NISHIOKA was recently interviewed by a Music Critic and it was very insightful into his background and thoughts on many subjects. His fanbase is gradually growing due to the high quality of his music and his Japanese-style melody lines.
Japan, November 5, 2023, Nishioka, the singer/songwriter from Japan is enjoying his upward spiral. Today, he sat down with a celebrity music critic and they took a deep dive into what makes Nishioka.
The following is in the Critic’s and Nishioka’s words:
- “I found out about your background and music through your article the other day.
*Thank you. Maybe it wasn’t a very positive article, lol. - No, it wasn’t. But I think it’s a very hopeful story for boys and girls with toxic parents.
*I hope so. - About your new album, give us some thoughts.
*The first song is called ‘Restart’. It literally means a fresh start in life. Starting life over means starting everything from scratch. If you compare it to Dragon Quest (RPG game), you have grown up to level 50, but there are reasons why you can’t overcome various difficulties and you have unfinished business, but you can’t go back anymore, so you have to delete your data and start over from the initial data again. It would be strange if the protagonist was suddenly strong or cool despite being initial data. I am someone who went back to the initial data, so the cover art of ISHIKORO is meant to represent myself with only the initial equipment. - I saw your YouTube channel. You have a lot of high-end guitars and bass guitars – do you use all of them?
*I’m glad you’re interested in my instruments.
Of course, I use all of them. All the instruments have different tones. I use different manufacturers depending on the genre of the song or the direction of the piece.
- Who is your favorite maker?
*For acoustic guitars, Martin, Taylor, Santa Cruz, Lowden, Breedlove, ASTURIAS for Japanese makers.
*For electric guitars, Fender, Gibson and CP Thornton.*For electric bass, Fender.
*For classical guitars, turkowiak and ASTURIAS.
*There are many others. They are like cute little children who all have their own part to play depending on the work.
- The song TORIKAGO is included in the album, and the lyrics sound like a message to people who are dominated by society. At the end of the song, the lyrics shout “Get out!” and that phrase really touched my heart.
*I didn’t mean to, but as I was writing it, I realized it was a bit of a preachy poem… lol. - What is the thought behind the word ‘Getout’?
*Many people are physically free, but their minds are controlled by something else. I was in a position where my mind was also controlled. However, people are creatures who don’t realize whether they are being controlled or not unless there is a trigger. You know, there are a lot of people who say they don’t know what’s going on, but somehow, they’re under unspoken stress all the time. That could be because something is controlling them. - I think there are a lot of people who seem happy but have unspoken stress.
*I think the source of the stress is definitely because they are ‘controlling’. By knowing the source of that stress, you will first realize what was controlling you. Then they will face their true feelings. Painful memories and traumas sealed away in the distant past will also come back. But remembering so many things may break your heart. - That’s how scary it can be to know the truth about yourself. The human mind is complex and fragile. In a way, it can be more difficult than ever before. But the mind with its difficulties can reveal many things, such as how you originally wanted to live, what you have been living for, and what you will be happiest living for in the future. But I think it is happier to live without knowing who you really are. Because no one wants to remember bad or painful things, right?
- So, TORIKAGO may be heartbreaking for people who have some kind of stress (domination) in their hearts, but for people who have never had any stress since birth and have lived happily ever after without worrying about anything, this song will sound like a tiresome sermon, lol.
What is the difference between people who are stressed and people who are not stressed?
*People with low self-esteem are more likely to be stressed. Incidentally, I was also a person with low self-esteem. - What causes low self-esteem?
*I think people who were not loved by their parents generally have low self-esteem. People who were denied their birth, neglected, abused, etc. by the supposedly most respected parents in the world. This is just a guess based on my experience, but I believe it is correct. - The invisible stress factor is often the toxic parenting you mentioned in your previous article?
*I think a lot. In most places where the family environment is bad, the parents create a situation where they have unilateral control over the child and treat the child like an object, instead of treating him or her as a person. What the parents say is absolute! Like that. - Such parents don’t treat their children as people, they treat them like objects all the time and try to prevent them from becoming independent. Even in the world, when you go out into the world, you have to deal with the stress of relationships, but if you have toxic parents in your family, it’s a complete disaster.
- How do you raise self-esteem?
*You have to take care of yourself. - How?
*First, you have to turn down the small sources of stress around you. If your room is a mess, clean it. And clean it every day so it doesn’t get messy again. For example, if you have a clean and tidy room, you feel confident enough to invite your friends over anytime, don’t you? It’s all about building up your confidence in small ways like this. You can look back at your bad habits and try to find the cause of all the things that stress you out and change them. - In other words, do whatever it is that you’ve been neglecting.
*Yes, that’s right. But to be clear, no matter how much effort you make in the future, if you have low self-esteem, you will never be cured of the symptoms until you die. Because this is a mental illness and I myself am convinced that it will never be cured. I’ve decided to live with this symptom until I die and live in the present. - Psychic wounds cannot be healed, but they can be alleviated?
*Yes, the wounds in the mind can never be closed, but they can be alleviated by removing the pus that has settled in. - How to alleviate it?
*The first step is to stop expecting things from those around you. Whether it’s your parents, your siblings or your best friends, don’t expect it. The only person you can expect from yourself is yourself. You have to think and act on how you can change yourself to become someone you can like, you can’t change other people, but you can change yourself. - What changes when you change yourself?
*When you change yourself, the reactions of those around you will also change. The most obvious is the reaction of my family. For example, after I lost 10 kg, my children started saying, “Your father is cool. If I had been drinking every night, lying on the floor drunk and disheveled, and getting fatter and fatter, I would have been a bad father to my children. - The future as a singer-songwriter.
*As I said in a previous interview, my future life is for my wife and children. In order to live as a cool singer-songwriter and musician, I have to continue being a cool father to my wife and children. If I don’t look cool to my kids, then I don’t look cool to my fans. I will continue to manage myself and make music with the utmost care so that this does not happen. - Charting on the Billboard is not a dream?
*Ha Ha. I hope that one day it will be like a dream to be able to chart. But charting music is not always the only good work. This ISHIKORO album is also 10 songs out of the thousands I have written so far. - I am not conscious of the charts at the moment, I just concentrate on making music that people will want to keep listening to for a long time to come.”
Artist NISHIOKA:
For more information, visit: https://Nishioka.news/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYTQ0iU0fcE
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/intl-ja/track/4LMHg5C7a89BdmK6wh12Sv
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/ishikoro/1669153326
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nishiokaofficial/
Media Contact:
Tune Factory Maeda
Osaka, Japan
＋816-7710-0308
info@Nishioka.news
