Today we want to share our exclusive interview with Sarina, a new J-Pop singer and songwriter. A few months ago we wrote a detailed article about her music career; you can read it here. In this interview we asked more information about her inspirations and choices!
Sarina: X, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube
TokyoNoise: Can you tell us how you started loving music? Were you influenced by your family background and/or the places you lived in? Was there a time when you thought “music will be my future”?
Sarina: I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember! Both my parents are involved in the arts so I really grew up in a house of creativity. I remember growing up and exclusively watching “Mary Poppins” and The Sound of Music”. I always knew I wanted to do music but I had originally wanted to be on Broadway. I think I was 13 or 14 when I decided to make my central focus on being a singer/songwriter.
One of your most popular songs is the one you provided for “Triangle Strategy”, with REINA and MARU in 2022. What do you remember of that music process? What did you learn from it?
“Triangle Strategy” was such a fun and educational experience for me. I’ve played a fair few Square Enix games and it was such an honour to be asked to sing for their game! Senju Akira is incredibly talented and working with him was a wonderful experience! I loved getting to go into the studio and really bringing to life the vocal style and character of my part in the song! I hope someday I can work with Square Enix again, perhaps with a song I write myself as well.
You then went onto creating your own music: you officially debuted with the song “Identity”. What do you remember about writing it? What did you feel when it was released?
“Identity” was a whirlwind of emotion for sure. I’ve struggled with depression and a couple other issues for a long time. When I wrote “Identity” I was just starting to really believe I was free from it and this sparked a huge existential crisis of “who am I without my mental illness?”. The song “Identity” was encapsulating the strange codependency I felt with my depression in particular. “Am I still an artist if I’m not suffering?” “Are my songs still my songs if I no longer resonate with them?” “Was my experience real if I’m not in it anymore?” These were some of the questions swirling through my mind as I wrote the song. The official release of “Identity” and its corresponding music video felt like a huge exhale. It felt wonderful to share it and to be able to show it to the world!
A lot of people were impressed by the concept behind the song “Atlas”, which was completely different from “Yu-utsu na Michi” (憂鬱な道). Can you tell us how you come up with these concepts and how the whole creative process works for you?
“Atlas” is without a doubt my favourite music video. I was really inspired by traditional Japanese culture and really wanted to include it in the piece. “Atlas” was all about self-sacrifice and how that mindset can be toxic in any relationship. It’s a battle that wages war inside you. This is why I wanted to make the instrumentals cinematic, epic and reminiscent of war drums with the taiko. I pictured a huge battle between two sides that both believe they are right.
With the music video I was very excited to include so much heavy symbolism from the “Aka fuji” in the background (which was 100% real, by the way. We got incredibly lucky to catch a real red Fuji) to the warrior’s Seiza I hold in the white room. The video is filled with so much symbolic meaning and that makes me really happy! I guess for “Atlas” I really just followed the energy I got from the song and really hammered out what I wanted it to symbolise in the imagery. A sense of strength and honour but also a sense of longing and desperation.
For “Yuu-Utsu na Michi” I wanted to evoke a feeling of whimsy. In a lot of ways the words and message behind the song was about covering up the negative feelings with the distraction of your passion. The journey of discovering your place in the world and what you want to accomplish can feel lonely but it feels like if you let yourself feel that loneliness it’ll dishonour the passion that you have for whatever it is you’re passionate about. The bright colours, the upbeat tone and the “cute” animated style of the video all juxtapose the way the lyrics are almost desperate. Loosely translated the words are all about being alone in this huge world of dreams but telling yourself you’re fine because “it’s lonely at the top” as they say. And if you want to get to the best you can be then you must be lonely…
“Brace For Impact” was such a powerful track to lead to your EP “Foreword”. What do you feel about that song now that some months have passed since its release?
As with all things I’m never 100% satisfied. I love the concepts behind “Brace for Impact” and everyone worked so hard to make it a reality and for that I am exceedingly grateful! I was inspired by the feelings of amounting pressure and the subsequent ex/implosion that comes from that. “Brace for Impact” Is all about holding in the feelings you feel like you can’t express even if you know it will hurt you.
The thing I imagine first when thinking of that concept is drowning. When a person drowns first off, there is the pressure of the deep water pushing in on all sides. Second there is the fight of mind against body. Your mind knows breathing in will kill you, but your body insists that it needs to. I still think, after all these months, that the concept and symbolism behind the music video as well as the arabic instrumentals and haunting tone is beautiful. I also know without a shadow of a doubt it’s nowhere near what I think I’m capable of so I hope to show the world more of these little worlds I aim to create.
