Miwa (singer)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Miwa (stylised as miwa) (born 15 June 1990) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She debuted in 2010 with the single " Don't Cry Anymore", which was used as the theme song for the drama '' Nakanai to Kimeta hi''. Her stage name officially starts with a lowercase letter 'm'.


Biography


History

miwa was born in
Hayama, Kanagawa 260px, Morito Beach is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, on central Honshū, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 32,961 and a population density of 1900 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Since 1894, the ...
, moving to
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
at a young age. Since her father had a great love for music, miwa naturally began to enjoy music as she grew up. miwa began writing songs at 15. She began to teach herself how to play the guitar after she entered high school, but gave up and paid for professional lessons after discovering she wasn't making much progress on her own. Her high school had a ban on students having part-time jobs. Despite this, miwa secretly worked and eventually used these savings by her second year of high school to buy a
Gibson J-45 The Gibson J-45 is a dreadnought style acoustic guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. It is generally regarded as Gibson's most famous and widely used acoustic guitar model. The J-45 is part of Gibson's round-shoulder "jumbo" ...
guitar. miwa played live concerts mostly around
Shimokitazawa is a commercial and entertainment area in Kitazawa, Setagaya, Tokyo. It is located in the southwestern corner of the Kitazawa district, hence the name "Shimo-kitazawa" (literally ''lower Kitazawa''). Also known as "Shimokita", the neighbourhood ...
in Tokyo and in
Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...
in the summer (her parents had a house there). Due to her high school also having a ban on students working in the entertainment business, she had to do these gigs in secret (without even telling her school friends). During this time, miwa released two self-published independent singles, "Song for You/Today" and "Soba ni Itai Kara" in 2007 and 2008. miwa was signed to
Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is oper ...
during her third year of high school. She debuted as an artist in 2010 while attending
Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowment ...
. Her debut single " Don't Cry Anymore" was chosen for the drama '' Nakanai to Kimeta His theme song. The single was a minor commercial success, breaking the top 20 on
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike i ...
's single charts and being certified by the
RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...
as selling 100,000 full length cellphone downloads a month after its release. (subscription only) In April 2010 the song won the award for best drama theme song at the 64th The Television Drama Academy Awards. miwa released her second single, "
Little Girl Little Girl(s), A Little Girl, or The Little Girl(s) may refer to: * Girl, a young female human Film and television * ''Little Girl'' (film), a 2020 French documentary by Sébastien Lifshitz * "A Little Girl" (''Dynasty''), a 1984 television ...
," in late June. Her third single "
Change Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or change, ...
" was the twelfth opening theme song for the ''
Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...
'' anime, and was a top 10 single. For the animated film adaptation of
Eto Mori Eto Mori ( ja, 森絵都, translit=Mori Eto, born 1968) is a Japanese novelist focusing on children's and young adult literature. She has been described as "one of the most celebrated female writers of fiction in Japan today". Mori was born in To ...
's novel ''Colorful'', miwa covered two songs by famous Japanese artists.
Yutaka Ozaki was a popular Japanese musician. He is ranked at No. 23 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians by HMV. Biography He was born in Tokyo Setagaya Ward SDF Central Hospital to Kinue and Kenichi Ozaki. He has one older brother, Yasushi. Early in li ...
's "Boku ga Boku de Aru Tame ni" was used as the film's image song and
The Blue Hearts was a Japanese punk rock band active from 1985 to 1995. They have been compared to such bands as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones.
' song " Aozora" was used as the end theme. Both songs were released as digital downloads on August 12, 2010. miwa considers her favorite Western musicians to be
Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three ...
,
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...
,
Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
,
Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, '' Let Go'' (2002), is the best-selling album of the 2 ...
and
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
. Her favorite Japanese musicians are
Aiko is a female Japanese given name. is a Japanese surname, also romanized as Aikoh or Aiko. Aiko or Ayko is also a traditional male given name in Scandinavia and especially northern Germany. In Germany it is considered one of the old "ge ...
,
Angela Aki known professionally as , is a pop singer, songwriter and pianist. Biography Early life Aki was born in the small town of Itano in Tokushima Prefecture, in the mostly rural island of Shikoku. Her mother is Italian American and her father is J ...
,
Radwimps is a Japanese rock band who debuted independently in 2003 and signed with Toshiba EMI in 2005. The band's name, Radwimps, was formed from two English slang terms, " rad" and " wimp". According to the band, the coined word had several meanings, ...
and Yuki. miwa has previously been a DJ on monthly radio show on
All Night Nippon is a Japanese radio program broadcast by Nippon Broadcasting System and other radio stations from 1–5 am (JST). It preempts broadcasts from TBS Radio's programming heard on stations under both JRN and NRN ( TBC Radio, CBC Radio, etc.). ...
, miwa no All Night Nippon R ( MiwaのオールナイトニッポンR), every third Monday from 3:00am to 5:00am. It has since then been changed into a weekly show, now known as miwa no All Night Nippon (Miwaのオールナイトニッポン), airing every Tuesday (early Wednesday) from 1:00am to 3:00am. miwa released her first album '' Guitarissimo'' on April 6, 2011 (scheduled to release a week earlier but delayed due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and its aftereffects). The charts performance was miwa's best overall: the album reached No. 1 in the Oricon's album charts, making miwa the first
Heisei period The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohit ...
-born solo singer to reach a No. 1 on the album charts in the history of the Oricon. She played a flautist in the film '' Maestro!''. On September 1, 2019, it was reported that she would marry
Kosuke Hagino is a Japanese former competitive swimmer who specialized in the individual medley and 200 m freestyle. He is a four-time Olympic medalist, most notably winning gold in the 400 m individual medley at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Hagino holds the ...
, a swimmer, in the fall of the same year. He also officially announced his marriage on the fan club site (although he did not specify the other person). On January 2, 2020, Hagino reported the birth of their first child. The gender and birth date of the child are not disclosed.


Discography

*'' Guitarissimo'' (2011) *''Guitarium'' (2012) *''Delight'' (2013) *''Oneness'' (2015) *''Splash World'' (2017) *''Sparkle'' (2022)


Filmography

*'' Maestro!'' (2015) **as supporting heroine Amane Tachibana *'' The 100th Love with You'' (2017) **as Lead heroine Aoi Hinata


References


External links

*
Tristone Management site

Official blog

Miwa Lyrics Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miwa 1990 births Living people Japanese women rock singers Japanese women pop singers Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese-language singers Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Keio University alumni 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers