Global

J-pop star Mika Nakashima sat down with Billboard Japan for its Women in Music interview series highlighting women flourishing in the Japanese music industry. The initiative launched this year in the same spirit of Billboard’s annual event celebrating women since 2007. Billboard Japan aims to elevate women who continue to break new ground in Japan’s music business through contents including interviews, live performances, and panel discussions.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

For over 20 years since her sensational debut, Nakashima has continued to take on new projects while staying true to her unique style. This year, the 39-year-old singer released a self-produced album with songs she wrote herself, aptly entitled I. “‘Mika Nakashima’ is the work of the supporters around me,” she notes, and true to her words, she established her career by maintaining the flexibility to update herself by being open to the voices of the people around her.

Were there any women you looked up to as as role models growing up?

Mika Nakashima: I suppose it’s the same for anyone when they’re little, but the cool women in my life were my mother and older sister. Still, I thought my mom was an ordinary parent until I went out into society, but as I began working part-time and the number of adults around me increased, I realized that my mom was pretty awesome and started noticing the great things about her. I still remember a lot of the things she said to me and I think I listened to her because I longed to be like her at the time.

She sounds like a lovely person. Could you share something she said that you still take to heart?

Among many things, she often used to say, “If you borrow something, return it cleaner than when you borrowed it.” I still think back to this and it’s become my foundation of sorts. I mean, literally, it’s important to treat something you’ve borrowed with care and return it in a clean state, but recently I’ve been interpreting it more like, “Even my body is something being borrowed and must be returned to the gods in a clean state.” I know this sounds kind of woo-woo [laughs] but because of my mom’s words, I’ve come to think that I need to be prepared to return everything in a beautiful way. I’m grateful to my mom for giving me words during my childhood that are like hints still relevant today as an adult.

Has your image of an ideal woman changed with age and experience?

It hasn’t changed much. I admire cool women and have always wanted to be one. When I was younger, I think I was aiming for a more superficial, visual coolness, but now I know that the quality has to come from within and adjusting the surface isn’t enough. “Being cool” is about how you live your life, and age and experience helped me realize that.

What’s your definition of a cool woman?

Someone who has the ability to be open to the ideas of those around her and to organize them. Maybe it’s because I work in the music industry, but I feel that it’s easier to stick to your own opinion and that it’s more difficult but important to take in the ideas of the people around you. Thankfully, I’m surrounded by talented people and consider it my role to do what I can to let them show their strengths and enjoy themselves.

That’s a great way of thinking. When did you start thinking this way?

Since my debut, and this idea hasn’t changed for a long time. I started working in the industry when I was 18 years old, completely clueless, and wouldn’t have been able to do anything without the help of the people around me. They took me by the hand and taught me every step of the way each day, and I’ve always thought that I just happened to be the one with the role of singing in front of the audience.

Are there any parts that have changed?

In terms of lyrics, there are some aspects that I interpret differently now than in the past, when I had less experience. When asked to sing songs from the past, some artists seem to feel, “But my current ones are good, too,” but I consider it a valuable opportunity to express a new aspect of those songs that can be performed because I’m the person I am today. In the past, I think that by singing those songs, I was trying to bring myself closer to the image of the strong woman being depicted in them.

As you said, many fans must consider you as being strong and cool, but is there a gap between who you really are and your public image?

I’m glad if people consider me that way, but that image and the actual me are probably completely different. But that doesn’t mean the image of “Mika Nakashima” is something we intentionally created. It’s just that I was too nervous and shy to speak well when I appeared on music programs on TV, or that my facial features look cold. All of those things added up to create the image. I’m actually a lively person that gets everyone involved, and am loud in my dressing room. Meeting people and chatting with them helps me relieve stress.

Did you find it stressful to have that gap between your public image and real self?

It was actually nice for me that people thought of me differently. I must have been intimidating or something but not too many people came up to me, so that worked out well because I’m pretty shy. I don’t really mind if people come up and talk to me, though.

You wrote all the lyrics and music for your self-produced album released in May. How does the songwriting process affect you?

When I write lyrics, I feel kind of glad that I have my emotional ups and downs. There were times when I felt bad about myself for being that way, but I’m able to write songs because I feel all kinds of emotions. I have to face myself when I’m writing lyrics so it releases stress and I find words I want to say to myself. I also sometimes hold up an ideal, thinking, “I want to be the kind of person who would say such things.”

Does being a woman influence your musical activities, including songwriting?

I thought about this again for this interview, but I personally don’t think it’s influenced me too much. It doesn’t matter if I wear a skirt or pants onstage, or use “boku” as the first person (generally used by men) in my lyrics. One thing I did think of, though, is that women (in Japan) are more likely to be accepted if they’re “innocuous.” For example, I have tattoos. Sometimes when I upload a photo of myself wearing something that shows a tattoo, some online media writes an article on it. I’ve been fortunate enough not to bear the brunt of this general tendency to put people down for standing out, but it’d be sad if there are artists who hold back from expressing something because of it.

