Describe your sound in 3 words
Soft. Dreamy. Ethereal.
Tell us a few things about your new song “Humans Weep”. What is the main idea behind it?
Humans Weep is about becoming jaded by everyday life. The simultaneous mundanity and tragedy of human daily existence.
A phrase that comes to mind when thinking of this song would be “people work so hard to simply exist”.
While creating the music video for the track, I took this theme and further explored it through the lens of modern loneliness and how we cope with this through escapism.
The internet landscape and recent lockdowns have shone a light on the alienation and uncertainty we can feel towards human relationships, despite being more connected and accessible to the public than ever before.
Which is your most personal and honest lyric?
In Humans Weep, I think the chorus shows the most facets of my personality in the simplest way.
“What if I wake up and all my friends are gone, all I’d realise is I’m not loved by everyone.”
Sarcasm is a major part of my personality and it comes through with this line.
Of course there is no way that everyone I meet will like me, so in a way I’m telling myself to “get over myself and my ego”.
I’m also making light of the possibility of losing everything, during a time when I felt I had lost my friends, my family and my home.
“What if I wake up and all my friends are gone, all I’d realise is I’m not loved by anyone.”
The second line takes a more serious tone. It’s very direct and shows my fear of never truly being understood.
I’m a walking contradiction, telling myself to not take things to heart while still taking them to heart.
Do you have an artist that you would describe as a hidden gem that we should know about?
Joanna Newsom. Freak folk singer-songwriter, angelic harpist and wife to Andy Samberg – she almost doesn’t seem real! Her music isn’t on Spotify which is a little frustrating, but she is well worth the minor inconvenience. I rate my favourite artists by how much they can make me cry and the track Cosmia from the album Ys never fails me.
What would you change in the music industry?
I think in Australia specifically people’s perception of the arts in general needs to change. Although it is a multi-billion dollar industry, it isn’t valued like this is the case which has been shown through the government’s lack of prioritisation in supporting the arts industry throughout covid-19. This undervaluing of cultural pursuits is especially pronounced for me as a Japanese-Australian, when Japan is a country where arts and traditional crafts are a major part of it’s cultural identity. Art is universal as it is a conduit of the human spirit, which transcends superficiality and materialism.
What was the best film you have watched during the quarantine?
Possibly the film Her. Set in the not too distant future, the film follows a man who writes other people’s love letters for a living. Depressed due to his impending divorce from his childhood sweetheart, he upgrades his operating system which includes an AI virtual assistant. The OS has a female voice and the ability to learn and grow psychologically, so the protagonist finds himself growing increasingly intimate with it. If that doesn’t speak to the themes of escapism and modern loneliness in Humans Weep, I don’t know what does.
What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?
Probably something else really nerdy and/or creative. Making art, anime or gaming related content. I’d probably also be better at Japanese.
Thank you!
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