Effective Time Management Strategies for Artists ft. Anji Kaizen

Once I started producing my own music and I was like, I want this to be so much more. Like I want full productions. I want it very theatric. I want to like give a name to my creative self. So people like do a double take. They're like, oh wait, maybe I don't know what's going on. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. We're from being more coop to peace off. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the One More Time Podcast. It's Thursday. Welcome. We appreciate you tuning in. I'm Playback Ben here with my co-host, Henry with a three, aka the trap Jack Black. Henry, who do we have on the podcast today, my friend? Welcoming in on the 23rd. 23rd, Michael Jordan. 23rd, that's right. MJ episode. Love it.

On the 23rd episode of the One More Time Podcast, the pop punk queen herself behind hits like complicated and skater boy. It's Avril Lavigne. Avril Lavigne in the house. Okay, in a minute. I'm so happy to meet you, Avril. I mean, it's great to be here, guys. You have the uh the number one uh sold, the most sold album by any Canadian artist in the 21st century. True. You've beat out Drake so far still. Crazy. I think it's just because the streaming era has hindered his ability to sell records. It has in comparison to the Queen Avril. No, in all seriousness, folks, we have the alt-pop princess herself, Miss Ani Kaizen. Yes, Ani Kaizen. Ani. She traveled long and far to be here on the One More Time podcast. Sat in a little bit of Atlanta traffic, but she made it. We appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you guys helping me. Definitely. We're gonna get right into it. You are not born and raised in the city.

No. You're not a city girl by your history. No. Paint us a picture of where you grew up and kind of the scene that that was your your uh household. Okay. Um, so picture basically woods in all directions. I grew up um in Noonan, but kind of like that. Shout out Noonan. Shout out Noonan one time. Um so I grew up and I had horses that I rode, and like our neighbors had like a full farm with like pigs and like corn mazes and everything. So the full deal. Exactly. So uh music was kind of like my little escape that was like just for me kind of thing. Like, um, you know, you spend all day outside and then everybody comes back in the house, and a lot of times like music was a way for my family connect. My mom taught music and she played guitar. So I learned how to play guitar so we could all just like sit around and sing songs together. Nice. Yeah, sounds so farmy. It was very farmy.

Yeah, no, farmy. Just you know. Did you just make up a word? I th- we, we do make up words here, on the podcast. We always make words up on this podcast. But no, it's interesting, you know. Your mom, she said she she played lullaby classical music to like lull you to sleep, and she was trying to like ingrain music into your brain from an early age. Yeah, like the Einstein baby thing. Yeah, exactly. I didn't even know that was like a theory. No, I've heard it, I've actually heard you can play like uh babies if you play like Beethoven and Bach to them. They have like higher IQ. That's what well are you smart? I mean, What was your GPA in high school? is the theory. proven? I graduated with honors for virtual and college. Fair enough. It works, people. But yeah, so she was playing music for you to, you know, heighten your IQ apparently and to lull you to sleep at the same time. Then she also, you know, played some instruments and played a lot of music growing up, you know, around the house. But you know, Rick Rubin asked this question. I think it was an episode he did with Jaden Smith. Um, and he talked about kind of like when did music become something of your own and not someone else's, right? Because we all had maybe parents playing music, this, that, and the third, but like at what point do you think music became yours and something that you identified with?

Wow. Um shout out Rick Rubin for that one. Yeah, that's a great question. It's a heady ass Rick Rubin question. But I thought it was awesome because it's like, yeah, we all were forced to listen to certain things from our parents, but then like at some point we were the ones picking out the CDs or we were the ones downloading shit illegally on, you know, LimeWire or whatever. Like at what point did you kind of like take music on to yourself? You know what I mean? Uh I think for me, I had listened to like the radio a lot and stuff, but I think the moment that I realized, like, wow, I actually like really connect with this, and this is important to me, is um I used to think that every artist on the radio like wrote their songs. You know, I had like a very like a lot of people still think that, just so you're aware. Like, I was like, oh my god, like that's so cool. They just like sing and write about their life. So I started doing that, and like I started playing these songs for my family. and friends, and they were like, You wrote that? And I was like, Yeah, doesn't everyone write every song they sing?

And I'm Like, no. So um, I guess I realized then that I was doing something different from most people, and I really enjoyed the process of songwriting. Um, I was really into poetry first and singing. I sang everything all the time, picked up guitar and piano later to accompany myself. And then um my true love of music began with two distinct pieces of music. The first one was Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Well I have like a recurring thing. Actually, not anymore because my my we we got solar panels here, so my power doesn't go out. But before a year ago, my power would go out, probably like 15 minutes. Just if the wind fucking blew. If the wind blows too hard, my power goes out. And I would do a thing where I just take I do an Instagram story and it's just dark, and I would play the sound of silence every time. Hello, darkness my old friend. Yeah. But rest in peace to that because solar energy, shout out solar. Love Sound of Silence though.

But yeah, so I mean, outside of songwriting, you were a big writer. You mentioned, you know, you wrote poems. Yes. You even wrote a classic Nancy Drew novel at like the age of nine or something. Wait, what? Can you just give us the cliff notes? I can't believe my mom told you that. Can you just give us the cliff notes of like what was your take on a Nancy Drew mystery novel? Oh God. I think it was like her and her friends, like in the haunted library or something. Like it was very cliche kind of Nancy Drew, but I had a blast, right? Shout out Nancy Drew. Shout out. So you got into guitar in middle school and you started teaching yourself, right? Yes, yeah. Was your YouTube? Like, I don't know how old you are. Was there a YouTuber? How did you teach yourself? I think YouTube had just like Or did you actually have one of those guitar learning books that you like flipped through and they showed you what to do? What was the process? I just like Googled songs that I wanted to learn. So Google was around. Google was around. Shout out Google. She's not 70.

Um I don't know. It's tough with her hair. I didn't know if she was hiding grays underneath her or what. Yeah, she keeps me young. Um yeah. I got a gray patch coming in here, so don't hate. Ben's like 45. Don't look it, Ben. Thank you. But I Googled um songs I wanted to learn and then like would pull up chord charts. I think the first song I taught myself was Bubbly by Colby Caillat. I don't know if you guys remember her. Were you singing at that point too? Yeah, I was singing and playing. so you sang along to it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. That was the whole point for me going into it. I was like, I just want to accompany myself because I mean, you can't really like go perform and only sing, right? Did you like singing or playing guitar more at that point? Um, I really love singing more, but then as I got more into guitar, it became a passion for me as well. And then I was like, wait, this is such a cool instrument. Like, especially electric guitar. There's so many different sounds you can do and manipulations you can do. And then when I got you know into GarageBand and Logic, I was like, wow, shout out Logic. Shout out Logic.

You're a logic girl. Yes, I am. Logic squad. Logic squad all day. So you know, then that that's when it started to be like, I can create like a whole musical world. You know, it's not so much just I'm singing words, but like I want to create a whole soundscape for people. And I think part of that is because I have synesthesia. So like when I listen to music, I picture things, and that actually started when I was a kid. Synesthesia. So yeah, so do you like you like smell the music? No, no, I wish I smelled it, but I like get really crazy visuals when I listen to music. So from the classical music. I remember laying in bed and being like, oh, like there's a whole like series of things happening, like trees and the wind and colors and lights. Like I bet music videos come pretty easy to you then. Yes, they do. Yeah. When I'm writing songs, it's kind of like happening in my head too. Yeah. So so you end up actually going to college. Shout out to Lagrange College. Shout out to Lagrange.

To uh to actually, you know, study or you know, get a degree in music. I yeah, I found that fascinating because a lot of people that are in music now, they don't have a right a formal music major degree, right? Um, so what was your major going into to college at first? Um, so I was kind of undecided between creative writing or doing music and Lagrange College. I sent them my EP that I had recorded, all the songs written, like it was all me basically recorded at musicology. Um, and I sent it to them and they gave me a phone call and said, Hey, we love this. We're gonna give you a scholarship, please come. And I said, Okay, they're gonna pay me. Yeah, wow. Yeah, I'm gonna go there definitely. Easy choice. She's a businesswoman. Um, but but no, so you you were trying to, or you know, you were interested in majoring in like voice. Was that like an actual major or like so yeah, you can major in like vocal performance, guitar performance, or you can major in music education for a lot of colleges, but I the other reason I picked Lagrange is because they had songwriting, music composition, audio engineering, like they have a bunch of recording studios on campus, so you can go and record and study the music and learn about audio engineering. And I at the time I was like, I don't really just want to be a music teacher or like an opera singer, you know, which is kind of like the track they put you on when you go into music academically as a vocalist, they want you to be classical or like opera or musical theater, like in that kind of direction.

And then the other direction is you study a lot of theory and you learn about teaching, so you can become a music educator, like a band director. And I was like, I really want to be more in the creative scene. Like I want to be in the studio, I want to work with artists, I want to write the songs, I want to mix the music. So that's why I picked Lagrange College. And I actually ended up recording an album while I was there and then kickstarting releasing it. Which you probably already know since you talked to my mom. Yeah, yeah. He's the Nardwar of podcasters. But but so you actually had something happen freshman year, right? Yeah, yeah. That was it sounded kind of scary. I lost my voice. Yeah. It was very scary. for like a long time, like it wasn't like a rasp, you know, your horse from yelling at a sports game. Like you that like impacted what you were able to do, right? What happened? What happened? So uh what happened was in high school, I actually had a choir director who was lacking in altos. and he said, Hey, you know, Angela, like you're such a good vocalist that like I'm gonna put you in altos because I know you can handle it, even though you're a soprano. But the problem is when you are singing in the wrong vocal range or the wrong tessitura, it can start to wear on your voice.

So I was in a classic rock cover band in high school, and I was singing alto, and I was singing a lot in these lower ranges that were not meant for my voice. So I got into college, and of course, you know, I was doing voice lessons, I was doing the choir, and I remember walking in one day and starting to sing, and my voice created a diplotone. So basically, what happened to the diplotone. Yeah, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah. We we totally know what that is. But for those of them out there that don't know what a diplotone is. I use that word on a regular basis. Right, yeah. Yeah. I hadn't heard of it before either. But um, basically, when your vocal folds move, they close like this, right? But if you have a lot of scarring tissues that can like cause something to get in the way. So instead of closing properly and making a single note, it's like it hits, and there's two notes created. So I created two notes, and one was like scary low. Sounds like a good thing.

I mean, it's kind of a cool superpower, but also like it was painful and damaging to my voice. And I just like froze, like didn't know what to do, and just like covered my mouth, and I was like, I can't, like, I can't sing anymore. Like, I was scared even so I had to go to a voice specialist in Atlanta and they had to like do rehab your camera down into your throat. Oh wow. Look at my vocal cords and do vocal rehab. Yeah. It was a whole thing. Yeah. So you would recommend to singers out there to stay in their range. Stay in your range, stay hydrated. Um, don't over-exhaust your voice. I think I mean, you know, in college, we're all like, oh, I'm invincible, I can do all the things and like not get any sleep, but you know, uh with other instruments, you can probably play longer than you should and get away with it. But with your voice, like that wear and tear will build up into like vocal baggage and vocal trauma. Yeah. So that's kind of what I was encountering. Wow.

