generasia:Featured article for 2024 week 6
Angela Aki
Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ) is a Japanese pop singer, songwriter, pianist, and musical composer. She was born in the small town of Itano in Tokushima Prefecture, in the mostly rural island of Shikoku to an Italian-American mother and Japanese father. She began to take piano lessons when she was three years old and lived in Tokushima through sixth grade, after which she spent her junior high school days in Okayama. She has admitted that growing up in rural Japan proved very difficult, as she was bullied, and she turned to the piano as an escape from the isolation she felt.
Aki moved to Hawaii when she was fifteen years old and was immersed in music there for four years. In 1997, Aki went to a Sarah McLachlan concert at age 20 and felt that she wanted to go into the music world, deciding to become a singer-songwriter. In 2000, she released an indie album in the United States, called These Words. After graduation from university, she found a job but ultimately could not give up her dream of being a singer, quitting the job in 2001.
After producing commercial music for several Japanese companies, she decided to move back to Japan. On September 27, 2003, Aki saw Shiina Ringo's concert in Nippon Budokan Hall, and promised herself she would perform at the same place within three years, even though she was unheard of, had not yet been offered a contract with any record label, nor had she made an album or major debut. In 2005, she released an independent mini-album under Virgo Music entitled ONE, which became the #1 best-selling indie album of the year. This alerted composer Uematsu Nobuo to her music, and he subsequently asked her to write lyrics and perform the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, "Kiss Me Good-Bye".
In September 2005, Aki contracted with Epic Records and made her major debut with the single "HOME". The single sold over half a million copies and reached #2 on the Oricon charts. On December 26, 2006, she held a concert in Nippon Budokan Hall, making history there as the first artist to ever perform in the famous venue solo (with just her piano) -- no backup singers, band or opening act. In 2007, her second major label album, TODAY, reached #1 on the Oricon charts, and in February 2009, she released her third full album in Japan, ANSWER — the first she produced entirely by herself.
In 2014, Aki announced that she would be putting her music career on hold while she went to America to study music as she prepares herself to take on the role of musical director for a Broadway project being undertaken by a friend.
In November 2023, Aki announced that she would be resuming her activities in Japan with the release of "Kono Sekai no Achikochi ni" in February 2024. The song is the lead single from the musical adaptation of Kono Fumiyo's Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni, for which Aki composed all of the music.
Her digital single, "Kono Sekai no Achikochi ni", is released this week on February 7th.
