← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
Equalizers: TOKiMONSTA's 'Eternal Reverie'
00:25:38
DJ and producer TOKiMONSTA was the first Asian-American woman nominated for Best Dance / Electronic Album at the Grammy Awards.
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- [00:00]
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Toki Monsta
Listener supported WNYC Studios.
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Alison Stewart
This is all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. In 2016, my next guest underwent surgery that left her unable to hear music as more than harsh metallic sounds. A few years later, she became the first Asian American woman to be nominated for a Grammy for Best Electronic Dance Album. This month, she released a new album called Eternal Reverie for another edition of our series, Women in Music Production. Here's the song, switch it from tokimonster.
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Toki Monsta
I mean, I mean, what else can you talk about?
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Anderson Paak
More lore and plays and trees coming down to keep it interesting? Tell me how you plan to capture me, baby do you really want to date me? But you can't shake me Cause I'm stuck in a daydream somewhere else baby so you wake me, baby why you said boring baby I'm snoring you should be adoring you should give it up come spoil me by yourself.
- [02:06]
Alison Stewart
DJ and producer Jennifer Lee, AKA Toki, has been a leader in electronic music and hip hop for the last decade and a half. She was the first woman signed the music label Brain Feeder, founded by influential producer Flying Lotus. Her latest album is a celebration of music as a gift. In the process of making it, she deliberately set aside time from touring and other commitments. Jennifer's also produced a number of other artists and runs her own label, Young Art Records. Toki, welcome to all of it.
- [02:34]
Toki Monsta
Hey, thanks so much for having me.
- [02:36]
Alison Stewart
So you've talked about going back to a time before music became sort of your job. It was a necessary thing, something you enjoy, but that was necessary, a time back to when you just really enjoyed it. Tell me about that time. How did you find your way into music?
- [02:54]
Toki Monsta
You know, I think from a practical sense, I knew that it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be realistic to have music as a career. So being passionate about it, I was like, what could I do? And that really was just go out in L. A and go in the scene and hang out with other people who also love music. And that's really what brought me to this career unintentionally, is by going into it with absolutely no desire to make it a career, just to keep it something as passionate and creatively driven as possible.
- [03:29]
Alison Stewart
What kind of music did you grow up around?
- [03:32]
Toki Monsta
For me, I think, I mean, as a young child, like, I'm sure many people, Piano lessons, classical music, church music, things like that. But, you know, as I grew older, I discovered the radio and really I fell in love with, like, west coast hip hop and R and B. And that kind of drove my exploration into discovering what else there was to offer in music. Then from there, I was like, oh, I really like bossa nova. Or I really like drum and bass. I like house music. And realized that I just was a passionate appreciator and lover of all types of music.
- [04:15]
Interviewer
Let's go back to a really early track of yours. Let me trick you. When was this released?
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Toki Monsta
Oh, my goodness, 2010 or 11, perhaps.
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Interviewer
Okay, tell us about your career. At that time.
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Toki Monsta
I didn't really have one, or I guess, you know, I think. I think at the point that that album came out, I might have made the decision to pursue music. And truly, at that time, I was like, there's just no way. I can't see myself making it. I see all my peers trying to do music full time, and they're definitely making it or living, like, a quality life without also building some level of resentment towards music. Right. And for me, at that time, it was still just about creative expression and trying out music as a career. Like, I told myself, if I didn't make it, I would just go, I don't know, try to go back to school, get a new job, you know, all those things. But at the time that that particular song came out, I took the leap of faith. Sorry, Took the leap of faith and was like, you know what? Let's just try this out. Let's see if I can do music full time.
- [05:28]
Interviewer
Let's take a listen. This is Let me trick you.
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Alison Stewart
I'm speaking to DJ and producer Toki Monster. Her new album is Eternal Reverie, and she's joining me as part of our Women's History Month series, Equalizers. She'll be performing in New York on May 22nd and May 2024th. So, Toki, that song has a very different vibe than your latest album. How has your style or your approach to music production changed over the last 15 years?
