generasia:Featured article for 2018 week 46
ayaka
ayaka (絢香) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter under her own company A stAtion. She debuted in 2006 under Warner Music Japan with the ballad "I believe", which was used as the theme song for the TV drama Rondo's theme song. This single reached #3, making it the highest debut single rank reached by a female singer/songwriter since Utada Hikaru's "Automatic / Time Will Tell" in 1998. The single also stayed within the top ten on the Oricon charts for a total of six weeks. Her fourth single, a rerecording of her pre-debut song "Mikazuki", became her highest charting single, selling 40,091 copies within its first week and taking the #1 spot on the Oricon weekly charts, remaining in the charts for a total of 41 weeks. The single went on to sell over 300,000 copies. ayaka's debut album First Message debuted at #1 on Oricon charts, selling over 800,000 copies in 2006. The album eventually sold over 1,000,000 copies and also came in #1 on the World Charts.
On February 22, 2009, ayaka married actor Mizushima Hiro. two months later, ayaka's diagnosis of Graves' disease was made public. She announced her plans to continue singing until the end of 2009, before putting her career on hold. On October 20, 2011, ayaka announced she would create new music in 2012 under her own independent label.
Her fifth studio album, 30 y/o, is released this week on November 14th.
