Joe Hisaishi 1981-98: Anime film industry What happened during 1981-1998? In 1981 Hisaishi, with his new name, released his first album of art music, MKWAJU, and in 1982 the electropop-minimalist album Information. Did he released any other albums? scores. In 1986, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, would be the first feature to appear under the Studio Ghibli banner, What else is interesting about Joe and the Anime film industry? He initiated a solo career, began to produce music, and created his own label (Wonder Land Inc.) in 1988. Was this label a successful endevour? A year later, Hisaishi released his solo album Pretender as the first album under the new label. What happened after he released his first album? I don't know. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? Williams. This big break led to Hisaishi's overwhelming success as a composer of film scores. In 1986, Laputa: Castle in the Sky,
What made this so successful?
What made the score for Laputa: Castle in the Sky so successful?
In 1981 Hisaishi, with his new name, released his first album of art music, MKWAJU, and in 1982 the electropop-minimalist album Information. Then, in 1983, Hisaishi was recommended by Tokuma, who had published Information, to create an image album for Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Hisaishi and the director of the animated film, Hayao Miyazaki, became great friends and would work together on many future projects. In 1985, he founded his own recording studio--the wonder station. Their collaboration has invited comparisons to the collaborations of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. This big break led to Hisaishi's overwhelming success as a composer of film scores. In 1986, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, would be the first feature to appear under the Studio Ghibli banner, and its gentle, faintly melancholic tone would become a familiar trademark of much of the studio's later output. And later, in the 1990s, Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke were released. As Hisaishi strengthened his reputation as one of the budding anime industry's top musical contributors, his compositions (including eight theatrical films and one OAV) would proceed to become some of the very hallmarks of early anime in the 1980s and 1990s. Hisaishi also composed for such TV and movie hits as Sasuga no Sarutobi, Two Down Full Base, Tonde Mon Pe and the anime Tekuno porisu 21C (all 1982), Sasuraiger (1983), Futari Taka (1984), Hono no Alpen Rose (1985) and Oz no mahotsukai (1986). He also scored the sci-fi adventure series Mospeada (1983), which was later reworked (without his music) into the third segment of Carl Macek's compilation, Robotech. Other films he scored included Mobile Suit Gundam Movie II: Soldiers of Sorrow (1981), Mobile Suit Gundam Movie III: Encounters in Space, (1982), Birth (Basu) (1984), Arion (1986), Robot Carnival (1987), Totoro (1988), Crest of the Royal Family and Maison Ikkoku - Apartment Fantasy (both 1988), Venus Wars (1989), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992) and Ocean Heaven (2010). He also did theme song arrangements and composed other anime opening, closing, and insert title theme songs such as Maho Shojo Lalabel (1980), Hello! Sandybell (1981), Meiken Jolie (1981), Voltron (1981), Ai Shite Knight (1983), Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel: Curtain Call (1986), and Kimagure Orange Road: The Movie (1988). As more exposure was given to Hisaishi and the anime industry, his career grew. He initiated a solo career, began to produce music, and created his own label (Wonder Land Inc.) in 1988. A year later, Hisaishi released his solo album Pretender as the first album under the new label. CANNOTANSWER
its gentle, faintly melancholic tone
, known professionally as , is a Japanese composer and musical director known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi is also known for his piano scores.

While possessing a stylistically distinct sound, Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, including minimalist, experimental electronic, Western classical, and Japanese classical. Lesser known are the other musical roles he plays; he is also a typesetter, author, arranger, and conductor.

He has been associated with animator Hayao Miyazaki since 1984, having composed scores for all but one of his films. He is also recognized for the soundtracks he has provided for filmmaker 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, including A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996), Hana-bi (1997), Kikujiro (1999), Brother and Dolls (2002), as well as for the video game series Ni no Kuni. He was a student of anime composer Takeo Watanabe.

Life and career

Early life
Hisaishi was born in Nakano, Nagano, Japan, as . When he started learning violin in the Violin School Suzuki Shinichi at the age of four, he found his passion in music. At the same age, he also began watching 300 movies a year with his father, which influenced his career. Realizing his love, he attended the Kunitachi College of Music in 1969 to major in music composition. Hisaishi collaborated with minimalist artists as a typesetter, furthering his experience in the musical world.

He enjoyed his first success of the business in 1974 when he composed music for the anime series called Gyatoruzu. This and other early works were created under his given name. During this period, he composed for Sasuga no Sarutobi (Academy of Ninja) and Futari Daka (A Full Throttle).