Are there any female artists or songs that empower you?

To be honest without being shy, the artist I like the best right now is me. My songs are the ones I want to listen to. I probably feel this way because of the things I’ve accumulated over the past 20 years. I had no confidence at all in the past and used to stand on stage feeling apologetic. I made countless mistakes, and there were times when I was depressed because of my hearing problems. But now I’m able to create works that I think are fabulous. I can’t quit this job until I give back to the people who’ve supported me.

Listen to an exclusive playlist curated by Mika Nakashima below or here.

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

J-pop band back number continue to enjoy lasting hits, with their 2016 album Encore still charting in the top 100 of Billboard Japan’s Hot Albums tally. The group’s recent hit song “Suiheisen” (“Horizon”) — created in the wake of the cancellation of the 2020 All Japan High School Sports Championships due to the pandemic — was released in August 2021 and finished at No. 9 on the 2022 year-end Billboard Japan Hot 100, becoming another signature song for the band that already has a long list of familiar hits under its belt.

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

The trio’s latest studio album, Humor, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart dated Jan, 25. The set contains a total of 12 tracks including “Suiheisen,” songs featured as themes for TV drama series, plus brand-new numbers. In this latest interview, Shimizu shares the creative process that went into the production of this album that reflects the band’s current state, written and recorded alongside the band’s domestic tour last year.

What was 2022 like for you? You caught COVID during the band’s tour last year and some shows had to be postponed, but you all managed to successfully wrap of the trek in September.

Iyori Shimizu: I wanted to have fun during that tour instead of putting too much pressure on myself. Until recently, I used to put pressure on myself by setting up goals, like, “I want to be a certain way when the tour is over, so I have to make this kind of effort and…” But after coming down with COVID, it really hit home how important it is to pamper myself and make time for fun.

Then on the final day of the tour, it was like seeing a completely different view from before. We’d intended to enjoy ourselves and be satisfied with the tour, but in the end it was like we became aware of a kind of thirst. It was a strange feeling, that we could do more. I contemplated what that feeling was as we were putting the finishing touches on the album, and worked through the meaning of “humor” all over again.

What do you think was the nature of that “thirst”?

It was like a kind of earnestness that encompasses both fun and stoicism. Being really ambitious while also being really natural, the sense that the things that I thought could never be placed side by side are being mixed together. The three of us went into the studio and experimented in a lot of ways.

How do you think those things influenced your new album?

I realized that somewhere along the way, I’d lost the ability to “think normally.” I’d forgotten what I’d felt like when I first got started. But around the time I wrote “Velvet no Uta” during the tour, I began to feel the power of just being able to straightforwardly do what’s “good enough, normally speaking.” It felt like I’d returned to my very natural state, singing what I think the way I think it. If I hadn’t gotten COVID and finished the tour without any incident, it probably would have been a completely different album.

You shared “Suiheisen” on YouTube in August 2020, then released it on streaming platforms a year later. It started going viral on TikTok and other social networking sites around this time. Did that lead to any new discoveries about how to deliver your music?

I thought, “People sure do listen to a lot of music.” TikTok is a great playground. I’m pretty sure artists are all trying to figure out how to provide a plaything for it.

Also, I really appreciate the fact that the concept of B-sides has all but disappeared. I’ve never wanted to make a song that’s considered second best.

Streaming has made it much easier to access music on a song-by-song basis.

I think there was a bit more of a “this is popular, so let’s listen to it” vibe until fairly recently. Of course, that way of listening to music isn’t bad at all, and I’m sure we’ve benefited from it. But the joy is great when people choose to listen to our music. We’d like to keep on embodying our style of valuing each and every song, and we’re thinking of doing something new in our next phase. 

How do you feel about the way your new album Humor turned out?

I already have an idea of what I want to do after this, so I think we managed to do what we can with this one. I can’t say for sure if it’s a good album until people hear it and we tour with it, but I’m confident enough to at least look forward to those things.

When we started making this album, I was thinking how I wanted to see “back number Level 99.” That we had to make an album that we could call our very best. But while we were making it, I realized that that way of thinking was really egotistical and that I was just being conceited. Like, if you keep working out all the time, your basic physical fitness will improve, but the environment around you is constantly changing. There’s no point in becoming a band that only pleases your core fans by being stubborn about how you think you should be and falling into complacency. That would just halt our growth and it would also mean turning our backs on our fans who love and support us. There is no upper limit.

Your journey continues even after Level 99, you mean.

It’s just a new beginning. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t listen to back number, so I want to hang on to that desire to turn those people around. The people who listen to us now and “One Room” (back number’s fan club) are really important to me, but I also don’t think it’s right to only care about them. I want us to be a band that those people can be proud of and say, “Isn’t our captain pretty amazing?”

—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan