International music, News
MAITA – Japanese Waitress
MAITA is a singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon and her magnificent Waterbearer EP was one of my favorite new finds last year. MAITA just released a new single Japanese Waitress and this outtake from her forthcoming album is extremely powerful and emotive. It reminded me of a tweet by Cale Tyson that I just read the other week where the point was that if you want to make it in the music industry, you first have to make it in the food service industry. This song of course goes way deeper into the subject than that painfully real joke and has far more layers. It's not just the idea of needing these day jobs in order to be able to make art. The song is about her own experiences from working in a Japanese restaurant as a half-Japanese woman and therefore it's also about gender roles, femininity and racial prejudice. It's a courageous and effective song that really demands to be heard. MAITA is definitely one to watch and I'm super eager to hear her full-length sometime in 2018. While waiting I will keep this song and the earlier EP on repeat.
MAITA at Facebook
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