A circle of friends connected by goo touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On January 24, artist Aisho Nakajima was introduced by Ryoko Kuwahara, editor-in-chief of the culture web magazine “NeoL”. We asked him about how he started his music career, the source of his inspiration, and his reasons for expressing himself and communicating as a queer artist.
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The path to becoming an artist opened up through speaking out
Takano (MC): You two are friends, right?
Celeina (MC): The last time we met was about 4 or 5 years ago, right?
Aisho: Yes! But you haven’t changed a bit. You are still beautiful!
Celeina: Not at all! Let me introduce to your profile: You moved to Australia at the age of 19, nurtured your sensibility in an open and diverse culture, and started your music career in Tokyo in 2020 after returning to Japan. In addition to your overwhelming singing ability, you have exceptional talent in makeup and fashion, and have been featured in “Vogue Japan,” “NYLON JAPAN,” and various other media, and have released a song in collaboration with Thelma Aoyama. As a singer, songwriter, performer, and model, you are a queer icon who expresses your worldview.
Takano: You are very active.
Aisho: Not at all, I am just getting started.
Celeina: Now I would like to ask you about Aisho’s activities. You started your music career in 2020, right?
Aisho: I think it was right around the time I met Celeina.
Celeina: When did you realize you wanted to do music?
Aisho: Honestly, since I was little, but I couldn’t say. I didn’t have confidence, and I really didn’t want to say it out loud, but I sang at home, and I’ve always loved music for a long, long time.
Takano: What triggered you to step out?
Aisho: The trigger was around the summer of 2019, when a friend saw me posting song covers on social media. That friend was an event organizer and asked me, “Would you like to perform at an event?” I hadn’t released any original songs yet, but I said, “If song covers are okay, I’d love to.” So, I got the chance to perform. It was the first time I sang properly in front of an audience, and it was such a new experience. That’s when I thought, ‘I want to make my own songs too”.
From there, I kept telling everyone that I was looking for a producer. A few months later, I got a message saying, “I have someone I’d like to introduce to you.” and from there we decided to “write songs together!”.
Celeina: It’s important to say it out loud.
Takano: It’s been just in the last 3 or 4 years, right? That’s amazing. The music videos are really cool, and you produce everything, including the visuals, right, Aisho?
Aisho: Yes, that’s right.
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Music, fashion, and mindset are all influenced by gal culture.
Celeina: Where do you take your inspiration from?
Aisho: I realized the other day that it comes from the gal culture of the Heisei era. I have been a yamamba (gal) since junior high school and was in a gyaru-sa, and that is where I got a lot of my inspiration. I was very much influenced by the music, fashion, and mindset.
Celeina：The music and worldview that Aisho creates is a mix of Japanese gal culture of the Heisei era and what he gained when he moved to Australia, and the Aisho world is expanding. At this point, don’t you want to hear Aisho’s music?
Takano: I want to listen to it!
Celeina: Please start by introducing your song.
Aisho: I collaborated with a beat maker named Yohji Igarashi on a song called “LUNA,” which comes from my alternate ego “Lunatic,” which was released in 2022. Please listen to it.
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I want to be what I needed when I was a child
Takano: What is it that you want to express through music and fashion, Aisho?
Aisho: There are many things I want to convey through music, but first of all, I want to tell people that everything is okay. In Japan, the LGBT community is still very small, and it is a fact that there are still many people who cannot come out, so I want those people to hear my music and feel that it is okay. I also want to be the person I needed to be when I was little. I didn’t have a queer role model when I was little, so there was a lot of hoarding and worrying.
Celeina：Sending the current you to your younger self, isn’t it?
Aisho: Yes! I want to express visually what I can’t express in words, like fashion and makeup.
Celeina: In addition to the sound and the words of the lyrics, you want to communicate through visuals.
Aisho: And with that, please interpret it in your own way, as each person perceives it.
Takano: I would love for people to see the visuals in the music video.
Celeina: I hope you will experience Aisho’s worldview with all your senses. Now, “FIST BUMP” is about a circle of friends connected by goo touch. What kind of person would you like to introduce to us from Aisho?
Aisho: This is my best friend, a designer named Ulala.
Celeina: I wish I could have met her!
Aisho: She has a brand called “SEE YOU YESTERDAY” and she do clothes and bags. She also does a jewelry brand called “Mr. Saturday”. Truly best friends. We meet again today!
Takano: How would you describe Ulala in one word?
Aisho: Strongest.
Celeina: I feel like a gal.
Takano: Tomorrow, we’ll be connecting with the designer, Ulala, who is the “Strongest”. Today we welcome Aisho Nakajima. Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
