Yui (singer)

Yui at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan in Tokyo
Yui
Born (1987-03-26) March 26, 1987
Fukuoka prefecture, Japan
Genres Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, drums
Years active 2004–present
Labels Studioseven, Gr8!, Leaflet
Website yui-net.com
Notable instruments
Martin D-28
Fender GA-45SCE
D1-LD0
Fender GDC200 SCE
Fender Stratocaster
Squier Bronco Bass
Fender Telecaster

Yui (born March 26, 1987), stylized as YUI, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Born and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, she played live at various locations in her hometown before being noticed by Sony Music Japan when she was 17 years old, and released her debut single months later. However her singles were only met with moderate success until her breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars.[1]

Since her debut album, From Me to You, each of her albums has topped the charts, and has had at least one single reach number one yearly since 2007, including five straight from mid-2008 to late-2010.[2]

She is popular in Japan and in surrounding countries, ranking number one in 2011 Count Down TV "Dearest Female Artist"[3] and Music Station "Artist You Most Want to Marry"[4] polls, as well as Radio Television Hong Kong's "Most Popular Japanese Artist".[5]

After retiring from music as a soloist in 2012, she formed the band Flower Flower in 2013.

Biography

Early life

Yui was born in Fukuoka, Japan. The Associated Press has reported that her full name is Yui Yoshioka.[6][7]

She grew up in a single-parent family as her father left her mother when she was three. She stated that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and be able to sing it. By the time she was in elementary school she thought she would like to become a singer.[8] Self-described as shy and horrible at talking to others as a child, she would play outside by herself in mountains, rivers, by the sea and in rice paddies.[9]

During her third year in primary school, she was influenced by her mother to begin writing a journal of her feelings and tried to compose them into poems. By the time Yui attended high school, she began to write songs, thinking of that as being able to express herself little by little.[9][10] While in high school, she worked part-time at a Chinese restaurant to help pay for tuition. Yet, between music, school and work, she only had one or two hours of sleep, and believed she no longer had the time to realize her dreams of a music career.[11] She subsequently became ill; however, it was at the hospital that she was overwhelmed with the desire to make music and finally decided that school and music could not coexist.[11]

Soon after leaving the hospital, she got a chance to see her first live street performance.[11] She expressed a desire to pursue a musical career to the band, Bianco Nero, at the end of the concert. The band advised Yui to join a private music school, juku. Despite the social norm of finishing school in Japan and discouragement from her teachers, Yui did not hesitate to drop out of high school and began to study guitar and songwriting at the music cram school "Voice" in her hometown of Fukuoka.[11][12] Aspiring to become a professional, she took to street performing at Fukuoka's Tenjin Station. These street performances helped Yui to overcome her shyness.

Initial career

Her professional career began in March 2004 when, at the recommendation of her cram school instructors, she applied for an audition hosted by Sony Music Japan.[13] Although instructed that a participant could only perform two songs, she first sang "Why Me" (a song later included in her debut Sony Records single), followed by "It's Happy Line," and then half of "I Know", performing a third song because she wanted the judges to hear a song full of hope.[11]

The judges gave her the maximum score. Because "I Know" was incomplete at the time, the judges were able to get a glimpse of what would later be dubbed "Yui-go" (YUI語)", or Yui-speak, nonsensical English hummed to a tune during her songwriting process – an example of Yui-go can be found in the film Song of the Sun when Yui is working on the song "Goodbye Days".

On December 24, 2004, she released her debut single, "It's Happy Line", under the indie label Leaflet Records, coupled with the track "I Know," although the pressing was limited to only 2,000 copies in her home area.

From Me to You (2005–2006)

Upon leaving her hometown in Fukuoka for Tokyo, Yui wrote the song "Feel My Soul" as a tribute to her hometown. Although she initially had planned its release on an indie label, Fuji Television producer Yamaguchi was so inspired by Yui's voice that he insisted on having her work on the music for his primetime drama Fukigen na Gene even before she released her first major single.[14] The music in Fukigen na Gene was eventually based on her songs "Feel My Soul" and "It's Happy Line".

On February 23, Yui released her first major debut single "Feel My Soul". With the publicity the drama tie-in drew in, "Feel My Soul" managed to sell over 100,000 copies and managed to chart at number 8 on Oricon Weekly Charts in its first week. Her next three singles, "Tomorrow's Way" (theme song for the movie Hinokio), "Life" (5th ending theme for the Bleach anime), and "Tokyo" did not chart as high as "Feel My Soul", and were only moderately successful in comparison. After the release of four singles, Yui released her debut album, titled From Me to You, a moderate success with sales of more than 200,000 copies.

Can't Buy My Love (2006–2007)

Yui made her acting debut in the full-length feature film Song of the Sun (Taiyou no uta, タイヨウのうた),[15] which opened on June 17, 2006. The film was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[16] She had a unique way of approaching her role, such as imagining unscripted conversations between other characters and hers as well as staying in her character's room and fitting the aberrant sleeping patterns of her character to give herself a sense of her role.[17][18] She would eventually attend the Japan Academy Prize and win the Best Newcomer Award for Midnight Sun. Prior to the release of the movie, Yui released her fifth single "Good-bye Days" written specifically for the film. The single is thus so far her highest selling at more than 200,000 copies sold. All three tracks on the single are featured in Midnight Sun. The single also re-released the track "It's Happy Line", originally released on her debut single.

Her next single, "I Remember You", did well in terms of sales, riding on the wave of the popularity of "Good-bye Days". Yui's seventh single "Rolling Star" was chosen as the 5th opening theme for the Bleach anime. Her eighth single, "Cherry" was featured in commercial promoting KDDI, a Listen Mobile Service.

She released her second album Can't Buy My Love on April 4, 2007. The album spent two weeks at number 1 on the Oricon charts, shattering her entire previous album's record sales in one week. Can't Buy My Love managed to sell over 680,000 copies. Due to the success of Can't Buy My Love, Yui's previous album, From Me to You charted once again, adding another 9,000 copies to the Oricon counting.

I Loved Yesterday (2007–2008)

Yui released her 9th single "My Generation/Understand" on June 13, 2007. It was her first double A-side single. "My Generation" was selected as the ending theme for the TV drama Seito Shokun!, and "Understand" was chosen as the theme song for the movie Dog in a Sidecar (サイドカーに犬),[19] (starring her senpai at Stardust Promotion, Yūko Takeuchi). The single charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts the first week of its release.

Her tenth single, "Love & Truth" was released on September 26, 2007. The title track is the theme song to the film Closed Note (クローズド・ノート) (starring Erika Sawajiri, also of Stardust). During this time, her previous two albums were re-released as Winter Sleeve Editions in alternative covers taken from her "Love & Truth" photoshoot. Her first live concert DVD Thank You My Teens was released on November 14, 2007, which contained footage of her second live concert tour.

On November 19, 2007, Yui opened her first live show at Nippon Budokan, which promptly sold out.[20] The Budokan concert was structured similar to a live performance, which a writer from B-Pass called it fitting considering her beginnings as a street performer on the streets of Fukuoka.[20]

Yui started 2008 with her eleventh single, "Namidairo", released on February 27, 2008.[21] Yui composed the song as a "mysterious and sad sounding" insert for the television drama 4 Shimai Tantei Dan. While writing the song, she attempted to convey a feeling of saying "I'm fine" in order to not worry one's lover, and how during such occasions, we realize little things we don't normally notice.[22] The chorus of the song was incidentally written by Yui long ago, during 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 in Glico's "Watering KissMint" commercial. "Laugh Away" was released as a digital single on March 10, 2008.

