Yuuri

Singer, songwriter, and social media sensation Yuuri was born in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, Japan on March 23, 1994. Influenced by Western rock music when he was young, he eventually became inspired by Japanese rock groups he heard while in high school. In 2016, he joined local rock group The Bugzy as their vocalist and the group released their debut mini-album, Extermination Impossible, the following year. The Bugzy split up in 2019 and Yuuri pursued a solo career. He began by busking on the streets of Tokyo and earned notoriety when Hiro, the lead singer of rockers My First Story, heard Yuuri performing one of his band’s songs and sang the song with him. My First Story later invited Yuuri to join them for a song during one of their own concerts. In the midst of this attention, Yuuri released the single “Kakurenbo,” which reached Number 25 on the indie charts. In 2020, he set up his social media accounts and began streaming his music. He released his second single, “Kagome,” later that year. With a growing subscriber base on social media and millions of streams, he was signed to Ariola Japan and released his third single, “Peter Pan,” which was also a hit. His next single, “Dried Flower,” was a massive success, rising to Number 2 on the singles chart. Within a year, the song had been streamed more than 400 million times, making Yuuri the first solo male artist to achieve this record. The song won many awards including Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. After several more Top 40 singles, he had another significant chart success in 2021 with the single “Betelgeuse,” which climbed to Number 2. Yuuri released his debut solo album, Ichi, in January 2022. The album, which rose to Number 4 on the Japanese Albums chart, featured all of his previous hit singles. That same month, he issued the English-language version of his massive hit “Dried Flowers,” which was followed by non-album singles “Wo” and “Time Machine.”