Music

Based in Los Angeles since 2016, her0ism has carved out a career in the forefront of the global music industry. The Japanese producer and songwriter has produced numerous hit songs on an international scale, and his recent works include tracks for XG and BLACKPINK’s LISA’s “Dream” from her album Alter Ego, which topped Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart and debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. One of the producers on ever.y, his creative team, achieved a major milestone this year when Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal, which the producer contributed to, won the Grammy for best rap album.

her0ism sat down with Billboard Japan and shared his thoughts on the influence of J-pop on Western pop music and elaborated on his recent efforts to establish a new category in the Grammys called the Asian music performance award.

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How was the recent Grammy Awards ceremony?

Doechii’s album Alligator Bites Never Heal won best rap album this year, and Peyote Beats, a producer on our creative team ever.y, had worked on it. I’d been invited to the ceremony every year but this was the first time I was involved in such a close capacity. The award for best rap album was announced at the start of the evening’s proceedings. It was the first time Peyote had attended the event and to be honest, he wasn’t quite mentally prepared. So when the presenter said “Doechii!” he burst into tears. We got up and hugged each other in joy. My goal has been to win a Grammy and I’d worked towards it for a long time, but until that moment, it still felt distant, like something happening on TV.

Peyote Beats is an Armenian-American from Los Angeles. It’s interesting that a producer with such a background is interested in J-pop.

He comes from an immigrant family and I think they went through some hard times. So, yes, it is interesting that someone with that background is interested in J-pop. I’ve also wondered about that, and think he’s drawn to J-pop’s melodies.

Could you elaborate on that?

Hip-hop basically places emphasis on the track, but the songs he writes have counter melodies, with guitars and other instruments singing, and I think that’s largely influenced by the melodic elements of J-pop. I played Fujii Kaze’s music in the studio and he’s been into that recently. And it’s not just him, I’m sensing that J-pop is gradually spreading in the U.S., and that this year will be the starting line for the genre overseas.

Working in the States, I really feel the popularity of XG. They’re promoting a hybrid genre they call “X-POP” and it skillfully combines the melodic aspects of J-pop with the foundation that K-pop has built up Stateside. Their song “IN THE RAIN” that I helped produce is R&B, but the melody is emphasized and it’s recognizable as having Japanese influences. I think that kind of thing is starting to be accepted. I made this song with my partner Shintaro Yasuda, and he also makes hip-hop with a great sense of melody.

Tell us about your current efforts involving the Grammys. I hear there are some new developments.

I’m a Recording Academy voting member, and I’m also in charge of the screening process for the different genres. Recently, I was approached by the Recording Academy about the possibility of creating a new Asian category at the Grammys. When I spoke at a panel discussion at SXSW, I met a guy named Ralph from the Recording Academy at a party and he said to me, “If you’re making so many songs (for Asian acts), why don’t you create an Asian category?” and I was like, “You can make categories?” Ralph asked me to apply for it, and I had to become a voting member to apply. So last year, I applied for it with Mr. Kato from Project Asteri, but we were rejected. And I was like, “Why are we being rejected when we were asked to apply?” But apparently, Ralph needed to let people within the Recording Academy know that this kind of action was being initiated. Once a category is created, judges would be needed, but currently only about 4% of the voting members are Asian. There’s a huge lack of professionals who can make these decisions, so we need to increase the number of Japanese voting members and also need to do some promotional activities to achieve this.

If an award for Asian music performance can be established, it would bring about a huge change. In the same way that music from Central and South America is categorized under “Latin,” the music scene across Asia would become categorized under “Asian.”

Right. Coincidentally, I feel like I’ve finally moved on to the first page of my own career, having worked on a song for LISA and watching XG’s reach spread globally. My music publishing contract has also changed. I’ve signed a worldwide contract with Sony Music Publishing L.A., the American branch of Sony Music Publishing. Apparently, no Japanese person has done this before. Until now, even though we’d received offers, there were differences in the publishing rules between Japan and elsewhere, so it was difficult to make progress. But we’ve finally been able to sign a contract that forms the basis for competing on a global scale, so that also feels like the first page of a new chapter. There’s talk of J-pop spreading globally, and there’s also talk of the potential new Grammy category, so I feel like this year is truly the starting line. A new awards called Music Awards Japan will also take place in Kyoto in May to promote Japanese music globally. The timing is excellent.

What are your hopes and visions for the future?

Personally, I’m still in the middle of my challenge, and just reached the starting line. I want to produce American artists and Asian artists without any distinction. I can share things that other (Japanese) producers don’t have because I’m based in the U.S. I think there’s a kind of J-pop that can only be done because I’m not in Japan, and that there will be more things expected of me because I’m Japanese in the U.S. I want to keep moving forward and build on that over the next ten years. I also think it’s necessary to create an environment where my juniors can follow in my footsteps. I want to continue fulfilling my dreams in the future so I can show that making music is a dream-inspiring profession.

This interview by Tomonori Shiba first appeared on Billboard Japan.