Her third studio album was released on April 9, 2008 titled I Loved Yesterday. It quickly charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold more than 400,000 copies, only a little behind her second album. The 10th track on the album, titled "Oh Yeah", was used as the opening theme to Mezamashi TV, a morning television show. The limited edition version of the album included a DVD which contained music videos of her previous singles and live footage of her Nippon Budokan show. The album was composed mainly of semi-ballads with much of the same themes as her previous releases such as youth.[23]

Yui's third tour, named "Oui: I Loved Yesterday'" started in May 2008 and ran until July.[24]

My Short Stories/Holidays in the Sun (2008–2010)

On July 2, 2008, Yui released "Summer Song"[25] again charting at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. "Summer Song" sold 83,440 copies in a week, making "Summer Song" second highest in first week sales after "Love & Truth."

Yui released her B-side compilation album, My Short Stories,[26] on November 12, 2008, which charted at number 1 on Oricon. The album included all the B-side tracks of all her singles to date, along with a new song "I'll Be".[27] Yui is the second female artist whose B-side compilation album topped the charts, after Seiko Matsuda's Touch Me in 1984. The last compilation album that reached No. 1 was Mr. Children's B-Side in May 2007. On the success of "My Short Stories", sales of her first album From Me to You rose again.

In her "Yui Diary" blog entry on August 29, 2008, Yui mentioned that she would put her career on hold, not making any public appearances after the release of the album. With this break, she would be able to fully concentrate on her plans for the next year. During this break, she co-wrote the song "I Do It" with Okinawa girl band Stereopony. It was released as Stereopony's third single on April 22, 2009.[28]

Yui announced her return from her five-month hiatus on March 25, 2009 on her official website. The single celebrating her return is an up-tempo tune titled "Again." The track was chosen as the first opening theme of the new season of the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, premiered on April 5, 2009. The single was released on June 3, 2009.[29] "Again" debuted atop the Oricon charts, selling over 110,000 copies in its first week. It had the highest opening week sales for a female act in 2009.[30]

Her website Yui-net.com announced the release of her second double-A side single named "It's All Too Much/Never Say Die" on July 27, 2009. The two songs were featured in the movie adaptation of Kaiji as both a theme and an insert song.[31] The single was released on October 7, 2009 and Kaiji released on October 10, 2009. The single debuted at number 1, selling 75,000 copies in its first week of sales. This is her fifth overall number 1 single. Yui released "Gloria" on January 20, 2010. It was another chart-topper, selling 80,000 copies in the first week. Her next single, "To Mother," was released on June 2, 2010.

On July 14, 2010, Yui released her fourth studio album Holidays in the Sun, which included her five singles from "Summer Song" to "To Mother". It became her fourth straight album to top the Oricon charts, eventually selling over 300,000 copies, and attained the certification of Platinum.[32][33]

How Crazy Your Love (2010–2013)

Her single "Rain" was released on the November 24, 2010.[34] Yui's released a double-A side of "It's My Life/Your Heaven," on January 26, 2011. Yui traveled to Sweden for the shooting of the "Your Heaven" music video and a short movie showing Yui's journey to various places and shops in Sweden.

Yui's tour DVD, Holidays in the Sun was released on March 9. Her newest single, "Hello (Paradise Kiss)", was released on June 1, 2011, the A-side and B-side being theme song and ending song, respectively, of the live-action movie "Paradise Kiss". On June 16, 2011, Yui traveled to Hong Kong for her first overseas concert at the AsiaWorld-Expo Arena, performing to a capacity audience of 14,000 people.[35]

Yui visited schools in stricken areas from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on July 7, 2011, and performed a charity concert. Her single "Green a.Live" uses the emotions and thoughts she felt from the visit, and was released on October 5, 2011.[36] It was previewed on the Tokyo FM radio show School of Lock on August 22.[37] "Green a.Live" debuted on top of the charts, and became her first number one single since July 2010.

