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Hitorie , sometimes stylized in
all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...
or lowercase, is a Japanese rock band formed in 2011 by lead vocalist and guitarist
wowaka Wowaka (stylized as wowaka, ; 4 November 19875 April 2019), also known as Genjitsutouhi-P (), was a Japanese musician. Considered to be a pioneer in the Vocaloid industry, wowaka was internationally acclaimed for his musical work over a career s ...
along with bassist Ygarshy and drummer Yumao under the name . Backing vocalist and fellow guitarist Shinoda joined in 2012, and the band renamed to its current name the same year. They made their major debut under
Sony Music 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 opera ...
in 2014 with their single '' Senseless Wonder''.


Band members

Source:


Current members

* (born ) – vocal & guitar (2019–present), lead guitar & backing vocals (2012–2019) ** Joined in 2012. ** Also a
vocaloid is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...
producer, using the pseudonym "" (impulsive person). Produced "", "", "", "", and "", using
Hatsune Miku , officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...
as vocals. ** In addition to his activities with Hitorie, he is also active on his solo project, under the name "cakebox", and was the guitarist of "JONNY", a rock band based in
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
. ** He is also skilled in creating artwork, contributing illustrations for band merchandise, and running a manga series on the web media platform "Meetia". ** Since 2019, he is now the band's vocalist, following wowaka's passing. The idea of Shinoda continuing as the band's vocalist was proposed by ygarshy during a meeting. Initially, Shinoda felt hesitant and express his concerns. Shortly afterward, he received similar suggestions from several acquaintances via LINE. Adding to this, he experienced an unusual streak of luck, winning around 9 out of 10 prize draws at a
FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain, and a subsidiary of Itochu, a Japanese trading company. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind Seven-Eleven Japan. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Malaysia, Taiwa ...
lottery.On the February 20, 2021, broadcast of ''Room No. 69'', it was mentioned, "I won 6 out of 7 tickets," to which Shinoda commented, "I thought more would sound better." This series of events led him to think, "Maybe I really am meant to be the one to sing." ** Since October 2023, he has been performing a solo tour on 47
prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
, named . * (born ) – bass, backing vocals ** Support bassist of " (Don't Forget)" ** Was active as the bassist of Touhou band " (Soap Shop)", and music unit "JUDGEMENT", alongside vocalist ichigo, from "Kishida Cult". ** He rarely speaks during live performance MCs. During wowaka's tenure, he was occasionally seen sucking on candy during shows, as the other three members tended to have lengthy discussions. ** He composed the song "Beautiful Moonlight" and was the bassist on the first single release of idol group QU4RTZ, "Sing & Smile!!" from the series
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a Japanese multimedia spin-off project from the ''Love Live!'' series and its game series ''Love Live! School Idol Festival (often abbreviated as ''LLSIF'' or ''Sukufesu'') is a Japanese rhythm game series. The first game, develop ...
. * (born ) – drums, backing vocals ** Support drummer of
Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meanin ...
. ** Was active in the band " (be gentle)", which disbanded in 2012. ** He also provides drum work for many artists, such as
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, natori, Ado, Jin, as well as his solo project
Kagerou Project The , also known as or "Kagerou Days", sometimes referred to as "Kagepro" (カゲプロ), is a Japanese mixed-media project created by . It initially began as a series of Vocaloid songs that became increasingly popular following the relea ...
, and more.


