Kikuoland: Vocaloid musician Kikuo speaks on his world of music creation, methodology, audience appreciation

Photo Credit: si_ku.k

If you listen to a Kikuo track, you’ll hear an assortment of electronic instrumentation and Vocaloid-processed lyrics. If you see him live, you may be enraptured by flashing lights, glowsticks and the mascot Hoshi-kun. In almost every regard, Kikuo offers a lot in terms of listening experience and performance. 

His ambitions with the music industry, though, were never to be extremely popular; rather, his focus was on the music. He has intention behind his compositions, but his work is also largely dependent on what audiences find enjoyable. The large assortment of instrumentation and Vocaloid lyrics one will hear in his songs sometimes stems from a song being focused on contrasting concepts. In fact, you may be surprised to know that most of Kikuo’s creative processes might be slightly simpler than you think.

“He makes music because he wants happy listeners. He wants to create things that people want to listen to, not necessarily to push his own agenda or his way of thinking onto other people,” Kei Sugimoto, Kikuo’s translator, told The Panther. “His goal is to create stuff that people appreciate and make a living at the same time.” 

On Sept. 7, the artist will perform at Glass House in Pomona, one of a few California stops during his “Kikuoland: Go-Round” world tour. According to Kikuo himself, audiences and fans can expect something “unexpectedly new” from his performances. 

“(His creative process) is simple, but at the same time, to reach that simplicity, it’s a little different from just simple simplicity. To him, simplicity means taking away what’s not necessary, and that does not necessarily only mean instruments or technical things, but it also has to do with concept of your own ego or pride,” Sugimoto said.

The artist sat down with The Panther to discuss his creative processes and originality. Kikuo offered his “minimalist” ideology as a source for his uniqueness, of which he is often asked about.

“(His originality and uniqueness) all boils down to his way of thinking, his ideology per se,” Sugimoto said. “That goes back to the minimalist view of shaving off what’s not necessary and by not thinking too much, not thinking of all these distractions per se, is what enables him to reach this more pure version of self without all the extra unnecessary stuff.”

Sugimoto continued: “He also mentioned that there may be other artists that really just overthink things too much, and by overthinking, that affects your music. It affects your music in a way that distracts from who you really are, what your core value is.”

Since his youth, Kikuo always knew that music would be his career endeavor, but it was the notion of pure creativity that initially turned on a lightbulb. In elementary school, the eventual musician experienced bullying. When he expressed creativity — which, at the time, was his creation of gamebooks that he would show to other students — his bullying temporarily ceased. 

Music, as he entered junior high school, became the creative endeavor that held his interest. He eventually found Vocaloid — a style of music using voice-synthesizing technology. Of the musician’s 20-year career, Vocaloid has been a focus in the last 13. 

In creating his pieces, Kikuo pays attention to a lot of factors. 

“Yes, (choosing instrumentation for a piece) is intentional, but at the end of the day, he wants to create music that the listeners enjoy,” Sugimoto said. “So that being said, there’s also a lot of trial-and-error that goes on. Try everything to see what works, what people like.” 

That trial-and-error process isn’t necessarily what you might think of though, with Kikuo playing tracks on-stage and gauging audience response. That audience focus is present when the Vocaloid-heralder lays down tracks, but the way his trial-and-error process operates changes on a case-by-case approach.

“(The trial-and-error process) could just be him taking a walk and coming up with an idea,” Sugimoto said.

For Kikuo, his creative process seems to be a delicate balance I can only describe as “thoughtful simplicity:” a more than adequate amount of care goes into every composition, but sometimes, his arrangement of sounds come from thought-out decisions, trial and error and gauging audience enjoyment. 

Students can learn more about Kikuo on his Spotify, YouTube and Instagram pages. Additionally, students can view clips from some of his previous live performances here.