is a Japanese heavy metal singer. Since her debut in 2013, she has released 2 studio albums, 6 EPs and 5 singles.

Biography

Yajima was born on April 28 in

Sōja file:Bitchu Kokubunji, zenkei.jpg, 270px, Bitchū Kokubun-ji is a Cities of Japan, city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,428 and a population density of 330 persons per km2. The total area of the ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

. She later moved to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. She grew up listening to ''

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

'' music and

anime song is a genre of music originating from Japanese pop music. Anime songs consist of theme, insert, and image songs for anime, manga, video game, and audio drama CD series, as well as any other song released primarily for the anime market, includ ...

s. She also listened to Japanese

visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...

and metal bands. She came to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

to start working as a voice actress, but she eventually decided to become a singer. Her debut single, "Kodou" (鼓動, "Pulse"), was released in January 2014. The titular song was used as an ending theme for the live-action adaptation of the ''Nijimaru Rangers'' (疾風・虹丸組) manga. It was followed by the release of "Signal" (シグナル) in August 2014 and "Youzai" (有罪) in April 2015. Yajima Mai logo

Since January 2016, she has been performing with a backing band. "The Un-Dead", her first EP, was released in June 2016. It was followed by "Bloodthirsty" in January 2017 and "Innocent Emotion" in December 2017. Her first full-length album, ''Vampiress'', was released in October 2018. It was followed by three EPs: "Hell on Earth" (2020), "Heaven Knows" (2020) and "Heretical Soul" (2021). "Heretical Soul" was ranked No. 7 on

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 ...

's weekly Indies Albums chart. Her second full-length album, ''Metamorphose'', was released in May 2022, debuting at No. 4 on the Indies Albums chart.

Influences

According to Yajima, because of her grandfather she grew up listening to ''enka'' singers, such as

Nana Mizuki , better known by the stage name , is a Japanese voice actress, singer, and narrator. She is represented by the agency StarCrew. Mizuki was trained as an enka singer, releasing one single under her birth name in 1993 and made her debut as a voic ...

Sayuri Ishikawa is a Japanese enka singer who made her professional debut in 1973. With a career nearing five decades, she is one of the most-recognized and successful enka singers in history. Ishikawa is a popular contestant on the annual NHK ''Kōhaku Uta Ga ...

Harumi Miyako , born Harumi Kitamura (, ''Kitamura Harumi'') in Kyoto, is a Japanese ''enka'' singer. She made her debut in 1964. Her popularity has lasted: she makes frequent appearances in the annual television spectacular ''Kōhaku Uta Gassen'' and has a ...

Fuyumi Sakamoto is a Japanese female enka singer under EMI Music Japan. Career Having won a singing contest in early 1986, and after receiving about 11 months of vocal training, Sakamoto debuted as an enka recording singer with the single "Abare Daiko" in March ...

, but also the heavy metal band

Onmyo-Za is a Japanese heavy metal band from Osaka, who released their first album in 1999. History They play quite orthodox heavy metal music, mixed with elements from Japanese folk and pop music, and play both fast, hard songs and slow ballads. Sinc ...

. Next, she started listening to visual kei bands, like The Gazette,

Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...

, Sid, D and

Girugamesh is a Japanese rock band, formed in 2003. Their name is sometimes stylized with a metal umlaut as girugämesh and is derived from the ''Final Fantasy'' character. They disbanded on July 10, 2016, although announced a new song, to celebrate lab ...

. She also mentioned enjoying Western bands:

Slipknot The slip knot is a stopper knot which is easily undone by pulling the tail ( working end). The slip knot is related to the running knot, which will release when the standing end is pulled. Both knots are identical and are composed of a slipp ...

The Agonist The Agonist was a Canadian metalcore and melodic death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2004. The last known lineup consisted of lead guitarist Danny Marino, bassist Chris Kells, drummer Simon Mckay, rhythm guitarist Pascal "Paco" J ...

and

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

Band personnel

* Tsuyoshi Ōnishi – bass * Shimobe KC – drums * ShinyA – guitar * Kazuma – guitar

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Vampiress'' (2018) * ''Metamorphose'' (2022)

EPs

* "The Un-Dead" (2016) * "Bloodthirsty" (2017) * "Innocent Emotion" (2017) * "Hell on Earth" (2020) * "Heaven Knows" (2020) * "Heretical Soul" (2021)

Singles

* "Kodou" (2014) * "Signal" (2014) * "Youzai" (2015) * "Vampire Maiden" (2016) * "Second Dead" (2018)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yajima, Mai Living people 21st-century Japanese women singers Japanese women heavy metal singers Japanese women singer-songwriters Singers from Okayama Prefecture Year of birth missing (living people) Visual kei musicians