Previous members

*
wowaka Wowaka (stylized as wowaka, ; 4 November 19875 April 2019), also known as Genjitsutouhi-P (), was a Japanese musician. Considered to be a pioneer in the Vocaloid industry, wowaka was internationally acclaimed for his musical work over a career s ...
( – ) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (2011–2019) ** Was the band's lead vocalist and songwriter. He is often nicknamed "leader". He passed away in his sleep on April 5, 2019, of acute heart failure. ** Originally under the alias "", originated by his first video description on NicoVideo, "". ** Considered by many to be one of the most influential vocaloid producers, he quickly grew in popularity after the release of his songs "Rolling Girl", "World's End Dancehall", and more. In 2011, he released his debut vocaloid album " under the label
Balloom Balloom is an independent Japanese record label that was created in 2011. Until 2013, it focused on releasing music by musicians who were popular on video streaming service Niconico Douga, especially those who used Vocaloid software, and people wh ...
, which he co-founded, which rose to widespread acclaim. He wrote the lyrics and music for the single ''And I'm Home'', which was the ending theme for the anime series ''
Puella Magi Madoka Magica , also known simply as ''Madoka Magica'', is a Japanese anime television series created by Magica Quartet, and animated by Shaft. The story follows a group of middle school girls, led by protagonist Madoka Kaname, who make supernat ...
,'' and also arranged "Summernoise Version" and "those dizzy days Version" of ''
Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono) is a song by Japanese all-female band Zone, released as their 3rd single on August 8, 2001. Background and release "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)" is composed and written by Norihiko Machida. The single was released on August 8, 2001 as Zo ...
'' which was the ending theme for the anime series ''
Anohana is a Japanese anime television series created by , an artist collective consisting of director Tatsuyuki Nagai, screenwriter Mari Okada, and character designer Masayoshi Tanaka. The anime was produced by A-1 Pictures and aired in Fuji TV ...
''. In the same year, he announced he was leaving the vocaloid scene to form a band. ** He was a close friend of musician
Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and illustrator. He started releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and ...
, also a vocaloid producer, under the name of Hachi. After wowaka's death, Yonezu said that since his own music was also influenced by wowaka, he held his greatest respect for him.


History


2011–2013: Indie debut

In an interview with
Natalie Natalie may refer to: Places * Natalie, Michigan, an unincorporated community People * Natalie (given name) * Natalie (singer) (born 1979), Mexican-American R&B singer/songwriter * (born 1999), better known as Natalie Zenn, Indonesian act ...
, wowaka disclosed that after releasing "Unhappy Refrain", he became mentally exhausted and distanced himself from the scene to protect his well-being, feeling that the pressure for fame and success had overshadowed the authenticity of the music. He met Yumao and ygarshy online later that year and formed the band, previously named . In 2012, Shinoda, an acquaintance of both ygarshy and Yumao, was invited to join. They met via
Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...
, and Shinoda joined the band, which was renamed to Hitorie. wowaka says he chose the band's members "with assertiveness":
"As music makers, we gather together people who are assertive in their instruments, performances, and music. Actually, I don't think there are many bands of that type. However, Hitorie's music is assertive in that way. I think that is our strength."
In December, they released their first mini-album " independently at Comic Market 83 (C83). On April 2013, they released their first EP "non-fiction four e.p." independently. Although an indie release, it reached over 10.000 copies sold. Later that month, they held their first one-man live named "hitori-escape" in Tokyo. On November 4, they held their first sold-out show (Extraordinary Shibuya Edition)" at shibuya eggman. The same day, they announced their major debut under their own label, "", under the
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
umbrella.


2014–2015: Major debut and first album ''Wonder and Wonder''

