(dance music playing)
- [Umi] Intention to me is really, really important.
Music is such a powerful medium of art.
I don't take that lightly.
When people play my music,
I literally have the power to shift the energy,
and the frequency in the space that they're in.
When you have that energy of intention powered behind it,
it amplifies... the music, it amplifies the message.
(soft ambient music)
- [Old-Timey Voice] Please, allow me to show you something.
- [Umi] Growing up in Seattle was such
an introverted experience I would say.
And I think it definitely informed my artistry,
growing up there.
My earliest musical memory would be...
Waking up every morning,
and my family always had some type
of music playing first thing in the morning.
And I remember every day it would change,
some days it would be gospel music,
some days they would play Japanese pop music,
some days it would be classical music.
So kind of waking up since I was young,
wondering what today's song would be
is a memory I have very vividly.
(vocalizing)
Every time we do a family gathering,
like, my dad would get his bongos.
Everyone in my family sings as well.
So, we would all just sing Christmas songs,
gospel songs, pop songs, R&B songs.
I feel like my African American and Japanese
roots can be seen in my music through
I think the range in sonics, the fact
that I don't see myself being glued to one type of music.
I think that's just a reflection
of my identity and being very fluid
in my identity and being very comfortable
with being fluid and the sonics that I tap into.
I think when I got into high school,
I started to take music more seriously,
but honestly, because one of my friends
kept bugging me to put my music on iTunes.
He would tell me every single day at school
"Did you put your song on iTunes?
Did you put your song on iTunes?"
And I was like, why do I you want me
to put my song on iTunes so bad?
Because he would ask me so much, I finally did it.
And then from there, everything started growing.
When I first started uploading my videos on YouTube
I was just doing covers and I would do my covers,
take the MP3 and upload them to SoundCloud.
Maybe a year into doing that,
I built a bit of a following, that was really great.
And then I got an email from SoundCloud saying
"if you do this one more time,
if you upload another cover, you're going to...
you're going to get a strike for copyright.
And we're gonna take your account."
I was like, wait, I have like a thousand followers!
Don't take my thousand followers on SoundCloud away!
So I decided this is a sign from the universe
to start uploading original music.
And that, that's what really pushed me was
because SoundCloud was about to take my account away.
(vocalizing alongside piano)
So I decided to go to SC and move
to LA a few years ago.
And when I first moved here,
I would say it was actually a bit...
it was a bit of a culture shock.
More so just being in school and having everyone
around me being, like, very, very focused
on their career and school and I felt pressured
to get an internship and to, like,
take school more seriously.
Even though my intention was always just to get
to LA so I can do music.
I would say what made me decide to leave school
was when I got my record deal.
Because I now realize like, okay,
it's getting serious. I've manifested myself
into this beautiful opportunity,
and it's time for me to put my music before my school.
'Cause I kept feeling like it was hard
for me to give a hundred percent in my sessions
a hundred percent in my music, because I was thinking
about my finals, I was thinking about my midterms,
I was thinking about that paper in the back of my mind.
And so, when that happened, I was like, okay
it's time to commit. It's time to trust.
And my parents actually reacted really well.
I think they always knew I wasn't...
like they always knew I was going to school to do music.
And they've seen my passion for music since I was little.
My parents are very open to doing whatever brings me joy.
So the first project I dropped was called "Interlude."
I dropped that my freshman year of college.
If you look at the bottom, it says
I dropped it at 408 Records,
because my dorm room was called 408.
And I recorded all the songs in my dorm room.
And it's crazy because that song,
I wrote all the songs in one night.
I don't know what inspiration entered my body
but I just kept finding tight beats that I liked
and then just spit the whole song out in one night.
And so I just knew I had to release this,
this is like a body of work
that was meant to be my first, my first project.
("Remember Me" by UMI playing)
♪ Wrote you a letter, ♪
♪ Now that I'm here without you ♪
♪ Hope that you're better... ♪
- "Remember Me" was, and is,
a beautiful moment in my career.
"Remember Me" was inspired by my friend,
my roommate my freshman year of college.
She had just gone through a breakup and she was so sad.
She was so sad and nothing I did could help her get happier.
I remember I was trying to bring her treats- snacks
and give her hugs and invite her out.
And it started to make me really sad.
And I was like, did I go through a breakup?
I feel like my heart is shattered in pieces
and I didn't know what to do with emotions.
