Look Back / Light song by haruka nakamura / Piano Cover

Original Song:
Light song · haruka nakamura · urara
"Look Back" Theme Song
   • Light song  

Piano Arrangement by Justin Wai

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Look back just recently took the crown of my favourite anime movie of all time. In a mere 56 minutes, it told a story of Fujimo and Kyomoto, from primary school to adulthood, and how their individual journeys through drawing brought them together and then apart again. Although the kind of 'art' I do is very different to drawing manga, Look Back's core themes of 'what it means to be an artist' is something that any artist can relate to. It truly is a perfect love letter to creativity, art and expression, and you can feel every bit of passion pouring out of the screen as you watch it. As the final credits roll and I watched Fujino sit there and draw while listening to 'light song,' it really made me reflect on my own journey as a pianist and all the ways music/art has brought immense colour into my life. Though there are plenty of hardships, disagreements, and relationships that don't work out, it is ultimately our passion for art, and seeing that passion through others, that continues to drive artists like me forward every day.

I intentionally took very few ambitious decisions for this cover - I wanted to portray this song's calming nature as is. Simple melody, simple chords, tasteful rubato, and expressive tone is all this cover needed to shine through exactly as I wanted it to.

I approached this recording session quite differently than normal - usually I put a lot of pressure on myself to play 'correctly,' and do as many takes as necessary in order to 'get it right'. But this time, I just wanted to freely express myself, put all my feelings on the table through this song. It is one of the extremely rare occasions that I was actually satisfied with my first take during my recording session. Although it was not entirely perfect from a technical standpoint, it contained all the raw emotion and expression I wanted, and I didn't think I would be able to re-create that true feeling of freedom on demand or by doing multiple takes.

So, paradoxically, I ended up publishing this 'imperfect' recording that I think perfectly captures the essence of Look Back - a true love letter to artists and what keeps us pushing forward. Through all the struggles life throws at us, we keep drawing, or playing, and treasure the beautiful moments our art brings us, both alone and with those we love. If you haven't seen look back yet, I can't recommend it enough for the life-changing impact it had on me.

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Piano 🎹: Yamaha CP88
Mic🎙️: Zoom H6 Black
Camera 📷: iPhone 13

tags
#piano #cover #anime #animeost #instrumental #movie #音楽 #鋼琴 #アニメ #オープニングテーマ #animeopening #ピアノ #弾いてみた #lookback #ルックバック