I still remember the curiosity I felt when I first saw Chanmina. The strangely Korean-sounding name despite her debuting in Japan, the fact that it stemmed from her Korean-Japanese background, and most importantly, the fact that she was so open about her identity, all served to intrigue me. To me, she was both an oddity I’d never seen before and a rookie with monster potential. Seven years after bursting onto the music scene, Chanmina has grown into a full-fledged professional artist and a powerful celebrity with an impressive discography, who has held solo shows in Budokan and Yokohama Arena.
While she’s mostly been active in Japan, she has been gaining ground in Korea as well. She has continued to connect with both countries by making her Korean debut last year and appearing as a featured artist on Japanese singles of Taeyeon and Choi Yena. Although she may come across as nothing less than confident given her strong image and aggressive rapping style, she’s an artist with a delicate touch who knows how to turn her own shortcomings into a source of courage to overcome her trauma. She dreams of becoming a bridgehead for Korea and Japan, not as an artist who hedges her bets but as one who can embrace both sides. Here are some of the tracks that span her career, perfect for exploring her artistic essence.
“未成年 (Miseinen)” feat. めっし (Messi)
Chanmina dreamed of becoming a singer from a young age and BIGBANG’s “HARU HARU” inspired her to focus on rap and hip-hop. While looking to make a debut, she decided to join a reality competition show named BAZOOKA!!! High School Student Rap Championships (高校生RAP選手権). Although she was eliminated in the second round, her raw talent earned her the title of “the Beyoncé of Nerima.”
Her debut single, “Miseinen,” was released on the day of the broadcast and topped the iTunes hip-hop chart, making her name known in the music scene. This provocative self-introduction, coupled with the competitive nature of the show sparked a huge response from her contemporaries. On a side note, the featured artist, Messi, was Chamina’s classmate who shared the same goals as her, and the song was written to get her on stage as she had never sung in front of a crowd before. Not surprisingly, the potential she showed in a matter of a single day garnered much attention. At the age of 16, Chanmina was catapulted into instant stardom as an “artist.”
“Pain is Beauty”
Her grandmother and mother would often tell her that “Pain is beauty.” It meant that the present day’s pain would bring the strength to overcome future crises, but Chanmina was too young to understand. After she started her career as a singer, she gradually realized that a sense of sorrow or inferiority coming from the likes of failure and heartbreak was transforming into the beauty of the art she creates. Such realization is reflected in “Pain is Beauty”, a track released to celebrate her 20th birthday.
The song, which mixes emo rap over a rock-tinged backing, captures the early musical taste of Chanmina from when she was just starting to get into music. The track has a calm-before-the-storm vibe that suggests she's willing to take merciless criticism but won't just stand by. It’s not an overstatement to say that “Pain is Beauty” set the subsequent artistic direction for Chanmina as she switched over to a new record label.
“I’m a Pop”
This song embodies Chanmina’s determination to use her identity to challenge the world's prejudices. In the song, written while she was feeling frustrated with the standards imposed on her by the world, she sings, “I’m pop, I’m rock, I’m hip-hop,” and rebels against society’s judgment towards her. Chanmina’s determination to “define herself” leads to an awakening to reclaim her identity as a musician.
The Korean lyrics inserted in the middle of the song are noteworthy. She uses her “mixed ethnicity” background, born to a Japanese father and Korean mother, to convincingly convey the message of not confining herself to one place. In addition, her skillful performance that leads the flow according to the verses amid a consistently heavy and solemn beat shows that she also has the talent of “diligence” and that her musical capabilities are in the process of being perfected.
“Never Grow Up”
Chanmina describes music as “a vessel that holds herself.” As such, thoughts and feelings from past experiences are often left raw in the lyrics. This is especially true of love songs, and “Never Grow Up,” which has become one of her greatest hits, is an excellent example. The song portrays herself swallowing regret and wrestling with lingering feelings after a breakup, unable to neither move on nor grow, through the sorrowful vibe of Latin pop. It feels like a statement that relays Chanmina’s belief that “I may not be satisfied with myself, but in the end, it’s also who I am.” It didn’t go unnoticed that the man in the song is the same person from previously released tracks like “LADY”, “OVER”, and “CHOCOLATE.” With the increased vocal share in the song, Chanmina was poised to become an all-rounder.
When Chanimna made her debut, one of the things she had to deal with was malicious comments about her looks. The stress caused unwanted weight loss and she found it bizarre when people thought it was an intended glow-up. As the lyrics “Don't let that ugly girl sing (醜いブスが歌ってんじゃないよ)” demonstrate, the song criticizes such lookism and encourages people to break away from the “beauty” standards imposed on them to find their own beauty.
The music video created a buzz with its boldly colored images, styling, and the notorious suicide scene inserted towards the end. During her solo show AREA OF DIAMOND, Chanmina removed makeup on stage as she played this number to send an even clearer message. It could be said that her aforementioned “pain is beauty” attitude is also at work here, sublimating the pain from her past into a positive message. Add to that the fact that Chanmina broke away from the usual autobiographical lyrics that resonated with the public, and instead, wrote the song with the listener in mind, one can see why the track deserves special attention. Her vocals at the end, which might as well be a pained cry, are bursting with emotions and absolutely mind-blowing.
“Don’t go” (feat. ASH ISLAND)
Chanmina’s artistic career once again enters a new phase. She decided that in order to find authenticity in music, she needed to completely remove the embellishments surrounding herself. In Naked, a studio album made with such intention, the music belongs neither to the realm of K-pop, J-pop, nor pop, but to Chanmina’s own territory.
“Don’t go” is her Korean debut single consisting of Korean and English lyrics only. The combination of dynamic rhythm and retro melody brings out yet another side of Chanmina. She asked ASH ISLAND to join her because she felt like he sings of the same things she used to sing about. The synergy between them is interesting, and the nuances conveyed by her Korean vocals, which are quite different from their Japanese counterparts, are noteworthy. On another note, the blue hair she sported at the time of the track’s release was inspired by the Taegeukgi, the national flag of Korea.
“I’m Not OK”
In the beginning of Naked, Chanmina tries to act cool and as if all is well (“Good”), but later confesses that by feigning her contentment, she was actually setting herself up for a delayed admission of her struggles in “I’m Not OK.” Tapping into the pop-punk genre that has been making a comeback recently, she screams in a 2000s-Avril Lavigne-like voice that she’s fragile but that’s who she is, that’s what inspires her and that it suits her. Chanmina explains that negative emotions are something that everyone has to deal with and that setting an example for others by embracing those emotions and spreading her message to the world has been the cornerstone of her career. Her rather paradoxical message that it is okay not to be okay, her courage in dealing with her music head on in spite of the pain that may come of it—all of these are elements that make me excited for the beauty she will continue to create down the road. And I will gladly watch as that beauty unfolds, in its raw and transparent glory.
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