is a singer-songwriter, composer, and lyricist based in Tokyo, Japan. Mayu grew up in Osaka, Japan, and studied law at

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff = 3,978 (Total Staff) , students = 22 ...

. In 2007, she quit law school to pursue her career as a singer-songwriter and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. While studying music at

LA Music Academy Los Angeles College of Music (LACM, formerly LAMA College for Music Professionals) is a private for-profit music college in Pasadena, in Los Angeles County, California. It has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music s ...

, Mayu self-produced her first EP "Stars Won't Fall", from which "24 Hours" got featured in

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

as a preload song, attracting an international fanbase. In 2011, she recorded her second EP "Into the Wild" with an L.A. based producer,

John Avila John Avila is an American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995. Career Avila co-founded the music group ''Food for Feet'' in 1981, and played with them until 1991. In 1984, he j ...

. An acoustic tune "Once" won the first prize in International Acoustic Music Award Open Category and made it to the final of Great American Songwriting Contest. Also, the piano ballad "What I See in Love" made it to the final of UK Songwriting Contest and Australian Songwriting Contest. Later, this song was featured as a sub theme song in '' In the Name of Love'', a TV Drama aired in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2014, she released "Halfway to You", a compilation album of her first EP as her first full-length album. In promotion of the album, she performed at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

as part of the

Japan Nite Japan Nite is an annual music event in North America which began in 1996, featuring Japanese rock, pop, and alternative music artists. Originally centered around South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the event expanded in later years to include mu ...

tour in the United States and at

The Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a three-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and roughly hosts ...

in UK. She also released her CD and performed in Korea and Singapore too. In 2015, she co-wrote "Love Song" for the Korean female group,

Miss A Miss A (stylized as "MISS A" or "miss A", Hangul: ) was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in July 2010 with the single " Bad Girl Good Girl" as a quartet consisting of Fei, Jia, Min, and Suzy. Their d ...

's EP, ''

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

'', and "Like a Fool" for the Korean female group,

Twice Twice (; Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn: ''To~uwaisu''; commonly stylized as TWICE) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, ...

's debut EP, ''

The Story Begins ''The Story Begins'' is the debut extended play by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on October 20, 2015, through KT Music. It features six tracks, including the lead single, " Like Ooh-Ahh", which was composed ...

''. In 2017, she co-wrote "Real World" for

Oh My Girl Oh My Girl (, also stylized as OH MY GIRL and OMG) is a South Korean girl group formed by WM Entertainment. The group is composed of six members: Hyojung, Mimi, YooA, Seunghee, Yubin and Arin. Originally an eight-piece group, JinE left the ...

's fourth EP, ''Coloring Book'', and in 2018, she co-wrote the song " Secret Garden" for their fifth EP of the same name. She is also credited as co-producer in TXT's debut song "Crown", for their EP '' The Dream Chapter'' in 2019. In 2020, Wakisaka was credited as a co-writer for

GFriend GFriend (stylized in all caps; ) was a South Korean girl group formed by Source Music in 2015. The group consisted of six members: Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB, and Umji. They debuted with the extended play (EP) '' Season of Glass'' on ...

's song "Crème Brûlée" from the EP 回:''Song of the Sirens'', as well as the songs "Three of Cups" and "Wheel of the Year" from their album 回:''Walpurgis Night''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakisaka, Mayu Living people Musicians from Osaka Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Kyoto University alumni 21st-century Japanese singers 1980 births 21st-century Japanese women singers