- [07:17]
Toki Monsta
I think at that time, when I first started making music, I was just this fully unfocused, creative, wild child. You know, I wanted to see what music I could make, and I truly was just making anything that felt good to me. And I think this many years later, I have grown to sort of refine my identity As a musician, and it's important for me to have, like, I guess, a voice in that way. I mean, I'm a producer. I don't really sing or anything, but whatever that signature is, that is me I've really worked on over the years. And as an art, as the artist I am today, I still look back at that wild sort of untamed musician and use that to shape where I am, just to make sure that I'm always being creative and not trying to follow a formula. But I do think that it's for me that I've found somewhat of an identity at this point.
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Alison Stewart
Let's talk about Eternal Reverie. It dropped on March 7. When did you start working on that album?
- [08:17]
Toki Monsta
I started working on it early of last year. Wait, what year was that? 2024. So the very top of 2024. I started refining all these ideas because I'm constantly working on music at any given moment. I'm like, I think I want to make a beat right now. I'll just hunker down and open my laptop and see what I could put together. But at the point about, I guess, a little over a year ago, I decided I really wanted to start compiling these ideas and working on them and fleshing them out more.
- [08:47]
Alison Stewart
You said that you use every album. As a journalist, what would you say is the important part of your journal for Eternal Reverie?
- [08:59]
Toki Monsta
I mean, it's like. Or when I say journal, it's this analogy of a specific period of time, right? Like when I put out. Let me trick you. That was a specific point in time. That was me in an era I can remember. That's when I was going out a lot in LA and discovering all these different subcultures. And, you know, you fast forward to Eternal Reverie, and this is sort of this celebration of youth and experimentation and dreaming. Sadly, it's also very, unfortunately intertwined with a lot of loss that I had also experienced last year. So it's. There's a lot of complicated feelings around this album because, you know, I lost my best friend last year. I had to not cancel. I pushed this album until now so I could take time off to take care of my friend during her last month of life, you know?
- [09:58]
Interviewer
And that was your friend Regina?
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Toki Monsta
Yeah, this is my friend Regina Biondo. So it's. It's mixed, right? But I'm hoping that this album also represents healing and the journey through grief. And at the end of this album cycle that I would have perspective, because the kind of experiences I. I had last year, those befall everyone, loss and grieving. That is something that humans are not immune to. And I think in putting out this album, I really hope that this can be some level of a hero's journey, you know, some level of like seeing the other side of difficulty and hardship.
- [10:42]
Interviewer
My guest is Toki Monsta, DJ and producer. It's part of our Women's History Month series, Equalizers. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of It.
- [11:00]
Alison Stewart
You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. I'm speaking to DJ and producer tokimonsta. Her new album is Eternal Reverie. She is joining me as part of our Women's History Month series, Equalizers. By the way, she'll be performing in New York on May 22 and May 24. Let's play another track from your new album. This is called On Some. Tell me more about who's on this track.
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Toki Monsta
On Some features Anderson Paak, a longtime friend and collaborator of mine, and Ray Khalil, who is actually just one of the most incredible up and coming artists right now, who's actually on his on his label. So it was nice to have the family together on this track.
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Alison Stewart
How did you meet Anderson Paak?
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Toki Monsta
Oh man, I met him so many years ago. He, I mean, I told him from the beginning and he knows that I always told him like, dude, you're going to be so big, you're going to be massive. You're going to be huge and famous. You are so talented, you know, and at the time it's like, you know, him and his, you know, his child and the mother of his child were living in a small apartment in Koreatown. You know, he was driving a car that was borrowed from someone else and he was just hustling at that time to make music and work with so many different artists. And if you ever look back on his discography, if you look at his early work, he really got out there and worked with as many people as he could. And he's one of my favorite human beings, one of my favorite creative human beings and friends. You know, we still hang out, just go to dinner, you know, paint the town red. All the things like that is my buddy. And him succeeding just makes me feel that. It makes me feel like I'm like a fortune teller in some aspect. But truly it just feels great to have, you know, one of your like friends and family just shining above and beyond. So it was really nice to be able to come back and create this song together. After creating our first song in 2014. Maybe it's. It's been a while since our first track together.