Yeah, yeah, that's wild. Yeah. No, I just found like going to school for music such an interesting thing because I I went to school and I studied business, and it's like I, you know, my class projects were like, you know, entrepreneurship and like starting a fake company or like reading balance sheets of fucking fortune five, you know, whatever like business stuff I had to do. Your class projects were not that right. So, like make an EP, yeah. No, yeah, no, yeah. So give us some examples of like class projects when you're in a music school, like oh yeah, okay. So I had to write a sonata for one of my music composition classes. Yeah, yeah, but you end up doing one project that leads to a a longer relationship. Where you you like coordinated the whole recording process for a punk rock band that was led by someone who may or may not or like a band member. be sitting in the room right now? May or may not be sitting in the room. Shout out Tori. Shout out Tori.

So clearly he's still around. And so you you end up coordinating the the whole, you know, I guess album recording process for his band at the time. Yeah. And like, did you know anything about that? Like, how did you do that? I kind of like figured it out as I went, I guess. I saw them perform at the masquerade, and they just like blew me away. And then I found it. Old masquerade. Shout out the old masquerade. We had a whole bit on the old versus the new masquerade. Zero shout-outs to the new masquerade. Don't care. Fuck you. You're such a hater, man. But yeah, so I'm gonna go hang out in underground Atlanta. I'm gonna pretend I have no opinion on this one. You do, please, because if you want to get booked by them, you should probably be quiet. Right, exactly. No, so you see his band play, and then you just and then I told them that I really loved their music and I wanted to work with them. So yeah, I got them in the studio and we just knocked it out in a weekend. And um, I had never really like done the producer role before, but I realized that like once we were in the studio, it was kind of intuitive, just like, okay, I think we should layer these guitars here. I want to go back and redo this.

Like, this needs to be a fuller sound. And obviously, like getting their input too was super helpful. Um, but going into it, I listened to a ton of punk rock because I hadn't really ever gotten into punk before. Um, and it wasn't on the curriculum. So I like dove into punk rock and was listening to a ton of bands, trying to get ideas, trying to get a feel for like what they were going for. And um, it was a really fun weekend, and we knocked out four songs. Yeah, it was four songs. Uh-huh. So it was super fun. Yeah. I mean, you end up starting a label from that experience, right? You're like, damn, this band's good. I should probably start a label and put out their next project. Like, is that how it happened? Yeah. Was it that second? So I heard the story. I was like, was it that simple? Of like, they're like, Yeah, she was really good at, you know, telling us she had a class project and needed, and we got you know, free studio time, assumedly, or like cheap studio time. She did a pretty good job.

We should probably like trust her to, you know, put out like so you start a label. And was their project your first one? You didn't even put your first project out on there, or I mean, no. Um, because my project had come out before I made the label. And then you're just like, yeah, my first release as a label is gonna be this other band. I'm an exec now. I'm a fat cat exec. Seriously. Fuck the artist game. Well, I really loved working with them, and they were starting to do music for me a little bit. Um, and when I asked Nick, I was like, hey, you know, what's next for you guys? What are you gonna do? He was like, Well, we've hit up a couple labels, nobody's responded to us, so we're thinking maybe we're just like gonna take a break and not do the music. And I'm like, you guys have this whole album done, and it's so good. Like, I love your music. And I said, I mean, I don't, I've never done this before, but like, what if I like make a label? And I mean, yeah, so I did. Someone's gotta put this out. I'm gonna do it.

Exactly. Your girl right here, CEO of Kaizen Records. That's that's that's really dope. Thanks. What were some key takeaways from you know, putting out that project? Um, some key takeaways were first of all, like, I really think it's worth doing things yourself. And even if you don't know what you're doing, like figuring it out as you go, because I think if I had known how much work it was gonna take before I started, I might not have done it. But then once I got into it, it was kind of like one thing at a time. I'm Like, okay, I've like registered as a business. Now what do I need to do? You know, I need to find our distributor. Okay, now I need to like figure out publishing. Okay, I've got that done. Now we need to like schedule releases, we need to schedule a tour. So it was kind of just like um I took it like one chunk at a time, and I also uh just like did a ton of research, a bunch of artists that I really loved and admired. We talked about some of their favorite labels, and we also like studied how they released. Um, so I'm really glad that I did it because up till then I hadn't really gotten into the music business side very much.

And I learned so much doing that that now I am able to take my music from beginning to end completely DIY, and that's I mean, a great skill to have, like in this day and age, just because there's so many people who want your money but maybe aren't gonna give you quality results. Like I had this one label try to sign me, but they wanted a million dollar buyout and they wanted rights to all my masters and everything, and I was like, I'm better off just doing this like on my own and maintaining all my rights, honestly. Here's something that I've struggled with. Do you think that like getting into the business side and understanding the business side, which is sad to say almost more important than the music? It's like the business if you want to actually like make it a career, you need that, you need to understand it, or you at least need someone on your team that understands it, right? Do you think that like trying to get into the business side of it and understanding that has impacted the actual, you know, musical and creative side of it? Because I get so deep into like trying to understand the business and doing all this.

And it's like, but am I like taking away from the creative part and and why I fell in love with this in the first place? The the musical part, you know, where's like the balance for you there? I think the balance for me is um I have a tendency to burn myself out Sure. right? Um, so it's actually kind of good because what I'll do is I'll just be like, okay, for this like season of time this week, this month, I'm only creating, right? And then once I feel like I burnt myself out creating, then I'm like, okay, this next month I'm just focusing on marketing and I'm doing all the business end of things just because I can't, I can't possibly try to write more songs right now, you know. So you separate them. I usually yeah, separate them out. So uh right now I'm more into like the business side of things because we knocked out a bunch of recordings this summer. Um, and obviously, like I'm still you know working on my music and my free time and creating, but I'm not hyper focused on it right now. Um, I'm more focused on I've created these songs, now I'm gonna like carry them out into the world.

