Rachael Yamagata

90年代，一段多叫樂迷懷念的歲月，雖然因為MTV的出現，也讓更多庸脂俗數的爛俗小調在改裝易容之后也有了更多展露于舞臺的機會，但即便不論Nirvana、R.E.M這些地下樂團對于主流樂壇震撼人心的沖擊，單就一個女性歌手創作風潮，就已經叫人大快朵頤了。如果說僅僅只是背著吉它演繹傳統搖滾樂，卻并沒有做出多少音樂革新的Sheryl Crow和Alanis Morissette還多少算是托了當時女權主義的福的話，那么Bjork、Tori Amos和Sinead O’connor的出現，就完全顛覆了人們對于傳統女性歌手的概念。而與那位大呼小叫的神經質前輩Yoko Ono相比，Bjork等的出現不僅真正展現出明確的女性搖滾立場，尤其是她們駕馭音樂的高超技藝，更使得她們有足夠的能量去改變搖滾樂里的中性特征，因而創造出真正獨具個性的女性搖滾樂。
可惜后繼乏人，雖然非主流或獨立搖滾圈近年來也總是不乏有這樣那樣的女新人登場亮相，但聽過Tori Amos這樣內外兼修之精彩音樂的人們，恐怕在撥高胃口之后也都暗自立下了一個新標準，在這種心態下，試問只是唱些中性搖滾口水歌的新人又如何能再過五關斬六將，成為數年后的又一位獨立女皇呢？！
在無法超越的情況下，至少要讓人看到希望，而2004年冒出的新人Rachael Yamagata就用她的首張大碟《Happenstance》展現了這種潛質。父親是日本移民，母親是德國、意大利混血，身兼三種血液的Rachael Yamagata從一出生起，就要比旁人多了一種博大精深的文化優勢，山形瑞秋的日本名字或許還只是一種風雅，但骨子里那種東方式神經質的線條，卻注定了她與同類女歌手競爭時的先天優勢，有Yoko Ono做為榜樣，一切早已說明。
盡管19歲就加入芝加哥的Funk樂團Bumpus，但Rachael Yamagata多元化的性格里卻顯然無法容忍被限制于一種音樂風格的拘束里，對她曲風有影響的倒是她和樂團吉它手男友的分手，使她以更感性化的情愛刺激為基礎引導出自己的音樂走向。
Singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata grew up listening to Carole King, Roberta Flack, James Taylor, and the like, for music was the one thing in Yamagata's life that remained consistent. Although her parents divorced when she was two, she had a wonderful childhood and she credits her parents for doing such an amazing job. Finding a balance between her German-Italian mother's apartment in New York City and the Washington, D.C., home of her third-generation Japanese father was a task, but it readied Yamagata for a way of life that would eventually lead her to a professional singing career.
By the time she reached college in the mid-'90s, Yamagata had one year of piano lessons and a spiral notebook full of songs under her belt. Not sure of what she really wanted to do, Yamagata headed to Northwestern to study French. Within a year, she switched to being an Italian theater major at Vassar, but sporadic changes loomed ahead. When her acting coach at Vassar moved to Barnard College at Columbia University, Yamagata thought she'd go too. She eventually decided to head back to Northwestern instead, to join their theater program. During her junior year, she befriended the funk band Bumpus.
Bumpus was a mainstay on the club circuit in Chicago. From the start, Yamagata thought she'd like to be a part of the band. After seeing countless shows and attending band practices for several months, Yamagata finally landed a gig singing with Bumpus. She'd spend six years writing and recording three albums with the band and touring the country. By 2001, Yamagata felt like her time with Bumpus had run its course. She had a solid batch of songs that weren't fitting in with the band's funkafied formula, so she went solo. In September 2002, Yamagata landed a deal with Arista's Private Music and her self-titled EP arrived in October. Her first full-length album, Happenstance, followed in June 2004.