In the 1970s, Japanese popular music, electronic music, and new-age music flourished; those genres, as well as the Yellow Magic Orchestra (a Japanese electronic band in 1978–1983), influenced Hisaishi's compositions. He developed his music from minimalist ideas and expanded toward orchestral work. Around 1975, Hisaishi presented his first public performance, spreading his name around his community. Also, from 1978, he had worked for Brass Compositions for a long time. His first album, MKWAJU, was released in 1981, with Information being released a year later. His first major anime scores were Hajime Ningen Gyatoruz (1974) and Robokko Beeton (1976).

As his works were becoming well known, Hisaishi formulated an alias inspired by Quincy Jones, an American musician and producer. Retranscribed in Japanese, "Quincy Jones" became "Joe Hisaishi". ("Quincy", pronounced "Kuinshī” in Japanese, can be written using the same kanji in "Hisaishi"; "Joe" comes from "Jones".)

1981–98: Anime film industry
In 1981 Hisaishi, with his new name, released his first album of art music, MKWAJU, and in 1982 the electropop-minimalist album Information. Then, in 1983, Hisaishi was recommended by Tokuma, who had published Information, to create an image album for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Hisaishi and the director of the animated film, Hayao Miyazaki, became great friends and would work together on many future projects. Their collaboration has invited comparisons to the collaborations of Steven Spielberg and John Williams.

In 1985, he founded his own recording studio, Wonder Station. This big break led to Hisaishi's overwhelming success as a composer of film scores. In 1986, Laputa: Castle in the Sky would be the first feature to appear under the Studio Ghibli banner, and its gentle, faintly melancholic tone would become a familiar trademark of much of the studio's later output. And later, in the 1990s, Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke were released. As Hisaishi strengthened his reputation as one of the budding anime industry's top musical contributors, his compositions (including eight theatrical films and one OVA) would proceed to become some of the very hallmarks of early anime in the 1980s and 1990s. Hisaishi also composed for such TV and movie hits as Sasuga no Sarutobi, Two Down Full Base, Tonde Mon Pe and the anime Tekuno porisu 21C (all 1982), Oz no mahôtsukai (1982), Sasuraiger (1983), Futari Taka (1984), and Honō no Alpen Rose (1985). He also scored the sci-fi adventure series Mospeada (1983), which was later reworked (without his music) into the third segment of Carl Macek's compilation, Robotech. Other films he scored included Mobile Suit Gundam Movie II: Soldiers of Sorrow (1981), Mobile Suit Gundam Movie III: Encounters in Space, (1982), Birth (Bâsu) (1984), Arion (1986), Robot Carnival (1987), Totoro (1988), Crest of the Royal Family and Maison Ikkoku – Apartment Fantasy (both 1988), Venus Wars (1989), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992) and Ocean Heaven (2010). He also did theme song arrangements and composed other anime opening, closing, and insert title theme songs such as Mahō Shōjo Lalabel (1980), Hello! Sandybell (1981), Meiken Jolie (1981), Voltron (1981), Ai Shite Knight (1983), Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel: Curtain Call (1986), and Kimagure Orange Road: The Movie (1988).

As more exposure was given to Hisaishi and the anime industry, his career grew. He initiated a solo career, began to produce music, and created his own label (Wonder Land Inc.) in 1988. A year later, Hisaishi released his solo album Pretender as the first album under the new label.

1998–2004: Worldwide success
In 1998, Hisaishi provided the soundtrack to the 1998 Winter Paralympics. The following year, he composed the music for the third installment in a series of popular computer-animated educational films about the human body. Again in 1999, he composed the score for the Takeshi Kitano film Kikujiro, whose title track Summer went on to become one of Hisaishi's most recognizable compositions.

In 2001, Hisaishi produced music for another Kitano film, Brother, and Hayao Miyazaki's animated film, Spirited Away. The opening theme to this film, One Summer's Day, went on to become Hisaishi's most famous composition, with over 23 million Spotify streams as of February 2022. He also served as executive producer of the Night Fantasia 4 Movement at the Japan Expo in Fukushima 2001. On October 6, Hisaishi made his debut as a film director in Quartet, having also written both its music and script. The film received excellent reviews at the Montreal Film Festival, but has become relatively obscure and forgotten in recent years. His first soundtrack for a foreign film, Le Petit Poucet, was released in the same year.

