J-pop Singer-Songwriter miwa Looks Back on 15 Years of Change & Growth: Billboard Japan Women in Music Interview

Billboard Japan’s Women in Music initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work, in the same spirit as Billboard’s annual Women in Music celebration that has continued since 2007. This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project, with the first 30 sessions published as a “Billboard Japan Presents” collection by writer Rio Hirai.

J-pop singer-songwriter miwa spoke with Hirai for the latest installment of the WIM interview series. The 34-year-old musician has taken the stage at Billboard Live every November for the past few years for her “miwa CLASSIC” concert series. The singer and actress celebrating the 15th anniversary of her career this year recently moved to Canada. She shares her views on the driving force behind her 15 years of changes and challenges. 

This interview, in Japanese, is also available in podcast form on the Billboard JAPAN Spotify and YouTube channels.

You made your debut while you were a university student, and performed at the historic Nippon Budokan for the first time in March of the year you graduated. You’ve established yourself as an artist in your twenties and thirties, which is a period when the stages of women’s lives change greatly in general.

When my friends were looking for jobs (before graduating), I was thinking, “I’m going to make a career out of music,” but still felt like a student in some ways. I became more and more professional as I focused on music as my sole career. As the years went by, I felt a stronger sense of responsibility towards my fans. What hasn’t changed is my desire to keep taking on challenges. I started going to graduate school a decade after getting my undergraduate degree, and moved to Canada last fall. I also try my hand at new genres of music. I don’t want to be fixated on just one thing, and want to keep moving forward.

Why are you able to keep taking on new challenges?

It occurred to me that ramen restaurants that always have queues are constantly updating their flavor and continually improving. When you think, “This taste’s great, as always,” it actually means the flavor has improved from last time. I realized this when I was talking to a hair and makeup artist, and began to think I wanted to be an artist like that. Someone who can always improve and shine more and more. I want to be an artist who can grow little by little in that way.

I’d like to talk a little about the Billboard Japan charts. On the 2023 year-end Japan Hot 100 song chart, there were 64 entries by male artists, 19 by female artists, 16 by mixed groups, and one by an artist whose gender wasn’t disclosed. This ratio hasn’t changed significantly for many years. This Women in Music interview series was inspired by the question of why this is the case, when there are so many wonderful female artists like yourself in the Japanese music industry. Were you aware of this gender imbalance on the charts?

I’ve never been aware of it. Regarding gender inequality, I’ve felt that opportunities are limited for female artists at rock festivals. There’s a big hurdle there. I’ve used adversity as an impetus, believing that if I have the ability, I’ll be able to overcome it.

How do you think being a woman has affected your life?

I think there are so many changes. My values are so different from when I was 19 and just getting started, and the things I want to I cherish now and the way I use my time are completely different. I’ve changed so much more than I could have imagined when I was 19 — even the country I live in isn’t the same now. That’s why it’s probably important not to be stubborn or be fixated on things. There will times when things don’t go the way you want them to, but if you can accept that, I think it will give you strength.

If you were to give advice to yourself when you were first starting out, what would you say?

Well, in my first year, I was so busy with so many things that I didn’t know what to do and just threw myself into the work in front of me. There were lots of things I couldn’t do well, and there were times when I was so frustrated that I’d cry as soon as I got off the stage. I just had to gain experience. I’m the kind of person who practices a lot, so I tried to be fully prepared at all times and kept practicing hard.

So 15 years of doing that has led to who you are today. What do you think is necessary for women to thrive in this country’s music and entertainment industry?

In the course of a woman’s career, there will inevitably be periods when she has to take some time off, and I think it’s going to be very important to think about how to support them during those periods of absence. Looking at women’s careers in the long term, support from the people around them is key to ensuring they can continue to work without interruption.

You studied at the graduate level at Keio University’s Neurosciences and Music Laboratory and graduated in March 2023. How did your experience at graduate school affect your current activities?

I had the opportunity to talk with younger classmates, and it was such a good experience to relearn things. I was very happy to learn that efforts are being made to seriously consider music from various perspectives and try to prove it scientifically. It’s been scientifically proven that music can be effective in helping people lead happy lives, and I was able to feel the potential of music all over again. I chose to research live performances, and studied why people are moved by them. I was able to realize once again that the things I’m trying to convey are reaching the audience, and that their feelings of support and being moved by the performance also reach the artists onstage.

What would you like to try next?

The challenge is whether I can make going back and forth between Canada and Japan work. Living abroad has always been a dream of mine. This year is the 15th anniversary of my career, so I want to meet my fans in person and share some time with them.

Lastly, please give a message to women everywhere.

There are so many changes and choices in the way women live their lives, and I think it’s up to each individual to choose the path they want to take, but there may be times when people say things to you based on your age or what’s considered the norm. But I believe that the moment you can truly feel happy about having come into this world is when you believe in your own choices and live your life as you are. So let’s live together, confident about what we choose, not comparing ourselves to others and not bound by age or what’s considered the norm, believing in our own choices.

That was a really lovely message. Have you always had faith in your own choices in life?

Well, I think that when you’re in doubt, you have to trust yourself. Even if you make a mistake, if you can go, “This is the path I chose, so I’ll just correct my course,” then you can try again from there. There are many different paths in life, so if the door you open happens to not be the one, you can just look for a completely different door and go down that path.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

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