Laura Shigihara (, born April 16 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, video game developer, and Twitch streamer of French and Japanese descent. She is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...

game ''

Plants vs. Zombies ''Plants vs. Zombies'' is a video game Media franchise, franchise developed by PopCap Games, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA). The series follows the affiliates of David "Crazy Dave" Blazing as they use his plants to defend against a zombi ...

'' and the creator of the acclaimed indie RPG '' Rakuen''. Shigihara has worked on over 30 other published video game titles including ''

Deltarune ''Deltarune'' is an episodic role-playing video game in development by Toby Fox as a follow-up to his 2015 video game ''Undertale''. In the game, the player controls a human teenager, Kris, who is destined to save the world together with Susie ...

'', ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'', '' To the Moon'', defunct mobile game '' High School Story'' and the 5th Anniversary Edition of '' Super Meat Boy''. She co-created the ending theme song for '' Minecraft: The Story of Mojang'' with

C418 Daniel Rosenfeld (born 9 May 1989), known professionally as C418 (pronounced "see four eighteen"), is a German musician, composer and producer. Known for his minimalistic ambient work, he rose to fame as the original composer and sound designe ...

and worked together with Yasunori Mitsuda on the official Square Enix Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross 20th Anniversary Album.

Early life

Born on April 16 in the

to a Japanese father and a

French American French Americans or Franco-Americans () are Citizenship of the United States, citizens or United States nationality law, nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French people, French or French Canad ...

mother, Shigihara grew up in both the United States and Japan. She was classically trained on the piano for 11 years and taught herself guitar and drums. While studying International Relations, Business and Computer Science at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, she was given an old version of ''Sonar'' (known as ''Cakewalk'' since 2018) which she used to start learning about mixing, arranging and production by recreating old video game soundtracks and composing her own songs. After a friend leaked her original material to record companies in Japan, Shigihara was offered record contracts as a singer there, but ended up turning them down for personal reasons.

Career

Shortly after returning to the U.S, Shigihara took a job as the sound director for a company that produced an audio talk show and English learning materials through Apple Japan. She also released a studio album and composed her first video game soundtrack for a small casual game called ''Wobbly Bobbly''. She stated that she would work voluntarily, and soon the company liked her work and paid her to create music for several subsequent projects. From there she built up her portfolio and has worked on over 30 published titles including ''Plants vs. Zombies'', ''Deltarune'', ''World of Warcraft'', ''Minecraft'' and the indie RPG '' To the Moon''. She participated in Akira Yamaoka's charity album '' Play for Japan'' where she contributed an original song called "Jump", alongside other composers like

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Joh ...

Koji Kondo is a Japanese composer and senior executive at the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his contributions for the '' Super Mario'' and ''The Legend of Zelda'' series, with his ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme being the first piece of mu ...

and

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer and musician. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the '' Chrono'', '' Xeno'', '' Shadow Hearts'', and '' Inazuma Eleven'' franchises, among various others. Mitsuda began composing music for his own ...

. On November 16, 2011, she released her single "Cube Land" in relation to ''Minecraft'' and ''Plants vs. Zombies''. As a game developer herself, Shigihara published two adventure games: '' Rakuen'' in 2017 and '' Mr. Saitou'' in 2023.

Personal

She is an

online streamer An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could upl ...

under the nickname ''supershigi'' on Twitch.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Soundtrack albums

Shigihara's works also include: * ''

'' (Toby Fox/2018), arranged/performed "Don't Forget" and "Until Next Time" * ''Farmer in the Sky'', director, writer, composer * ''Band Saga'' (Rekcahdam, Playism/2016), singer * '' Plants vs. Zombies 2'' (PopCap Games/2013), composed "Ancient Egypt" tracks * ''Cosmic Star Heroine'' (Zeboyd Games/2016), singer/lyricist "Lauren’s Song" * ''Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross Arrangement Album/Harukanaru Toki no Kanata e'' () (Yasunori Mitsuda/2015), contributing Lyricist/Arranger/Singer * ''CHUNITHM'' (Sega/2015), Sung "Alma" by Yasunori Mitsuda *

Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...

's "On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 4" (2013), voice of MistleToe * '' Minecraft: The Story of Mojang'', co-created ending theme song * ''Aether (The Basement Collection)'' (Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel/2012), original song * ''

Theme Park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

'' (Electronic Arts/2011), lead composer * ''Ghost Harvest'' (Electronic Arts, 8lb Gorilla/2011), composer * ''Sweet World'' (Kabam/2010), lead composer and sound designer * ''

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

'' (Microsoft, TG Xbox 360/2009 TBA), lead composer * ''Quintessence: The Blighted Venom'' (Kan Gao/2009 TBA), ending theme lead vocalist * '' Domino Master'' (Microsoft, TG Xbox 360/2008), assistant sound designer * ''U.S.G. A New Beginning'' (GPTouch/2008), ending theme composer and lead vocalist * ''Interpol 2: Most Wanted'' (Big Fish Games, Tikgames/2008), contributing composer * ''Waterscape Solitaire: American Falls'' (Tikgames/2007), lead composer and sound designer * '' Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos'' (Big Fish Games, Xbox 360, Tikgames/2007-2008), lead composer and sound designer * '' Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom'' (Big Fish Games, Tikgames/2007), lead composer and sound designer * ''Flowershop: Big City Break'' (Big Fish Games, Tikgames/2006), lead composer and sound designer * ''Wobbly Bobbly'' (Tikgames/2006), lead composer

Notes

References

External links

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shigihara, Laura American musicians of Japanese descent American women singer-songwriters American people of French descent Living people American video game composers American child singers American child musicians Year of birth missing (living people) American expatriates in Japan 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists Women video game developers American Twitch (service) streamers Japanese Twitch (service) streamers