Student Blog

Hello. For this issue, we interviewed TENSONG, a popular band with 560,000 TikTok followers and 120,000 YouTube followers whose members also happen to be current APU students.

Are you living your life to the fullest? APU recruits students with an eye on diversity, so there are a lot of “weird”* people on campus, each with their own interests and dreams. Unfortunately, a lot of students never turn their interests and dreams into reality. Or if they do, they have trouble spreading their message to people outside of the university community. Today, TENSONG will give us some ideas for how we can energize our lives and make the most of the opportunities we are given.
*This implies the good sense of “weird” that President Deguchi often uses.

TENSONG: An Up-and-coming Band

TENSONG is a band made up of three members, all students currently enrolled at APU. They are Takabo on vocals, Takuman on guitar, and Alfie the beatboxer. Familiar views of Beppu serve as the backdrop for Takabo’s crisp vocals in their videos.

How did you get 540,000 followers on TikTok?

Nowadays many people broadcast their music on TikTok, but even if your music is good, no one will hear it unless it gains popularity. Even so, TENSONG has managed to secure 540,000 followers (as of October 27, 2020). When we asked their producer, who goes by the name Shacho (which means “president” in Japanese), how they achieved this feat, he explained their system for “keeping viewers from getting bored.”

“I used the know-how I gained from my experience working in social media marketing. TENSONG has two major strategies for TikTok. First, we get our viewers’ attention. At this stage, you can make yourself known to viewers by increasing the frequency with which you present them with recommended videos. This is why we tried to give our videos at this stage more impact. We also posted at times when we knew viewers would be more likely to watch our videos.
After doing this for two months, we started to get the feel that we were gaining in popularity, and that’s when we shifted to the next stage and started posting longer videos. We added lyrics to these videos to mitigate the risk of viewers leaving before the end of the videos. When people have to use their eyes and ears at the same time, it is harder for them to stop watching.”
Many students become frustrated because even though they may have a good idea for something new, they lack strategic direction. TENSONG has shown us that strategic marketing can lead to big results, and it is something that even students can do.

Feelings about Beppu

Are you dissatisfied because Beppu is not a big city and there are few events and chances to meet people? Even though they are in Beppu, TENSONG keeps focusing on doing what they want to do and growing in the process.
What is it that they like about Beppu?
“We feel like we owe something to the people of Beppu who supported us when we were interning in our first year. Also, by filming in Beppu, we can get good reactions from people who have a connection to the city, so we sometimes film our videos in Beppu on purpose. “

Now that most interactions and events are online, you can do things you would typically do in the city in outlying areas as well. But these outlying areas have their own unique advantages as well. We all have the opportunity to identify these advantages and put them to use.

Message for APU Students

“Follow your dreams. But remember to objectively analyze your dreams so they do not end up ill-defined.

TENSONG’s dream is to get signed by a major label. We look forward to seeing what they will do going forward.To help them achieve their dream, we can all listen to their music, give them likes on social media, and share their songs with our friends. The SPAs are also rooting for them.

What are you waiting for? Go listen to their songs today!

TENSONG YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/c/TENSONG/videos

TENSONG Official Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/10song_tr/

TENSONG Official Twitter
https://twitter.com/10song_tr

TENSONG Official TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@10song_tr

Moyu Araki

Nice to meet you! I am a fourth year APS student who loves to try new things. I am 100% Japanese with no experience studying abroad by Japanese standards. I want to have academic conversations with my international student friends, so I'm taking advantage of quarantine to study English! Once things turn around, I'll be back on the road to various places~! Best regards.