I might need to try that, like have the designated and you do it by months, so and it also depends on the project. So, like when we were doing the Light EP, it was like two months, but every weekend that's all we were doing was just recording, um, producing, working on the songs. And honestly, I that works best for me just because I like throw everything I have into it, and then I'm tired and I can't even like listen to these songs anymore, right? I mean, I hear a lot of similarities between us, seriously. Like that might be something I need to do. I need to try. Because I every day I wake up, I'm like, okay, business, marketing, but like also make music. And like, what do I do? And I and you know, it's hard. Maybe like having a week where I dedicate. Yeah, I mean, the sad part is that content doesn't sleep, right? So, you know, we struggle with just like content creation, and that that's a never ending cycle. You can't take a month off. I mean, not in this, not in this day and age. It's tough. I mean, maybe if you're bash creating, you could bash create I love a good bash create. He's

the bash create king. But like, you know, you can't leave your fans hanging for a month at a time or two months at a time. They're going to go somewhere else. Yeah, I know for sure. And so you could make content for a whole week for the rest of the month, and then you could just make music. Exactly. That's what I do. So you were a music student. The student became the teacher. So you end up, you know, teaching uh, I guess, you know, vocal lessons, even some like piano and maybe guitar, like general music, uh, you know, lessons. Like what what was your teaching or what's your teaching style? Like, how would you like I'm I'm thinking like school of rock, Jack Black? Yeah. No, Actually, that was totally incredible. The trap Jack Black. The trap Jack Black. And so, you know, in line with the teaching, something that you know, both people that I got to speak with in preparation for this this episode talked about this like sense of community that you have fallen in love with that you like to build and kind of establish with you know, the you know, the music community that you're a part of. What do you think people meant by that? Like

why do they say that? Like, what are some examples or what does that really mean? Um, you know, I it's kind of interesting, I guess, that other people have picked on up on it, but it is like one of my, I guess, personal core values. And I think the reason is because when I was growing up, I felt very much like an outsider and like a misfit. Um, and now I know it's because like I had things like ADD and undiagnosed depression and like a lot of things happening, but also I felt that I was called to like a lot of creative things, and um so where I was at that kind of made me like a target at some points. Like I was bullied in middle school. I mean, it wasn't anything like too bad, but I just never really felt like a fit in. So I think around that stage of my life is when I realized like I really want people to connect with, like, I want a community, and so then you know, as I got older, I kind of realized like, you know, I'm gonna probably have to like build it, you know. You a lot of times when we go out into the world, like we have this idea of what we want, but other people's visions are obviously different than ours and other people's values, right?

So I I guess um, as Jory's mom would say, like you have to create the community that you want to see, like you have to be the change you want to see in the world. Okay. So on the One More Time podcast, when we feel like an artist has or a guest has dropped a gem, we ask that they just for the people in the back that didn't quite hear you, for Jory who's sleeping on the couch, repeat that one more time. Can you give it to them one more time? Yes, okay. You have to create the community that you want to see in the world, and you have to be the change that you want to see in the world. Yeah, that's big, It's powerful. Yes. So, what are some examples of you know that community that you've tried to build or like things that you've maybe done? Yeah, what have you done to like attract that kind of community? Uh, for example, when I started teaching music, um, I put a lot of emphasis on to really making sure that all of my students feel like a number one, they should feel cared for and they should also feel like they have freedom of expression. So the way I teach is more like guiding, like I will ask them questions and I'll guide them in a direction.

But I don't ever want to be someone who's like judgmental or shames my students or embarrass them, or is like you have to do it my way or you have to do it this way. So um when I work with someone and I teach them, I really tailor what I'm doing to them and their progress and their passion and their goals. Um and I still do that like to this day with all of my voice students that I have right now. Um so another another way that I approached that in the past was like when I was teaching at schools, rather than like going online and downloading some curriculum that's like, okay, print out these sheets and the kids are gonna sit for 30 minutes and do these sheets and turn them in. Um I instead I was like, hey guys, you know, what songs do you like? What bands do you like? And then we'd sit down and we'd pick out some of their favorite songs and bands, and then I'd say, okay, what interested, like what instrument are you interested in playing? And then we would get instruments donated or borrow them, or even like students would rent some or buy their own sometimes.

And we just started our own band of them playing songs that they loved. So this is literally school of rock. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. She sounds like very much like a producer. Like these answers are very like producer-oriented, like I do love picking, like understanding what someone wants And you know, and providing whatever it is that it takes to get them to that level. These are very much like producer things that I try to tap into. Yeah. So I mean, are are you a producer by by trade? Like, do you produce music for other artists or for yourself? Like, are are you a producer? Do you identify that way? I do identify. It's not like I wouldn't say like I don't know, that production is like my main focus, but um part of my teaching is I come at it like a vocal coach. So if you think about like um Jan Smith Studios in Atlanta for example, shout out Jan, Mama Jan. We know Mama Jan. Mama Jan. We'd love to have you on the podcast.

