JayMi/ Background Information
From Clumsy Media
Rika Risumi (born May 20, 1992) otherwise more known by the public of the stage name JayMi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actress, recognised as one of the most powerful and influential artists in Japan currently. She entered the music industry with the debut studio album いくら: Willing & Taking in 2009. The album was able to peak all charts at the top, especially the Oricon Pop Weekly Album Chart and stayed in top five for fourteen consecutive weeks. Her follow up releases also achieved similar commerical success and she became the best selling solo artist that year and swipped across the awards with the new artist special.
So far to date, JayMi has reached #1 for all six studio albums published, and ten chart peaking singles. She made her acting debut in 2013 in the one hundred and fifty-six episodes long family drama Amachan.
Contents |
Early Life
Risumi was born in Hokaikdo, Japan as Geneviève Rika Depardieu to Jean Depardieu, a French-Ameircan father and Sakura Risumi, a Japanese mother. Her father had left the family when she was eight years old and never again came into contact once again. Due to this incident she officially adopted her mother's surname. Misumi is fluent in Japanese, French and English.
Home schooled ever since primary school and known to have never attended a public school for more than a week, every since childhood she has had a very limited social group and friends. Despite being described to be 'anti-social', Misumi had a keen interest in dancing and singing and often joined local classes ever since she could remember. By chance she had encountered a local middle school's dance group and was scouted to become a member, they later went on to promote themself as Hokaikdo's first junior idol dance group and performed in various festival events.
Career
2005-2008: Audition and training
In 2005 JayMi along with her dance group friends decided to join the Bright Star Youth Competition hosted by entertainment agency Avex Group. They participated in the dance catergory and eventually finished at first place but JayMi was the only one to be offered a signed exclusive contract by the company just hours after the final audition. She reported to have signed the contract the very next day with her parents and started training under the company in May 2005. She had said at the time she was scheduled to be include to debut as a member of idol group AKB48 as part of Team A but was eventually excluded due to her young age and the group made an debut without her later the same year in December.
During training with the help of producer Yasushi Akimoto, she disocvered the talent of singing high vocatves. It has also been known she was trained in acting as well as both singing and dancing. Training under Avex Group went on for two years until she was transferred to sub-company and became accepeted into S&P Academy of Entertainment where she continued her training for another two years and later graduated and made her debut under S&P Entertainment. She's been acknowledged as the trainee who has spent the most time training compared to the average six months for the reason of discovering new talents within her.
2009-2011: Debut, continuing success, solo concert
After completing training, she released her debut studio album いくら: Willing & Taking in 2009. The album became a surprising sleeper success. It was able to debut and peak at the top of all the music charts and stayed on the top for fourteen consecutive weeks. By the end of the month it was able to be sold around 8000,000 units, making it the best debut of a solo artist that year. She was quickly labeled by the general public and media as the up-coming pop music representative adn dubbed as a 'one night sensation'. With this album she swiped the rookie award specials at the end of the year, including becoming the biggest winner at MTV.
To kickstart the new year, JayMi released her first ever single album, I My Me Mine, a self composed track which showed the public of her own musical abilities for the first time. It was served as a present to her fans and 20% of the profit went to charity. It also became her second work and first single to peak at the top first position across all charts. Next came the single that would change the music history in Japan forever, a collaboration with award winning artist T.Max in a track named Miss Q Maxxi, composed by award winning producing group Moving Ghost. The music video features JayMi herself and TVXQ member Chang Min. The single managed to have 1.03 million copies shipped to retailers before its release, and sold 568,095 copies on its first day, making it the best debut of any collboration of Japanese pop singer singles to date. By the end of its first week of release, Miss Q Maxxi has sold 826,989 copies and reach top spot on the Oricorn weekly singles chart. The sale figures also placed the single as the fourth best selling single in its debut week by a female artist of all time on the Oricon, behind Hikaru Utada's All My Love To You, AKB48's Beginner and Namie Amuro's Can You Celebrate?, which sold 1.06 million and 828,000 copies in their opening week respectively.
