Tanisako

Japanese-American singer-songwriter-producer Tanisako (birth name Ethan Rupp) is here to raise the bar in alt-pop. Equally inspired by powerhouse singers (Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding) and innovative songwriters (The Neighbourhood, Lorde), he blends real-life experiences with imaginative, apocalyptic stories to convey surreal feelings, whether it’s catharsis, freedom, angst, love, or euphoria. 
 Growing up in Santa Cruz, CA, Ethan received his education at the skatepark, “wearing raggy clothes, taking trips to San Francisco, smoking spliffs, being a stupid skater.” Rather than leading him down a bad path, though, it did the opposite; skating “saved [him] from being an actual druggy and going to juvy,” following the bleak path of the “wooks'' from his hometown. 
 Beyond just “wanting to be good as much as [he] wanted to live,” Ethan credits skating as the most formative part of his personal development, befriending people of all age groups, learning discipline, and overcoming fear through the process. “I would cry before I tried to do this one trick, but when I did it, all the fear went away. Now, I feel like I can do anything. When I wanna perform, I’m gonna feel that ‘yeah, I can do this.’ I want to internalize that forever.”