Today I’m so excited to bring everyone the new single and music video from art-pop artist, Mixol, called “we jump, our carnival.” On this vibrant track, Mixol tackles an intense and passionate anthem on women empowerment. The song comes from Mixol’s forthcoming LP, The Fool, that will be out everywhere you stream your music on June 15th. I was also able to catch up with Mixol for a brief interview below.
”We jump, our carnival” is described as an intense anthem for women’s empowerment. Given your fascination with the “kawaii-creepy” aesthetic and the concept of The Fool stepping into the unknown, how does this song specifically redefine what ‘strength’ feels like for women in your world?
I think it’s a song that’s pretty straightforward and bold, probably a bit “silly”, without beautify things or letting myself feel “oh I’m so cool just because I wrote the song and I’m a queen of feminism”. It’s just what I want to say, also the Japanese background vocals means “give back their lives one more time”, which I nearly cried when I was singing these lines in the recording booth. I think it’s just my very true feeling and emotion when I was writing and recording the song, or purely as a woman. I probably think it’s not “redefining strength” in my music world…? Haha. Since I’m still learning to write better English lyrics, it might sounds a bit clumsy or silly, and the background story is just a “Evil Dragon Quest” sort of thing, but it’s a metaphor for the situation that women are facing, so I think it’s just a song that conveys my personal perspective, as well as other women’s who feel connected to the song, and strength is still strength…, for instance for me I’m still learning to be a more powerful woman with inner strength. And strength is different on every woman, so it’s not me redefining it…? Everyone’s definition is different and I think it would be too much if I’m redefining it with my songs. Or for me, it’s a song that’s bold / fearless even I don’t know what’s in front of me, and it’s probably a proper definition for the word “strength” in my music vocabulary…? Songwriting-wise, I just pivot the story into a bit more “medieval” story-telling structure, so the song just got more fits in the vibe of my music world.
You’ve cited Björk, Kate Bush, Fiona Apple, and Sheena Ringo as your “four mothers of creation.” Having studied at both Berklee in Boston and Tokyo College of Music, how do these Western and J-Pop influences collide when you are “channeling” the orchestral soundscapes of your debut EP?
OMG, it’s so hard to answer!! I think music wise I didn’t divide them that clear like into “western” or “Japanese” influences, but just “music influences”. Due to their influences I’m a definitely huge fan of orchestral arrangements, urge to make music that could move people so deeply even “causing an earthquake in their hearts”, or grab some very detailed emotional moments into my songs. I think these artists have the ability to do all above which is at the level that I really want to reach. Also probably just because I‘ve been listening to them for so long that their characteristics just left some tiny fragments in me. (It’s kind of cute haha). But lyric-wise, I’m learning to write better English lyrics as well as tend to blend in my mother tongue – Chinese, and Japanese (under the J-Pop influences) here and there when I feel needed or when I want to add a bit extra flavors.
Your name comes from the Mixolydian scale rather than mixology, and you view yourself more as a “vessel” or “witch” than a traditional songwriter. When you’re creating these immersive 8-bit games and cinematic visuals, are you trying to solve the mystery of your own identity, or are you more interested in staying “fluid and unresolved”?
OMG, really good/hard question again haha! I don’t know myself that much to be honest, so I probably just stayed “unresolved” even when I was doing the creative works. I feel myself as a clumsy / messy person, or witch, I’m definitely not a real witch but I do want to be one… Since I was very young I just feel I always have some weird feelings or feel myself a bit “awkward” when I’m doing things, even I’m 24 right now, I still don’t feel like a “proper adult”. Blindly optimistic, toxic-level ambitious… even I’m very productive at work or have a very rational side of me that could give my friends great (probably?) advices when they’re having problems, or under the creative processes I sometimes feel “oh this is me I like this”, which did let me understand myself more, or at least get a bit closer to my true “self” and my true emotions, or the ways that I view things, I still feel there’s something missing, something that I should learn, or to behave, I still don’t have it figured out yet. But it’s kind of interesting I think!
You mentioned that your time in Tokyo was formative but difficult, nearly leading you to quit songwriting for film scoring. What was the specific “spark” or message from your friends there that convinced you that your “too unique” sound was exactly what the world needed to hear?
I don’t know to be honest. At first my friend introduced me to a group of his friends, soon we became friends, and one day after I played my orchestral piece to them they just somehow asked, “do you write songs? Do you sing?” I literally freeze at that moment, because at that time I’ve already gave up to be a singer songwriter and tried to become a film composer. Then I was like, “yeah of course!”, and then played them my old songs that I wrote when I was 16-18. After listening they were all like, “why don’t you release your songs? Why don’t you keep writing?” And all the other people that I met during that time just mysteriously reacted the same way. I played them my orchestral music, they asked me if I write songs for myself. I’m a pretty spiritual person even I don’t follow any religion, but I think it was me, a “me” inside of me being triggered by their words, she still wanted to do it, having songs released, being listened by thousands of people, everyone’s singing along… that sort of stuff. I took my friends’ words as a “universal sign”, but maybe I just followed “my” voice, I still want to do it. This is the thing that I still want to try even I have failed so many times, being said “too unique to become a hit”, “not pretty enough”, “not slim enough”…etc. But I still followed the voice in my heart. So I think the spark definitely came from the outside, and the inside. From both. Their words were like a lit fire, then synchronized, exploded inside of me.