Aira Mitsuki

Stage Name:Mitsuki Aira (アイラミツキ ,Aira Mitsuki)
Born:September 21, 1988 (1988-09-21) (age 20)
Origin:Saitama, Japan
Genre(s) :J-Pop, J-tek, Electronica, Experimental
Occupation(s): Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s): Vocals, keyboard
Years active: 2007–present
Label(s): D-topia Entertainment
website:http://www.airamitsuki.com/

Mitsuki Aira (アイラミツキ ,Aira Mitsuki) is a Japanese electronica artist, produced by Oonishi Terukado. She debuted in August 2007 with "Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9" and released her debut album, C.O.P.Y on September 3, 2008

Musical background

Aira was chosen as the winner of Mega Trance 2007 from 6,325 applicants. She released her debut single, "Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9", on August 8 of the same year. A song from the single was selected as the official theme for the Transformers Café, based on the Transformers film, in Roppongi. Aira performed at an MTV-sponsored event for the film on July 25.

Her first album, C.O.P.Y, was released on September 3, 2008. It was released in two different versions: a 12-track album and a 16-track album. The albums differ in that Track 8 on the 12 regular edition album is the original version of "High Bash", while the Yakenohara version appears on the extended edition, and the songs "Star Fruits Surf Rider", "Rock'n Roll Is Dead", and "Romantic Rope" are included in the extended version. Additionally, those who purchased the album through Tower Records also received an exclusive track, "Yakenohara Megamix", while those who bought the album through HMV received the track "L0ne1yBoy L0ne1yGirl" as a bonus track.

Track 1 of the album, titled "Galaxy Boy", was used as the ending song to Aichi Television's programme Bonita!Bonita!! It was also used to promote the Dream car club of Tamoei Yakushiji. The album reached a peak daily position of #31 on the Oricon chart, and a peak weekly position of #48 and sold 3,163 copies. Aira's first major single written as a tribute to China for the 2008 Olympics, was released on 5 March 2008. Her second major (and fourth overall) single, "Robot Honey", was released on October 29, 2008 and followed by "Valentine Step" and "Sayonara Technopolis" in February 2009. She is due to release her seventh single, "Barbie Barbie" on May 20, and has announced that she will release another album this year.

Musical style and influences

Aira's musical style has been compared most often to the popular Yasutaka Nakata-produced acts capsule and Perfume, but also to other artists such as MEG, Ami Suzuki and Saori@destiny. Mitsuki has stated that she is a fan of Nakata's work and cites the Pizzicato Five, Kahimi Karie, Yuki, Justice, Cornelius, and Daft Punk as influences on her MySpace page.

Aira's music usually carries a science fiction theme with ambient sound effects, heavy use of vocoder and lyrics exploring concepts such as space, robots and technology. "Galaxy Boy", for example, is space-themed and written about a "prototypical galaxy boy" while "Sayonara Technopolis" and its b-sides are written about issues such as human apathy and global warming and propose moving to the Moon.

Aira has experimented with different genres of music; much of C.O.P.Y had a dance sound while "Valentine Step" has strong Latin influences and "Sayonara Technopolis" was marketed as "electro meets big beat". She has also recorded several ballads and a heavy techno cover of Lenny Kravitz's "Rock and Roll Is Dead". She has, however remained consistent in that she uses voice filters and synthesisers. An additional characteristic of Aira's music is that she sings with a noticeable lisp.

Visually Aira tends to take a futuristic approach; her videos make use of animation and CGI, with typically space-like costumes. She has professed to being a fan of video games such as Pokémon and has stated in interviews that she is inspired by science fiction and technology. She also bought a plot of land on the Moon for the release of "Sayonara Technopolis"