The “Oh well” aesthetics that saved Otake@James.

The kindness of the members and the advertising work that gave me a chance to get out of a difficult period.

-Today, you brought the notebook that you always use for music production, didn’t you?

Otake: I have a notebook on my iPhone, and I write down bits and pieces of what I might want to sing about. When I’m playing the guitar and I find a nice chord connection, I connect the lyrics together like a puzzle. Also, since the year before last, I have been taking notes on the set lists of all the live shows I’ve played. (Flipping through his notebook) I wonder if …… is OK. I hope I didn’t write anything negative (laughs).

(laughs) – Do you write diary-like things?

Otake: Yes, I do sometimes. Sometimes it’s just a little reminder that “I didn’t sound so good today,” or something like that.

-You also write notes about the arrangements of your songs.

Otake: Until “I don’t know” (November 2021), I never wanted to change my arrangements, and I clearly told the band members how I wanted them to sound. However, during “Loose” (July 2022), I couldn’t write any songs at all. I felt really bad about my inability to do anything, so I talked to the band members about it, and they said, “You were right to interject,” and started to give me ideas. That made me feel much better.

-Until then, you had been taking into account my desire to do my own arrangements, right?

Otake: I’m sure I had ideas and wanted to express my opinions before then, but everyone let me do it. But in the process of composing and arranging, I felt like I was doing the same thing every time. When I started to feel like I wasn’t getting anywhere, the members joined me. But I still don’t want to give up the songwriting (laughs).

-I read in an interview that “Loose” is a song about the attitude of a musician who works as a professional musician. Do you have a strong desire to make music your profession?

Otake: I admire you very much. In March of this year, I was asked to compose music for the first time for a project called “Ginza Poetography,” and I thought, “Here it comes! I thought, “Here it comes. I was asked to write a song to answer a poem that would be posted in the streets of Ginza.

-How did you feel about working on music for an advertisement for the first time?

Otake: It was a lot of fun. I was told, “We want a song with an open atmosphere,” and I decided to be true to that request, and the song was almost immediately accepted. The person who gave me this request said, “That’s a great song, I’ll be humming it long after I deliver it!” I think he was posing it that way (laughs). (Laughs) If the client liked it that way, I felt confident that I had written the song. After that project, I became more positive about my own music.

-Until then, did you not have confidence in your own music?

Otake: Of course, there was a minimum. For example, when I hear my own music at a moment in time, such as background music at a live concert, I think, “Oh, that’s a good song” (laughs). (Laughs.) But I also had a little bit of doubt that I was being egotistical. My experience with Ginza Poetography made me realize that I could trust what I have.

Maybe my “well-meaning” is also disliked by some people.

I would like to ask you about “Yoshi Yoshi,” which was released on July 5. In the release comment, you mentioned that you wrote this song based on an experience in which something you did for the best of your intentions went awry.

Otake: It’s always been like that. To put it well, I have a great spirit of service, but I sometimes get to the point where people think, “You don’t have to go that far. I get tired of thinking to myself, “Why am I doing this?

Otake: One time I was listening to the podcast of the Kano sisters (“The Fabulous World of the Kano Sisters”), and I heard the worries of those who have been given “well-meaning” gifts, such as “My boyfriend gave me something I didn’t really need and I had to act pleased. I thought that maybe my “well-meaning” was also disliked at times. When I wrote the lyrics while feeling bothered by this, the phrase “If you are satisfied with your good intentions, it’s okay to be vague if you forget anyway” was born.

I get the impression from your music that even when you have negative feelings, you don’t let them pull you down too much, but rather try to believe in the simple power of human nature that “it will all be okay someday.

Otake: “Loose” was originally titled “YDK,” which stands for “Yareda-dekiru-ko,” or “I can do it, I can do it,” and that’s what I keep telling myself. I can do it, I can do it. I feel that my lyrics always have a sense of telling myself something like that, or looking down on myself and making fun of myself a little.

-In your lyrics, I feel that there are often phrases that have a tugging effect that makes me feel a bit uneasy.

Otake: I want to put a punch line somewhere, and I feel like I prepare all kinds of punch lines, strong ones, weak ones, and combine them. I have a 3-year-old nephew, and I have always wanted to use lyrics that even a child around that age could hum. One day I read a collection of poems by Shuntaro Tanikawa, and I found that they were all written in simple, easy-to-understand language.

-I found the words to be simple and easy to understand.

Otake: Yes, and that made me realize that what I had done was the right thing. Then I had a little bit of faith that I wanted to refine my simplicity.

Being oneself is a little bit unreasonable.

-In the lyrics of the song “Ryoukaeru,” there is a line that says, “It’s a little bit impossible to be oneself.

