Song Introduction: FiJA - What's On Your Mind?

It was Shakespeare who said of love, “it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken”. FiJA’s “What’s on Your Mind?” is an exercise in facing the tempests that threaten her affections and finding unshakable solidarity with her bae. She welcomes us to enjoy and endure the intense ebb and flow of her experience in love. You can feel the polaroid fashioned nostalgia from the beginning all the way through to the end of her arduous journey where she concludes upliftingly that “everything is gon’ be fine”.

As she sets about with her beautiful upper range, a beckoning guitar leads the instrumentation tip-toeing into the listener’s aural range and bidding them to claim what their heart desires. The bass and drums coolly slouch back as the sparkly keys guild FiJA’s vocals with a cute but sophisticated soul harmony. The songstress does a superb job of anchoring the song with a chill chorus where not only does she let herself soar a little higher but she also embellishes each line with catchy little nuances that will get you singing along on whatever journey you’re on.

It is with efforts such as ‘What’s on Your Mind?’ that FiJA is slowly but surely making a name for herself as a solidly talented young asian soul and RnB artist, in a similar vein to her slightly more established contemporaries such as her fellow countrywomen Hanah Spring and Nao Kawamura or Korea’s Yerin Baek and Hwasa of Mamamoo.

Love is such a unifying concept throughout human society and yet its definition often differs greatly from person to person. Arguably Shakespeare gave it it’s most agreed upon and well defined shape but it is always great to see young artists such as FiJA develop the theme not only with great artistic vision but also with fervent intention to inspire others and solidify their own confidence in themselves.

Check out FiJA alongside Josiah Hawley on July 4th at Art Atelier Tokyo.