YUI/id

For other uses, see Yui (disambiguation).

Yui
Born	March 26, 1987 (1987-03-26) Fukuoka, Japan
Genres	J-pop, Pop rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Actress
Instruments	Vocals, Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Bass, Piano, Drums
Years active	2004–Present
Labels	Studioseven Recordings Leaflet Records
Website	http://www.yui-net.com
Notable instruments
Martin D-28 Fender GA-45SCE Fender GDC200 SCE Fender Stratocaster Squier Bronco Bass Fender Telecaster

YUI (lahir Maret 26, 1987 di Fukuoka, Jepang) adalah seorang penyanyi-penulis lagu dan aktris dari Jepang. Saat ini berada dibawah kontrak Gr8!Records dan tergabung bersama agensi Stradust Promotion.

Biography

Kehidupan awal

YUI tumbuh dalam keluarga dengan orangtua tunggal dan tidak memiliki kenangan tentang ayahnya. Tetapi dia ingat dia selalu dekat dengan musik, dari stereo mobil ibunya atau pun dari radio; dia akan mengingat melodi lagunya dan ikut bernyanyi. Saat dia berada di Sekolah Dasar dia sempat berpikir untuk menjadi seorang penyanyi.

Di saat YUI kelas tiga SMP, mengikuti pengaruh ibunya, YUI memulai menulis jurnal mengenai perasaannya sehari-hari dan puisi. Karena hal ini, saat dia di Sekolah Menengah Atas, dia memulai menulis lagu. Sewaktu SMA, dia mengambil pekerjaan sampingan untuk membayar uang sekolah. Karena terlalu sibuk, dia merasa tiada lagi jalan untuk ke musik. Dia pun jatuh sakit. Sewaktu dia berada di rumah sakit, dengan banyak waktu berpikir, dia kembali mendapat semangat untuk bermusik. Dia memutuskan sekolah dan musik tidak bisa bersamaan. Setelah dia meninggalkan rumah sakit, dia menonton street performance secara langsung dan meengekspresikan hasrat bermusik dia kepada band tersebut, Bianco Nero, di akhir konser. Bianco Nero merekomendasikan dia untuk masuk sekolah music dan tidak lama setelah itu, dia berhenti dari sekolah dan memulai belajar cara menulis lagu dan guitar dengan serius di juku di kampung halaman-nya Fukuoka. Ingin menjadi seorang professional, dia membawa guitarnya kemana-mana dan bermain di pintu masuk Stasiun Tenjin di Fukuoka. Karena ini, YUI bisa menjadi lebih berani benyanyi dan bermain guitar di depan umum dan menghilangkan sifat pemalunya.

Debut karir

Karir professional YUI di mulai tanggal Maret 2004 atas rekomendasi instruktor juku-nya dia berpartisipasi dalam audisi yang di host oleh Sony Music Japan. Walaupun ada peraturan satu partisipan hanya boleh membawakan dua lagu, YUI membawakan tiga lagu, dan para juri memberikan YUI nilai tertinggi yang bisa mereka berikan. Itu membuat ribut di antara perusahaan record label yang lain.^{[citation needed]} Pertama YUI menyanyikan "Why me" (lagu yang nantinya berada di single debut-nya), diikuti oleh "It's Happy Line" dan "I Know". Karena saat itu lagu "I Know" masih belum selesai, para juri mendapat sekilas dari apa yang nanti dinamakan "Yui-go", atau Yui-speak (Yui語 dalam bahasa Jepang), kata-kata bahasa Inggris yang tidak beraturan di masukan ke dalam suatu melodi — contoh dari Yui-go bisa ditemukan di dalam film Midnight Sun saat YUI sedang dalam process membuat lagu "Goodbye Days".

Desember 24, 2004, YUI merilis single debutnya "It's Happy Line" dibawah label indie Leaflet Records, diikuti oleh lagu "I Know". Pembuatan CD-nya hanya sampai 2,000 CD di daerah rumahnya.

From Me to You (2005–2006)

Setelah YUI meninggalkan kampung halaman-nya untuk Tokyo, YUI menulis lagu "Feel My Soul". Rencananya dia mau merilis lagu ini dari indie label untuk kampung halaman-nya. Tetapi saat lagu ini terdengar oleh produser Mr. Yamaguchi dari Fuji TV, yang saat itu kebetulan melihat demo lagu ini, dia mengaku bahwa suara YUI menghantui dia dan memutuskan untuk pergi ke studio recording YUI sendiri.^{[citation needed]} Dia bahkan membuat lagu YUI dipakai untuk tema utama drama Fukigen na Gene.