On January 22, 2014, they released their first major single "", which played in radio stations all over Japan and was selected for
FM802 (call sign JOFV-FM) is a commercial radio broadcasting, radio station based at Daiwa Building in Tenjimbashi Nichome, Kita-ku, Osaka, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, broadcasting on 80.2 FM broadcasting, FM from Mount Iimori to Kansai region. As a latec ...
's
heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely sh ...
. Less than a month later, on February 19th, they announced their first mini-album after their major debut, titled ". wowaka described the mini-album's title as "This is the easiest way to express “this is what we sing and play” and “this is the root of what we do as a band and music”. I wanted to make the title of the album a big grouping, since the album will be a work of art." In April, they performed a one-man tour in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, named ", which sold out all venues, including the Ebisu LIQUIDROOM, one of the most popular
live house A is a Japanese live music club – a music venue featuring live music. The term is a Japanese coinage ( wasei eigo) and is mainly used in East Asia. It most frequently refers to smaller venues, which may double as bars, especially featuring ...
s in
Shibuya is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station. As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,60 ...
. They also participated in multiple rock festivals, such as the ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2014, WORLD HAPPINESS 2014 and RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2014 in EZO, gaining more support from fans throughout the country. On November 26, they released their first full-length album ''Wonder and Wonder'', which featured their debut single "Senseless Wonder". In an interview, ygarshy says the album "displays all the weapons I have at my disposal":
"For me, for the time being, I feel that it is an album in which I have put out all the weapons I have at my disposal. There are songs that you can jam to, there are songs with a purpose in mind, and there are songs like "Senseless Wonder" that make use of my original weapons.We can do anything now, can't we?"
wowaka described the album as:
"I think that until now, I probably had some kind of ego in a bad sense of the word. I can say that now. But in a more pure sense, we have become a band with a one-of-a-kind coolness that only the four members of Hitorie can bring to the table. That is what I originally wanted to do. That's why I think this album has a cool, tingly, tense feeling as a band. In fact, the process of making it was quite stressful (laughs)."
In December, they held their "WONDER and WANDER" tour, over 12 locations nationwide. In Tokyo, their performance at Akasaka BLITZ was sold out. On July 1, 2015, they released their 2nd mini-album . As promotion for the album, all of wowaka's posts on social media, especially
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
, were in
black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
. This went from March 1st, to December 10th. On the same month, they held their one-man tour "", with an additional performance in
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...
. Various venues were sold out. On November 4, they released their new single ", and re-released their first 2 indie releases as " on streaming services. The release featured remasters of most of their old songs, as well as feature a re-recording of "Kara no Waremono", the first song to be written by wowaka for the band.


2016–2018: ''Deeper'', ''Iki'' and ''Ai/Solate''