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Alison Stewart
This is on some.
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Anderson Paak
I don't hardly drink too much I go off and think too much I'm cool as long as you love I'm in love, I'm in love, yeah I might pass it right back to you in my past life I might have knew ya I get high and baby, you're the drug, you're the drug. You the drug And I feel like I hate the progressive. I hate the progressive. I wanna finesse it, you know? I spend my whole life searching for heaven I'm closer than ever I think I can catch feeling like. I feel like I'm awesome. I. I feel like I'm awesome when I'm on you. I got something I just gotta run through.
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Alison Stewart
That is the latest. It's called On Stage. I want to play another track from Eternal Reverie. This is Enjoy youy Life is a really joyful music video, Toki. Full of people dancing in everyday places on the bus while vacuuming. What message did you want to come from this song?
- [14:38]
Toki Monsta
Really? That. I mean, it might sound like really cliche because it is in the title. Just. Just taking a moment to savor and enjoy your life. You know, there's a lot of hardship and negativity, and we are constantly exposed to this. But, you know, it's nice to pause and smell the flowers and also take count of all the things that are wonderful about life. And sometimes it's just about going out on the street, you know, enjoying a sunny day and being with your friends and being kind of present in life.
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Alison Stewart
Let's take a listen. This is Enjoy your life.
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Anderson Paak
Don't say you ever.
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Toki Monsta
So.
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Interviewer
That'S the song. Enjoy youy Life. I'm speaking to DJ and producer Toki Monsta. So, Toki, that will be a nice segue to what happened to you. Ten years ago, you were diagnosed with a disease that affects blood flow to the brain, and you underwent two brain surgeries in 2016 which affected how you both process language and music. I. They probably told you, but I had to undergo brain surgery a year ago. So I've been. I know what it's like to wake up and not be able to talk. Exactly. What was the snow? Please go ahead.
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Toki Monsta
No, I was saying it's like a weird club to be in, not knowing how to talk anymore. Club.
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Interviewer
What was the exact effect on. On you and your. Your. The disease you had?
- [17:10]
Toki Monsta
I mean, it was interesting because the aphasia, the lack of speech was the result of the surgery that I had to undergo to save my life. So you are warned in advance that that's a very likely thing to happen. You will have aphasia. You may lose your ability to speak, but it varies on people from person to person, and you don't know exactly the level of permanence. So when you're afflicted with aphasia, you just wake up one day and you're like, wow, I cannot speak anymore and I can't understand anyone. You really don't know how long you're going to be in that position. And for me, it was alarming. And it's. It's very, you know, I'm sure you felt the same way. You're like, how am I going to navigate this? Because even though you can't speak, you're still cognizant, you know, you can't speak, at least unless in my. In my situation. So all I could do is just focus on recuperating. And I'm sure, too, with, you know, any person who's had their brain tinkered with, it's not just speech. There's all these other things that happen. Like, suddenly you can't use your left hand, or it's hard to walk, or I can't put my sweater on, you know, drop things.
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Interviewer
You drop things all the time. I found myself.
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Toki Monsta
Yeah. And. And then there's good days and bad days, you know, where some days I feel like I can pick up on what people are saying better. And then I have another day where I lose it again, and I. I go back to not being. Understand. Not being able to understand people. It is through that process of healing that I also discovered I couldn't understand music anymore. Not sure if that was something that you also discovered, but for me, that was very odd. You know, no one warns you that, hey, you can't listen to music anymore. They do warn you about all these other things. So as I kind of sat there in this speechless bubble, I also didn't have any music to turn to. And, you know, music is our world. And I'm sure for you, too, with speech, it is also your entire world. Speaking is so important and being able to communicate, and music as a language to me was so important, and I didn't have that anymore.
- [19:24]
Interviewer
What process did you go through to understand what. What music was like?
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Toki Monsta
Again, in my particular case, I like to use the analogy of a bridge. And I think whatever bridge that sort of linked that part of my brain to the rest of my brain, it maybe got A little too messed with during my surgery. But eventually that bridge was rebuilt and I was able to be at the same cognitive level that I was prior to surgery. So fortunately for me, I didn't have to relearn any. In my case, I just had to let the swelling and the healing happen for those bridges to connect again.
