Advertisement

Suga Shikao looking forward to Night Safari, Tiger beer and chilli crab in Singapore

The Japanese musician will be performing live in Singapore for the first time on 8 December.
The Japanese musician will be performing live in Singapore for the first time on 8 December.

Japanese artiste Suga Shikao already has his free time in Singapore planned out ahead of his visit to the island this week.

“I want to go to Night Zoo (Night Safari), USS (Universal Studios Singapore) and drink Tiger beer and eat chilli crab!” the veteran musician told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore, adding that he wanted to sightsee for four additional days after his concert on Friday (8 December).

“Some of my musician friends, who have performed in Singapore, told me that they want to (come to Singapore) again. Hence, I’m really looking forward to it!” the 51-year-old said ahead of his first live performance in the country.

The singer-songwriter from Tokyo has worked with the likes of SMAP, Arashi and KAT-TUN, but his most treasured advice came from the time when he was an office worker.

“My boss told me, “You must not love your works too much. Always have a critical perspective as if you are the third party’,” Suga shared in an e-mail interview.

He also advised younger artistes to always stay a fan of music.

“When you become popular and become really busy, you won’t be able to hear other artistes’ new music or see them in concert,” said Suga.

“The most important thing, however, is that you stay a fan of music. Even now, I go to other concerts about 50 times in a year,” he said, adding that he loved music.

Suga, who has been active since 1995, will be entertaining the crowd at Zepp@Bigbox as part of his 20th Anniversary Special Suga Shikao Asia Circuit 2017 tour.

Suga is also a huge fan of “xxxHOLiC” (a Japanese manga by artist group Clamp), and has made music for its anime adaptations even though he was not asked to do so.

“‘xxxHOLiC’ is a wonderful work with a story that presents lots of learnings from the past to Japan today,” Suga said.

For newcomers to his work, the artiste recommends listening to “Progress”, a track from his album “Parade”, as well as “Yozora no Mukou”, which was performed by popular Japanese boyband SMAP.

“(‘Progress’) is a song that makes you feel very positive about life itself,” Suga said, while “Yozora no Mukou” is a song “representative of the ’90s”, with over two million CDs sold.

“It is a very expressive song,” he said.

Suga added that he hoped fans in Singapore would be dancing and moved by his performance, even if they couldn’t understand the lyrics, with a music style that “infuses many genres such as rock, funk, soul, blues, J-Pop and ballads”.

“So please come visit! Our world-class band is looking forward to seeing you soon,” he said in a message to his fans in Singapore.

Read also:

Japanese actor Takeru Satoh becomes South Korean search hit after MAMA appearance

Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.