iri (, stylized in lowercase; born March 15, 1994) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She signed with Colourful Records in 2015, before releasing her first album in 2016.

Early life and education

Upon entering high school, iri became interested in pursuing a career in music and opted to begin vocal training, instead of joining an after-school club, as is common in Japan. After entering university, iri taught herself how to play the

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

as well. During her time at university, iri performed at a jazz club, mainly in association with other jazz bands.

Career

iri released her debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

"Groove it" on October 26, 2016, which charted #1 in the

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Japan hip-hop/rap chart. On March 22, 2017, iri released her first single "Watashi". The track was used in both Nike and

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

ads, which contributed to its popularity. In April of the same year, iri performed as one of the opening acts in Corinne Bailey Rae's Japan tour. iri furthermore performed in the 2017 "Sweet Love Shower" and the "Sunsets Festival"

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and arts festivals. On November 22, 2017, iri released her first EP called "Life", which charted #1 in the

Japan hip-hop/rap chart. On February 28, 2018, iri published her second

"Juice". The physical release of the album was accompanied by photobook titled "Jubilee", which featured photographs of the artist. Between March 15 and March 21 of the same year, she performed her first headlining concert tour, titled "iri 1st Tour 2018". The tour was held at five different venues in Japan, during the span of six days. The "iri Presents “Night Dream” tour ran between December 17 and December 21, in three venues in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Aichi and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. On March 6, 2019, her third full studio album "Shade" was released. Her third headlining tour "iri Spring Tour 2019 'Shade'" was held between April 5 and April 21, across nine different locations in Japan, making it the biggest tour of her career up to that point. iri's first overseas tour took place in China May 16-18, 2019. On January 22, 2020, iri released the single "24–25". On March 25 of the same year, her fourth studio album "Sparkle" was released. She was initially expected to headlined a three-month tour titled "iri Spring Tour 2020", which was to be held between April 12 and June 7, which was later postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. As she was unable to perform live, due to restrictions place to combat the spread of COVID-19, Iri held an

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performance on September 9. On November 25, iri released a single titled "I can't say". On December 2 she started "Wavy Club", her official fan club. Between December 11 and December 22 iri performed at the "Five Zepp Tour 2020". On February 23, 2022, iri released her fifth studio album "neon". Following the release of this album, she held a tour lasting from May 15 and June 11. On June 29, 2022, iri released a new single called "Starlight". This preceded a 6th album, "Private" which was released on May 10, 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Groove It'' (2016) *''Juice'' (2018) *''Shade'' (2019) *''Sparkle'' (2020) *''neon'' (2022) *''PRIVATE'' (2023)

Extended plays

*''Life'' (2017) *''The beginning of the day'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iri 1994 births Living people 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers Musicians from Zushi, Kanagawa Singers from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese women pop singers Japanese women jazz singers