On November 2, 2011, her album, How Crazy Your Love, was released. The album debuted at number one on the daily charts, selling just under 50,000 copies on the first day of release, and would go on to reach number one on the weekly charts – making How Crazy Your Love her fifth straight album to debut at the weekly number one.[38][39] She started her fifth major tour on November 11, 2011 to promote her recent album.[40] It has cruising as the major theme.[41]

Yui's upcoming single was announced through her participation in Ncon (Nコン), a national school music competition where schools compete to provide their best rendition of songs composed by select artists for a specific theme for that year.[42] Yui was selected to compose for the middle school category. The song was eventually revealed as "fight" on R no Housoku (Rの法則), and was released on September 5, 2012.[43]

In a video uploaded to Yui's official Vevo channel on December 18, 2012, she announced that she would be taking a break from music. She explained that "...Yui is so precious and special for me, so I want to leave it as is for a while." To her fans, she said, "Actually, part of the reason I'm going into hiatus again is for the sake of my fans. The biggest reason is that I don't want them to see me with a broken-off heart, if that happens."[44]

Flower Flower (2013–present)

Yui returned from hiatus shortly thereafter with a new band called Flower Flower, which performed incognito throughout Japan.[45] The band has since released four digital and Japan-only singles; "月(Tsuki)", "神様(Kamisama)", "夏/秋(Natsu/Aki)" and "素晴らしい世界(Subarashii Sekai)". On March 27, 2014, Yui revealed in her band blog that she had been diagnosed with a panic disorder, which resulted in the cancellation of some presentations.[46][47]

On April 17, 2015, the singer announced via the official blog of her band Flower Flower that she has married a man outside of the industry and is currently pregnant.[48] In August 2015, it was announced that, in the first week of August, Yui gave birth to two healthy twin boys. [49]

