No. 64 "Julie"

Hi! How is everyone doing? I'm Keigo.

This is the 64th song. Julie. Honestly, I want to make cooler songs. I want to make stylish music that looks good, the kind that makes the masses go "Kyaa!" But whenever I actually try, I only end up making songs like this. I wonder what kind of karma this is. Since the music is banal, I think I should at least make the lyrics deep, but how much I've actually achieved that is a mystery.

"Julie" Lyrics & Music by Keigo Sakatsume

I fell in love with love, and once again, I've gained another scar
But I believe in a bright future, Julie

Look at a single flower, isn't it very beautiful?
Don't give in to the raging wind and rain, Julie

I wasn't born because I wished to be
But it's not like I don't wish to live

You are living in my place

I fell in love on purpose, hey, it's the usual thing again, isn't it?
You never learn, it's about time you woke up, Julie

Everyone struggles while reaching out for happiness
There is no perfect human, accept it, Julie

I'm not living just for play, but
It's not like I'm not living for play either

I am living one life

I fell in love with love, look, we will surely meet again
Miracles happen over and over, come on, lift your head, Julie

Ah, I was remembering the road I walked with you
I love you when you run off absorbed in your dreams, Julie

I thought the world was made of love, but
It seems the world is made of romance

You are another version of me
You are another version of me

※※※ I made a lot of mistakes in the video ※※※

I thought the world was made of love, but it seems the world is made of romance. This is something I've realized recently. Since I started making music, people in the music industry have often told me things like "Don't take music lightly" or "Don't live your life just for play," but I think this: music is something to be enjoyed in the first place, isn't it? When did it degenerate into something like a "technique competition"? I'm not going to participate in that kind of competition. I don't even want to. The biggest reason I think that is because the people doing it don't look like they're having fun.

Saying things like "I'm not living for play" might sound cool, but if you ask me, it feels like "you have no room to breathe." We are living for play. While living for play, we want to cry for real and laugh for real. I was convinced of this when I performed a live show in Chiba recently. The important thing is to show "how much you are enjoying it." No matter how skilled you are, if the people performing are stiff or give off an atmosphere of "we are fighting in a world of good and evil," you can't enjoy it together. You can't dance together. Basically, I think humans are creatures with a desire to "want to enjoy themselves." That's why I thought that being able to enjoy things together, and being able to dance together, is the most important thing. It's not about being good or bad. Even if you're clumsy, if you're having fun and have charm, it's fine.

If I'm not careful, I can get into a psychological state where I feel like I'm fighting against people in the industry. I might end up using music as a tool to compare myself with others, like trying to make music that will impress music industry professionals, or music to make that rival I hate go "darn it." But I don't want to do that anymore. The reason I make music is because the time I spend making music is irresistibly fun. I don't want to crush this pure joy with comparisons to others or my own trivial desire for approval.

I think the world of academia and the world of classical music are similar. The people you want to make happy through those things aren't the people on the same playing field, but the "ordinary people" outside the field. If something you started because you wanted everyone to feel happy ends up being used to "assert your own legitimacy" in a narrow world, that's the end of it. I don't think customers who listen to music are moved by specific things like "that chord progression is a first!" or "that guitar riff is this and that." I think they are moved abstractly, like "it's just somehow wonderful," "my heart just trembled for some reason," or "I couldn't stop crying for no reason." It's not in the head. It's moving the heart. But when it comes to comparing with others, you end up fighting with your head.

I think the emotion that is contagious depends on how much that person "loves it." I think the pure feelings that the person puts into it (in the case of music, riding on the music) are conveyed directly to the listener. It's not technique. It's the heart. Technique appeals to the head. But truly wonderful things appeal to the soul. I think this even when I look at Twitter. Many tweets that get a lot of likes are things you can nod along to on the surface, like "this is helpful!" or "this is useful!," but somehow, if you read them for a long time, you get tired. You get worn out. You get bored. I think they sound plausible, but they are missing the essential thing. For me, I think that is "joy."

Truly wonderful things definitely make the listener feel "joy." There are many songs I think are cool, but there aren't many songs that make me feel happy when I listen to them. There are many words that are helpful, but there aren't many words that make me feel happy when I hear them. That's why, if I can, I want to create words that "make you want to cry" and music that "makes you want to cry." I don't know what the people who listen will think, but at least I want to make music and words that make me think "this makes me want to cry a little bit" and that hit my own heart. Otherwise, it's exhausting.

There are moments when I feel like I'm about to steer in the direction of polishing my technique just to make people acknowledge how great I am. But, without fear of being misunderstood, I think the battle of technique is a "boring" world. And then I go, "Ah!" No. No. I was supposed to compete with my own worldview. I already stepped down from the battle of technique. I wanted to compete on purity. I regain myself like that. Because I lose sight of myself every now and then, I confirm the direction I want to go by writing like this. I have a strong tendency to do that.

Therefore, everything I write is words "I am saying to myself," and no one else. When you're living, you often have to brace yourself, but I think the most important thing is to "enjoy it." Life is suffering. Even if you're doing fun things, there are many painful things, so at least let's enjoy ourselves while we're performing. Let's play wonderful music that makes the people listening want to sing along, want to dance along, want to laugh along, or even want to cry along. That's what I think.

Well then, see you later. I love you. Bye-bye.

Keigo Sakatsume keigosakatsume@gmail.com

【Event Information】

June 4th & 5th, 19:00-21:00 at "Umi no Office," Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture

June 9th (Sun), 17:00-20:00 at "Candy," Kitashinchi, Osaka City

June 30th (Sun), 15:00-16:00 at "Gochamaze no Ie," Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture

I am very grateful to have been invited to perform at these events. The days will proceed with me talking with everyone and performing a few songs. Please come and feel the vibes of live Keigo-chan in person. A woman I've met a few times in the past told me, "Whenever I meet Mr. Sakatsume, something good always happens afterward, so in my mind, you've become 'Sakatsume Daimyojin' (Great Deity Sakatsume)!" Writing things like this makes it sound religious, which is dangerous. Well, whatever. Because it's true.

Everyone, come and play! Pyoee!