With the success of this single, JayMi's place in the music industry was confirmed officially, with her fan numbers doubled on three consecutive days. The general public marked her as one of the most influential artists to come. She released her second full album, 05925 in July 2010. The album won the Best Selling Offline Album of the Year and the title track May 25 won Best R&B Song. The following month she released her third full album Sleigh Bells to celebrate the winter theme holidays. Within twenty-four hours of release it reached the #1 sport on Oricorn Pop Music Chart and stayed for four consecutive weeks. It had stayed on The Top Ten Music Weekly Chart for eight weeks, also winning Song of the Week award at Music Station for nine consecutive weeks.
Climbing on the success, she soon released her first mini album, Parallel ♥ Lines. As predicted, it was a success and peaked on the first spot, such as the Oricorn Charts in just five hours after the release. A limited edition, Parallel × Lines: B was release several weeks later upon public demands, including with two new tracks with one hundred and fifty copies available, which were all sold out within thirty minutes. Based on Oricorn Music Chart Records, JayMi is the record holder of making the most #1 hits having debuted for a year, with this news 2O1O THE PEAK, a limited compliation album which consists of all the number one hits JayMi has managed to achieve by 2010 was released. When promotions finished on various music stations and performances that year, she took a hiatus from the music industry in order to focus on other aspects of her life.
To kick start 2011 JayMi released 東京NIGHTS N0. 2, a cover song of the origional, named 東京NIGHTS by Hikaru Utada. It is one of the best selling singles of all times in Japan. Utada's company saw the potential in JayMi and requested her to do a second version of the highly successful track. The orgional is a soft ballad that describes the nights in Tokyo and highlights its culture. Re-make of it a soft rock track that is aimed at the teenagers which re-highlights the features of modern Tokyo. The single was officially released January 22, online and offline. The single managed to sell 421,864 copies on its first day, making it the second best debut of any singles by JayMi to date. By the end of its first week of release, 東京NIGHTS N0. 2 has sold 628,989 copies and reach top spot on the Oricorn weekly singles chart. It easily debuted at #1 on Oricorn Daily Music Chart and stayed in the same spot for a month. Her fourth studio album One Year Later was released the following month on March 1, composed together by JayMi and producer Mini Bus, a week after the release of the single, supposedly a come back track. The album managed to sell approximately 500,000 copies on its first day, making it the best debut of any albums by JayMi or any under eighteen solo pop artists to date. By the end of its first week of release, One Year Later has sold approximately 700,000 copies and reached the top spot on all the Oricorn Music chart. It was able to debut at the #1 on Oricorn Daily Music Chart. Her first repackaged album Two Years Later + was also released.
With a safe Japanese fan base, she advanced to the Korean market with the debut song 에픽하이 HUMAN SOUL: Digital Single which received positive response and peaked at #7 across all music portal charts, making her the first foreign japanese artist ever in a decade to chart on the Korean music lists. Seeing the positive response another track 내천둥: Digital Single was released in August. The song peaked #3 on all Korean Online Music Portal Charts and was even nominated for Music Bank show weekly winner five times. In June her first ever live concert, * JAYFUL was held around various major cities in Japan. All four avenues' tickets were sold out within ten minutes of release and once again proved the popularity of JayMi. At the time the media acknowledged her capable ability of holding a consecutive dome concert around Japan but her company had commented that they felt she was yet to young, at just twenty years old to hold such a large scale event. The concert only ran for four days, with all sold out show dates. Her first live album Jayful Presents From Mi First Live Album was released three months after the concert. Later she released a string of all #1 singles: チョコレート, Be My Thunder, City of Light and 君と僕の関係. Her last release that year was the third overall limited edition album N015 Street which is her first fully self produced album along with lyrics. The album is based on her own personal problems, such as the death of various family members in 2010 and shows her recovery and the emotions she felt during that time, which was announced as a work hiatus by her company of that period.
