Golden email #6: How Jun Togawa changed me

(I was going to write a long text about Jun Togawa covering everything and all, based on me translating her Japanese lyric explanation / autobiography book, but I didn't do that so here's a short thing instead)

January 2019, scrolling Youtube, seeing something Japanese and clicking on it, it was the music video for "Suki Suki Daisuki" by Jun Togawa uploaded in low resolution by a random user. I liked it a bit but not way too much, but for some reason I watched a few more songs by her. That was when I realized: This is my new favorite artist. Or, it isn't yet but it will be. Sometimes you can just feel that. I don't know what's her thing but this is something for me, and now I'll check out the rest of the 100 songs she's made. Like Punk Mushi No Onna, which is insane. It's peak insanity on the pretty insane 1986 live show that is peak Jun Togawa, and peak how I like things to sound and be. Watching her be insane and stand for it made me believe that if you're insane, you can just be it with confidence and people think you're sane. If you don't doubt your vibe you can do anything. I tried that in my own live shows I did at the time, and it didn't always work, maybe because I'm not Jun Togawa, but it still changed my way of thinking. The parts of you that you think "this is way too weird to show" about are your most interesting parts, if you just show them. The "operatic" parts in the same live show's performance of Suki Suki Daisuki is among the most beautiful things I know. The kind of thing that seems to come from nowhere, that you can't explain logically or analytically because it's too real for that. Suki Suki Daisuki gets Tiktok hype now and then because of some kind of meme quality, and in 2021 (I think) it was enough to make some record company upload a HD music video for the song! Part of me thought "wow, Jun Togawa in HD!" and another part thought "okay, you please the fans if they're from tiktok but not if they write 2 posts a week on their website about how much they love Jun Togawa and on Rateyourmusic and are called kbrecordzz? I've been sitting here with these grainy low-resolution videos for 3 years and you have just NOT released this goldmine until now??!!!!" Suki Suki Daisuki in HD marks the end of an era. That's where my Jun Togawa journey started and that's where it ended. Not that I've stopped listening to Jun Togawa, but I wanted to end the story like this.

/kbrecordzz, 2023-04-02