We recently launched the “What’s Your Next Journey?” campaign to inspire travelers worldwide. Through this initiative, Tessan aims to uncover unique travel stories, encouraging people to explore the unknown and discover themselves.
As part of this campaign, Tessan partnered with renowned American singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata, whose music embodies healing, storytelling, and emotional depth. Her creative vision aligns seamlessly with Tessan’s belief in the power of connection.
In an exclusive interview, Rachael shared her thoughts on life’s journeys, creativity, and her role as Tessan’s brand partner. Below are highlights from this insightful conversation.
1. Could you introduce yourself to the audiences?
My name is Rachael Yamagata, and i'm a singer and songwriter, and I believe in sharing and loving and creating, and I hope that my music can heal people's hearts.
2. Are you traveling more for fun or for work?
I don't consider what I do work. But I do music because I love the experience of relating to other people. And the more I go around the world and take these journeys, the more I realize how connected we really are and how similar our life experience can be. So that kind of connection is what gives me artistic ideas of where to start writing in the songs. The colors, the flavors, the energy of the places that I go, all of that makes its way back into the music that I write.
3. What does connection mean to you in your music and also your personal life?
Connection to me is about authentic relation with those around you, taking off the mask and realizing that we are in this together and in every way and picking up on all of the subtleties of what we don't always say. And having that courage to not judge, to have empathy,and to really feel like we can be honest with one another. That's what makes me feel like something real is happening here, because I think we can tell when there's pretense or there's a facade of some sort. And we need that a little bit in our daily lives. But I think the real connection that I love about music is another permission slip to just deep dive. You can be alone listening to music and feel this incredible release. Because it translates that emotion that's stuck in there, and the music does it, the lyrics do it, the concept of the... the journey arc of the song, all of it contributes to that feeling. So connection is being authentic, being authentic with another person or with an audience, and holding space to receive, without any expectations.
4. What would you do to connect to your audience? How and why?
What's really interesting is that I have stage fright. I have big stage fright. I live in the woods. I like animals. I I don't even go ouside... I stay at home, I work in the garden. I love to design things, I am a happy, internal homebody. And to get on stage, I learned that I have to do like a little mantra before I get on stage, where I basically ask the universe to let my ego get out of the way, and to have the show not be about me, but about being so present with whatever messages for the highest benefit of anybody in the room, as well as for me, that I'd be in sort of an open channel to deliver those messages, whatever they are, even if it's just a joyful night and an energy lift. And when I take away my own brain about it, that's when I can go out there and have a blast, and really feel like we can take our mask off and just be with one another. And that's where the connection comes. Because I can feel the energy of the audience the same way you can feel mine. And when we're open and receptive, that's where the magic is. We forget that music is such a great way to do it, but we can do it every day, every day with people.
5. So how do you perform for your audience
Because a I'm so internal at home that I almost... It's my resting spot. Before I go back, I regenerate, and then I wanna leave again. I wanna like. But I guess when I do, it doesn't change that much because the same elements are there in terms of wanting to just be, in the moment, be truthful. Even if I'm having a more heavy experience in my life, I try not to... I don't wanna put on a facade.
6. What's your life situation like when you wrote Be Be Your Love?
I was thinking about that and there was definitely heartache. There was like a struggle of why can't I have this work out the way that I want it to? And I was almost thinking that "Everybody's talking how I can't can't be your lover, but I want want want"... It almost sounds like a child. Having a tantrum like "be your love, wanna be your love" for real. But it made me think how the songs that really resonate with people are the ones that are vulnerable and not shy about how something can be so personal and a little rough around the edges. And that song was me being rough around the edges like, why can't this work out? Why can't we be together? And I think everybody can appreciate the core emotion of something without the the prettiness of it. It's got some like passion to it. So I was in a state of heartache, but also in a state of like frustration. And just like "urgh!" that kind of thing. Yeah.
7. What are you trying to do when you want to inspire people with your music? What do you want to inspire them with?
I hope that what I do can light a little spark, like whether it's live performance, and it's like crazy, bombastic energy of just fun, which you wouldn't necessarily expect with like dark, heartbroken music, but that's our live show. I hope that sparks, "Wow, why are they so happy" or "Why she can go so deep with these songs and yet get herself out of it? I wonder if I could, too". It's not, I never write with an intention to inspire. I write with an intention to be as truthful as I can to myself and that ends up inspiring other people to want to be just as courageous, just as truthful, just as childlike. And that's the sweet spot for what I can offer. I can have fun, and I can follow my passion. And I hope that it lights a little flicker of inspiration or an idea that maybe other people could do it too. Somebody's holding themselves back. Maybe they'll think, "Huh, what do I really love to do? Maybe I should give it a try.
