, known mononymously as YUI, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In her solo career, she sold more than 5 million physical copies in Japan. She is popular in Japan and in surrounding countries, ranking number one in 2011 Count Down TV "Dearest Female Artist" and Music Station "Artist You Most Want to Marry" polls, as well as Radio Television Hong Kong's "Most Popular Japanese Artist".
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. Her singles, however, were only met with moderate success until the breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars. Since her debut album, From Me to You, each of her soloist album releases has topped the charts, with at least one single reaching number one on the Oricon charts from 2007 until her second hiatus in 2012, including five straight from mid-2008 to late 2010. After retiring from music as a soloist in 2012, she formed the band Flower Flower in 2013.
Biography Yui Yoshioka was born in Fukuoka, Japan.
She grew up in a single-parent family, her father leaving her mother when she was three. Growing up, Yui asserted that she had always been close to music, as she would remember the beats from music she heard on the radio, and would be able to sing it. During elementary school, Yui thought she would like to become a singer. 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.Oricon Style, February 2, 2006
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. While in high school, she worked part-time at a Chinese restaurant to help pay for tuition. Between music, school and work, however, 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.Rockin' on Japan, May 2007 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.
Soon after leaving the hospital, she got a chance to see her first live street performance. 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.News Maker, July 2007 Aspiring to become a professional, she took to street performing at Fukuoka's Tenjin Station. These street performances helped Yui to overcome her shyness.
Career Initial career (2004–2005) Yui's 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. 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 the unfinished third song because she wanted the judges to hear a song full of hope.
The judges gave her the maximum score. Although "I Know" was incomplete at the time, the judges were able to get a glimpse of what would later be dubbed , 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.
On December 24, 2004, Yui 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, prior to releasing a major single. The music in Fukigen na Gene was eventually based on her songs "Feel My Soul" and "It's Happy Line."
On February 23, 2005, 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. Yui released her debut album on February 22, 2006, titled From Me to You, a moderate success that debuted at number 4 on the Oricon charts, charting for 121 weeks.
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), which opened on June 17, 2006. The film was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. 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. Yui attended the Japan Academy Prize, winning 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 her highest selling single, with 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.
Yui's 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 commercials 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, breaking 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), (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.B-PASS, February, 2008 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.
Yui began 2008 with her eleventh single, "Namidairo", released on February 27, 2008.World of Yui | Yui News, Community, Fansite, Gallery: New Yui Single! 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.Lawson Ticket, April 2008 The chorus of the song was incidentally written by Yui 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, 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.
Yui's third tour, named "Oui: I Loved Yesterday'" started in May 2008 and ran until July.
My Short Stories/Holidays in the Sun (2008–2010) On July 2, 2008, Yui released "Summer Song," again charting at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. "Summer Song" sold 83,440 copies in a week, making the single the singer's second highest in first week sales after "Love & Truth."
Yui released her B-side compilation album, My Short Stories, on November 12, 2008, which debuted 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." 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. She asserted that the break would allow her 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.
Yui announced her return from her five-month hiatus on March 25, 2009, on her official website. The single celebrating her return was an up-tempo song titled "Again." The track was chosen as the first opening theme of the new season of the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, premiering on April 5, 2009. The single was released on June 3, 2009. "Again" debuted atop the Oricon charts, selling over 110,000 copies in its first week. The single had the highest opening week sales for a female act in 2009.