My Favorite Western Musicians!

This time, I would like to introduce some recommended Western musicians that I have chosen at my own discretion! I am going to introduce a wide range of musicians from very famous to lesser known bands, so I hope you’ll enjoy reading this page to the end!

■ Ed Sheeran

Now, let me introduce you to Ed Sheeran. He is a singer-songwriter from England and a musician who has been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire. He uses iconic loops and acoustic guitar with percussive slapping in his music. He started composing at the age of 11 and made his debut in 2011 with the album + (pronounced “plus”). “Shape of You” became a big hit with over 26 million digital single sales and the song also became popular in Japan. In fact, he is well-versed in hip hop, and his talent can be heard everywhere in his work. It has been said that Ed happened to be at a party where a cypher was going on one night and some of the biggest hip hop musicians also happened to be there participating in a freestyle rap battle. Ed then joined in on this rap battle and beat all of these talented rappers with his skillful rapping.

○ Ed Sheeran - Shape of You (Official Music Video)

Singing his songs is very difficult for Japanese people, but I found a video on YouTube that gives lectures on pronunciation of the words from “Shape of You”. If you’re interested, why don’t you practice and master the English lyrics with a little bit of rap!?

○[Pronunciation / Singing way] We will explain the "shape of you" in the world's most understandable way so that anyone can sing it. English / Western music - Yahya

■ Sleeping With Sirens

Next up is Sleeping With Sirens, a five-piece rock band from Florida! The vocalist Kellin Quinn’s bright high-pitched voice is so characteristic and he is featured in a song by the Japanese band ONE OK ROCK entitled “Paper Planes”, so Quinn is well known to ONE OK ROCK fans in Japan. Their intense sound and fast tempo of Sleeping with Sirens define them as a cool Western rock band. However, what I really recommend is not their songs with a rock sound, but the acoustic versions of their own songs. These songs sound completely different from their original songs and they’re so beautiful. When I first heard the song entitled, “James Dean & Audrey Hepburn”, the high range of Quinn’s vocals were so clear that I first thought Quinn’s voice was a woman’s voice! I was attracted to his singing ability and his dreamy voice. Personally, I think that the songs that play up his clean vocals suit his voice more than the rock sound. Lol.

○ Sleeping With Sirens - James Dean & Audrey Hepburn (Acoustic version)

■ State Champs

If I had to choose a band from the pop-punk genre to recommend, I would choose State Champs! They are popular for their sound that embodies simple pop-punk, and they are a talented band that can sell out the tickets everywhere when they tour in Japan. I especially recommend the song called “All You Are Is History”! The speedy instruments and solid, and the thick vocals make you want to jump at one of their live concerts. I can tell this song will raise you up when you’re depressed! State Champs is one of the bands I would like to cover, and I even dream of jumping together with my band members on stage. Lol.

○ State Champs "All You Are Is History" Official Music Video

This time, I introduced Western musicians from different genres. There are still many more bands that I would like to introduce, so I hope to continue this series along with my other blog series about loud rock bands that I started last month. If you know all the bands I introduced in my articles, I believe we can be good friends. Lol. The bands I want to recommend will be a never ending list as long as I love music, so I’m going to look for more bands to introduce you!

Stay tuned for the next awesome band and musician series!!