Zine #03: Starring Sugar Joiko
The pandemic may have halted things, but born musician Sugar Joiko isn’t letting it keep her down. The multi-faceted artist chatted with me about being a producer, her most recent track, coming out as queer and more.
Growing up in Louisiana and playing piano from an early age, music isn’t just a medium for Sugar Joiko; it’s an aura that has followed the producer and songwriter around her whole life. “Before I became a singer, I was a classically and jazz trained pianist. The moment I got my first digital keyboard with a record button, I began composing music when I was really young.” For the now Houston based artist, music is a major intersection. Her passions and loves range but a constant is her adoration for the role music plays in them all. “My first dream was to design music for video games, which I still play today. It's what got me into japanese culture, anime, and so forth. And I guess my pop sound is a combination of all those things.”
Between playing video games with her dad, sharing soul and bounce music with her mom and city, losing herself in classical music and exploring Japanese culture, she has a lot to pull from. Video games have especially left a fingerprint on her sound: “The tracks I make I always try to tell a story. I get that from video games. so with or without vocals, I'd like to say that my instrumentals are still calming or vibey to listen to.”
As an accomplished producer, she beautifully blends these different worlds into a cohesive sound that’s both crisp but evocative. Sugar sees production as her best skill, and the prod. quality on her discography backs her up on that. It’s very much a creative and imaginative skill, especially in Sugar’s case. A lot of us who have never been in a studio have an image of producers as stoically being behind a big desk covered with knobs and buttons and computers. People who come in to assist an artist in creating and honing a track to match their lyrics/melody. Speaking with Sugar, I have to break down and rebuild my notion of production. For her, that’s the catalyst of authenticity. “The production comes first based on emotion, or I produce something and how that song makes me feel determines the message of the song lyrically.”
‘How I Roll’ is a great glimpse at her talent. My first listen was me cocooned in a blanket on the couch. Within twenty seconds, this caterpillar was wiggling. Even horizontal on raggedy cushions, my hips became sentient and obsessed with the rhythm and beat. It begins as a reggaeton techno mix sprinkled with an arpeggiated synth sequencer. The song unfurls itself over time, becoming even more layered. Sensual soul is whisked in with pop before a feature verse transforming the song to the moment the hero does their final battle stand up to the enemy.
For me, I’m lyric centric. That’s what my brain tends to focus on and be enticed by. Words are my familiarity. But ‘How I Roll’ is honestly the first time with a song where I envisioned an entire story experience just from the instrumentals. The lyrics are fun and confident with vocals to match but the production really does create and walk you through a narrative all on its own. In a way I’ve personally never experienced.
Her most recent release, ‘Want Me,’ was a departure from her normal system. ‘Want Me’ pulses with a melody punctuated by a powerful R&B beat. It’s a very good example of how acoustic isn’t the only way to really deliver that stripped back feel. ‘Want Me’ delivers all the emotional potency and more of those indie guys going acoustic in a small venue. She produces and composes with a fluidity that some of the best producers in pop are still trying to nail down. A very raw experience; the vocals have a strong sense of self juxtaposed by the song being an open declaration of insecurities. The result is this dual sense of relatability to the artist. The way in which Sugar allows herself to open up and be vulnerable is tracked in an empowering sense. She coaxes you into reclaiming self-love by admitting she’s doubted her own in the past.
The song, Sugar says, began when she was crying. Like the true musician she is, tears were a reason to sit down at the piano and let it out. If life was a movie, this song plays right after the protagonist slides down the wall to the floor and cries into her knees. Cue the track as they go to sit on and look out a windowsill just after sunset with an overacted sense of calm washing over their face. It’s the song to mark an acceptance of the parts of your past self you don’t or didn’t love so you can start to love new you.
Below, you’ll find some highlights from our convo. My messages are in italics above the graphics. The messages screenshot in the graphics are Sugar’s responses.
For me, from an early age, music was one of the first places I heard people openly being and celebrating being queer. Obviously Louisiana is rich with Black musicians and art, how has music helped you celebrate being Black in a racist society?
Ahahaha moooood to being gay in a previous life and so happy for you and your recent coming out🌈🌈! How did you get into Japanese culture and video gaming? Also, not to assume but if you got push back from those immature friends, was there pushback for being Black and into those things from immature people on the anime/classical/etc side?
Want Me is a very raw experience, really letting people into insecurities. What kind of story and look would it have if it was a video game?
Now back to the second thing I wanted to say, music by you but not about you is, honestly I feel like a good sum up of queer experience in general. It’s a lot of the time, us feeling like we have to reword or alter ourselves to be able to relate. How did it feel to put this song out and have this be about you, by you and authentically represent your full self 🌈& all?
Keep an eye on Sugar Joiko, because she’s always hustling and new goodies can come anytime! She’s currently working on an upcoming release and just launched her own production company. She’ll forever be a gamer girl and her dream to work on a soundtrack for an RPG remains. As someone who doesn’t game too much, I’ve never actively thought about their soundtracks before. But Sugar’s sonic aesthetic and ability is so immersive and telling that it gave me second hand new found respect to video games. So if you work at Squaresoft, Respawn Entertainment, Bungie or Epic Games, you just found your next games music supervisor.
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