Mama Jan for real. Do it, Mama Jan. Do it, Mama. Jan, seriously. So that kind of approach of like, you know, she is in there while the artists are recording and she's coaching them and producing the vocals. She's a vocal producer. Exactly. She's a vocal producer. So I would say, yes. Legendary one. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And that's what I found myself doing. You know, I I I always, you know, said, Oh, I'm a I'm a recording engineer, and you can come to my studio and I'll record you. Right. But it's like I'm really working with these artists. Yeah. You know, if they if they like have a line where I'm like, well, you know, that word isn't really necessary. If you took that word out, it might flow better. Or if you hit this note instead of that one, it might work with the record. That's producing. real time. Exactly. But I have also done mixing for other artists, production for other artists. Um, and that's why I love music, is it's so multifaceted. Yeah, you have to like be able to focus your energies, especially when you're the type of person that wears so many hats. Yes.

You have to be able to, like, okay, I'm doing this hat now. Exactly. Yeah. That's very important to me as a creative. So let's talk about the artist hat. We have Ani Kaizen. Ani Kaizen. Where in the hell does Ani Kaizen come from? Yeah. That's not your government. What is the origin story of the name? What does it mean? Okay, origin story of Ani Kaizen is basically I didn't want to be Angela Hutchins anymore. There's several others on the internet. Yeah, that's my real name. Shout out, Angela Hutchins. And that was your former artist name, though? That was my former artist name. Okay. Um, and I think people just kind of pigeonholed me as like girl holding a guitar, and I I just didn't really feel like it represented my creative self. That sounds like Angela Hutchins. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, she sounds like an acoustic blonde-haired girl for sure. Exactly. That's exactly what it was. Are you naturally blonde? I am. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was like Angela Hutchins for sure. But okay, so Ani Kaizen.

So once I started producing my own music, and I was like, I want this to be so much more. Like I want full productions, I want it very theatric. I want to like give a name to my creative self. So people like do a double take. They're like, oh wait, maybe I don't know what's going on. Like, what even is this? So Ani is um a shortening of my name, but it's also a Sanskrit term, and it means a gift given with both hands. And so the reason I picked that is I think a lot of times in the music industry, like it's really easy to get caught up in the business side and the money side, and people just start to hustle and they kind of forget why they're doing it in the first place. And big gems. Ani's dropping gems. Run that one back one more time. Yeah. So in the industry, it can be so easy to get lost in the hustle, the grind, trying to make money, and like we forget why we started making music, you know, is like to kind of because it was so fun. Yeah, it all started messing around with our friends and jamming and exactly dancing. Yeah.

Yes. So Ani is the gift given with both hands, and that's what I want my music to be. I want to always remember that I'm giving something to other people in the hopes of a genuine connection and that they will feel like I've given them something, you know. Um, so that's where Ani came from. And then Kaizen actually started as Kaizen Records, and that was the name I picked for my record company So you picked that before Kaizen? Yes. Oh wow. Oh shit. I didn't get that in my research. No, you're kidding. Yeah. That's great. That's why we have the podcast. Yeah. So Kaizen Records, I pick Kaizen because it means good change. But it it's more than that too. It also means like constant improvement. In what language again? Or like what? In Japanese, yeah. So it's actually like a Japanese business term in philosophy. Um, if you run a Kaizen-based business, it means you put people before profit. So that's what I wanted to do approaching the music industry. I was like, I want it to be about the artists, I want it to be about the people. I want to invest in my artists and see them grow.

And it's not so much about how much can I squeeze out of this artist? Or, you know, it's more about I'm mindfully creating this community and I want to invest in them and I want to see them get better and improve. And same with the label, you know, that applies to the label too. We're constantly changing, like in good positive change. Sure. How I love your name so much more now. That's amazing. It's incredible. Yeah. So what would you say the vision behind the sound is, right? So you didn't want to be the you know, girl with the guitar, maybe more acoustic, kind of, you know, that that whole sound. What what's the vision behind Ani Kaizen, you know, this project of yours? Yes. Um, so with Ani Kaizen, I want this to be, I'm basically creating entire soundscapes. So I really love artists like Bjork, right? So every project she does, it's it's a whole world that she's building. It's not just like, oh, I wrote this song. She is very mindful about like what she wears, um, all of her art.

She does all these accompanying like vid visuals and videos. That's the synesthesia coming in. Exactly, exactly. So I was like, I really want to tie into the synesthesia. I want this to be a full production, I want it to be a whole experience for people. Um, so that's kind of the vision with Ani Kaizen. And obviously, you know, I'm still growing. I technically only have been Ani Kaizen for a year, even though I've been releasing music as Ani. So just this past year I did the full rebrand. Um, I started working for myself full time, and so beautiful congratulations. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. So the goal is to get to the point where I am touring and recording and making music full-time, and you know, that's that's kind of the vision right now. That's awesome. So the most recent release was Center, I believe, right? Uh-huh. You did preview some unreleased shit that was incredible. So this episode may or may not be out before that. So, anyway, stay tuned. But so center was your latest release.

Uh, you know, what was the what was the inspiration behind that record? What you know, what's that one all about? Um, center, the song itself is really about overcoming toxic relationships. So it's from the Light EP, and I challenged myself for the light EP to write fun, upbeat, happy songs. Because you had a dark EP, as well. Because I had the dark EP, right? So I was like, I don't want to be a total downer. Look at Henry doing his research. Yes, a little bit. I I thought he just heard of you when you walked in the door, but like a little before that. There you go. Oh, he knows, man. So yeah, we've got the dark EP. So I did the light EP. Um, so with center, I wanted like a really fun, like kind of kick-ass, like, I'm over you kind of song. Okay. Love it. Jory, not to be taken literally. Yeah. Fortunately. Shout out Jory one more time. This is art. This is this is creativity, man. Exactly. So I had actually like dated a total narcissistic ex. And like that song was kind of like, you're not the center anymore. Like I'm literally moving on from this.