8. What about Dealbreaker?
There's so many heartbroken stories, but there's these silver linings of hope, which is, I think what intrigues people, because you can take a a very sad emotion, a very deep, deeply felt pain or trauma. But if you put the through line of healing in there and hope, it gives people permission to go very deep in the dark stuff, but to release it. And that's what I feel, gives people “whoof”，a tonic to the dark stuff. So "Dealbreaker" a was a breakup, and that was... that was almost like you can... You passed the relationship. You can look back on it. You can say I've done well, I've made some good growth steps I've healed. And then you have that moment where you're like "But it doesn't matter because I don't have you". It's like... it's just admitting, it's being honest. I think if it's authentic and it's honest, then people can relate to it. That's what I love about that song.
9. Which is your favorite song in all your albums?
But "Elephants," I think, is my favorite song. It's the closest I've ever come to writing a poem. There's a lot of like visuals in that. And when I wrote it, I had just gone through a really bad breakup. I had fallen off a platform. I had eight stitches in my chin, I had a broken wrist, and I was getting over a very bad breakup and I was broken, I was physically broken and my heart was broken. And I was walking down a mountain, just having my first sort of get back out into nature experience. These lyrics just started coming. This person had written me a card with elephants on it, because elephants, they have this incredible memory. And they had said something like, don't forget me, don't forget us, which was like, even worse, it was, urgh, just like dagger. It was so painful to me. And these lyrics just sort of came out. As I was walking, I was thinking if the elephants had past lives that are destined to always remember. And I the whole song came to me and maybe 15, 20 minutes and I had no pen, no paper, I had no phone, nothing. I had to run back up the mountain, write it down really quickly. So that's my favorite song because it felt like a true gift, an artist experience of something else is helping you. I think that underlines the point of when you forget your own internal voice that is telling you don't do this or that's not good, or you should write this way or all the self doubt, and you just sink into the experience of the moment you're in. Like real art can be created like something very exciting and can happen. That was a special song. So that's my favorite too.
10. About empowerment in your music.
I think that I am always reminding myself how powerful we are individually to be the directors of our own life. I think we forget... We get bogged down by whatever is happening around us. And what I love about creativity is that if you can look at a problem with curiosity, with interest, as almost a child would, like a puzzle, then you can remember how empowered you really are to find a creative solution to something. So when I write songs, they're my attempt at a creative solution to an emotion that is stuck within me. So "Tightrope Walker" is a perfect example of my own process of, how do I feel better? How can I make my perspective, heal myself? And I think something in there resonates as empowerment, because I'm figuring it out for myself. And if we give ourselves permission to feel something deep and dark and heavy in all of its dirty, gritty truth of it. That's how we make our way out. That's how we can become empowered when we have courage to take the journey.
11. What does "journey" mean to you?
Journey means a balance of a dream of where you're going and the ability to be in the present moment and to enjoy it, because that really is what your life is about. It's about that journey of... experience of meeting new people, of seeing how you grow and traveling is what does that for me. Experiencing new cultures, new ideas, new energies of the places I go.
12. When you start your new trip from home to every destination, is there anything that makes you feel happy or frustrated?
Oh on traveling. It's packing, packing is the first thing that comes to mind, knowing what to take, because if you really want to go on a fun trip and be open and spontaneous, you don't want to take a lot of stuff, especially a tour pack, it's an art form that you've learned over many years. You learn which outfits to bring, what shoes you need. You can only take so much because you go on trains, planes, you're walking through cities, you're getting cabs, you're literally changing cities every day. So one of the challenges I have with travel is knowing what to bring, and not bringing too much, but having what you need.
13. What kind of energy keeps you going for so long, still moving on?
Knowing that I have a home to go back to is important, like, home or the people you love, the things that make you feel like you can just relax. There's something so special about that. That gives me energy. And then I feel like my job is to bring a sense of release and silver lining and joy and hopefulness and permission to explore the deep stuff out into the rest of the world to make that feel like an uplifting, inspired experience. Then when I do that, when I do this, this feels like home. It's not technically home, but connecting with other people that feels very familiar, that feels like love, that feels like safety, that feels like energy. I think I love to travel because I can bring home all around the world and experience their home. I take that back with me. It's all about knowing we're so unique and so spectacular as individuals and so similar at the same time. If we just give ourselves permission to release each other from judgment or expectation or conflict, we got a great run, really great time.
