Rising singer/songwriter TOMOO spoke with Billboard Japan for its Ladies in Music interview collection that includes feminine gamers within the Japanese leisure trade. The WIM initiative in Japan started in 2022 in the identical spirit as Billboard’s Ladies in Music that launched in 2007, honoring artists, producers and executives who’ve made vital contributions to the music trade and empowered girls by their work.
The 28-year-old artist started enjoying piano from a younger age and ultimately discovered pleasure in writing her personal lyrics and singing throughout junior excessive. After launching her music profession as an impartial artist, she signed to a serious label in 2022. On this collection inviting artists to share their views on the trade’s present panorama, TOMOO fastidiously articulated her ideas on her expertise throughout her teenage years that formed her present view in direction of gender, her songwriting course of and extra.
I heard you used to play male roles at school theater earlier than you started specializing in writing songs and singing.
TOMOO: Sure. I went to an all-girls’ faculty in junior excessive and highschool, and performed male roles within the theater membership. Since there have been solely women round, it was the norm for these with low voices to play the male roles. Again in elementary faculty, although, the ratio was three boys to at least one woman, so I needed to be aggressive to win and used to want I had been a boy. So I willingly performed male components in theater in a while. I’d play totally different characters every time so I studied the “masculinity” of these character by extracting components from what I’d seen earlier than in different works and by watching a whole lot of anime. Other than acting on stage, there weren’t too many alternatives to pay attention to gender variations in each day life due to the all-girl atmosphere, so it was onerous for me to be a “girly” woman.
That’s fascinating how enjoying male components in performs helped you grow to be conscious of gender variations. Had been there any girls you admired as a baby earlier than coming into an all-girls’ faculty?
I grew up watching Studio Ghibli motion pictures and particularly cherished San from Princess Mononoke. I believed San was cool as a result of she was like a pointy blade, capable of maintain Ashitaka in verify along with her harsh tone like her wolf mom, working round within the mountains and good with a knife. I additionally admired her emotional depth. After I was a child, I used to be taught to face as much as bullies who tried to select on me. Possibly the explanation I wasn’t the modest sort was due to my admiration for San. I suppose it’s like that “which comes first, the hen or the egg” type of factor.
I can see how that may hyperlink to your ultimately selecting to play males in performs. Has that best modified as you’ve grown older? Do you’ve got any photographs of girls you admire now?
I don’t have any clear imaginative and prescient of the type of individual I need to be gender-wise. I do vaguely need to be somebody who is aware of tips on how to be themselves, who can’t simply be categorized as a lady or a person.
I heard that you just determined to get into music after you got here up with a tune whenever you had been attempting to jot down a letter to a pal and considering of what to jot down. It’s a very nice anecdote. Did your ideas naturally evolve into that tune?
I cherished enjoying the piano since I used to be little, so I used to give you single phrases of a tune whereas enjoying melodies only for enjoyable. However that was the primary time I wrote a tune for somebody to listen to. It additionally had so much to do with the truth that it occurred across the time I first got here throughout the music of singer-songwriter Shigi. Her songs had been totally different from the acquainted J-pop music I’d heard as much as that time in that she expressed her uncooked feelings in her songs. I used to be surprised to listen to such a manner of releasing one’s feelings. That feeling of shock inspired me to jot down that letter, and the emotions I needed to specific turned a tune.
So that you carried out that tune in entrance of somebody for the primary time, and that pal inspired you to pursue a profession in music. For those who write songs as an outlet to your feelings such as you say, how do you reconcile that with the need to give you new materials for work?
That occurs so much, really. The way in which I do it’s, after that key emotional second, imprecise emotions progressively construct up like drops of maple syrup being collected from a tree to grow to be a tune when it’s full. That’s a method I write songs now, and one other is working off of seeds of concepts that I’ve saved up however not but made right into a tune. I majored in psychology in college and assume I’m extra capable of objectively analyze the subtleties of the human thoughts now. For instance, when there’s friction in a relationship, I now have the attitude to calmly and deeply learn the state of affairs and assume, “There have to be a purpose for this response,” and this additionally helps my songwriting.
You gained the means to specific your feelings by music, and in addition gained the power to look at the human thoughts from a psychological perspective. Do you assume being a lady has any affect in your songwriting and music profession?
I can’t consider any ongoing influences, however once I was simply beginning out, I used to be informed that my voice was too low though I wrote good songs. They mentioned it was onerous to reach the J-pop mainstream with my voice, so I ought to attempt singing in the next key. This was greater than a decade in the past, however I keep in mind considering on the time that they wouldn’t have mentioned it to a man and that perhaps they positioned significance on being cute as a result of I’m a feminine singer-songwriter.
Your resonant alto voice is what units you aside, so it’s stunning to listen to you had been informed to vary that particular function. How did you react to that?
Truly, by vocal coaching and years of expertise, my key’s increased now. However on the time, I gave up attempting to vary issues just like the energy of my voice and character as a result of I figured, ”I can’t do what I can’t do.” [Laughs] I needed to spend extra time on what I used to be feeling on the time quite than waste it attempting to vary path like I used to be informed. My fingers had been full with what I needed to do and I couldn’t be bothered with that. I’ve continued to specific myself in my very own manner, and it’s a lot simpler now that I’ve followers who’re glad to simply accept who I’m. And now there’s an entire new vary of feminine vocalists within the J-pop music scene, so I’ve realized that tendencies change with the instances.
You’re proper, a whole lot of J-pop artists lately don’t reveal their faces or gender. It seems like issues have modified a lot within the final decade.
I do know, proper? Again then, I wasn’t positive the place to categorize myself, and I feel that individual’s remark was meant as recommendation to assist make clear the place I could possibly be filed underneath. The identify TOMOO is gender impartial and I nonetheless get a whole lot of feedback from individuals who hear my voice and assume I’m a man. However I’m glad about that. Within the music video for my tune “Yoake no kimi e,” I sing carrying a jacket and pants. The director noticed some movies of my reside performances and took be aware of my manly… Effectively, “manly” isn’t the proper phrase… gender-neutral manner of expressing myself, and I feel the music video captures what I’ve at all times needed to do.
Your viewers has most likely modified dramatically because you made your main label debut. For those who had been to offer recommendation to your self earlier than you had been signed to a serious label, what would you say?
When you haven’t any thought what you’re doing, chances are you’ll assume that the phrases and evaluations of those that let you know to do issues a sure manner can have lasting results. Nevertheless it goes with out saying that tendencies change with the instances. So as a substitute of worrying about how different folks need to categorize you, it is best to care extra about what you want and what you see. You don’t must purpose for perfection, simply don’t let your eyes get clouded.
–This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