Oh wow. Shifting your center. Exactly. Okay. I don't want to talk about you anymore. I don't want to think about you anymore. That's awesome. you don't get any more songs written about you after this one. Exactly. Let's play a quick snippet from uh from center. Let's definitely do that. I don't want to talk about you anymore. All the ways you cut me straight to the core. And I don't want to think about you anymore. All the things that I've read from who I was before when you were at the center, You were at the center. Not anymore. So that so that was a snippet from Center, your most recent release. There's also a remix out. Yeah.

That was uh an EDM kind of dub dubsteppy dance remix. How did that happen? Uh honestly, totally out of the blue. So I'm on Twitter, and sometimes I'll like post my songs for people making playlists because there's a bunch of playlisters on Twitter. So I just shared Big Key, Jim. Yeah, super important. If you're not on Twitter, get on Twitter. Bruh. So I'm not sure. That's a key for me. I'm like, yeah. Yeah, get on Twitter. I'm on it, but I didn't realize that it was a playlist or Haven, like a playlist community. Yeah, okay. So that's awesome. Constantly. So I posted the song, and this French EDM producer, just out of nowhere, was like, hey, I really love this. Can you please send me the stems? And I was like, yeah, sure. I mean, why not? They're on the way. Yeah, exactly. And within 48 hours. No way. Within 48 hours, they had a completed remix sent to me, and it's so good. I was like, what? Random, random person on the internet. It's it's amazing.

Yeah, so shout out to Mouse's Mistake who found me on Twitter. That's a cool name. Shout out to Mouse's mistake. Mouse's mistake. What a dope name. Yeah. Almost almost as cool as Ani Kaizen. Is the mouse's mistake that he went to get the cheese out of the trap? Is that the mistake? Oh or am I looking too deep into this? I think you're thinking way too hard about this. But I don't know. Let's ask him. Let's ask him. Mouse's mistake. We'd love to have you on the podcast, my friends. Just so we could ask you this one question to be honest. It'll be a short episode. So you mentioned Bjork, right? Shout out to Iceland. As kind of one of the success models. I know that artists typically don't like this question, but who are some of the other, I guess, you know, influences for the sound. So like not necessarily people that you just you know listen to and and like listening to, but people that have actually influenced what the sound is gonna be like for Ani Kaizen. Basically, who would you love being next to on a playlist, right? Like Spotify like artists similar to.

So, you know, center comes right after who, like who, you know, who's kind of some of those those success models for you. Um, so I love lights. She's from Canada, she's freaking amazing. I don't know if I can curse or not on fucking amazing. There's no fucking cursing on the fucking one more time fucking goddamn podcast. My mom does fucking watch these fucking episodes though, so well fuck, okay. Yes, but everyone asked that. We should probably just preface it with you can cuz. No, it's way funnier for them to ask. All right. Well, now I know. Um, but yeah, she's fucking brilliant. So she she does all her own art. She does all of her own mixing, recording, production, everything, start to finish. And she's so talented. So who else is kind of, you know, some of those topics. So another one would be I love Paramore. obviously. I've got the colored hair, right? Shout out, Haley. Haley, We already told you on Leah Culver's episode. But we'd still love to have you on the podcast. You haven't had me back yet.

So Haley, check your DMs. Do it, Haley. Love you too. Yeah. That's awesome. So obviously a massive influence is Paramore. I remember my cousin got me the Riot album when I was like 12 or 13, and it just like changed my life. Um I was also really into a lot of pop punk. Um as a like Avril. Don't say Avril. I mean a few. Yeah. Yeah. Finally, one of our celebrity lookalike roasts. I got it. Comes full circle. I got my roast. Was on point. But yeah, so just like to throw a few names out there. Like people I'm recently listening to, like Tosh Sultana, Tame Impala, Alt-J. I love all of them. Oh, I love Alt-J. It's probably one of the best concerts I've ever been. I've seen them a couple times Oh my God. so jealous. So good. Oh, you you have never seen them? I haven't. Oh man. Story and I like we've had tickets to a few. I saw them at the Roxy most recently. This is I mean most recently, two years ago. Yeah before COVID, obviously. BC. Before the Pandoramic.

Yeah. But before the Pandora. Uh and I actually I was one of those guys that like just my friend was super into them. Yeah. And he was like, hey man, you want to go to this concert? Yeah. I was like, who is it? Alt J is like, who the fuck's that? Like I I didn't know who it was. Yeah. Then immediately became a fanboy. Like, that's what I love about live shows. Yeah. And their ability to like seriously transform you into a super fan overnight. Like it's just I'm now one of the biggest Alt-J fans. Like I love Alt-J. It takes a lot more time to create a super fan just on social media or just by streaming than it does. I think, at a live show. Oh, yeah. If you can it's more of a spiritual experience to be at a show and be moved in the moment, and you're standing there and you're actually there. It's like you can really get deep fast. that human connection, yeah. And seeing other people, you know, you know, seeing how much it impacts the other people in the crowd. And how passionate they are. Yeah. I was like, damn, these guys know every breath. You know what I mean? So what's next for you? Um, you know, you kind of previewed some stuff for Henry and I, so it is uh another single on the way.