Otake: I think that “being oneself” is something that one tries one’s best to express. In this song, I call it “unreasonably being oneself,” which is more like a desire than an aspiration. Rather, I think it would be less forced if you focus on what you have gained in the passage of time that you have lived. While writing the lyrics, I wondered, “Is it okay to say so much?” I was worried about that while writing the lyrics.

-Did you feel like you had to put the brakes on?

Otake: If I lose that kind of feeling, I think I will say only really terrible things. That is why I may not write lyrics with 100% purity of what I am thinking. I think I would never write lyrics that are 100% pure. You can’t take it back now, it’s going to turn into a fight! I always think something like that. But I want the song to have some kind of punch line, so I have to come to terms with that feeling.

-Do you feel bothered by “coming to terms” with your feelings?

Otake: What I don’t say is left for later as necessary stock. I feel as if I would be satisfied if I had not left anything unsaid, and I want to avoid that. I don’t want to make a break that says, “I’m done. I guess I want to be busy with something all the time.

-Do you feel anxious about putting an emotional closure on your work?

Otake: That may be so. I was once told by a member, “You think too much, so it would be better to have at least one song that you wrote while staring at a mountain or something. I listened to their comments and sang “Let’s play and live” in “May Disease,” which was released recently.

Otake: Just when I thought, “Now I won’t be told I’m thinking too much,” I was worried that I would be asked, “Do you want to quit your job? (laughs). (Laughs) This song was written for a friend who was mentally ill because he was sick of his job, and it was a little bit of hope for him, “Don’t push yourself too hard! I wrote this song for a friend who was mentally ill because she was tired of her job, and I wrote it with a little bit of hope, “Don’t push yourself!

Too hard, too difficult, clumsy struggle against “self-care

I heard that the reason why you started your music career was because of the people who were pleased by your music. It seems to me that feeling the presence of others and thinking about their feelings is a major core of your activities.

Otake: ……Yes, I definitely feel the presence of someone else. I don’t really do anything for my own satisfaction alone. It’s like I can’t enjoy something for myself unless it’s a place with as much impact as Disneyland, for example.

-I know that the songwriting process can be a solitary part, but do you feel that you are “alone” or that you don’t have much of a feeling of “for yourself”?

Otake: It’s a different feeling for me because the output is based on what people have said or done to me. I imagine the voices and reactions of various people, and I feel like I have a lot of stands behind me (laughs). I feel like I have a lot of stands behind me (laughs).

-I was wondering if it is not hard for you to be in that state.

Otake: I end up crying about once a month (laughs). I don’t even know if that is a state of being overwhelmed or not, because I work too hard. The term “self-care,” as it is often called, doesn’t really ring a bell. When I listen to people around me, I think they are taking care of themselves in various ways, but I am not very good at self-care.

I think the word and the concept are spreading because there are many people who are aware that they are not able to take care of themselves.

Otake: That’s right. But in parallel with self-care, the term “time performance” has also emerged, hasn’t it? People are trying their best to make up time and cram in all kinds of things, but they are not taking care of anything!　It’s so contradictory to save time to take care of yourself!　You mockingly say, “I’m the one who’s overworked the most,” but in fact, you are the one who is overworked the most.

-Perhaps it is because there are many people who are feeling the strain of a “typa” world that there is a need for self-care.

Otake: When I hear from people around me that they are digitally detoxing, I think that everyone is doing self-care in various ways, but as long as I am doing a lot of live shows, I will never stop calling and I will never be able to do it.

-Where does your sense of “I want to be pursued” or “I have to work hard” come from?

Otake: Hmmm……… I think it might also be for the sake of others. In a very condescending way, I think it is “for the money,” but that money is also because I am hoping that the members will take it easy on me. But now, I feel like I am enjoying myself and pushing myself.

But now, I feel like I’m forcing myself to have fun.

Otake: I don’t have to be tense anymore, which I don’t want to be. When I was doing about 25 gigs a month, I was panicking while doing them, but compared to those days, I have more leeway in my mind. Compared to those days, I feel more relaxed. I am satisfied with what I do because I hope people are happy with what I do. So I think “Well, it’s OK,” and that’s how I feel about the song “Ryo-Yaku”. I don’t know what the other person thinks, but if I think it’s okay and I’m getting a little peace of mind, then that’s all that matters. ……

I guess I’m thinking a lot more than I thought. I try to act like I’m not thinking about it, though.

-I feel that the song “Yokare” expresses this kind of conflict in an honest way.

Otake: Thank you very much. But compared to the past, I am much more cheerful and able to live without any worries (laughs).