Discography

Main article: Yui discography

Studio albums
Compilation albums

Filmography

DVDs

Films and TV

Year Title Role
2006 Song of the Sun Kaoru Amane (Lead)
2011 Kaitō Royale Cameo

Live performances

Tours

Single-day performances

Cover performances

Awards and Nominations

Year Nominated work Award Result
2007 Herself 20th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Artist of the Year[50] Nominated
Herself 30th Japan Academy Prize: Rookie of Year[51] Won
Good-bye Days MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Video From a Film (from Midnight Sun) Nominated
2008 Herself MTV Student Voice Award 2008: Best Artist[52] Won
Love & Truth MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Pop Video Nominated
Love & Truth MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Video From a Film (from Closed Note) Nominated
My Generation Space Shower Music Video Awards 08: Best Pop Video[53] Won
2010 Gloria 1st Brazil's J-Station Music Awards: Hit of The Year[54] Won
2011 Rain MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Female Video[55] Nominated
Holidays in the Sun MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Album of the Year[55] Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "Good-bye Days" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  2. ↑ ＹＵＩのリリース一覧 (in Japanese). Oricon.
  3. ↑ Shinji Suzuki, Takayuki Ishibashi/Kō Serata, Shintarō Ōki (producers) (August 13, 2011). "CDTV Top 30 Most Dearest Female Artist". Count Down TV (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System.
  4. ↑ Tamori, Yoshie Takeuchi (June 6, 2011). "Music Station". Music Station (in Japanese). TV Asahi.
  5. ↑ "22nd Pop International Poll" (in Chinese). Radio Television Hong Kong.
  6. ↑ Lee, Min (May 15, 2011). "Japanese Singer Yui Eyes Bigger Foreign Fan Base". Associated Press. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  7. ↑ Lee, Min (June 27, 2011). "Japanese Singer Yui Stages First Foreign Show". Associated Press. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Interview with Yui (page 5)" (in Japanese). Livedoor.
  9. 1 2 Oricon Style, February 2, 2006 (Japanese)
  10. ↑ "Interview with Yui (page 3)" (in Japanese). Livedoor.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Rockin' on Japan, May 2007 (Japanese)
  12. ↑ News Maker, July 2007 (Japanese)
  13. ↑ "Interview". Excite.
  14. ↑ 映画「カイジ 人生逆転ゲーム」での再会 (in Japanese). Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Midnight Sun". Shochiku. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  16. ↑ "Complete Cannes 2006 Line-up". Shochiku. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  17. ↑ 太陽のうた×YUIと薫のうた (dvd). Geneon Universal Entertainment. June 6, 2006.
  18. ↑ Mcgue, Kevin (January 25, 2007). "Enough to Make You Weep". South China Morning Post.
  19. ↑ "Yui-net Discography". Yui-net. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
  20. 1 2 B-PASS, February, 2008 (Japanese)
  21. ↑ World of Yui | Yui News, Community, Fansite, Gallery: New Yui Single!
  22. ↑ Lawson Ticket, April 2008 (Japanese)
  23. ↑ "I Loved Yesterday-Yui". allmusic. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Official Yui 3rd Tour Information". Yui-net. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
  25. ↑ "Confirmation of a new single release by Sony Music Japan".
  26. ↑ "Confirmation of new album title "My Short Stories"" (in Japanese). Yui-net. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  27. ↑ "Confirmation of new song title "I'll be"" (in Japanese). Yui-net. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  28. ↑ "News about Yui x Stereopony Collaboration of "I Do It"" (in Japanese). Oricon News. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
  29. ↑ "Confirmation of Yui's new single, "Again"" (in Japanese). Livedoor. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  30. ↑ "YUI自己最高記録更新で完全復活！　09年女性最高初動でシングル首位" (in Japanese). Oricon. June 9, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2009.
  31. ↑ "Confirmation of new single "It's all too much/Never say die"" (in Japanese). Yui-net. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
  32. ↑ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved December 20, 2010. (subscription only)
  33. ↑ ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2010年07月 (in Japanese). RIAJ. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  34. ↑ "Rain" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. October 26, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  35. ↑ "Japanese Singer Yui Stages First Foreign Show". Associated Press. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  36. ↑ "YUIの新しいシングル『Green a.live』" (in Japanese). September 22, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  37. ↑ "新曲『Green a.live』リリース決定!!!　(2011.8.22)" [New title "Green Alive" to be released] (in Japanese). Sony Music Records (Japan) Inc. August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  38. ↑ "2011年11月01日のCDアルバムデイリーランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
  39. ↑ "2011年10月31日～2011年11月06日のCDアルバム週間ランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon.co.jp. November 6, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  40. 1 2 "Yui 5th Tour 2011 開催決定!!" (in Japanese). Sony Music Records (Japan) Inc. September 10, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  41. ↑ "「HOW CRAZY YOUR LOVE」というタイトルに込めた想い" (in Japanese). Oricon. November 2, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  42. ↑ "Nコン 2012" (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  43. ↑ "スペシャルゲストYUIが語る"10代"". Rの法則. April 26, 2012. NHK.
  44. ↑ Yui on YouTube; accessed July 22, 2015.
  45. ↑ ＹＵＩサプライズ熱唱！ライブハウス飛び入り (in Japanese). Sanspo. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  46. ↑ "YUI DIAGNOSED WITH PANIC DISORDER". AFA Channel. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  47. ↑ "Yui talks about her panic disorder on her blog". Tokyo Have. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  48. ↑ "Singer Yui Announces Marriage, Pregnancy". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  49. ↑ "Yui Has Given Birth". ARAMA! JAPAN. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  50. ↑ "第20回日本ゴールドディスク大賞・受賞作品／アーティスト. RIAJ. Retrieved on 2007-6-21. (Japanese)
  51. ↑ "第30回日本アカデミー賞. NIPPON ACADEMY-SHO ASSOCIATION. Retrieved on 2007-11-15. (Japanese)
  52. ↑ "最優秀"STUDENT VOICE"アーティスト賞. Retrieved on 2009-9-29 (Japanese)
  53. ↑ "Space Shower Music Video Awards 08. Retrieved on 2009-9-29 (Japanese)
  54. ↑ Confira os vencedores do J-Station Music Awards 2010. Retrieved on 2011-01-27 (Portuguese)
  55. 1 2 "MTV Music Aid Japan" (in Japanese). MTV. Retrieved August 15, 2011.

External links

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