Here is the interview in text form.
Japan-A-Radio: How did this collaboration with Hatsune Miku come about?
Stephanie Yanez: Well, basically i was working with tinierme.com – its an online Japanese anime avatar site where you can create your own self and chat with other people and trade clothes and stuff, and they worked with Hatsune Miku, they have a special gatcha, its a special kind of game where you pop in some money and then you twist the nob and out comes some Hatsune Miku clothes that you can dress up your avatar like Hatsune Miku, so i saw that tinierme was working with Hatsune Miku and then I got an idea in my head to collaborate with Hatsune Miku and Crypton Future Media and produce a song together.
An opportunity came up and I was at an anime con in New York, and Ito-San, the creator of Crypton Future Media and Hatsune Miku was there and we met up and discussed the collaboration and he was like “yeah” let's do it, he was totally wanted to be a part of this collaboration so that's how it came about.
JAR: So you've been to lots of anime conventions
SY: Been all over the states to lots of anime cons, AX, Florida, Idaho
JAR: So you were one of the AX idols for anime expo, what year was that?
SY: That was in 2004, so it was a long time ago.
JAR: and did you think that when you won all of this would happen?
SY: Never, when I did the contest back in 2004 I didn't expect anything, I just loved to sing and it made me happy, so I decided to do the contest, and the prize back then was 100 J-pop cd's so I was like "cool I'm gonna get 100 J-pop cd's", then after the contest Geneon USA and I've approached me and said we wanna work with you, and I said no way and they said yeah we wanna produce a CD and have it out at best buy, so yeah I jumped on that and everything that came after, I never imagined any of it, that I’d be going to Japan to perform, and being able to do the documentary and it was on anime selects, its really amazing but I've worked really hard at promoting myself as well.
JAR: How is it working with Japanese producers and companies?
SY: It's good cause everything gets done, everything is structures and there’s time to arrive and time to get ready, i like how Japanese companies take their time in really trying to make whatever their doing really sound good and come out good, I like how they take their time.
JAR: What differences have u noticed between Japan and the U.S.?
SY: Well, I have a lot of fans, even in the Philippines and all over, but the difference in japan and America is that the American fans are younger and the Japanese fans are older, but in Japan they’re just really excited cause I'm singing in Japanese but I'm not Japanese so that makes it, they're so happy that I'm interested in their language and culture and they get really excited, but over hear people are always like whoa she's not Japanese and that’s weird, but at the same time a lot of people like it.. like “how neat” I never thought I could sing in another language and I wanna try it now.
It's just funny cause there’s a lot of mainstream people that like sing in french and people are like they're like oooh that’s cool but if people sing in an Asian language people are all like ew so..
JAR: There have been some other north American artists that have gone on to sing in Japan as well, a couple of them have gone on to sing for anime projects, is that something you'd like to do as well in the future?
SY: Oh yeah definitely, that would be something I’d really like to do, right now I'm really focused on performing and recording and getting my music out there but yeah that’s definitely something, I’ve always wanted one of my songs to be in an anime that would be really cool.
JAR: Now if you weren't singing and you hadn't entered the AX idol contest what would you be doing now?
SY: I really like kids, so I’d be playing with kids, probably be a teacher
JAR: How tough was that contest?
SY: The singing contest?
JAR: Yeah?
SY: It was really tough, actually one of the contestants was Himeka, I dunno if u've heard of her...
JAR: Yes, yes I have...
SY: The Canadian, she was there as well, I'm actually pretty good friends with her, last time I was in Japan I met up with her, we were both in that contest together, you know how good she is, she's amazing. I didn't think I was gonna win, I practised my song really hard. There was a lot of really good competition that year, I've seen the other AX idol contests and I dunno there was just something about my year it was really thought everyone was just on it with their performances.
JAR: Have you discussed any collaborations with Himeka?
SY: No I haven't but back in the day we were going to do a little fan-dub of us singing together but we never gone around to it, that would have been really neat , but maybe in the future we could.
JAR: So you've been on there same stage with Kotoko, tell us a bit about that?
SY: When I've the Japanese record label for Kotoko, they saw me at AX, after I recorded with them at paramount studios they told me that Kotoko was going to have her first us concert, and they wanted to know if I wanted to go up on stage and have her introduce me to the audience and stuff and I was like wow, that would be an honour to be up on stage with her she's an incredible artist, of course I said yes and I was so nervous and before the concert backstage they were getting her ready and I got to meet her officially, they wanted us to meet before going up on stage and she was really sweet, she was really busy but she was really kind and she was like oh yeah, in the best English she possibly could “I'm going to introduce you”, and she was practising what she was going to say and she laughed at herself when she made a mistake it was really cute, then afterwards she introduced me to the audience and i was really nervous and she was like this is Stephanie...
JAR: Your documentary... Crazy Sexy Tokyo that’s your documentary?
SY: Yeah
JAR: Where did you go, how many people did you interview, how strenuous was it...