On January 27, their 3rd single " (stylized as one-Me two-Hearts)", was released as the
opening theme A title screen (also called an opening screen or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often an opening theme song with visuals ...
for the anime series "". It was Hitorie's first song to be featured in an anime series. The anime received mixed reviews by fans and critics alike, citing a convoluted story and disappointing adaptation. However, Hitorie's opening theme was praised by many for being memorable, even outside the anime's context. On February 24, they released their 2nd full-length
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
'' Deeper''. The
cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...
is from an
art exhibition An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is occasionally true, it is stated to be a "permanen ...
called "STILLSCAPE" by
photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...
s Tetsuya Nagato and Taro Mizutani. In March, they started their one-man tour "one-Me Tour “DEEP/SEEK”", over 14 locations nationwide. The tour final was held at the Studio Coast in Shin-Kiba, and was very successful. On August 8th, they released their first live movie and album featuring the performance. On November 1, they started their one-man tour "HITORI- CAPE 2016 tour "5"" over 5 venues nationwide. On the 1st of December, they released their 3rd full-length studio album ''
Iki IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut, in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute, originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japane ...
'', their 2nd full-length album release on the same year. A talk and autograph event to commemorate the release was held in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. The album's title, stylized in English, is based on the japanese word "生きる", which means "to live". It was previously named "Human". Tomoko Ariizumi of MUSICA, says:
"This album "IKI" is a work in which wowaka, after a long period of trial and error since he formed the band Hitorie, was finally able to fully liberate himself in his music, and finally give birth to a pure and true voice. This human liberation inevitably led to the full flowering of his potential as a musician and expressive artist."
A live album tour to commemorate the album's release, named ", was performed in over 20 locations nationwide starting on January 27th 2017. On August 22, 2017, wowaka released his final vocaloid song, for
Hatsune Miku , officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...
's 10th anniversary compilation album ''Re:Start''. A cover version by Hitorie featuring wowaka's vocals was released 2 months later, on October 22. The song was recorded with Hitorie on both versions, and wowaka sings the
chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...
on the original vocaloid version, while Miku can be heard on the Hitorie version. On December 6, they released the mini-album ''Ai/Solate'', featuring "Unknown Mother-Goose" as the lead single. The title is a
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
, as it can be interpreted as "isolate" or "愛 ("ai", love in Japanese) so late". As promotion for the album, all tracks, excluding Unknown Mother-Goose, and " (Absolute)",These two already had music videos released previously. had short
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s released by the members on social media. The first video released was for the song "NAI.", which was directed by , who directed the music videos for "" and "One Me Two Hearts". The theme was "white". Tanabe's comment on the video:
"Immaculate purity. White, not yet soiled by any other pigment. Beautifully pure. Within that gleaming beauty lurks a swarm of moths. I tried to use the contras" of lurking moths upon an innocent smile to emphasize the idea of ‘white’."
The second video released was for the song "Loveless", during their national "IKI" tour, and was directed by , who also directed the music videos for "" and "". The video's theme was simply "pink". Shimada's comment on the video:
"The color pink was the only prompt I received, so my initial inspiration was to use the hues of skin. With closeups on the tonality of the girl’s skin, and the combination of soft-colored flowers… The video turned quite feminine, yet still with a slightly bare and ominous aura to it."
The third video released was for the song "Namid e". The title is a
play on words Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...
with the Japanese words (means "tears"), and (means "rain"). A literal translation would be "rain of tears". The video was recorded by , which appeared on the album cover for "Monochrome Entrance" and the music video for "Talkie Dance". The video's theme, was described by Ryuka herself:
"I recorded low-key streetlights and the highway at midnight, to enhance a low-key setting."
The fourth and final video released was for the song "". It was directed by Kakimoto Kensaku, who also directed the music video for "Little Cry Baby". The video's theme was "red". Kakimoto's comment on the video:
"In the present country we dwell, what is red, I ask. From nuclear power, the mass media, vested interest, to politics as a whole… Just thinking about it there’s no end. If you know it’s red and yet get too scared to voice how red it is, then at that point it’s already bright red. Every bit of imagery in this video was forged from layers of reds, so the act of releasing this video into the world is virtually red in itself. Red is an amass of energy, I think."
On January 17, 2018, Hitorie performed alongside
UNISON SQUARE GARDEN Unison Square Garden (stylized as UNISON SQUARE GARDEN, or USG) is a Japanese Rock band signed to Toy's Factory. The band includes Kosuke Saito (vocals/guitar), Tomoya Tabuchi (bass/backing vocals), and Takao Suzuki (drums/backing vocals). Career ...
on their two-man live "nexUs Vol.4" at Akasaka BLITZ. On the 28th, they started their "UNKNOWN-TOUR 2018 “Loveless”" in over 10 locations across the country. They also performed overseas for the first time, at additional performances in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. On October 4th, they started their first overseas tour, called "HITORI-ESCAPE in CHINA “RED HOT POT TOUR”". On October 28, their fourth single was released as the seventh ending theme for the anime series '' Boruto: Naruto Next Generations''. A month later, on November 28, the physical version was released with 2 additional songs. One of them was a new song, titled "River Fog, Chocolate Butterfly". The other, was Hitorie's cover of , one of wowaka's vocaloid songs. Shinoda said in an interview that the song was one of his favorites and the one that he wanted to play live the most, however wowaka, exhausted from the release of "Unhappy Refrain", neglected the idea. After performing the song in rehearsals, wowaka felt compelled to record the song and include it on the single.


