SEASON 1 EPISODE 40
- This week on Tokyo Podcast, the show continues in its Japanese music theme with special guest Sayulee. She started playing the piano at age 6, moved on to drums, and then taught herself to play her beloved Taylor Dreadnaught guitar. A talented songwriter, Sayulee released her first EP titled “April Fool” in 2007. She has then traveled throughout Denmark, London, and Japan to promote it.
- Last year, she started an interesting project where she would sing a new song every day for 365 days and share it with the world through her YouTube channel. As she approaches her 365-day target, Anthony invited Sayulee to talk about her music, her upcoming performance to cap off the 365-day challenge, and what her next 365 challenge will be.
Singng with Sayulee
The show is still on its musical month and the show has Sayulee who has won numerous awards for singing and writing her album in Japanese and English. Currently working on a project in which she sings 365 songs in a year, she is now on her 327th song and Anthony interviewed her on how she began her career and project.
Sayulee didn’t start singing professionally until after she graduated with an international business degree. While people were impressed with her voice, she never really liked it herself. She identified being a musician rather than a singer when she was young. Despite hating her voice, people encouraged her until she got more comfortable with it. She also had a good ear and knew what was wrong with her tone – she just didn’t know what to do with it.
Unable to see herself in business, she decided to give music a try. While unsure of how to begin, she found out that she got more serious about it every year. Soon, she had open mike nights in New Zealand, released her 1st album, and got into songwriting. She had been in Japan as an exchange student before and decided to pursue a musical career in the country.
Through her YouTube Channel, she challenged herself to sing a different song every day for a year. She mainly sang covers and met a lot of fans and artists along the way. To reach out to her Japanese audience, she also studied Japanese Pop. Overcoming technical challenges and the unpredictable way Japanese songs can be sung, Sayulee now writes both Japanese and English songs. In fact, she has just released her 1st Japanese music video titled “Okaeri”!
Aside from her 365 song challenge, she also sings other song series for special occasions and other music from different eras. Sayulee will be singing her 365th song on July 29 in a special live gig in Tokyo that will kick off at 7:00 pm. To book in advance, send her a message through her YouTube, Facebook, and blog links. She would also be announcing her next challenge in the event!
Tokyo Podcast is all over the social networks too so don’t forget to check out the page at its Facebook and Instagram links. To conclude the music month, Anthony will take listeners out to listen to some Jazz on the next show!