SY: It was a lot of work, we recorded everything in 6 or 7 days, recording all day, I would get back at 6 or 7 at night and would start at 8 in the morning and it was really tiring with the jet lag and everything, but it was a lot of fun, basically it was just me playing, them recording me playing, they had me dress up as a geisha and they had me interview the Murasaki baby dolls, they're a burlesque group in Japan so I got to interview them, they also had me go into a haunted Japanese house walkthrough and it was really scary and i ate snake ice cream it was really random but so much fun it was an honour.
JAR: Was that just one episode or a couple of episodes, how long was it.?
SY: It was a good amount, a series, maybe 13 episodes, they were all about 12-15 minutes long it was a good amount of episodes and it aired on anime selects and after it aired they re-aired it so it was really popular, and now most of the documentary episodes are on my YouTube, I'm still trying to upload them all that’s how many episodes there are so..
JAR: How may cd's have you done since after the idol contest?
SY: OK I have the CD I was featured on called anime karaoke collections, then I have my first featured length CD which is sides, and then I have a mini ep called Sakura Wonderland, and right now I'm recording my second album.
JAR: So right now the stuff currently out, Sakura Wonderland and the Hatsune Miku collaboration, those are out right now?
SY: Well Sakura Wonderland is out right now and Ultimate Miku World is going to be out may 20th on iTunes. So right now the only place you can hear it is on tinierme.com, that’s the only place you can hear it, so if you sign up you can see it and they even made animated music video to it.
JAR: So have to sign up on that site before you can see it?
SY: Yeah you have to sign on the site to hear the song and see the music video before it officially goes out to all the sites and YouTube and iTunes.
JAR: so are you going to be going to any conventions, do you have any concerts planned?
SY: I'm going to be at Anime Expo, I’ll be putting my schedule on my official website stephanieyanez.com and I'm still figuring out my schedule for everything, and then.. stuff always comes out last minute for me but you can check my site website for the latest info.
JAR: Had voice acting at all crossed your mind either in America and Japan?
SY: It's funny you say that, I wanted to be a voice actor, i mean i always wanted to sing but i thought it would be easier to break into voice acting, which is really silly now that i think back on it, its really hard because especially here in the us they used the same people all the time, but I'm glad it went the way it went cause i like singing, singing is my thing, definitely i would like to do voice acting too, a lot of people have told me my voice is different and it would be very good for a cartoon.
JAR: Do you have any advice for any other singers, especially ones that enter idol contests, there's a lot of idol contests at conventions these days.
SY: Yeah, pick a song that you're really comfortable with and make sure to practice it for a really long time, I practised my song, I chose Ningyo Hime and I practised it for almost a year to make sure I was really comfortable with it, and um also once you win the contest don't expect everyone to come up to you and say, oh you won the contest I wanna have you here, here, like you should really start promoting yourself and go on all the social media websites tell people how you won and what you sung and put it on YouTube and get it out there as much as possible that’s how places and companies are going to see you.
JAR: Were you in japan during the earthquake and tsunami disaster?
SY: No, but I was going to go, but 2 weeks after, I was set to go but obviously i didn't, but i have been involved in lots of charity events, I was just involved in an event in San Diego and Vista and I've done a whole bunch, 5 or so different charity events, they really need our help, its just horrible what happened.
JAR: Do u have any sort of dream collaborations or dream projects that you'd like to work on?
SY: I'd like to work with Shiina Ringo, she's one of my favourite singers, I’d also like to work with Kaela Kimura, she's another one I really like, I love Shoko Nakagawa, I actually got to interview her at AX, and she talked about me on her blog, she'd be another one I’d like to work with, that video is up on YouTube too, but she'd be really fun to sing with, she's really nice and sweet.
Also I love Susumu Hirasawa if I could have a song produced by him that would be really amazing, he's a really amazing producer, he'd be really cool to work with
JAR: Any anime projects you;'d like to sing for?
SY: Um yeah Sailor Moon, K-on, um... there’s so many, Evangelion, yeah there’s so many I would’ve loved to sing for, but I'm very happy I got to sing with Hatsune Miku, she's very popular.
JAR: For people who haven't heard of you or your music before how would you describe your music?
SY: Yeah, my music is well j-pop/j-rock, my producer is Polo and he's a Japanese producer and his music sounds very Japanese so, but when me and him combine together its a west meets east kinda sound, it's different, like its from Japan but you can still kinda hear the “USA” sound coming through but yeah its just j-pop/j-rock, I write all my lyrics, he helps me with the Japanese, I understand it better than speaking it, we have a lot of songs in Japanese and in English.
JAR: And people can find your cd's and iTunes, and Amazon?
SY: Yep, iTunes and amazon are the the big ones were people can find my music.
JAR: Any last words for your fans or anyone listening?
SY: Thank you for listening to this interview and thank you for supporting me, I know there's many of you that have been supporting me since 2004 since AX idol and many of my new fans as well that have found my music thank you it really means a lot to me, thank you.
JAR: Thank you very much.
SY: Thank you very much for having me Japan-A-Radio it means a lot.
The Pillows setlist was essentially a "greatest hits" collection with a couple of new songs thrown in, with FLCL songs "Ride on Shooting Star", and "Last Dinosaur" thrown in as encores, much to the delight of the crowd, most who became fans of the band after The Pillows involvement in FLCL.
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