2012: Top recognition and chart peaking sales
After releasing such a personal album JayMi was quoted in a interview that she wanted to make more 'commercial work from know on', similar to the style during her debut days. With this came her fifth overall album "365 U-Mi Days" with the titled tack "あなたへの私の歌". It was produced by the award winning producers group Moving Ghost, Yasushi Akimoto and Lady Cooperation. It came in two different versions; a limited edition which includes a CD and a DVD, and a regular edition which only includes the CD. The album managed to sell 710,000 copies as of January 203 and 500,000 copies on the first day, breaking records of her previous albums. This made it became the third best selling album in 2012. The only track released off the album as a single was "君と僕の関係", acting as an album teaser. It was the eighth overall single from JayMi after her two last consecutive chart topping singles. It is the second collaboration single with artist T.Max. The single managed to sell more than 400,000 copies on its first day and debuted at the Oricorn Daily Chart at #1. It attracted many attention easily without any major promotions since it was JayMi's come back in a year. By the end of its first week of release, it has sold more than 500,000 copies and reached the top ten spot on the Oricorn weekly singles chart and later advanced into the monthly singles chart.
Despite the commerical success she did not actively promote the album, instead she went on immediately to prepare for her next release, another full studio abum titled "The Gentleman's Choice", another collaboration with Moving Ghost. It was released approximately four months after the previous full album, making it become the second full studio released by JayMi in 2012. Three verisons were released, an limited edition and a Jayful Edition which was only available to official registered fan club fans. (500 copies released)
For some songs on this album recording took place as early as December 2010 and they were scheudled to appear in her last album One Year Later but never made it to the final selection round. Original songs started recording in late October 2011 at Japan School Sounds' music studio. It was scheduled to completed early next year and set for release in March. By the beginning of February it was confirmed that all songs were completed however some songs did not fit the theme and was pulled out last minute. Later it even resulted in a album name change; from the then Under My Skirt to Doll Master with the final setting theme of dark horror songs.
In March however, just a week before confirmation for the album, JayMi decided to release her long finished and planned fans album, the previous released album instead. It over took and was released in April, the following month instead of the supposedly 'comeback' album. It was met with commerical success and good professional reception. Almost immediately, she disposed her orginal fast paced horror themed songs and tells the public they will be released when the correct time comes, "For my actual coming back album, I decided doing a image change isn't suitable for me. I will be going through my usual styles with new slight changes and songs for the fans once agan." The company announced in May the album title has been changed to The Gentleman's Choice instead.
Followed by the two weeks, JayMi's website started announcing official album details. It was announced there'll be three versions a normal publisher's edition, limited edition (subject to five thousand copies) and a Jayful Edition which will only be available to confirmed official fan club members (subject to five hundred copies). The full tracklist for each edition was then release on three consecutive days. However, having at the time still unannounced a release date.
Two tracks off the album was released as singles, "A Gentleman's Choice" and "Hero's Story (英雄の物語)" which both reached the top of the digital charts. She was later featured in a single named "Such a Beautiful Affair" with Kamiya Hiroshi. Following these achievements she swipped the yearly end special awards once again, dominately in Music Japan where she took home some of the biggest awards - favorite solo artist and favorite album and also took home her first win at the most prestigous Japanese music industry recognition - the Japan Golden Disk and was one of the biggest winners of that night. She was able to take credit for Artsit of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Song of the Year, her first win at this professional critics event since her debut four years ago, officially establishing herself as a proper artist.
2013: Record setting Dome concert and award winning acting debut
The year started off with her firts official activity in January, being her second concert "JayMi & U-Mi Days ～Gentleman～". The initial Arena tour was to held in 9 cities all across Japan, spanning 2 months, from 10 January to 18 March 2013. Tickets to the tour were so ridiculously popular that they sold out in just under one minute when orders began in 10 December 2012. After, six more shows were added (three nights each for both Tokyo Dome and Kyocera Dome) due to high demand for the tickets, the tour was expected to draw an audience of up to 600,000 people.
