A thread for my favorite female solo-artist, and then her band Tokyo Jihen! The lovely Miss Shiina Ringo~ heart
Shiina Ringo
Also called: Shena Ringo & Sheena Ringo
Real name: Yumiko Shiina
Years solo: 1998-2004
"Ringo's haunting, challenging songs push limits that are musical, visual, emotional, cultural, and poetic." - Josephine Yun, jrock, ink. a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in Japan
Shiina Ringo is the multi-talented, stunning beauty, highly skilled in vocals, guitar, piano, and drums. Beautiful and talented, unique and thoughtful, funny and smart. Shiina is everything I personally look for in an idol and more.
Her unique voice goes to unpredictable measures, going from soft and mellow, to screechy and loud. Entertaining to say the least. She rolls her 'r's and uses shocking but not over-the-top visuals in her videos. Her voice is nasal, but not the least bit annoying. It's harsh, but tender. It's unique, and Shiina knows just how to use it.
Her style is different, without trying she seperates herself from the rest. Blending traditional Japanese music with rock, creating a blissfully bizarre, but undoubtedly amazing sound. Her sound can go from screeching guitar, to calm and jazzy. "Sexy without being slutty, violent yet thoughtful." She's a respectable woman, not one to go through 'publicity stunts' and whatnot. She's mysterious, but sweet. Even as a young entertainer, Shiina had great potential. Piano, ballet, and song-writing for school plays, as a teenager.
Shiina Ringo's first official single was released May 1998, when she was 19 years old. It was entitled Koufukuron. Next came the release of her first album, Muzai Moratorium, in February 1999, and then her second album, Shouso Strip, in March 2000. She took a short hiatus when she was expecting a child, but returned a year later with a two-disc compilation of international covers entitled Utaite Myouri.
At the age of 24, Shiina had married Junji Yayoshi, a guitarist, and had a child. The two divorced 14 months later. In 2003, she released her third album, titled Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. Towards the conclusion of her solo career, she had her trademark mole removed, and released her final solo single, Ringo no Uta, which can be described as a vivid summation of her career, including a music video with references to all of her previous videos.
On May 31, 2004, she formed a band called Tokyo Jihen. Tokyo Jihen was first introduced in Shiina's Sugoroku Ecstasy tour. You can watch them perform in Shiina's Electric Mole DVD.
Shiina factoids (Thank you, wiki):
- Since Shiina's style is so vastly different (ranging from Jazz, to Pop, to Rock, to Enka) she has made a new genre for herself, which she calls "Shinjuku-kei." This is a play on the style of music called "Shibuya-kei" and translates to "The style of Shinjuku" (the business district of Tokyo), and is a reference in the adaptive way that Japanese businessmen are portrayed.
- Shiina's trademark symbol.Shiina's trademark symbol is the Kronekodow. The romanji form is Kuronekodou (黒猫堂), meaning "The Magnificent Black Cat".
- Shiina has a brother, Shiina Junpei, who is a famous soul singer in Japan. They worked together and released three duets: Tamanegi no Happy Song (it was a cover of Marvin Gaye's The Onion Song), which appears on Shiina's cover album, Utaite Myouri ~Vol. I~, as well as Junpei's album Rhodes to Freedom; WHERE IS THE LOVE (it is a cover of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's song under the same name), which was released both as a single and in Junpei's album discover; and Georgy Porgy released under the name yokoshima(邪) (basically consists of Ringo and her brother) as a limited one time online release.
- Shiina's mother, Shiina Akiko, is a ballet-dancer and her father, Shiina Koutaro, works at a gas company.
- Shiina has covered a lot of songs during her career. For a full list, see Shiina Ringo Covers.
Shiina Ringo
Also called: Shena Ringo & Sheena Ringo
Real name: Yumiko Shiina
Years solo: 1998-2004
"Ringo's haunting, challenging songs push limits that are musical, visual, emotional, cultural, and poetic." - Josephine Yun, jrock, ink. a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in Japan
Shiina Ringo is the multi-talented, stunning beauty, highly skilled in vocals, guitar, piano, and drums. Beautiful and talented, unique and thoughtful, funny and smart. Shiina is everything I personally look for in an idol and more.
Her unique voice goes to unpredictable measures, going from soft and mellow, to screechy and loud. Entertaining to say the least. She rolls her 'r's and uses shocking but not over-the-top visuals in her videos. Her voice is nasal, but not the least bit annoying. It's harsh, but tender. It's unique, and Shiina knows just how to use it.
Her style is different, without trying she seperates herself from the rest. Blending traditional Japanese music with rock, creating a blissfully bizarre, but undoubtedly amazing sound. Her sound can go from screeching guitar, to calm and jazzy. "Sexy without being slutty, violent yet thoughtful." She's a respectable woman, not one to go through 'publicity stunts' and whatnot. She's mysterious, but sweet. Even as a young entertainer, Shiina had great potential. Piano, ballet, and song-writing for school plays, as a teenager.
Shiina Ringo's first official single was released May 1998, when she was 19 years old. It was entitled Koufukuron. Next came the release of her first album, Muzai Moratorium, in February 1999, and then her second album, Shouso Strip, in March 2000. She took a short hiatus when she was expecting a child, but returned a year later with a two-disc compilation of international covers entitled Utaite Myouri.
At the age of 24, Shiina had married Junji Yayoshi, a guitarist, and had a child. The two divorced 14 months later. In 2003, she released her third album, titled Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. Towards the conclusion of her solo career, she had her trademark mole removed, and released her final solo single, Ringo no Uta, which can be described as a vivid summation of her career, including a music video with references to all of her previous videos.
On May 31, 2004, she formed a band called Tokyo Jihen. Tokyo Jihen was first introduced in Shiina's Sugoroku Ecstasy tour. You can watch them perform in Shiina's Electric Mole DVD.
Shiina factoids (Thank you, wiki):
- Since Shiina's style is so vastly different (ranging from Jazz, to Pop, to Rock, to Enka) she has made a new genre for herself, which she calls "Shinjuku-kei." This is a play on the style of music called "Shibuya-kei" and translates to "The style of Shinjuku" (the business district of Tokyo), and is a reference in the adaptive way that Japanese businessmen are portrayed.
- Shiina's trademark symbol.Shiina's trademark symbol is the Kronekodow. The romanji form is Kuronekodou (黒猫堂), meaning "The Magnificent Black Cat".
- Shiina has a brother, Shiina Junpei, who is a famous soul singer in Japan. They worked together and released three duets: Tamanegi no Happy Song (it was a cover of Marvin Gaye's The Onion Song), which appears on Shiina's cover album, Utaite Myouri ~Vol. I~, as well as Junpei's album Rhodes to Freedom; WHERE IS THE LOVE (it is a cover of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's song under the same name), which was released both as a single and in Junpei's album discover; and Georgy Porgy released under the name yokoshima(邪) (basically consists of Ringo and her brother) as a limited one time online release.
- Shiina's mother, Shiina Akiko, is a ballet-dancer and her father, Shiina Koutaro, works at a gas company.
- Shiina has covered a lot of songs during her career. For a full list, see Shiina Ringo Covers.