- [20:02]
Interviewer
So you're able to hear music the same as you were before your surgery?
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Toki Monsta
Yes, now with much less headaches, which is great, for sure. It'd be nice to think that after brain surgery, you'd be superhuman. But I'm just happy to be where I was and to be alive and to be able to speak to you and make music and continue living.
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Interviewer
Let's play another track from your album. This is Corazon, Death by Disco part two. What do you want us to know about this song?
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Toki Monsta
This song was made from a sample I found in Sao Paulo, Brazil. And the only reason I found this record was through my best friend who had passed away last year. She was the one that led us to find this record dealer on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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Alison Stewart
Let's hear Corazon, Death by Disco part two. I'm speaking to DJ and producer Toki Monster. Her new album is called Eternal Reverie. You were the first woman signed the label brain feeder. In 2019. You became the first female Asian American producer to get a nomination for Best Electronic Dance album. What effect did that have on how you felt being part of the industry?
- [22:04]
Toki Monsta
You know, things like a Grammy nomination. It's like an accolade I never asked for, would have ever expected. Like, if you told me when I started making music that I would be nominated for a Grammy, I would have just been like, there is just no way, you know, I would have. I'm more likely that I would win the lottery, to be honest. And so when I got that nomination, it felt like the cherry on top. It felt like I had earned the respect of my peers. Because it is your peers that nominate you for Grammy. So it felt good to be recognized. Obviously, it's not something I sought out or made a goal in life. You know, it's like, I need to get a Grammy. That's not it. You know, for me, it's able to make music and be joyful, but when you're. When your peers are like, toki, you're doing a good job. Let's get you nominated Grammy. It's like, wow, that feels great. You know, I feel nice and warm inside. I know that I've been doing the best I could as a creative individual, and you know, me getting nominated for Grammy just opens the door for people to surpass me and do better. So I hope there's another female producer, you know, Asian American or whoever, any kind of person that is at that is, you know, not included in a diverse environment like, you know, like awards or like electronic music or hip hop or all those things. I hope that they can see someone like me and be like, well, if she could do it, I could definitely do it. Great. That's what I want. You know, I hope people think that I am the bar and that they can surpass me.
- [23:38]
Alison Stewart
You launched your label Young Art Records about a decade ago in 2014. What are your goals for it for the next decade?
- [23:46]
Toki Monsta
Honestly, to continue doing what we've been doing, which is to uplift amazing, talented musicians. This label is not a money making venture for me at all. I'm just happy that it's self sustaining that I can continue to use this platform to share music I love because, you know, I make music because I love music. So the label allows me to exercise that creative muscle of mine as well as mentor and allow these musicians to be heard by a wider audience. And, you know, it's really hard to be in the music industry. So whatever I've learned, any shortcuts or ways that I can uplift these artists, I'm so happy to do so.
- [24:25]
Alison Stewart
Through this label, I've been speaking to DJ and producer Toki Monster. She joined us as part of our.
- [24:31]
Interviewer
Women's History Month series, Equalizers.
- [24:34]
Alison Stewart
Thank you so much for making the.
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Interviewer
Time to talk to us today.
- [24:37]
Toki Monsta
Thanks so much for having me. I appreciated it.
- [24:40]
Interviewer
Let's go out on one last song from Eternal Reverie. Here's Reverie tomorrow on all of it. Weight loss drugs are everywhere and are changing the standards of beauty. These drugs also have helped those with health issues like diabetes, obesity and inflammation. Theater of War Productions and WNYC will air a conversation about this topic this weekend and we will preview it tomorrow. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I'll meet you back here next time.
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Ira Flatow
U t e n. I'm Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, our team has been reporting high quality news about science, technology and medicine. News you won't get anywhere else. And now that political news is 24 7, our audience is turning to us to know about the really important stuff in their lives. Cancer, climate change, Genetic engineering, childhood diseases. Our sponsors know the value of science and health news. For more sponsorship information, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.