14. What kind of story do you want to share the most about your career?
Like we just played a festival. I think there were 30,000 people and we started the show and playing a song. We're dancing around. And I'm trying to play this song *humming* And i'm trying to find the note like "my love, my love, my love". I couldn't find the note and i'm i'm looking at the band. I'm like "Is something wrong?" and they're like the keyboard was pitched 1/2 step below the rest of the band. So the rest of the band is playing in one key. The keyboard is playing another key. Somebody hit the wrong button. And it was like in front of 30,000 people. And the only choice was to be like, let's do a different song. So I got a guitar, I went up to the front of the stage. I played Duet, just by myself, guitar, vocal, while everybody else on the stage tried to figure out the keyboard, and it was amazing. 30,000 people quiet, hushed. I would never start a set with Duet, the total wrong song to play at a festival. But because it was so spontaneous, and because everybody was still like curious about how is this gonna get worked out, 30,000 people went to a hush. I played this song and it was magic, so that's the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life, it's the freshest, most exciting thing that's happened. That's what the career becomes, it's like, "Oh yeah, that was crazy," "Oh yeah that's crazy!"And then you get this life of like being in that present moment and allowing yourself to just see where it goes.
15. Do you think you have become the type of musician you wanted to be? Do you feel like there is any regret or something you haven't achieved so far?
All the time! Yes and no, like, I definitely have my days of like, oh, why didn't this happen or what would have happened if I had gone this way. But I'm also getting to the point, where owning my own skin a little bit better, I think that happens over time. And knowing that... I wouldn't change my journey because I love where I'm at. I love the skills that I have. I love the... the ability to be vulnerable and the ability to like... have like a tough skin at the same time, like I can take it in a way that I couldn't when I was younger. And I can... I have a flexibility now that I wouldn't have got. I not had the challenges and the hard knocks and the... the road where he struggles like that's part of the experience of what makes it like you earn your confidence, you earn the peace of mind that comes with. You can sit in a room by yourself and make yourself laugh and have fun and create a piece of art that you're proud of. So, all the other stuff. It's just noise in your head of, like, "what could I have done?" "I wish it had gone that way." I think we have to learn like the life, the exciting life, comes where you're in a compelling present moment. And then you're in the next compelling present moment. You may want to go over there, but man, you might find some really cool stuff over here. So don't be scared if something re-routes you. That is the journey, right? That's what we're doing. We have to learn to love every bit of it. That's what makes our life. Yeah, so I'm better at that. For sure.
16. Do you have anything you like to say to your fans?
I would say remember how creative and powerful you are, you have everything you need to have the most incredible life. It doesn't have to be a product of external circumstances, the way that I think we've always thought it did, like we're in crazy times, and we can still have these beautiful connections with new people. We can still have moments of creation and peace and love. ……remember how magnificent, how interesting, how creative, and how powerful you are, and do what you love. Every door opens when you do what you love.
17. Why do you recommend Tessan’s products?
I love this travel adapter by Tessan，it's got all of these great connectors，its light，its super durable，it even has the USB ports which are make everything so easy. Its got everything I need as an international traveler in one, it's compact and it's super fast charging，I love it, so good, I'm taking it everywhere.
18. Do you have or any plan for 2025?
Well. the next journey that comes to mind is launching a new record. It's almost like the culmination of a journey, because I've been on this recording-writing-recording journey. So I have to give it to the world. That's the next step. And then I don't know, I kind of almost feel like we'll see where it takes me next. I have to complete that journey first, that journey of taking the ideas, writing the songs, recording them, mixing them, doing the artwork, releasing the album to the world. The culmination of that journey is on my list. That's the next thing. After that, we'll see what is intriguing. I think that's how you find the best journey is. Some spark lights within you and tells you where to go next. And you just follow that and you have a really great time.
19. Rachael’s final thoughts for the fans
Everyone, thank you so much. And to my new friends, you know who you are. Thank you all for being here. We always hope to make new connections every time we come. We wanna play the songs that you wanna hear and the stuff that really makes a difference in my life is the energy that we exchange. Sometimes people ask me what message would I give to my audience? And it's always love. It's always lots of love and lots of gratitude. And recently it's become be courageous, be compassionate. Remember how wonderful you are and how you can direct your own life. No matter what's going on in the world. You have such power and such presence. It's so beautiful. And these moments of connection are so fulfilling for me. And I hope they are for you. Music is a wonderful way to do that with each other. And at the end of the day, it's all about love.
Tessan is so proud to collaborate with Rachael Yamagata to inspire travelers and celebrate the beauty of life’s journeys. Stay tuned for more stories and experiences from the “What’s Your Next Journey?” campaign.