2019: ''Howls'' and death of wowaka

On January 7, 2019, Hitorie announced their 4th full-length studio album ''Howls''. It released on February 27, and featured their single "Polaris". It was preceded by two singles from the album, "SLEEPWALK", and "". On the talk and listening party to commemorate the album's release, Yumao revealed that, unlike all their other songs, "SLEEPWALK" was produced solely by wowaka. Although he was hesitant to include it on the album, Yumao heavily pushed wowaka to include it. Production on the song begun after ygarshy suggested that wowaka should write a song by himself again. Similarly to "Loveless" on "ai/SOlate", it's one of their few songs to have a more
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
-like sound. From January 21 to January 27, Hitorie hosted a special event titled , renting out Shimokitazawa ERA for the entire duration.Due to wowaka contracting influenza, the one-man live show originally scheduled for the seventh day was postponed and held on February 14 at Shimokitazawa GARDEN. On the 1st of March, they announced their 2019 tour "Coyote Howling". On April 8, in an announcement on Sony Music's official website, it was disclosed that wowaka had passed away 3 days prior, on April 5, in his sleep. The cause of death was acute heart failure. He was 31 years old. A private funeral was held with his family and friends. They cancelled their previously announced tour and offered refunds to all concert-goers, and said the band's future was "currently undecided". The band's members left messages for wowaka in the same announcement. ygarshy (Bassist) said:
"Even now, I'm still waiting for that moment when wowaka starts playing guitar on stage. Everyone will be in the audience, and when the leader of the band, waving his right hand, makes a huge sound, the happiest time of my life will begin. No matter how much I bluff, honestly, I still can't get anything done. I'm not hungry, and I don't sleep well. I can't think back to the time when I met wowaka. I can't stop crying. I am so sorry that I can't show you the performance with the 4 of us anymore. Still, I am the only bassist that wowaka chose in this world, so I will never stop playing the bass that wowaka told me he loves. Leader, you can come and listen to me anytime. I'll get better tomorrow."
Shinoda (guitarist) said:
"Sorry leader, I'm going to borrow heJazzmaster for a little while longer. I don't know how long it will take, but I will pay you back, so please wait over there."
Yumao (drummer) said:
"wowaka, I don't have anything in particular to say about us in depth at length, but wowaka writes the song, we pick up the instruments, the song is finished, we play it live, and we make the sound. And we sounded great, didn't we? I'm sorry I annoyed you with all the clumsy things I said in my inarticulate writing. Thanks again. I'll keep working hard."
On June 1, a memorial concert for wowaka was held, named "". The venue was selected to be the tour final of their cancelled "Coyote Howling" tour. The concert started with a video of their performance on the "IKI" tour. Later, Shinoda, Yumao and ygarshy took to the stage, with Shinoda being the vocalist and guitarist. He entered the stage holding up wowaka's signature
Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
. They performed "SLEEPWALK" live for the first time. Before the performance, Shinoda said "I'm not used to this, but I'll sing with a hand mic." After the performance, Shinoda said "That must've reached heaven." Before the end of the set, Shinoda said: "To be honest, we haven't decided anything like 'what we are going to do from now on'... but at least we won't break up." He then introduced the last song, “I'm sure everyone can sing this song. Let's sing it loud enough for wowaka in heaven to hear." They then performed "Rolling Girl", wowaka's signature vocaloid song, with Shinoda's vocals. The concert's encore was a live recording of "Little Cry Baby", from their 2017 "IKI" tour. On September 2, it was announced that the previously unreleased recordings of their 2018 tour "Loveless" and 2017 tour "IKI" would be released as a single live movie, named " HITORIE LIVE TOUR UNKNOWN 2018 “Loveless”- 2017 “IKI”". Various songs from the performance were released on the band's official
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channel. The live movie was released on November 4th, which is wowaka's birthday. A day later, they started their 2019 tour "HITORI-ESCAPE TOUR 2019". It was also officially announced that Shinoda became the band's new vocalist.