Yeah. So that's what's next for you. Yeah, you guys just heard Monsters, so that's the next one that's dropping just in time for Halloween. And after that, we're gonna release another single. So going forward, we're gonna get more into rock and pop punk just because those are honestly super nostalgic for me, and I love writing that style of music. Yeah. Um after that, probably gonna do a full EP, but we're gonna kind of test the waters with like a couple singles first, and then gonna do a Kickstarter for that EP. Um, and so get your checkbooks ready, folks. Yeah, because there's gonna be some really cool shit on the Kickstarter, just saying I've already started designing it and like brainstorming. Yeah, we might need to pick her brain on that whole Kickstarter world because that's something we've never even talked about. And it's not just like give me money, it's like you can you know you can give people you know incentives, experiences and rewards, yeah, because you've done it before already. Yeah, yeah. So I need to we'll talk. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, Kickstarters are the bomb. That's awesome.

One thing I want to make sure that I get to say is that I loved the EDM collaboration. Yeah, I think you should totally lean into that world. I think that your vocals are very, you know, they pair really well with EDM tracks. Um, and I think like if that's something that you had fun, you know, having made just willy-nilly, right? Some guy hit you up. And like I think like making it a like conscious effort to dive into that. Like, if the center remix happened with no effort whatsoever, just imagine what could happen if you like tried. Yeah, I mean, I love the EDM scene just because like I do love music festivals. So I've already dropped three songs with uh DJ Scales. Yeah. So out of the way. Shout out Scales. Yeah. Uh Butterfly Effect, Hideaway. We've done several songs together, and I've actually started working with a UK management company where I write top line vocals for their DJs and producers. Yes. I am starting to get more into that. She's 10 steps ahead of you, Ben. That's great. Yeah. I I just I just loved, you know, loved hearing that record. And I think that like your style of vocals just fits really well with that type of sound, right? You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, Henry. Uh-oh. We've come to

uh the final segment uh of the One More Time podcast. Oh shit. It's everyone's favorite. It's gonna be Ani's favorite, it's gonna be Jory's favorite. I can guarantee it. Uh-oh. Buckle up, Ani. Okay. This is the Rapid Fire Rampage, curated by Henry with a three. Ladies and gentlemen, the rapid fire rampage is about to proceed. So, what we got in store for you for this rapid fire rampage. It's a three-part rampage. Okay. I'm gonna ask you some short answer questions. Okay. I'm gonna do some this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You're gonna pick one. And then we're gonna do a word association. I'm gonna give you one word and you're gonna just spit one word back at me. The less you think, the better. This is completely. This is you can like, we should almost put a blindfold on our guests, like when they do this. You know, what I mean? do you have a blindfold spare? around here? I know, but like, you know, it's just a thought. I don't know. Okay. Anyway, Rapid Fire Rampage. Episode 23. Ani Kaizen.

Starting with the short answers. Are you ready? I'm ready. That was the short answer. That was the first one. That was the first question. No. Okay. We're gonna start off easy here. Give us two of your top five artists or bands of all time. Paramore and Paris. Give us two of your top five animates of all time. Your Lie in April and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Magica. It's a mouthful that last one. What was the last one? Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's like, about magical girls. Magical girls. Magical girls. How many golf balls could fit in a bouncy house? Oh. So many golf balls? A bouncy house full of golf balls. I really am, I really don't know. So many. No, that's a good answer. So many. You heard it here first. That'll work.

That'll work. So many. It's not very accurate, but we'll take it. We're not looking for accuracy here. It's January 2012. You've just been hired as the CEO of Blockbuster. How do you save the company? I buy out Netflix. Genius. Gosh, she's such a businesswoman. If you were an app, what would you be? I would be like a really fun, like fairy world app where you can like go around and like take pictures of the outside world and like shows up in real time in the app. Kind of like Pokemon Go, but like more real world centric. She's thought about that. That was amazing. She's given this some thought. My brother and I are designing it. Are you serious? Yeah. Holy shit. Oh, man. Fucking there you go. That's not fair. Jesus. She's an app developer. Wow. She'd be her own app that she's building.

She's crushing this rampage so far. We really meant like an existing one, but that was way better. Let me get to the hard questions. Apparently, these are too easy. Yeah. Softballs. In uh in 20 seconds or less, teach me something. I don't know. Do you know how to lick your nose? I don't. Okay. So you like stick your tongue out super far. Love that. Okay. Like point it though. Like just try to go as far out as you can. This is incredible, folks. And then you're just gonna like flip it up. Simply lift it up. Yeah, but you have to like really try to push it forward as you lift it or it's not gonna work. Yeah, okay. Okay. I can't do it, but I've learned the techniques. Yes, now you know. Just practice. So that counts, yeah. Practice. This is so great. Okay. For all of you at home, try this carefully because it's very dangerous. You probably won't get it your first try.

It took me a week or two. So you can't learn it in 20 seconds, but she tried. I taught him how to do it. Not successful. You said teach me something. I learned the techniques. Moving on, we're rampaging here. Okay. Okay, yeah. Rapido Fuego rampage. That's right. Whatever you said, yeah. Let's go. What are three things that we would find in your fridge right now? Some silk soy yogurt, mango flavored. That's the best. Um, some body armor and some cheese sticks. Wait, body armor? Yeah, you know, like the drinks. No. They're like the drinks. Oh, yeah, okay, yeah, okay. I knew exactly what she meant. And then you had no idea. That was no, I've heard it. I know, I know about it. I just might be able to do it. You know, it's like Gatorade, but different. Yeah. Okay. Describe the color yellow to a blind man. It is sunshine and warmth, and it's very soft at the same time. So if you were to touch it, it's like velvety smooth and warm.