Another Miyazaki film, Howl's Moving Castle, for which Hisaishi composed the score, was released on November 20, 2004, in Japan. The film's main theme, Merry-Go-Round, went on to become another one of Hisaishi's most commercially successful scores, with over 22 million Spotify streams as of February 2022. From November 3 to 29, 2004, Hisaishi embarked on his "Joe Hisaishi Freedom – Piano Stories 2004" tour with Canadian musicians. In 2005, he composed the soundtrack for the Korean film, Welcome to Dongmakgol (). He also partook in Korea's historically landmarked big budget drama series production by composing the soundtrack for Korea's MBC drama series, The Legend ( "The Story of the First King's Four Gods"), which released in 2007. Hisaishi has a large fan base in Korea due to the popularity of Miyazaki films.

2006–2013
In 2006, Hisaishi released a studio album, Asian X.T.C., the compositions of which demonstrated a significantly eclectic and contemporary Eastern style. The erhu player of the Chinese band 12 Girls Band Zhan Li Jun played in a live concert featuring music from that album. The following year, he composed and recorded the soundtrack for Frederic Lepage's film, Sunny and the Elephant and the Miyazaki film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, both released in 2008, as well as the score for Jiang Wen's film, The Sun Also Rises (太阳照常升起).

In 2008, Hisaishi composed soundtracks for Academy Award-winning film Departures as well as for , a post-World War II war crimes trial drama which is based on the 1959 Tetsutaro Kato novel and film currently being remade and directed by Katsuo Fukuzawa, starring Masahiro Nakai and Yukie Nakama.

In August 2008 he arranged and performed in a concert conducting the World Dream Symphony Orchestra, and playing the piano on the occasion of his having worked for 25 years with the Animations of Hayao Miyazaki. This concert featured over 1200 musicians and sold out the world-famous Budokan.

Hisaishi also released a solo album in early 2009 featuring tracks from Shellfish and Departures.

In 2010, he became an invited professor for Japanese National College of Music.

In 2013, Hisaishi composed the score for the NHK wildlife documentary Legends of the Deep: Giant Squid , featuring the first-ever filming of this reclusive creature (narrated by David Attenborough for BBC's Natural World special Giant Squid: Filming the Impossible).

On June 28, 2013, Hisaishi was among those invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This honor is extended to those "who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures."

2016–2019

In 2016, he was inaugurated as art director of Nagano City Art Museum.

In 2017 he performed three concerts in Paris based on his setup for the 25-year Ghibli collaboration anniversary concert, performed in Palais des Congrès de Paris.

In May 2018, Hisaishi performed five sold-out concerts in his North American debut in California, USA at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts with Symphony Silicon Valley.

He also composed the soundtrack for the TBS Nichiyō Gekijō drama In This Corner of the World.

2020–present

On February 21, 2020, Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi was released through Decca Gold. The album includes 28 compositions released over the course of his career.

On February 19, 2021, Red Fox Scholar (Original Soundtrack) was released digitally. The album contains 34 compositions with the shortest being 25 seconds, while the longest is 4 minutes and 47 seconds.

Awards and recognition
As a result of his work throughout the years, Hisaishi has won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Music seven times—in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2009, and 2011. He also received the 48th Newcomer Award in 1997 from the Ministry of Education (Public Entertainment Section) among numerous other awards, being recognized as an influential figure in the Japanese film industry. In 1998 he won the Art Choice Award for New Artist (Popular Performing Arts Division). In 2005, he won the 31st Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Music Prize at "Howl's Moving Castle". In 2008, he received the 10th International Film Music Critics Association Award for Television Division Best Original Score Award in the music of Korean drama Queen Shikigami.

In November 2009, he was awarded with a Medal of Honour with purple ribbon by the Government of Japan.

Discography

Notable compositions
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Sonatine (1993)
Kids Return (1996)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Hana-bi (1997)
Kikujiro (1999)
Brother (2000)
Spirited Away (2001)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Ponyo (2008)
Departures (2008)
The Wind Rises (2013)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (2013)
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2018)
Children of the Sea (2019)
How Do You Live? (TBA)

References

External links

  

 
 
 Joe Hisaishi anime at Media Arts Database 

1950 births
20th-century classical composers
20th-century Japanese composers
20th-century Japanese male musicians
21st-century classical composers
21st-century Japanese composers
21st-century Japanese male musicians
Animation composers
Anime composers
Annie Award winners
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Japanese classical composers
Japanese film score composers
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese male film score composers
Kunitachi College of Music alumni
Living people
Music directors
Musicians from Nagano Prefecture
People from Nagano Prefecture
Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon
Studio Ghibli people
Toei Animation
Video game composers
"Successful" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake and R&B singer Trey Songz . The song features guest appearances from Drake's mentor and labelmate Lil Wayne. It was produced by Noah "40" Shebib. The song was written by the trio and its producer, Noah "40" Shebib. The song served as the second single from Drake's mixtape, So Far Gone, and was included on Trey Songz's third studio album, Ready, sans Wayne and the addition of a new verse by Songz. Accompanied by a dark tone, the song's lyrics contain quips of self-determination.

"Successful" received critical acclaim from critics, some of which referred to the song as a standout track on Ready. While reaching seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at two and three, respectively on the Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. The accompanying music video features Drake and Songz venturing off into Toronto nightlife, interspersed with contemplative scenes. The song received several accolades, including being ranked seventeen on Rolling Stone's "25 Best Songs of 2009" list, and ranking ten on Spin's "The 20 Best Songs of 2009" roll. Complex named it the 82nd best song of the decade. Two years after its initial release, the track was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales exceeding 500,000 copies in the United States alone.

Background
The song was first released as Drake's follow-up track to "Best I Ever Had" for his So Far Gone mixtape, with Trey Songz and Lil Wayne received featuring credits. After the success of the two singles, Drake decided to release a retail version of the mixtape in the form of an extended play, including the song. On Songz's third album, Ready, he included the track, however Drake's verse was moved to the middle and Lil Wayne's rap was taken out in order to include a new verse by Songz.

The song was originally set to be on Drake's debut album, Thank Me Later, but after Drake forwent the song, he insisted that Songz include it on Ready. Songz stated in an interview what fan reception to the track mostly had been that he should put a verse in on "Successful", but Songz told BallerStatus, "I was like, 'That's my homie's song.' Then initially, Drake came up to me with the idea like 'Nah dog. That's your song. I'm not putting it on my album. So it's going to be a waste. So it's going to be a big record with no one to go retrieve it.' So we put the verse on there just to give me a little more presence on the record for it to be on my album."  In an interview with MTV News, Drake explained how the song came about, stating, "It has this pocket, and there was no melody yet. I remember [producer Noah '40' Shebib] kind of making the joint, and then he hit this sound, which is the chords that are in there. It was so eerie. Like it was haunting, almost. I was like, 'Yo, that's it. You need to use that.' He started playing this patch, and just every note that he played fell into place. I had this beat sitting here that I love so much, and I didn't know what to do with it..."

Writing
Drake then contacted Songz, who had been working with Drake back since 2007 on mixtapes. Songz said that Drake originally called him on advice of segueing his singing into rapping on interludes, then the terms of what records he would be featured on the mixtape, as he sent him the "Successful" track. After Drake still could not settle on the direction for the track, Songz came up with his hook. He explained to MTV News, "The first thing that came to mind was 'I want the money, money and the cars/ Cars and the clothes/ The ho's/ I suppose I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful.' When I'm saying all that, conceptually for me, the deepest part of the record was when I say, 'I suppose.' I supposed that's what success is about. That's what [we're] led to believe." After hearing the hook, Drake called it "powerful", commenting, "And it's like, it's almost like it made me feel like it may not be right what I want, you know? All these things, it's like it made me feel young. It kind of made me feel ignorant to the game. But it was an exciting record even though the tempo is slow. That's what I want ... The 'I suppose' moment in there is like, it's almost like you're doubting yourself for a second. But at the end of the day, I just want to be successful. So that's what the record meant to me."

Composition 

Drake has described the song as "eerie" and "dark", and as "simplistic" having a "reverb-driven harmony." Shaheem Reid of MTV News said this about the song: "Trey Songz's hook expresses the dreams of a young black male coming from nothing to something, and Drake's raps put the hip-hop nation on notice, while conveying his own desperation and hope and revealing family struggles. Let's not forget Lil Wayne's magnificent at bat as cleanup hitter..." An "endearing and revealing" moment happens in the record when Drake refers to an incident when his mother contemplated leaving home during family troubles.