2020–2023: Return as a 3-piece

On August 19, they released their first
greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
, named "4". Shinoda chose the name to celebrate the time spent as a 4-member band. A tour named "ヒトリエ (Hitorie, in Japanese) BEST ALBUM RELEASE TOUR “4”" was scheduled to be held in 21 locations, but was canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. They instead performed a paid live-streamed concert named "". On December 7, they held a free live-stream concert on their YouTube channel named "HITORI-ESCAPE 2020". On the same day, they also announced and released their first single as 3-piece band, named "curved edge". The lyrics and music were written by Shinoda, and the song talks about his inner turmoil after wowaka's passing. The song's title was inspired by the term
Straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated as sXe or signified by XXX or simply X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some ...
, a subculture of
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
whose adherents refrain from using
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
,
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, and
recreational drugs Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or plea ...
in reaction to the
punk subculture The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of Punk rock, music, Punk ideologies, ideologies, Punk fashion, fashion, and other forms of expression, Punk visual art, visual art, dance, Punk literature, literature, and film. La ...
's excesses. Shinoda says "I'm a proper adult so of course I'm not straight edge, I'm more twisted and curved." It is also a reference to the curved edge in swords. On the livestream, they also announced their 5th full-length album, and their 1st album as a 3-piece, named ''Reamp''. It released on February 17, 2021. It is their first album to feature songs composed by more than one member, as ygarshy and Yumao wrote 2 songs, each. ygarshy composed "dirty" and "", and Yumao composed "faceless enemy" and "YUBIKIRI". Shinoda composed the remaining songs, and also wrote all the album's lyrics. On April 21, they started their 2021 tour "ヒトリエ Amplified Tour 2021", over 16 locations. On May 1, their 5th single, "3 min 29 sec" (3分29秒) was released as the opening for the first season of the anime adaptation of 86 (Eighty Six). The physical version was released on July 2, featuring a new song called "milk tablet", and instrumental versions. The Blu-Ray/DVD version contained a recording of their online concert ". The song peaked at 22nd on the
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
charts. On January 19, 2022, they released their 2nd live movie and album of their 2021 tour, named "Amplified Tour 2021 at OSAKA". On January 26, 2022, they released their new digital single "". It was composed by Yumao, and Shinoda wrote the lyrics. On February 8, they started their 2022 tour "HITORI-ESCAPE TOUR 2022". On April 30, their 6th single, " (Wind, Flower)", was released as the ending theme for the anime adaptation of Dance Dance Danseur. The physical version was released on May 25, and featured a new song, "undo", and instrumental versions. "Kaze, Hana" was composed by Yumao, and Shinoda composed "undo" and wrote both of the songs' lyrics. On June 22, they released their 6th full-length studio album, and 2nd album as a 3-piece band, named "PHARMACY". The album contained their previously released singles, "3 min 29 sec", "Stereo Juvenile" and "Kaze, Hana". As with "REAMP", all 3 members wrote music for the album, however Yumao wrote 3 songs, and ygarshy only composed 1. Yumao composed "Kaze, Hana", "" and "Stereo Juvenile", while ygarshy composed "Quit." Shinoda composed the remaining songs' music and wrote all the album's lyrics. Shinoda designed and created a cat
plushie A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...
inspired by the one on the album's cover art, named "", and was sold as an official merch item. The album's release tour, "Summer flight tour 2022" was held starting on July 16. The tour final was held at Zepp Haneda. On December 2, a one-man live named "" was held at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of their indie debut. On March 10, 2023, they started the "", featuring 9 performances in 8 locations nationwide. On November 8, they started their "HITORI-ESCAPE TOUR 2023" with 15 performances in over 13 locations nationwide. On the same day, their new digital single, "", was released. Shinoda wrote the lyrics and music, and describes the title and song as "the feeling you get when playing an
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
." He also drew the album's cover art.