Yeah. So good. That's that synesthesia coming in. Yeah, that's a perfect question for her. It's like, damn. Wow. Okay. If you were one part of this bicycle, what would you be? Uh the water bottle holder. Because like I need to stay hydrated. Because of this right here. It's incredible. I don't think this will fit. Let's see. Yeah. Absolutely not. Okay. Oh. Oh no. Okay. We'll get that later. Sorry. Yeah, rip rip water bottle. Okay. Terrible. Sorry. Moving on. It's a very interactive rampage. Yeah. We're licking noses and dropping water bottles. everywhere. We're rampaging. And she's almost falling in her chair. Can you guys focus, please, on the rampage? Thank you. Jesus Christ said. Sorry, sir. We're here. On a scale of one to ten. How weird do you think you are? Oh, like definitely a 10. Love it.

Yeah. How do you like your eggs? Um, slightly runny over easy. What a first part of the rampage. You're doing great. Part one. Minus the water bottle that Henry threw on the floor. No, that was great too. Unsuccessfully teaching him something in 20 seconds. You're doing really well. Successfully taught. No, I was taught. I just I can't execute, but I was taught. In my eyes, 10 for 10 on the first part of the rampage. I guess we have different definitions of teaching. But that's neither here. nor there. You can teach someone something, but You can teach a horse how to drink water, but you can't make them drink. Exactly. So Wow. it's a weird way to prove me wrong, but we'll take it. Part two of the rampage. It's gonna be the this or that. Okay, sweet. I'm gonna give you two options. Just pick the one that you feel gravitated toward the most without thinking about it. Here we go. Part two, rampage, episode 23 of the One More Time music podcast, Ani Kaizen. Lyrics or melody?

Melody. Farm or city? City. Yoga pants or jeans? Yoga pants. A hundred percent of the time. SpongeBob or Patrick. Oh, uh Patrick for sure, yeah. Theme park or water park? Water park. Good choice. Splash splash. That's right. Christmas or Halloween. Halloween. No brainer. Pineapple pizza or candy corn? Pineapple pizza. You might have answered this one in the podcast, but I still want to just make sure. Guitar or singing? Singing. Tacos or sushi. Oh, sushi. Yeah. Art museum or history museum? Art museum. Phone notes, pen and paper, or mental. Pen and paper.

Yeah. Old school. I like it. Cash or credit? Credit. Tattoos or piercings? Piercings. Do you have any tattoos? Nope. There you go. It's too much of a long-term commitment. I hear you. I hear you. You can take out a piercing. Robots or dinosaurs? Ooh, robots. Part two of the rampage. Part two. I was a little less chaotic than the first part. Yeah. Breezing right along. We've come to the final part of the Rapid Fire Rampage. It's the word association. Ooh. I'm gonna give you one word. Okay. Just give me the first word. It could be like two words, just the first thought. First thought short, you know, thought off the top of your head. Whatever pops into your brain when I say this word. We want to hear it. Cool. Here we go. Rampage! Jupiter. Saturn. Poodle. Dog.

That's true. Stress. Headache. Tulip. Blossoming. Studio. Ghibli. What is that? What? Is that a studio? name? Studio Ghibli? You know, like the Miyazaki films, like Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I have no idea what you're talking about. Is that the studio that put those movies out? Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh wow. Now you taught me something. Yeah, why don't you lead with that instead of the fucking tongue on the nose thing? You enjoyed that. Yeah. A little bit. In like some weird way, It was more just like, I'm so glad I have the footage of Henry trying to do that for my rest of my life. Yeah. You're welcome. I was going to zoom in on me on the content clips. It's definitely being it's definitely gonna be its own post. Jesus Christ. Henry trying to lick his nose. I mean, I'm so happy that you didn't. Yo, your check is in the mail for that one. We're moving on. Rapid fire rampage. Here we go. Ice cream. Cupcakes. Okay. Someone shouldn't do that. Ice cream cupcakes? Yeah. Yeah, because there's ice cream cake, but hit up Bruster's about that. Yeah, I have a have a tie to Brewster's.

His dad owns Bruster's. Seriously? Yeah. Not the whole thing, but like my dad's name is Bruce. Yeah. Moving on, moving on, moving on. Cryptocurrency. Overhyped. Oh. She's not buying the dip. No, you can miss out on these gains. I mean, I have some, but moving on, rampage. We're trying to rampage here, people. Right, right. Leather. Cleather. It's vegan. Are you vegan? I mean, I have been. I probably will be again. You said sushi. I do. I do love the sush. Okay. More like a passive pescatarian. I hate when people abbreviate things that are super short already. No, but that's a good one. You go from sushi to sush. I like that one. Fucking the sush.

Thank you. Okay, so it's actually just as many syllables. So you didn't even abbreviate it. No, but it sounds way cooler, Ben. You wouldn't understand And he gets it. cool things. He doesn't get cool things. So we're not rampaging. Can we keep this on track? Sorry. Children. Listen. Listen to the children. I thought for a second you were calling us children for not like keeping up with the rampage. You were like, temple rampage. Now I am children. A part of me thought that same thing, but then he didn't say anything after. So I was like, I think she needs to answer this one. Accordion. Harmonium. Party. Hard. Chandelier. I'm gonna swing. Rainbow. Sheep. Government. Overthrow.

Yeah. A little anarchist on our hands. Time for the revolution. Yeah. Yeah. Center. You are not the center. What a rampage. What a rampage. What an episode. Ani Kaizen. We appreciate you coming on the show. One more time. Definitely the first alt pop princess that we've had on the podcast. Indeed. And you know, honestly, it was really great learning, you know, your story. Um, kind of, you know, that teacher mentality that you've had. You've built this, you know, sense of community uh around you over the years. And I think that you really, like you said, you're only a year into the new artist brand, barely. So I'm super excited to see what comes uh you know of this. You already have another record on the way and plenty more in the bag. We appreciate you coming on. Um, and until next week, folks. Henry, what are we doing? We're getting out of here, fam. Peace out. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye