After interviewing singer/songwriter Haikaa, I was reminded of the opening lines of one of my favorite Walt Whitman poems, “A Song of Myself”:
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you
Haikaa’s song, “I am Work of Art” is a celebration of each of us, and a message that she aspires to spread to the world. We talked about her Work of Art Global Project, how she recorded “I Am a Work of Art” in 20 different languages, and what drives her to make music.
Haikaa: Thank you.
FW: I just wanted to start by talking about some of your projects, which are quite impressive. Tell me about the Work of Art Global Project.
Haikaa: That project was based on a song that I wrote called, “ A Work of Art”, which is basically a song about self-acceptance, and celebrating the diversity in the world that results from the uniqueness of every individual. I’ve always been a believer in diversity just because I was raised surrounded by so much diversity, and that was something that I wanted to share musically.
Once the song was ready I decided to see how many versions and in how many languages I could record the, song because it did feel like a very universal message to me. So, based on the mathematical concept of six degrees of separation, I started to contact my first degree contacts, and say, “Hey do you know someone who would be willing to write a version of my song in Mandarin?” From there it branched out, and in a period of about a year and a half I had finished and recorded 19 versions of the song, and counting, because I have more people working on different versions.
FW: That’s tremendous. As each song is completed, do you market the song in each country through word of mouth?
Haikaa: Yeah, at this point I’m still sort of doing it word of mouth. I’m trying to contact other artists in every one of those countries to see if there are synergies between my work and their work, and try to spread the message from there. I just saw the other day there was a blog in Dutch about “Work of Art”, which was kind of nice. I didn’t understand it but…(laughs)
FW: It’s the intention that counts. Which came first, the Work of Art Global Project or the song, and if the song came first, what, within yourself, is the spirit behind the song?
Haikaa: The song came first, and it’s interesting that you’re asking me that, because when I came up with the lyrics, “I am a work of art,” even though the song is really light and optimistic, it was really just me trying to express my frustration with people labeling me things that I don’t agree with. When I was saying, “I am a work of art,” I was really coming from this place of knowing who I am, regardless of what people label me. It’s that feeling of being sick and tired of labels, and embracing who I am and not asking people for permission to be who I am.
FW: That’s cool, because basically I think there comes a time in everyone’s life where they feel labeled and they do need to say, “This is who I am.”
Haikaa: Exactly. We as human beings depend largely on our social interactions, and in every relationship you have to commit, but there are relationships that are just destructive and they are just trying to take away the essence of who you are. So, on a personal level, that song came from that need I had to be assertive, and say, “I am who I am. I am a work of art. And I am beautiful the way I am with my flaws and my qualities.”
From a broader perspective, the song is about this need that I have to spread the word about how great diversity is, and how dull the world would be if we all thought the same thing, and looked the same and dressed the same. It’s about embracing the differences.
FW: That’s something that we need to be reminded of, especially in recent times, where there seems to be more intolerance.
Haikaa: Yeah. I think largely intolerance is, in my view, a result of not knowing. You’re generally not tolerant towards things that you don’t really know. I think exposing ourselves to differences is really important, because once we know, it’s no longer this threatening, unknown thing. I think that the more we interact with people of different races, sexual orientations, religions; in essence we realize that we really are a lot more similar than we are different. And we don’t have to agree with each other, we just have to be like, “Okay, you’re doing your thing; I’m doing my thing. And that’s cool.”
FW: I think you’re right. I think a lot of intolerance is actually fear-based.
Haikaa: Exactly.
FW: Has anyone come to you yet and said, “Hey, I heard your song at a time that I really needed to hear it, and it had an impact on me”?
Haikaa: Yeah, and I think that’s really, really nice. I think that people have been responding very emotionally to this song. When I actually did the song, I did a video where I actually sing parts of the song in 19 different languages. It was just trying to communicate all that we are talking about in words, musically. When you hear a song in all these languages and really don’t know what it’s saying, it really takes you to a place where change and difference is kind of good.
I had one fan particularly write about how he wasn’t prejudiced against gay people but he was just so used to making fun of gay people. He said,” After I saw your video I’ve been paying more attention to it, because that sort of behavior can actually lead to prejudice, and some people can get pretty vicious when they get into that prejudiced mode.” So, I’ve had a lot of feedback in that sense.
