Welcome to my music blog, sakura galactic mixes! In this blog I will be sharing my mashups, edits and mixes from the past 20 plus years with little stories behind them.
This week I'm sharing a new remix that I finished recently.
Joji - Glimpse of Us (Shigeki Galactic Remix)
Last year I got asked to curate a playlist of J-pop and rock songs for an event and the brief was to make it uplifting and accessible for the American teens. As always I said yes first and I was like 'how am I going to know what songs to use?' Looking back I could have asked my niece-in-law but I was in my head so much that I basically remained silent without reaching out for help. It wasn't an easy task because I couldn't think of any J-pop songs that became a hit in the US in the last few years. I listened to a lot of songs that were produced and released in Japan and found a few good ones, but I knew I was missing the accessible part - songs that American teens would recognize.
So I searched for songs by Japanese artists who are popular globally. There were Rina Sawayama who did a beautiful duet Chosen Family (2020) with Sir Elton John, and Joji who had just made it to #8 in Billboard's Hot 100 chart with Glimpse of Us (2022). The song went viral on tiktok and became the most popular song by a Japanese artist in the US in 2022, I got all excited, but sadly the song wasn't uplifting enough to be included in the playlist and there were no remixes. I ended up finding some Japanese covers of famous songs by Bruno Mars and from Disney's Frozen, I really enjoyed listening to all the songs that I wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise, and I was really glad that I discovered Joji's music.
'Glimpse of Us' is a heartbreaking piano ballad and the song is about Joji's narrator who's trying to move on from his previous relationship but keeps seeking a glimpse of him and his ex in his current relationship. A perfect song to make into an emo dance remix! I decided to do the classic piano house sound for the big room. It was a challenge because, unlike mashups, I had to come up with everything except for the vocals and the piano from the original, but I really enjoyed laying down my own beats and adding the musical parts and layers to compliment the song. I hope I did justice to the song. Thank you for listening. 🌸🚀
Listen on my soundcloud or on the listen page. (Scroll down to reworks.)
Posted on 12 May 2023