Music video

The music video for the Ready version of the song, filmed in Drake's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, was directed by Jake White. An on set video and stills were released on August 12, 2009, followed by a preview of the clip on August 27, 2009. The full video was released on August 31, 2009. The video was nominated for MuchVIBE Hiphop Video of the Year and Cinematographer of the Year the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, winning both awards. It ranked at number eight on BET: Notarized Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.

While accompanying Songz on 106 & Park when promoting, Ready, Drake explained the video, stating: "The concept of the video is the fact that 'successful,' it applies to so many people that me and Trey just want to get the point across that we see ourselves and we see success in other individuals so really, it's a video about potential. It's a video about understanding that no matter what you do, there's a way to be successful doing it. It's one of those motivational videos. It actually ends with a quote from Barack Obama which is one of my favorite quotes I've ever read, so we decided to put it in the video. It's vivid."
The video begins with Drake going up an elevator while Songz sings shirtless on the edge of a bed with Drake laying naked on the other side looking on. Drake then ends up on a balcony singing in front of the Toronto skyline. Both are shown in scenes contemplating intermixed with Songz joining Drake on the balcony. Subsequently, scenes are shown of Drake and Songz riding through Toronto nightlife, along with the contemplative scenes, such as a young boy playing basketball in which Songz has an illusion that it is him, and little girl blowing a dandelion. The video ends with the skyline and a quote stating, "Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."- Barack Obama

Live performances
Songz and Drake performed the song on 106 & Park on September 2, 2009, as a part of a medley of "I Need a Girl" and "LOL Smiley Face."

Remixes
The song was remixed and renamed "Stressful" by Joell Ortiz & Novel for their critically acclaimed mixtape Defying the Predictable.

T-Pain made a remix called "More Careful" as an apology to Jay-Z.
There was an unreleased version with a phone call instead of Trey Songz's intro and a new Drake verse.

Critical reception
David Jeffries of Allmusic noted the song as a standout track from Ready. Andrew Rennie of Now Magazine called a "cautionary anthem" and the song the top track on the album. Rennie also said that "Successful" and  "Black Roses", showcase Songz's developed, more mature side. Sean Fennessey of The Village Voice said, "The calm, yearning song is a bona fide hit, and also the best example of where r&b lives today." DJBooth said that there was "no reason to doubt that this track will become a mainstream smash." Shaheem Reid of MTV News said, "It's not a record that will kill the clubs, but when you just want to listen to superb lyricism and enthralling harmony, it's a must have." Rolling Stone ranked the song seventeen on their list of "Best 25 Songs of 2009" list, and Spin ranked it the tenth best song of 2009 on their "The 20 Best Songs of 2009" list.

Chart performance
On the week labeled August 1, 2009, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number eighty-eight. Weeks later, the song peaked at number seventeen, where it spent one week. The song spent eighteen weeks on the chart dropping off on the week ending November 28, 2009. Additionally the song reached three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and two on the Rap Songs chart.

Track listing
7:27 (alternate mixtape version)
6:15 (mixtape version)
5:51 (EP version)
4:26 (Ready/video version)
3:25 (Radio edit)
2:02 (good version)

Credits and personnel
Songwriting – Noah "40" Shebib, Tremaine Neverson, Aubrey Graham, Dwayne Carter
Production, recording and mixing – Noah "40" Shebib

Source

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

2009 singles
Cash Money Records singles
Drake (musician) songs
Lil Wayne songs
Trey Songz songs
Songs written by Lil Wayne
Song recordings produced by 40 (record producer)
Songs written by Drake (musician)
2009 songs
Universal Motown Records singles
Songs written by 40 (record producer)
Songs written by Trey Songz Kristiane Allert-Wybranietz (born 1955) is a writer and poet. She grew up in a small village in the Auetal, a valley near Hanover, Germany. After an interval of some years, she has again made her home in this region.  She began writing poetry at the age of 18 and published her first book of poetry, Trotz alledem (In Spite of Everything) in 1980, at the age of 25.  Three more books followed: Liebe Grüße (Warm Greetings) (1982), Wenn's doch so einfach wär (If It Were Only That Simple) (1984) and Du sprichst von Nähe (You Speak of Closeness) (1986). Her books became bestsellers and have made her one of the most successful poets in Germany today.  In her poems, Allert-Wybranietz deals with common things, with feelings and relationships.  In "Du sprichst von Nähe," she raises questions about being close and intimate with another person. Can two people really become one? Or should they? And what about giving up one's individuality?

Sources

1955 births
Living people
People from Schaumburg
German women poets