Twisted Wonderland Dorm Songs: Creators’ Interview

For Episode #33 of Twisted Radio Station Ruggie’s VA Ichikawa Aoi (🍩) interviewed Twisted Wonderland’s music composer Ozawa Takumi about the creation of the dorm songs along with Aozora Ichika, who wrote the lyrics for 11 of the 14 songs (including overblot character songs).

※Note: not literal translations, only summaries of the conversations.

Ozawa: I had never considered that there would one day be Twst character songs. 

🍩：Same for me. I didn’t think we were ever going to sing.

Ozawa: There were voiced songs for events, but nothing like character songs. So when the request came I was surprised. There was the request for the seven dorm songs and a note of “and an additional 7 songs.” I was like, “FOURTEEN SONGS!?” I couldn’t believe it.

Aozora: At first there wasn’t any talk about me crafting the lyrics. Ozawa-san was going to do them all, but fourteen…her schedule—

Ozawa: It was impossible to do alone.

🍩: So Aozora-san did all the lyrics?

Ozawa: Not all of them. There were a couple where we felt it would be better if I wrote them. There were two songs where I wanted to add the lyrics to the rhythm as I was making them.*
*note: Ozawa also wrote the lyrics to Idia’s OB song ggwp. ( source ▶︎ )

Aozora: You do it that way and you can change the melody, too.

Ozawa: Right, I wanted to be able to change the music as I went. Doing that with two people would make things difficult, so I wrote the Ignihyde and Scarabia dorm songs. We decided that from the start. And I asked her to do the rest.

Heartslabyul Song: Obedience

Ozawa: That was the third dorm song that I made. Compared to the rest, I really hit a wall with that one. I started making it in Spring of 2024. I went in kind of a cute direction with it, and Toboso-sensei told me, “No, it’s not like that. I want you to put more playing-card soldier feeling into it, to make it cooler.” So I changed it to adapt to those instructions, turning it into the “Obedience” that it became. Close to the image that Heartslabyul had at the beginning of the story.

Aozora: The lyrics for “Obedience” were the easiest for putting across the feelings of the dorm’s students.

Savanaclaw Song: Diadem

Ozawa: The Savanaclaw dorm song was the one I made first. It was the easiest to imagine. A simple rock song. I made it with Leona’s oveblot song in mind. I have been told it sounds invigorating. I hadn’t had that in mind at the time. The housewarden is not main in this song. Heartslabyul was the same. Savanaclaw’s focuses on the dorm students with the housewarden in the back.

🍩: It was like Leona was telling Ruggie and Jack to go on ahead, from behind them.

Ozawa/Aozora: Exactly.

Aozora: I imagined the scene in the Lion King of Scar motivating the hyaenas and chose words based on that, matching to the music.

Ozawa: There was a happening with 🍩 during recording. When we record there is a vocal booth and a direction booth. 🍩 announced that he didn’t want anyone to see him singing and closed the curtain to the vocal booth. He is the only one who did that.

🍩: Does everyone else leave it open because they want people to watch them?

Aozora: I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s for communication?

Ozawa: Right. We can see how things are going when it’s open. When you close it we get nervous. But it was cute of you. We assumed you were nervous.

🍩: I was so nervous.

Octavinelle Song: Entanglement

Ozawa: I came up with this music while in the bath. It came to me all at once. But I forget things really quickly. I always take my phone with me in the bath in order to record, so I recorded there immediately and I was singing to myself as I got out so as not to forget.

Aozora: I conferred with Toboso-sensei a lot about the lyrics for this song, about how to put across what is intimidating about Octavinelle in words. 

Ozawa: She said, “Unsettling.”

Aozora: “As unsettling as possible,” she said. It starts out with “we want to help you” and then at the end it flips it. “There is no escape.”

🍩: At the end of Floyd’s part there was originally laughter.

Ozawa: Yes. After the “Shall I squeeze you” line there was “uwahahaha—!” laughter. It was great in of that it was scary, but when compared to the songs of the other dorms it became too much like a character song. The other dorms don’t have anything like that in them, so I took it out.

Scarabia Song: Far Out

Ozawa: I did both the music and lyrics for this one. Jamil and Kalim are both talented singers and dancers, so I had that in mind when I made it. It went in the direction of dance music, the kind of music that makes people want to move—that’s the rhythm I put in. But it is not only a festival atmosphere. Rather than being wild/unrestrained, it is bewitching. “Come this way, why don’t we have a little fun.” Before you realize it, you’ve been controlled. 

🍩: Was there anything different about having to prepare a song with only two singers?

Ozawa: It was half and half, while picking words for the lyrics that suit each character. Toboso-sensei went over the lyrics, too. 

Aozora: We consulted with her.

Ozawa: Rather than a message or deep meaning Far Out is more about the rhythm and wordplay. Putting across a suspicious atmosphere. Enjoying the “La-i Ya-i Laia-i-ya ♪.”

🍩: Does that mean anything in particular within the lyrics?

Ozawa: No, it means nothing.

Pomefiore Song: La Volonté

Aozora: It’s called “will” but it isn’t about Vil-sama’s will. It is about each individual student knowing where they should be heading. That is Pomefiore, to me. This song had the clearest narrative.

As I wrote the lyrics I had both the original film that inspired the dorm and Book 5 open the whole time, checking between them over and over again. I wrote scenes from Snow White as directly as I could into the lyrics. I wrote detailed character notes for the voice actors to help guide their performance during recording for the more abstract parts.

Each character got their own unique direction. 🏹 sang with completely different emotions from 👑. There’s a part they sing together and I gave them completely different instructions. When they came together with such different emotions, the depth and contrast was amazing.

Vil is singing with his own thoughts and motivations and Rook with his own and they are going in different directions, but their voices are overlapping. That was really moving for me.

🍎 gave us an amazing take for the line “滴る甘い毒真紅に彩れ♪”. We were struggling a bit with how to express Epel’s character, but then 🍎 said, “Can I try singing it as I like?” And it was the perfect take.

Ignihyde Song: Souzetsu Aeon

Ozawa: I imagined the electric style of Ignihyde’s BGM when I made it. I wrote the lyrics as well. I thought they should be down and dark, but I was told to make them upbeat. 

🍩: It sounds like Idia having a really good time.

Ozawa: There is a feeling of “Are there three singers?” We had 🤖 sing in a variety of different ways. It was amazing. And I was really impressed by 💀 as well. It is not easy to sing like that, but he understood perfectly. There is a lot of wordplay in the lyrics. We received so many ideas from Toboso-sensei. I wouldn’t have been able to make this song without her. The lyrics were cooler when I started out. She asked me to go in a cheesier direction. 

Diasomnia Song: Shiitenpen

Ozawa: I went with symphonic rock for this one. I like gothic metal, and I didn’t hold back. I recorded 12 vocal tracks for the mixed chorus, and then had all the voice actors record two takes each, for a total of 8 tracks. I sang for it, too. I sang three parts and layered about six takes. In total the chorus is made up of the equivalent of 26 individual vocal parts layered together. The first time I saw the lyrics I thought, “Uh—what? What is that?”

Aozora: I was asked to write lyrics where you can’t tell what is being said. From the very start, that was the request. I put in as many words that people don’t use anymore as I could. I could tell it was going to be difficult for the voice actors. I wrote down how to pronounce the words and explanations for them. 🐉 ’s part comes in and he just completely blows you away.

Ozawa: It’s like a dragon’s wings unfurling before your eyes.

Aozora: It was perfectly Malleus on the first take.