And that's what tends to happen,
I just have... sometimes I feel other people's emotions
not sure what to do with them.
So I'll put them in a song
and that's exactly what happened here.
I just poured out this heartbreak.
I felt like I went through into this.
And then it's interesting,
because a few months later,
I actually went through a breakup
and I found the song to be very healing for me.
And it was before the song came out.
And that's how I knew like, Oh, okay
this song will resonate with people
because it's helping me right now.
♪ Last summer ♪
♪ We made plans like we would always be... ♪
- [Umi] I wanted the central theme of the video
to be that no matter who you are,
heartbreak is a universal emotion
just like love is a universal emotion
and that we can be connected and almost empowered
by the similarity in the way
that we experience that sadness.
And to also show that as much as heartbreak hurts,
there's still beauty in remembering
and reflecting on those really beautiful moments
in a relationship. And even though you're hurt,
or I'm hurt after the relationship,
it doesn't change those those beautiful memories
that I have.
♪ Will you remember the way that I was? ♪
♪ Will you remember me? ♪
- So between "Remember Me"
and my most latest project around, like 2018,
I released this project called "Balance"
and this project called "Love Language"
and then a couple of singles as well.
And I think those projects were really important
to me understanding my artistry.
Intention to me is really, really important.
Whether that's the people I work with, the energy
behind the music and the visuals.
I think it's important because music
is such a powerful medium of art.
And when- I don't take that lightly, when people
play my music, I literally have the power
to shift the energy and the frequency
of the space that they're in.
And so I want to make sure I know
why I'm releasing the song, and I'm not
just making music to just, to just do it. You know?
I think it's such a powerful medium
and when you have that energy of intention
powered behind it, it amplifies the music,
it amplifies the message.
- [Umi] I've been having this thought.
- [Girl] What?
- [Umi] Do you ever wonder what it's like
to see the world through other people's eyes?
Like what are other people going through?
I don't know, I'm like a main character
in my own story but a background character
in other people's...I don't know.
(laughs)
("Introspection by UMI plays)
♪ Pretty girl, pity hurts ♪
♪ Know you walk across a fine line... ♪
- [Umi] So, introspection was
my first official release with ICA.
The film introspection that came out with the project,
has a lot of themes and moments
embedded within the visual.
And when I made both the project and the visual,
one of my intentions was wanted it to
reflect the experience of the youth right now.
And so you can see that in us
highlighting the concept of breakups
and love and navigating relationships
for the first time, and how a lot of us can find ourselves
in codependent relationships or toxic relationships
and navigating and knowing that different traumas
especially traumas from parents and healing
from childhood trauma and family relations,
coming out and understanding your sexuality
for the first time.
And all of these things are things that I experienced and
wrote about when I made the project.
And so I wanted it to not just be a sonic experience,
but also the visual experience.
And that's why we wanted to embed
off all those themes into the film.
♪ ...to alter your courses, yeah ♪
♪ Why I'm so afraid to fight back ♪
♪ I got a lot of shit to unpack ♪
(breathes deeply)
- Yes, meditation is so important to me
and it's been central to my mental health.
It's been central to my healing.
It's...I think it's been something that's kept me alive
and kept me positive and kept me going every day.
And I...because it's been so big in my healing,
I really wanted to use my platform
to share that experience with the fans
and with anyone who connects with my music.
Especially because now more than ever,
I think all of us really need to take care of ourselves,
take care of our minds, take care of our spirits,
and stay balanced. And I think meditation
is such a powerful tool in doing that.
So outside of meditation, I really love to do yoga.
I do yoga every morning.
It helps me to release tension from my body.
And I think it's healthy to stay, to be flexible.
I love to go on jogs in nature.
And in general, I try to spend a few days,
at least a week in nature.
Sitting under a tree, jogging at the park.
Journaling has been really powerful for me,
making sure the thoughts in here don't just stay in here.
I can put them out and do something with them.
And then I love to sing just outside
of like writing music, just, just singing
in the mornings to release energy from my body,
clean my sound bowls and sing.
So I've been releasing a lot of EPs,
a lot of singles, and I feel like
I am finally ready to work on my album.
I'm actually working on my album right now,
writing songs for that.
And I'm really excited for that to come out,
because my intention is for it
to really shift the genre and to bring new sonics
to people that would've never heard it before
and bring healing frequencies to people.
So yes, I feel ready.
(soft ambient music)