2024–present: 10th major debut anniversary and seventh album

On January 22, 2024, Hitorie released the single "", to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their major debut. The first track is a re-recording of the original song, arranged as a 3-piece. ygarshy plays wowaka's rhythm guitar line in the song's intro, on the
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
. The second track is a remaster of the original song with wowaka's vocals and guitar. The same day, a new artist photo of the band was released, and on the 23rd and 24th, the "HITORI-ESCAPE 2024 ~10-NEN-SAI~ (Tenth Anniversary)" concerts were held. The first day's theme was "red", and the second was "blue", featuring 2 completely different setlists, with the band's most popular songs, as well as unreleased songs. It was also announced on the 24th that Hitorie would be performing their "HITORI-ESCAPE 2024 10-NEN-SAI ~日比谷超絶野音~ (Hibiya's Transcendent Wild Sounds)" concert at Tokyo's Hibiya Park Concert Hall. They started their nationwide tour on April 7. On April 15, they released the digital single "on the front line" which was released as the opening to the second part of the second season of the anime adaptation of
Mushoku Tensei is a Japanese light novel series written by and later illustrated by Shirotaka. The series is about a jobless, overweight, reclusive man who dies and is reincarnated in a fantasy world. Retaining the memories from his previ ...
. The song was composed by Yumao and Shinoda wrote the lyrics. The song peaked at 28th on the Oricon charts. On April 20, they performed the first of their 3-part two-man concerts named "HITORIE presents VERSUS Series". Where other artists and Hitorie would perform, one after the other. On April 20, the first artist to perform was
Tatsuya Kitani is a Japanese musician, singer, lyricist, composer, and arranger. He is the bassist of the three-member band sajou no hana. He was also active as a Vocaloid producer under the name of "Konnichiwa Tanita-san" (Hello Tanita-san). The affiliated ...
at Osaka BIGCAT. On June 6, Kiro Akiyama performed on the Ebisu LIQUIDROOM. The final artist was revealed to be The KEBABS, at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO on August 21. On April 26, Hitorie was invited to the YouTube channel
THE FIRST TAKE ''The First Take'' (stylized as ''THE F1RST TAKE'') is a Japanese YouTube channel that invites singers to perform a song recorded in one take in a white studio. ''The First Take'' is a trademark of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Concept The ...
, created by Sony Music Japan. On the first video, they performed "Unknown Mother-Goose". On the second video, released on May 8, they performed "on the front line". On May 11, 15 years after wowaka's first vocaloid song, 10 years since Hitorie's major debut, and 5 years after wowaka's death, Japanese publishing label
KADOKAWA Kadokawa may refer to: *Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group **Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker **Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publis ...
released the book "". It features all lyrics written by wowaka, both on his vocaloid works and Hitorie songs, and also features unreleased songs such as "NOTOK". It also features comments by the band members, and fellow vocaloid producers and friends, such as
Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and illustrator. He started releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and ...
, Jin, Pinocchio-P, and Tabuchi Tomoya of UNISON SQUARE GARDEN. On May 21, 2025, the was featured on the news at KTS, a terrestrial television from Kagoshima. It was revealed that it was wowaka's mother who wished to compile his works into a book. On June 5, they released their double A-side single "". Alongside the titular tracks, it features 2 new tracks, "selfy charm" which was composed by ygarshy and written by Shinoda, and " (Someday in Sakura)", which was composed and written by Shinoda. This is the first release to have songs written by all 4 members. On September 15, they performed their previously announced "HITORI-ESCAPE 2024 10-NEN-SAI ~日比谷超絶野音~ (Hibiya's Transcendent Wild Sounds)" at Tokyo's Hibiya Park Concert Hall. It was their biggest concert so far, and was completely sold out. Before the concert's encore, Shinoda announced they would hold another tour in January 2025 around Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka to conclude the 10th Anniversary tour. It was named "HITORIE 10-NEN-SAI FINALE TOUR". They also released a new artist photo, and announced their 7th full-length studio album, to be released on January 22. The Blu-Ray edition will contain the aforementioned concert. They performed the unreleased song included in the wowaka Lyrics Collection book, " NOTOK". On November 4, it was announced the song would be released 2 days later, on November 6, with a CD released on November 27th. The song contained wowaka's vocals and music, which was re-constructed based on vocal data from a demo wowaka left before his passing, and his lyrics and music. The cover art was created by Furukawa Honpo, the same artist who drew wowaka's Unhappy Refrain album art cover. The CD release will feature another unreleased song by him, named "daybreak seeker" which was written during the production of the album "HOWLS", and Hitorie's covers of "" and "". Aside from NOTOK, all other songs on the CD are sung by Shinoda, but all songs are written by wowaka. Shinoda wrote the lyrics for "daybreak seeker". On November 30, it was announced that Hitorie's 7th full-length album was named '' Friend Chord''. Released on January 22, 2025, it features the previously released singles "on the front line" and "Juggernaut", as well as a new version of "NOTOK", with Shinoda being the vocalist. On the same day, they also announced the album release tour, "Freaky Friendship Tour 2025", and their first ever collaboration, with vocaloid producer "balloon" (also known as
Keina Suda is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He belongs to the label Unborde, a sublabel of Warner Music Japan. Before 2017 he made music using Vocaloid and other related software under the name . Life and career Keina Suda started playing ...
), on the song "WOLF". It was released on December 11. On December 29, it was announced that In Hitorie will be participating as special guests in the 10th anniversary celebrations of the ''Hatsune Miku Symphony'' concert series. The band will perform at the Yokohama and Kobe concerts, scheduled for October 4 and December 27, 2025, respectively.


