On his new album “Lost in Love, Found in Pain,” Japanese musician, actor and humanitarian Miyavi does one thing he’s by no means performed earlier than: he shifts his focus away from the guitar, the instrument that has lengthy been his armor. In doing so, he exhibits a aspect extra weak and uncovered.
In Japan, the Osaka-born artist first made his identify within the visible kei motion — a Nineteen Nineties rock scene outlined by its goth-glam aesthetic and rock n roll theatrics — enjoying guitar for the band Dué le Quartz. Today, he’s simply as well-known for his percussive “slap” method, a hand-driven fashion that makes his songs punchy and explosive.
When I met with Miyavi over Zoom to speak about his new album, I knew him from his appearing debut because the Imperial Japanese military sergeant in Angelina Jolie’s Academy Award–nominated movie “Unbroken” (2014), a task that launched him to the worldwide stage.
In dialog, he proved to be something however the antagonist he as soon as portrayed.
Thoughtful and self-aware, Miyavi carried himself as a musician trying to find honesty. In the interview, he had simply 40 minutes to spare. Dressed in a black muscle T-shirt, with a boxing fitness center heavy bag hanging behind him, he opened with a dry joke earlier than settling into a peaceful, deliberate focus.
When I requested about his iconic guitar expertise, he humbly rejected it saying it’s “not really iconic.”
“The theme is duality —the bright and the dark,” he mentioned, describing the strain between carrying the heaviness of trauma on stage but wanting to go away his followers with one thing hopeful and uplifting. “Art should give people energy, but it also has to face the shadows.”
While Miyavi’s previous albums have featured upbeat rock and digital sounds, “Lost in Love, Found in Pain” takes a extra introspective route, with lyrics exploring ache and self-doubt. The manufacturing emphasizes intimacy over quantity.
“I wanted to be able to write about the negative and dark things and the pop, light, happy songs, as well,” he mentioned.
In “Mirror Mirror,” he sings in English: “Stupid, selfish, I’m frozen, no emotion.” He mentioned the tune displays his self-disappointment and the wrestle to maneuver past it.
Miyavi mentioned his Buddhist observe impressed the album title. When not touring, the 44-year-old visits temples, resonating with the monks’ observe of letting go.
“When you lose or let go of things, that’s when you find what’s most important, that’s when you find yourself back,” he mentioned.
With China in his sights, he’s learning Chinese characters, refining his vocals and exploring new artistic floor. “Lost in Love,” he mentioned, “is being consumed by what you love — people, a city, a dream, even physical love. “Found in Pain” is letting go and discovering your core once more.”
Part of this letting go was parting methods with The Last Rockstars, a supergroup uniting members of Japan’s most iconic rock bands: Yoshiki (X Japan), Hyde (L’Arc-en-Ciel) and Sugizo (Luna Sea). He mentioned their visions synced, however their paths merely now not aligned. Balancing household life and a profession throughout Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul and Beijing, he stepped again to create a extra private album.
Miyavi took one other threat in studying to let go. Known for his signature slap enjoying fashion, the best way he performs the instrument has lengthy outlined his sound. Because of his involvement in “Call Me by Fire,” a actuality music present, he mentioned he has shifted to work on his voice as a result of within the present, he has to sing in Chinese.
“Before the show, they told me I could just play the guitar and that I didn’t have to learn Chinese, but that was not the case,” he laughed.
So he took that further vocal observe on stage and mentioned he needed to attach deeper along with his listeners by focusing extra on his vocals as an alternative of guitar method.
Still, his most intimate moments occur off the world stage. Each yr, he hosts a non-public fan membership celebration in Tokyo, this time drawing about 200 loyal followers to the Garden Shinkiba Factory. The crowd, packed tightly into the small venue, watched him with quiet awe, fingers within the air, earlier than taking images collectively backstage.
“Venue size doesn’t matter,” he mentioned. “It’s intimate. I relearn the songs they want to hear and play them for them, that’s the day I work the hardest all year.” He laughed, insisting he didn’t wish to rejoice “another birthday.” The evening, he mentioned, was about reflection and gratitude.
But for all his international attain and stressed power, Miyavi’s newest chapter feels deeply private. “Lost in Love, Found in Pain” displays not simply gentle and shadow, however the pressure between who he’s been and who he’s turning into.
In setting down his armor, he invitations his listeners to do the identical—to look inward, to carry the ache and to seek out themselves once more.
© Japan Today