Lighting Up the Stage

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I know it has been quiet here on Lyrical☆Spark! lately and I would like to apologize to all of my dedicated readers, followers and fans. As much as I would like to get back to posting my usual otaku-related ramblings and song translations, I can’t make any concrete promises as to when that’ll happen just yet. Many things have been going on offline that it has been making my head spin round and round. Between the graduation preparations, job searching and taking care of unfinished business, life has been quite hectic but just when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier, the most unexpected thing happened.

I wouldn’t exactly call it super sudden but it sure was a surprise. While I was sifting through my e-mail’s inbox hoping that maybe I had gotten a job offer, I stumbled upon one or so I thought. After closer examination I realized it was from some company that I never even sent my résumé to. Furthermore the sender claimed that she could make my musical dreams come true. As you can imagine I was quite suspicious of the offer so I deleted it without too much worry. However I got another e-mail the next day and yet another the day after. Every day I kept getting these e-mails and in one of them she talked about how fantastic the videos I posted online were and how she could make them even better. At that point I caved in and decided to meet with her. If she could find my secret internet video channel that not even my friends know about as well as my contact information, I figured I didn’t have too much choice anyway lest she continue to harass me online.

Around the end of December, we agreed to meet at a local coffee shop. I was a little nervous partly because I didn’t know what to expect and partly because I didn’t have any nice clothes to wear. Although I do appreciate nice clothes I’m too much of a cheapskate to buy them. Anyway I was surprised when we finally met. She introduced herself as the producer of a relatively new and upcoming label and said that she wanted me to join her production agency. I was reluctant at first but she kept “attacking.” She stitched together a string of pretty words and even offered to repay my student loans as a signing bonus. Considering the dismal state of the job hunt and the prospects to improve my talents while making my dream of becoming an idol come true, I acquiesced and agreed to join her company. (No more looking under the vending machines for spare change!) Before I knew it I had somehow become a real idol.

Of course becoming an idol is not all fun and games. Soon after negotiating and signing my contract, I started my way on the path of an idol. I scheduled my final semester so that I would have a few extra days off to spend doing work at the studio. Every day is long with my mornings and nights full of school or work. I sometimes have a hard time remembering my classmates’ faces and I don’t even have time to start a proper intimate relationship with anyone! It’s really stressful trying to balance everything and sometimes it doesn’t exactly work at all. On one such occasion I started dozing off in the middle of class and the professor called on me but instead of giving a real answer I started singing half-dazed in the middle of class. It was really, REALLY embarrassing. My face turns red just thinking about it.

Of course not everything is terrible either. I’ve learned so much ever since I started coming to the studio. There are so many differences between being a net idol and being a live idol that it’s kind of insane; Now I also have to learn how to dance and pay attention to my looks! I always relied solely on my voice when I was just a net idol but even then I was a little conscious of my own vocals. I suppose my singing ability is okay but spending a few hours in the studio and using professional equipment has really improved my talent I feel. Unlike the image of her I had at first from the flood of e-mails she sent me, the producer has actually been really kind and given me many pointers. She’s almost like an older sister to me and I’ve grown to like her so much it’s sometimes hard to imagine life without her.

Memorizing my lyrics isn’t too difficult but dancing has been one of the hardest things to learn for me since I have no experience unless you count those silly rhythm action games. I’m fairly confident in my ability to keep the beat but eye-hand coordination doesn’t necessarily translate to eye-feet coordination. At the beginning it was almost like I didn’t know which was my left foot and which was my right foot so I messed up a lot. In fact the producer told me I trip and fall at least once a day. However after much practice I’m starting to get the handle of it.

Expressions are also a vital part of performing so the producer often stops me in the middle of a routine to show me what kind of look to put on my face. She gets really close so that I can see and she even sometimes pinches parts of my face into position if I’m having a hard time. The producer and I also occasionally go out shopping for clothing to help further my sense for visuals. I like to think I know aesthetics since I like to design my own fashions but this has been the first time I’ve been able to buy some cute apparel. Whenever I try on clothing she insists that she put them on me herself. She’s a real stickler for detail so when my accessories don’t match she keeps swapping them out until I look my absolute best! When I’m taking off my clothes she’ll sometimes tell me to give her a high five but when I do she touches me in weird places like my chest. I wonder if she’s a pervert but I don’t really mind it. Actually it feels kind of good sometimes. Uu, what am I saying! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Anyway one of the things I negotiated when I signed my contract was to stick to my otaku roots and thankfully the producer also agreed so I promise a lot of anime-related material. I’ve been working with one of the agency’s songwriters and currently we’ve started writing original songs for me but I’m really new to this so the process has been going slowly but surely. For now I’ve been recording covers of some of my favorite anisongs from recent memory such as Ma-ka-se-te Tonight and several of the songs from K-ON!. We’re planning to release an album with my own original songs and a bunch of covers on June 31, 2011. As the deadline approaches my schedule gets even busier. Tomorrow the producer wants to go to a photo shot so we can take pictures for the album booklet. I’ll be doing a lot of cosplay modeling so it’ll be so much fun! I’ll be dressed as Haruna from Kore wa Zombie desu ka? for the album cover so I hope I look 1000% cute for all my fans! I hope the producer likes what I’ve chosen too! Oh, that’s so embrassing! Anyway please support me by buying my album when it comes out!