A miracle of Christopher Kenji

Christopher Kenji by Onutė G art 

Christopher Kenji by Onutė G art 

Everytime I am facing painful and challenging experiences in my life I am discovering wonderful musicians, whose music is helping me to survive and not to give up.

Five days ago I’ve discovered fascinating and magnetic music of LA based independent artist-musician CHRISTOPHER KENJI.

Christopher is a multiinstrumentalist, a musician, a singer and songwriter, a producer and a model.

Christopher is describing himself in a very lovely way: I’m a San Francisco/Bay Area-based independent, singer-songwriter, pop/rock artist and producer on a mission to bring heartfelt songwriting, honest lyrics and the spirit of good ol’ rock ‘n roll back into the mainstream… or in simpler terms, I make music to help people feel less alone but also to help them to rock their socks off[1].

And it is so true – Christopher’s music helps people, is helping ME to feel LESS ALONE…and is helping to numb the pain, pain of terrible losses, pain of unfulfilled dreams…

The most wonderful thing that Christopher does not hide his vulnerability, as he has mentioned: he wants to be as honest and vulnerable as possible to give people something that they can hopefully relate to[2].

Christopher Kenji is describing his music tendencies in a very particular way as well: I guess my music you could say is an eclectic storm raining down on the metaphorical umbrella of pop-rock on a bluesy day. I’ve got some rock songs, got some chill/acoustic songs, got some folky/bluesy songs, got some electro-poppy kind of stuff —I feel like the song is the vessel and I’m the captain and I just lead the song wherever I feel like it wants to go. It’s all about the emotion for me —my voice is a bit raspy, my lyrics are a bit raw, etc., but that’s what I feel like makes it real and relatable[3].

It is wonderful that Christopher is giving some pieces of his experiences while creating the songs… and yes, it is about 3 rd or even 4 rd day while I am listening non stop to NEVER ENOUGH, and it is helping me to accept a breakup with a person with whom romance even did not started. As Christopher mentioned, his music is helping to those, who maybe […] are lying alone in their empty apartment after a breakup feeling lonely and wanting someone to understand how they feel, I believe that there’s always a song that can help[4].

As it is mentioned in Christopher’s personal website, Christopher Kenji is a Los Angeles-based award-winning rock artist and producer on a mission to bring heartfelt songwriting, meaningful lyricism and the spirit of rock ‘n roll back into the mainstream[5].

Christopher Kenji is describing his music debut in a fascinating way: From a young age, I had this dream of being a musician ––specifically, being a guitar player in a rock band. That’s it. That was the dream. Instead of going outside and trying to make friends with the other kids, growing up, I’d just play guitar for 6 hours a day in my room by myself. I’d write my own songs, learn how to play all my favorite guitar solos note for note, etc. ––it kind of just felt like guitar was my best friend and we’d just hang out all day having fun. I took lessons for a bit but then I’d say I was pretty much self-taught from then on out.[6]

Apparently Christopher was  a very shy kid growing up and never in a million years did I think I’d ever be belting it out on the mic in front of an audience ––but at a certain point with guitar, I just got tired of writing entire songs with zero vocals. I’d spend so many hours crafting these intricate guitar parts with different melodic hooks and chord changes and everything all to still lack arguably the most important part of the song: the vocals[7].

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Since his artist debut in July 2020, Kenji has amassed millions of streams worldwide, been featured on national TV ––in addition to receiving virality across multiple social media platforms. He has appeared on the front covers of magazines, accepted multiple awards and nominations from international film festivals, and been published in major media outlets such as Vogue, Harper's BAZAAR, Elle, L'Officiel, Vanity Teen, and EARMILK, to name a few.

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Kenji has walked the runway at numerous fashion weeks including LA Fashion Week, where he modeled for Demobaza and Ron Tomson, San Francisco Fashion Community Week, where he was awarded "Best Model of 2018," and Chicago Fashion Week —where he performed an acoustic set for CBS, Fox News, and other major TV networks. Additionally, Kenji was named a Top 10 finalist in the international NewSong Music Competition for his song "Summer Fog".

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Kenji has been seen everywhere from co-starring on the Food Network to modeling in promotional events for Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and Tiffany & Co. to headlining the world's largest burlesque festival as a rare live music act. Furthermore, Kenji's music videos have been screened all over the globe including at the Prague International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and the Munich Music Video Awards in Germany, garnering 6 awards (including "Best Music Video" for his 'Summer Fog' music video).

Aside from front-manning his own shows, Kenji additionally toured as a featured artist alongside Ha Vay and Sarah Kinsley across the US & Canada in 2024 and even made a cameo appearance as the lead male actor in Ha Vay's "Moon Girl" music video. Kenji also starred in fashion designer, Ivan Frolov's international "STUD" campaign in 2021, which received heavy media attention and won 1st place in its category at the Kyiv Molodist International Film Festival in Ukraine. Beyond his own music and high fashion pursuits, Kenji has also modeled for major commercial brands like Google, Amazon and Canva, acted in advertisements for AT&T, Marriott, and Compass, and done voice-over work for commercials across various industries.

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Growing up, Kenji was predominantly influenced by hard rock music which inspired him to take up guitar when he was about 10 years old. On his journey though, he became fascinated by traditional blues, Spanish flamenco and percussive fingerstyle guitar, all of which uniquely shaped his playing. He later taught himself how to sing by busking on the street and performing at hundreds of open mic nights --honing his naturally distinctive singing voice. This was also around the time that he began teaching himself how to record, produce and engineer his own music.

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In 2017, Kenji graduated from Berklee College of Music and has since then, released seven singles, one EP and three live sessions. His newest release, "Lovesong (Live from Point Reyes Shipwreck)" is now available on YouTube as well as on all streaming platforms and be can be streamed/downloaded from this link here.

So Christopher is highly creative, unique artist, whose capacities are brilliant, brilliant like a miracle. And his vocal range is so huge that he is reminding JEFF BUCKLEY...

Christopher’s songs, covers and well as original ones, are helping suffering souls to endure the pain, to keep a hope of just going… a hope to fall in love with this life again…

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