FW: Is the rest of the album based on the same theme?
Haikaa: The album is really about a moment that I was going through in my life. There is a song called “Call Me by My Name”. I say, “Don’t label me, because no label will fit me. The only way you can call me is by my name, because that’s what carries my history.” There are other songs in the album that try to express the same idea; that you only have yourself as a platform to start working from. And that’s not to say that you should condone you’re your own flaws. I think you should always seek to improve yourself, but you have to know who you are first, and not try to be someone else.
FW: That’s true. Now, you’ve already finished your second album, and you’re working on your third. Is that correct?
Haikaa: I’m way ahead in terms of production on my second album and I already have written material for my third album.
FW: So, you’ve been busy!
Haikaa: I always say that when you’re a songwriter you really get to have the gift of alchemy, meaning you can transform any emotion into music. Everything is valid; everything can turn into a beautiful melody. In my case, for example, where I try to take a positive approach towards life, you can turn depression into a beautiful song. You can turn emptiness into a beautiful melody. Every emotion is wonderful raw material for the production of music. I think that’s a privilege because in most other areas of our lives, not every emotion is welcome, right? In songwriting everything is valid and can result in different musical nuances.
FW: Does your second album have a different perspective than this one?
Haikaa: On “Work of Art” I try to keep the arrangements a little bit more delicate because I was trying to showcase my voice. In the second album I’m going to go for arrangements that are a little bit heavier, a little bit more guitar and drums.
FW: Are you going to be dealing with the same subject matter?
Haikaa: You know Faith, I always say that there are two things that I am driven by. I am driven by freedom and I am driven by love. I’m 37 years old and I realize that when you make choices in your life based on these two concepts it sort of takes you in a similar direction of going towards the unknown. My life is very unpredictable, even though I’m a control freak, so you can imagine how hard that is (laughs). At the same time, I have this passion that is always putting me on the edge, so those emotions are very much a part of my life, and they inspire my music. So it’s definitely more of those experiences of being face-to-face with the unknown.
FW: You say you’re 37 years old and your first album was released last year. I want to say, “What took you so long, but that’s not what I mean.” You could have done an album before now; you could have not done it at all. Clearly there was something that made you decided to record at this point. What was it?
Haikaa: It’s interesting that you ask that. I started singing when I was 13. I was a Sony Japan artist so I had my first professional experience at 16 years old. And I had a traditional music industry experience; I was told what to wear, what to say in interviews, the kind of music that I was going to sing. And so, while it was an interesting experience because I realized that I did want to do music, I also realized that I wanted to do music from a different place. I didn’t want to express the manager, I wanted to express myself.
At that point I wasn’t a songwriter, so I had to learn how to write songs, and started playing the piano exclusively with that purpose. And I’d been writing songs ever since my early twenties. I recorded a lot of demos with different producers but none of those demos had a strong impact on me, so strong that I decided to transform that into a record. And then in 2006 I quit. I said, “You know what, I’ve been working, sending out demos and it’s so much work, it’s so much money.” It’s such an emotional trip that you take when you’re pursuing this career. I stopped singing for about a year. And in 2007 I was so sad, like a part of me had died.
Then all the songs from the “Work of Art” album just started coming. In the year 2007 we must have written about 25 songs. That’s when I realized that I don’t get to choose music. Music chooses me. It has a life of its own.
FW: So, it took as long as it took.
Haikaa: Yeah, and I think the interesting thing is that the things I talk about like,” I am a Work of Art”, I think it’s very hard for you to get to that conclusion when you’re too young, because you’re very focused on the outside. You’re very focused on society, your parents, your boss, your friends. I think that when you’ve lived a little bit longer, you’ve had time to filter what influences matter and what influences don’t. I think that the themes of my songs are a result of the full life that I have lived.
FW: I think that it’s interesting that to arrive at this point in your story you had to give yourself a period of silence where you weren’t making music.
Haikaa: In my case quitting led to a greater wave of inspiration and faith in myself. But it could have led me in a completely different direction. I have a lot of young fans, like people who were born in 1997, and I always like to tell them that everything that you live becomes a part of who you are, and that I don’t necessarily think that quitting is wrong. I think not trying is wrong.
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