“Foreword” came out in August 2023. How did you create its concept, what’s the reason behind the title and what did you learn from the whole experience of releasing your first EP? Which was, for example, the most difficult song to write and/or record? Which one was the easiest?
One of my biggest loves in my life is books. I often think of life as one giant story and we’re all just the main character of our own book. I was originally going to call the EP “prologue” but after thinking about it and looking at the content I realised that these songs weren’t the beginning of my story yet. These songs are an introduction to the author. A small collection of thoughts and feelings to let you, the reader, see a little bit of what goes on inside me.
As for what I learned, I feel like the list is endless. With every song and every video there was something new to understand. I learned the drums for “Identity” and practised loads to be able to play all the guitar and bass parts of the song as well. For “Atlas” I learned taiko as well as choreography. For “Yuu-utsu na Michi” it was my first J-pop song and the film style was my idea as well as the fluorescent makeup and use of black light. So many of the technical stuff I actually helped come up with and that is a huge point of pride for me, I’m not gonna lie. “Sometimes I wanna cry :(” was a lesson in marketing and content creation as that was the song that really blew up for me! The 4 hour livestream for the launch was also insane and a huge amount of work.
“Melancholy roads no more” was very similar to its antithesis “melancholy roads” (“Yuu-utsu na Michi”) but the story telling and the acting involved as well as the vulnerable emotion was new. I’ve never actually cried like that for a video (other than one very real breakdown I caught for “Identity”). Finally “Brace for Impact” was shot underwater plus playing with the Arabic instrumentals and vocal style!!
All in all I learned a lot with every song and I hope that with every song I do next I learn even more!
Let’s talk about you as a content creator! You are active on Youtube and there are many interesting videos with behind the scenes and explanation about your music. What do you feel about this part of your career?
I honestly have such a love hate relationship with content creation haha. I love coming up with ideas and being in front of the camera but I’m terrible at the technical side of it all. I was very fortunate to be able to work with a fantastic editor who did all of the behind the scenes videos and helped me upload them to YouTube but they’ve since started a different job so I have no idea what I’m going to do now… that being said, I DO have some really fun and exciting things planned that I’m hoping will pan out well!! If it does, expect more content on my YouTube channel in the near future!!! (I am very very very very very excited about it all!!!!!!!!)
You are very active on Instagram as well! Fashion is a huge part of your Instagram posts and stories, so let’s talk about it! What’s your biggest inspiration and what role does fashion have in your career?
I love fashion!! I love self expression and for me, fashion is one of the biggest ways to do that without opening my mouth and just, infodumping all over the place. I feel like what I wear needs to accurately reflect my “vibe” for the day whether that’s comfy but cute or dark academic or Nu goth. I want my outfit to suit the energy I’m exuding!
I’m inspired a lot just by energy, music, books and my imagination if I’m being honest. I like putting a story to my outfits and matching what I listen to and what I wear to that story. The same goes for my music and music videos. I draw a lot of inspiration from stories and how I can use visual and auditory tools to tell that story.
You play several instruments and you share covers as well, on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. Is there a song or an artist you would love to cover in the future? How do you approach the idea of covering a song by putting some parts of yourself in it?
I have a habit of hyperfixation and the occasional obsession. My current fascination is Billy Joel! So I’d like to get better at improving my jazz scale on piano so I can start jamming out to “New York state of mind” comfortably without sweating about how the piano will sound. Generally speaking, I always sing songs in the way that feels most comfortable to me and my voice. I wouldn’t want to copy another artist because then it wouldn’t be truthful to me or my personality. Mostly I just sing songs in a way that feels right for me.
Could you tell us about the future? Do you have any new projects coming up or are you taking a break to come back later?
I have some super fun stuff in the works but I’m honestly also really nervous about it all because it’s new. It took a while to get here but we’re just starting!!! Very soon I hope we’ll have something concrete to announce!
Leave a message to your international fans!
Thank you guys so much for being patient with me and for embarking with me on this journey!!!! I’m so grateful to every one of you and so honoured to be a part of your lives. No one has to listen to my music or engage with me on social media, it means a lot to me that you all choose to give your precious time to me. I hope I keep making you all proud!!! This is Sarina, singing out <3
