From an early age, YUI was interested in music and had the wish to become a singer. In junior high school she had already begun to write poems, but it wasn’t until she was in high school that she had serious plans to become a singer. Instead of attending a normal high school, YUI went to a private music school where she learned song writing, and improved her guitar skills. In order to play as much as possible, she took her guitar with her everywhere she went.
In February 2004, she participated in an audition for Sony Music, in which 20,000 people participated. Being only seventeen at that time, the young singer/songwriter from Fukuoka managed to impress the jury and gained herself a contract with the record company.
In December of the same year, she released the single It’s happy line/I know, her only indie release. It was limited to only 1,000 copies and distributed in the Kyushu area (the most southern island of Japan). YUI’s major debut, the single Feel my soul, followed in February 2005 and received much attention due to its tie-in with the drama "Fukigen na Jiin."
After a few more singles, the singer released her first full album: From me to you in February 2006. Shortly after, she acted in the movie Taiyou no Uta, playing the main role as a young musician. Her following single, Good-bye days was used for the movie and because of this, did really well: it ranked third on the Oricon charts and is her most popular single to date.
After the release of three more singles, amongst them the rocky Rolling Star in which YUI played an electric guitar, opposed to an acoustic for the first time, she released her second album; Can’t Buy My Love. Whereas From me to you had been a pretty big success already, ending up in the top five of the Oricon charts, Can’t Buy My Love did even better and even ranked first. After two weeks, the album had sold over a 10,000 copies and continued to grow to 500,000 sold copies so far.
In June 2007, YUI’s first double A-side maxi-single was announced, titled My Generation/Understand which came first in the Oricon weekly charts. The track My Generation was used for the ending theme of the drama “Seito Shokun!” and Understand was selected for a comedy movie “Dog in a Sidecar." The next maxi-single LOVE & TRUTH was used for the movie “Closed Note." This single was released on the 26th of September, the same day as BoA's LOVE LETTER, causing competition on the Oricon charts, but to the delight of many fans YUI gained the first position in the weekly chart. Her songs proved to be very popular for TV and movie themes.
In addition to selling out her first concert at the Nippon Budokan held on the 17th of November, Thank you My teens was released in celebration of her 20th birthday. Continuing on with her successful streak, she began 2008 with the release of Namidairo in February which was specially composed for the drama “4 Shimai Tantei Dan." Two months after, the third album I LOVED YESTERDAY was released and not surprisingly, came first once again on the Oricon weekly album chart. Exactly two months after, the official score book of all the tracks on the single was brought out under the same title.
Her national tour, “Oui” : I LOVED YESTERDAY, began on May 5th at her birth place, Fukuoka, and ended in July which also brought along Summer Song, her second most popular single after Love & Truth from back in 2007. Shortly after winning an MTV award for Best Artist at the MTV Student Voice Award, her fourth album, MY SHORT STORIES, a b-side compilation album, was announced to be released in November.
On August 28th, YUI announced on her official diary that she was to take a yearlong break from all official public appearances to refresh herself to fully concentrate on 2009’s music production. During her break, she contributed in the production of I Do it by rock band Stereopony. The titled track Hither no Hangbird was used for the ending theme for the anime “Bleach” as well as being available as a downloadable ringtone in March.
Her latest single, again was chosen as the opening theme for anime “Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood” and has topped the chart within the first week of release. It was available for digital distribution in April 22nd, whereas the CD was out over a week later on June 2nd.
YUI seems to have a promising future ahead of her and we’re curious to see what she will bring us in the future!