Febuari 23, YUI merilis single major debut-nya yang pertama, "Feel My Soul". Musik dalam drama Fukigen na Gene basic-nya diambil dari lagu YUI "Feel My Soul" dan "It's Happy Line". Karena lagu itu dipakai di drama, "Feel My Soul" terjual lebih dari 100,000 copy dan single itu meraih tempat nomor 8 di tabel Oricon di minggu pertamanya. Tiga single YUI yang berikutnya, "Tomorrow's Way" (lagu tema untuk film Jepang, "Hinokio"), "Life" (lagu penutup kelima dari anime populer, Bleach), dan "Tokyo" tidak meraih tingkat setinggi "Feel my soul" dan hanya sukses dengan hasil biasa-biasa jikalau di bandingkan satu sama lain. Setelah merilis empat single pertama, YUI merilis debut albumnya From Me to You, yang terjual melebihi 200,000 copy.

Can't Buy My Love (2006–2007)

Yui made her acting debut in the full-length Japanese feature film Midnight Sun (Taiyou no uta, タイヨウのうた), released on June 17, 2006. The film was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. 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 fifth 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 seventh single "Rolling Star" was chosen as the 5th opening theme song for the anime series Bleach and "Cherry", her eighth 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 4, 2007, which fared well on the Oricon charts, staying for two weeks at number 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 680,000 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 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 used as the theme song for the 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), which starred her senpai at Stardust Promotion, Yūko Takeuchi. It charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts for the first week of its release. Her tenth single, "Love & Truth" was released on September 26 and the title track is the theme song to the Japanese film, Closed Note (クローズド・ノート), starring Erika Sawajiri (also of Stardust) who played the lead role in the film who also played the same role as Yui in Midnight Sun (Taiyou no uta), in television-drama version.

During this time, her first two albums were re-released as Winter Sleeve Edition 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 sold out.

Her first single of 2008, Namidairo, was released for sale on February 27, 2008. 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 March 10, 2008 and also included on her third album which would later be released.

Her third studio album was released on April 9, 2008 titled I Loved Yesterday. It charted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts, with more than 400,000 copies sold, 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' started in May and ended in July.

Yui released a single, entitled "Summer Song" on July 2, 2008. This single charted at number 1 on Oricon Weekly Chart. Summer Song is Yui's first number 1 hit single since "I Remember You" that was not tied to a drama (My Generation/Understand, Namidairo), commercial (Laugh Away), or anime (Rolling Star). "Summer Song" sold 83,440 copies in a week, making "Summer Song" second highest in first week sales after "Love & Truth" single.

My Short Stories (2008–Present)

YUI's latest compilation album, My Short Stories, released 12 November 2008, again charted at number 1 on Oricon, featuring the B-Sides from all her past singles (Feel My Soul to Summer Song), along with new song "I'll Be".

Yui is only 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 number 1 was Mr. Children's B-Side, on 21 May 2007. Due to the success of "My Short Stories", sales of her first album From Me to You rose again. In her 29 August 2008 "Yui Diary" blog entry, Yui mentioned that she would take a break for a while from all public appearances after this new album to re-energize herself. With this break, she would be able to fully concentrate on next year's song production. During this break, she contributed a song, "I Do It" to an Okinawan girl band Stereopony. It was released as their third single on April 22, 2009 and as ringtone (chaku uta) on March 18, 2009.

Yui has announced her return from her 5-month hiatus with a new single just one day before her 22nd birthday, on March 25 on her diary entry in her official website. Yui's new song is an up-tempo tune titled "Again". It was chosen as the opening theme song of the new Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood anime series, which started on April 5. The single was released on June 3, 2009. "Again" debuted atop the Oricon chart selling over 110,000 copies in its first week and currently has the highest opening week sales for a female act in 2009.

On July 27, 2009, Yui's official website, Yui-net, announced that Yui released her second double-A side single named, "It's All Too Much/Never Say Die". These two songs were chosen for a movie version of an anime, Kaiji as a theme song and an insert song. The single was released on October 7, 2009 and the movie was released on October 10, 2009. The single debuted at number one with the first week sales of 75,047 copies on Oricon. This is her fifth overall number 1 single.

Yui released her new single "Gloria" on January 20, 2010 and reached number one with over 80,000 copies sold in the first week.

Discography

Main article: Yui discography

Studio albums

• 2006: From Me to You
• 2007: Can't Buy My Love
• 2008: I Loved Yesterday

Compilation albums

• 2008: My Short Stories

Filmography

DVD

• Thank You My Teens (First Live DVD) (November 14, 2007)

Movies

• Midnight Sun (film) (タイヨーのうた, Taiyō no Uta) (Japan, June 17, 2006)

Awards

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2007	Herself	20th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Herself	30th Japan Academy Prize: Rookie of Year	Won
2008	Herself	MTV Student Voice Award 2008: Best Artist	Won
	Herself	Space Shower Music Video Awards 08 : Best Pop Video	Won

External links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Yui at Allmusic
• Yui discography at MusicBrainz
• Yui at the Internet Movie Database