![]() And in many ways that name represents me because of the juxtaposition of "tokki," which is really cute and then "monsta," which is this scary being. In the very beginning, maybe when you see "TOKiMONSTA," you assume that I make really aggressive music and I think I've been around long enough and people know that, "Oh, TOKiMONSTA makes like cool, chill, fun stuff." I've redefined what it means to be TOKiMONSTA. But I can't take it back because this has been my name now for many years. So "tokki" means rabbit in Korean, "monsta," I guess I thought it was a cool way to write monster when I was 16. And I've also come to realize a lot of other musicians have used their chat name as their artist name. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella TOKiMONSTA performs at the 2022 Coachella music festival. And in that way, that song that I use it on will also remain completely unique. You'll never be able to recreate that same wave or that same airplane or that same car door shutting. Because if I record the waves crashing, or an airplane flying overhead, that particular moment will only happen once in time. ![]() I feel like there's something about field recordings, which is what we call this, that gives your music a specific sonic signature that no one else will have. On doing field recordings to integrate into her music I finally figured out a way to express all these ideas that I had swirling inside me. It just became something that became my whole world, my whole focus. I was watching YouTube tutorials, I was going on the website, reading their tutorials. A friend of mine shows me a very basic way to use it, and I became obsessed. I download a different production software. And then fast forward to my first year in college. It looked so intimidating that I just uninstalled it, because at that time computers didn't have a lot of space. When I downloaded software in high school, that was the first attempt at trying to make music. My first delve into being creative with music would probably be the piano. On teaching herself how to make electronic music in college With this song, when I listen back, still brings me back to that moment and how hard it was and shows me that I can still be here to this day feeling those feelings, but knowing I've made it this far. But with this particular song, it meant so much more than just making a good song. ![]() There's nothing better than that feeling. And the feeling inside that you have when anyone makes an amazing song is incredible. So I gave myself the time and really I'm pretty sure it was about a week later that I just started making this song and it came together. I was just a month and a half out of brain surgery. So instead of mulling over it or being depressed, I decided just to shut my laptop and give it a break, give myself some more time to heal. And it was not up to par with how I had been making music. I tried, and it was an attempt, but it was not good at all. But when I had opened my laptop to make music, I realized that whatever part of my brain that could do that was not there, yet. So I thought this was an excellent time for me to consider trying to create again. The first time I opened up my laptop, I had already been able to speak again, so I was OK speaking and listening to people on TV. On "I Wish I Could," the first song she wrote after surgery Every song has a level of excitement to me that is precious, and more precious because I know that it can be taken away." "It's like being starved and having your first bite to eat. "I know how precious music is," TOKiMONSTA says. She now hears and appreciates music just as she did before - but philosophically, she says, everything has changed. During the surgery, the bridge was broken down, but over time it was rebuilt. Looking back now, TOKiMONSTA describes the connection between her "thinking mind" and her music as a bridge. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album, making TOKiMONSTA the first female Asian American producer to receive a nomination in the category. During her recovery she created one of her most personal albums, Lune Rouge. Just two months after her brain surgery, TOKiMONSTA pushed herself to begin making music again. "At that point, I realized something was wrong," she says. Though TOKiMONSTA had taught herself how to make electronic music in college and had created her own label, Young Art Records, in 2014, after the surgeries she found that music had become unrecognizable, just noise.
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