Discography

As of January 2025, hitorie has released 7 studio albums, 2 compilation album, 3 live albums, 5 mini albums, 8 CD singles, and 8 digital singles.


Albums

* '' WONDER and WONDER'' (2014) * '' Roomsick Girls Escape/non-fiction four'' (2015; compilation) * '' DEEPER'' (2016) * ''
IKI IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut, in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute, originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japane ...
'' (2016) * '' HOWLS'' (2019) * '' 4'' (2019; compilation/best) * '' REAMP'' (2021) * ''
Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
'' (2022) * '' Friend Chord'' (2025)


Live albums

* ''one-Me Tour “DEEP/SEEK” at STUDIO COAST'' (2016) * '' HITORIE LIVE TOUR UNKNOWN 2018 “Loveless” - 2017 “IKI”'' (2019)Not released as a CD or available on music streaming services. * ''Amplified Tour 2021 at OSAKA'' (2022)


Mini-albums

* '' Roomsick Girls Escape'' (2012; indie debut) * '' non-fiction four'' (2013) * ''
Imaginary Monofiction Imaginary may refer to: * Imaginary (sociology), a concept in sociology * The Imaginary (psychoanalysis), a concept by Jacques Lacan * Imaginary number, a concept in mathematics * Imaginary time, a concept in physics * Imagination, a mental facult ...
'' (2014) * '' Monochrono Entrance'' (2015) * '' ai/SOlate'' (2017)


CD singles

* '' Senseless Wonder'' (2014; major debut) * '' Shutter Doll'' (2015) * '' One Me Two Hearts'' (2016) * ''
Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinisation of names, Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an ...
'' (2018) * '' 3 min 29 sec'' (2021) * '' Kazehana'' (2022) * '' on the front line / Senseless Wonder eREC' (2024) * '' NOTOK'' (2024)


Digital singles

* '' Unknown Mother-Goose'' (2017) * ''curved edge'' (2020) * ''3 min 29 sec'' (2021) * ''Stereo Juvenile'' (2022) * ''Juggernaut'' (2023) * ''SENSE-LESS WONDER AFTER 10 YEARS'' (2024) * ''on the front line'' (2024) * ''NOTOK'' (2024)


Notes


References


External links

* * * * * * {{Sony Music Japan, state=collapsed Musical groups established in 2011 Japanese rock music groups