Yui (singer)

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For other uses, see Yui.
Yui
Born March 26, 1987 (1987-03-26) (age 21)
Origin Fukuoka, Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop, Pop Rock, Folk pop
Occupation(s) Singer, Song-writer, Actress
Instrument(s) Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano.
Years active 2004–Present
Label(s) Studioseven Recordings, Sony Music Japan
Associated acts Taiyou no Uta
Website http://www.YUI-net.com
Advertisement of Yui in the tower station of fm osaka
Advertisement of Yui in the tower station of fm osaka

Yui (born March 26, 1987 in Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actress. She is currently signed to Sony Music Records Japan.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Initial career

Yui began writing poems in ninth grade. At the age of sixteen, she started to become interested in music more and more and she expressed her desire to pursue a musical career to the band bianco nero at the end of a concert they held. The band recommended her to join a private music school and soon, she dropped out of high school and began studying songwriting and guitar at a juku in her hometown of Fukuoka.[1] [2]

Aspiring to become a professional, she carried her guitar around and sang at local places at the entrance of Tenjin station in Fukuoka. Even though she was shy, she still enjoyed doing street performances. She released her debut single "It's Happy Line" under the indie label Leaflet Records, coupled with the track "I Know". The pressing was limited to only 2000 copies.

She then released 2 more singles, under the same indies label, but under the alias Skyblue. Both singles failed to chart.

[edit] From Me to You (2005-2006)

Her professional career began in March 2004 when she sang three songs at an audition hosted by Sony Music Japan from the recommendation of the juku she attended.[3] Despite the audition rule that a participant could only sing two songs, all of the judges gave her the highest score possible which caused a fierce scramble among record labels to sign her. She first sang "Why Me" (a song later included in her major label debut single), followed by "It's Happy Line" and "I Know".

Upon leaving her hometown in Fukuoka for Tokyo, Yui wrote the song "Feel My Soul". She was planning its release on an indie label as a tribute to her hometown. However, when the song caught the ears of Fuji TV producer Mr. Yamaguchi, who just happened to see the demo video clip, he claimed that Yui's voice haunted him so much that he went out of his way to visit the recording studio all by himself. He even made his channel's prime time drama Fukigen na Gene use Yui's debut track.

On February 23, Yui released her first major debut single, "Feel My Soul". The music in Fukigen na Gene was mainly based on her songs such as "Feel My Soul" and "It's Happy Line". With the drama tie-in Feel My Soul managed to sell over 100,000 copies and her single managed to chart at #8 on Oricon Weekly Charts in its first week. Her next three singles, "Tomorrow's Way" (theme song for the Japanese movie, "Hinokio"), "Life", and "Tokyo" did not chart as high as Feel My Soul did and were only moderately successful in comparison. After the release of four singles, Yui released her debut album From Me to You, which was another moderate success with sales of more than 200,000 copies.

[edit] Can't Buy My Love (2006-2007)

Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun

Yui made her acting debut in the full-length Japanese feature film Midnight Sun,[4] released on June 17, 2006. The film was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[5] Yui attended Japan Academy Prize and received Best Newcomer Award for "Midnight Sun". Prior to the release of the movie, however, Yui had released her 5th single "Good-bye Days" which is by far her highest selling single at 200,000 copies sold. "Good-bye Days" was written specifically for the film as are all three tracks featured on this single are featured in the movie. The single also has the track "It's Happy Line" as the third track, which was originally released on her debut single of the same title.

Her next single, "I Remember You", did fairly well in terms of sales boosted by "Good-bye Days"' popularity. Soon after, Yui's 7th single "Rolling Star" was chosen as the 5th opening theme song for the anime series Bleach and "Che.R.Ry", her 8th single, was used as a song for the KDDI au Listen Mobile Service commercial. She released her second album Can't Buy My Love on April 4th 2007, which fared well on the Oricon charts, staying for two weeks at #1 and shattering her entire previous album's record sales in one week. So far, Can't Buy My Love has managed to sell over 660,000 copies. Due to the success of "Can't Buy My Love", Yui's previous album, From Me to You charted once again to add another 9k copies to the Oricon counting.

[edit] I Loved Yesterday (2007-Present)

Yui released her 9th single "My Generation / Understand" on 13 June 2007. It was her first double A-side single. "My Generation" was used as the theme song for the drama "Seito Shokun!", and "Understand" was chosen as the theme song for the movie "Sidecar ni Inu".[6] It charted at #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts for the first week of its release. Her 10th single, "Love & Truth" was released on September 26 and the title track is the theme song to the Japanese film, Closed Note. Erika Sawajiri played the lead role in the film.

During this time, her first two albums were re-released in alternate covers presumably from her "Love & Truth" photoshoot. Her first live DVD "Thank You My Teens" was released on November 14, 2007, which contained footage of one of Yui's concert during her second live tour. On November 19, 2007, Yui opened her first Live show at Nippon Budokan. The tickets for the concert were sold out.[7]

Her first single of 2008, Namidairo, was released for sale on February 27, 2008.[8] It is the theme song for the Japanese drama "4 Shimai Tantei Dan". Yui was asked to make a "mysterious and sad sounding" song for the drama tie-in, and she composed the song "Namidairo" as such. Incidentally, the chorus of the song was created by Yui during the time she made her singing debut. A week following the release of her 11th single, the promotional video of a new song "Laugh Away", was released. The song was used as the theme song for the Glico "Watering KissMint" commercial. "Laugh Away" was released as a digital single on 10 March 2008 and also included on her third album which would later be released.

Her third studio album was released on 9 April 2008 titled I Loved Yesterday. It charted at #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and was a moderate success, selling only a little behind her sophomore album. The 10th track on the album, titled "Oh Yeah" was used as the opening theme song to the morning Japanese show "Mezamashi TV". The limited edition version of the album came with a DVD which included music videos of her previous singles and live footage of her Nippon Budokan show. Yui's third tour, named '"Oui" ~I Loved Yesterday~' is expected to start in May and end in July.[9]

Yui is expected to release a new single, entitled "Summer Song" on 2 July 2008.[10]

[edit] Discography

Main article: Yui discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
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Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
  • Yui's family consists of her mother and herself only. As for her father, he left them when she was roughly 3 years old. That's why when she moved to Shinguu she only had one other family member. She holds no memory of her father.
  • Yui plays guitar, drums and piano. She learned how to play the piano at the music school where she learned how to play the guitar.
  • Yui has about 7~8 acoustic guitars, 6~7 electric guitars and one bass guitar.
  • Yui likes Marimokkori.
  • Yui is "addicted" to Welch's Grape Fruit Juice. She drank this during the recording of the album I Loved Yesterday.
  • Yui doesn't smile in CD covers and promotion videos (except for I Remember You, Che.R.Ry and Laugh away) often because she thinks her face looks chubby when she smiles.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Interview of Yui.
  2. ^ Website of the juku, Voice.
  3. ^ Interview.
  4. ^ Midnight Sun. Shochiku. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  5. ^ Complete Cannes 2006 Line-up. Shochiku. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  6. ^ YUI-net Discography. YUI-net. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
  7. ^ Nippon Budokan News Cover.
  8. ^ World of Yui | Yui News, Community, Fansite, Gallery: New Yui Single!
  9. ^ Official Yui 3rd Tour Information. Yui-net. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  10. ^ Confirmation of a new single release by Sony Music Japan.

[edit] External links


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Yui
Albums
Singles