Spanning a total of twenty-six shows in eleven cities within four months, Gentleman & U-Mi Days ～Summer～ is the largest concert series in the entire discography of JayMi to date. This tour also marked another milestone in JayMi's career history by making her the youngest solo artist to perform at Asia's Dream Stage, Tokyo Dome, for three consecutive days, attracting crowds of over 165,000. When the last concert date ended in Tokyo she announced at the end to all the fans in the stadium exclusively for the first time that she will be releasing another full studio album later during the year, "We're currently working hard on finishing on all the major details and although there's no yet a set release date for it please look forward [to the album]!", confirming the long speculated rumor.
After the tour was finished in March she went straight on to filming for the 150-episodes family drama Amachan in which she makes her acting debut. Her performance was received both public favour and critically acclaims. Professionals praised her dedication for taking acting classes for a total of eight months prior to filming and her ability to improve as each episode goes on. During this time she remained musically inactive but in September she updated on her official website about the latest status of the confirmed album. "Recording has been completed ever since I could remember, the only problem now is finding the correct time to release it [due to drama committments]." On October 24 her representatives officially announced that the release has been delayed indefinitly, citing "a combination of reasons" and instead she will release two digital singles before the end of the year.
On November 10 she released the digital single Crush Crashers. The single managed to sell more than 850,000 copies on its first day and debuted at the Oricorn Daily Chart at #1. It attracted many attention easily without any major promotions as it was her first release in 2013. By the end of its first week of release, it sold more than 1,000,000 copies and maintained first rank position on the weekly charts for two consecutive weeks. クリスマスのキス was released on December 12, with it being her second and last music release of the year. It is also noted to be her second release with a Christmas festival theme. It managed to sell more than 900,000 copies on its first day and debuted at the Oricorn Daily Chart at #1. By the end of its first week of release, it sold more than 980,000 copies and maintained first rank position on the weekly charts for a week.
2014: Seventh studio alum
On April 17, 2014 it was revealed that the previous planned album's release has been scrapped, and instead JayMi has expressed her desires to release an album that comprises of a collection personal tracks written over the years. On July 12 the album was revealed to be titled Sweetheart: Kisses&Hugs with the release date set as "sometime during the first week of August". Work on the album has reportedly began unofficially in April 2009 and was recorded over a period of five years.
The album was reased on August 2, 2014 and incorporates R&B, pop and soul. It sees a return to JayMi's previous signature style of release in the beginning of her career. Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from music critics, with much praise going to her improve vocals, with critics comparing them to Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki, and her throwback to 1990s R&B music. Yours Truly debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Charts selling 200,000 copies in its opening week, becoming JayMi's seventh consecutive number-one album as a solo artist since her debut.
It was promoted with live renditions of stage performances at live events and television shows and also preceded by the release of the lead single #SweetHEART which peaked in Oricon Music Charts at number one. Prior to the release of the album two tracks were released as teaser singles, Eternally Yours and Falling Naturally In Love over a two week period. Both peaked at the top of the music charts and maintained first position for a week respectively, selling over 1,000,000 copies by the end of their first week.
Personal life and family
Friendships
- Yuga Akiyama
- Isabella Ino
- Mami Sazaki also known by her stage name MAMI, is the lead guitarist and secondary vocalist of the Japanese rock band Scandal. They have been friends since 2008 after being introduced by another mutual friend. In 2013 Sazaki, along with her band supported JayMi at her second live enter and first ever Dome concert, JayMi & U-Mi Days ～Gentleman～. Together they toured around the country for various stops for as long as three months.
Relationships
- Teppei Koike is an actor and singer and is a member of the singer-songwriter duo WaT. The pair met shortly after JayMi's debut in 2009 and became friends. They began dating several months later but it was not until January 2013 that the news was made public after photographs of them on a date was released by gossip magazines. On February 24, 2014 it was announced that they had mutually ended the five year long relationship, the official report cited their respective busy work schedule to be the contributing major factor.
