for you?
In many ways, I feel like 2021 has been a year of new beginnings for me. I feel like I had the time to look at myself and my music closer than I ever had since I started my career in both Japanese and English. Starting 2022, I wanna take big steps forward, so I think 2021 would be the year for final preparations for me. Before I meet you in person, I want you to know about me. So stay tuned for my new album and follow me on social media!
neillfrazer@hotmail.com
Stream It Here: https://orcd.co/3pdxdp9
FOLLOW MIREI ONLINE:
https://www.instagram.com/MIREInyc
https://www.twitter.com/MIREInyc
https://www.facebook.com/MIREInyc
