Kenshi Yonezu

Japanese singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu was born in Tokushima on March 10, 1991. At the age of 15, he formed the band Late Rabbit Edda with his classmate Hiroshi Nakajima, with the two performing at school events. After completing his studies, he moved to Osaka and began sharing his music on a music-sharing website. His track "Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro" gained significant attention, becoming the first on the site to surpass one million views. In 2010, Kenshi Yonezu self-produced two albums: Hanataba to Suiso and Official Orange, before joining the animation collective Minakata Kenkyujo. He released a final piece with Late Rabbit Edda, Oborozuki to Sono Koan, before focusing on his solo work. His first album, Diorama (2012), reached number 6 on the Oricon chart and topped the Billboard Japan independent charts. Signed by Universal Sigma, a subsidiary of Universal Music Japan, he released the single "Santa Maria" (2013) and subsequently unveiled his second album, Yankee (2014), along with his first solo concert. The following year, Bremen was released, featuring singles like "Flowerwall" and "Unbelievers." This was followed by the official album Bootleg in 2017, featuring tracks such as "Loser," "Number Nine," "Orion," and "Peace Sign." Both albums peaked at Number 1 on the Oricon albums chart. In 2019, he composed the track "Spirits of the Sea" for the animated film of the same name. After the release of top charting album Stray Sheep in 2020 and winning an award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards, he released "Kick Back" in 2022 for the anime series Chainsaw Man. The following year, "Spinning Globe" served as the main theme for director Hayao Miyazaki's film The Boy and the Beast, peaking at number 2 on both the Oricon and Billboard charts, respectively. His sixth album, LOST CORNER (2024) debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly album rankings and sold 377,000 copies in its first week, setting a new record for the highest first-week sales by a solo artist this year.