Amatsuki (musician)

Early life

Amatsuki was born on 30 June 1991 in Tokyo, Japan.^[3] During his childhood, he dreamed of becoming Kamen Rider.^[4] When he was young, he was bullied at school, and he struggled to build trusting friendships.^[5] He liked to sing^[6] and was enthusiastic about listening to music from his favorite movies and video games.^[7] At that time, Amatsuki purchased Porno Graffiti's single, Melissa, the first opening theme song to the anime Full Metal Alchemist, as his first CD, liking the band's music and influenced by the single's music producer, Akimitsu Honma, to this day.^[8] Since 2007, he has been interested in cover videos (歌ってみた) posted by active members on the video sharing site NicoNico, including those by other cover artists known as utaite (歌い手) with whom he later became friends such as Tonari no Sakata (隣の坂田), Tomohisa Sako (佐香智久), Kuroneko (96猫), Shima (志麻), etc.^[9]

2014–present: Career

After joining the baseball team in high school, he was put in charge of vocals in a friend's band for the school festival.^[6] After 2009, he bought a cheap Skype microphone and started live streaming with a mix of expectation and nerves.^[4] In 2010, he uploaded his first Vocaloid song cover and began his activities as an utaite.^[6] Worried about his singing abilities as a novice, he increased his work in order improve.^[10] In the beginning, he did not imagine performing live on stage.^[11] However, through his activities on video sharing sites he gained recognition and increased his network such that in 2010 he participated in a live concert with other utaites.^[10] At the time, he was attending university to become a primary school teacher but drawn by the reciprocal charm of streaming and music where the performer and the audience can both have fun, he gradually began to consider pursuing music.^[8] Following this, from 2012 to 2016, along with four friends he met through various video sites (Hashiyan, Kashitaro Ito, un;c, and Kony), Amatsuki went on a live tour with the group performing under the name Circle of Friends (COF).^[12] With his first solo live in 2012, he performed music to his audience face-to-face, experiencing the unity and reciprocity that could not be obtained just through online views.^[7][13] In the same year, he released his first CD, Melodic note.^[14] On July 16th 2014, he debuted his first major album Hello, World! under King Records, announcing the release via his YouTube channel.^[15] In 2015, he released an album with fellow singer, Hashiyan, under the unit name Melost.^[16]

In 2016, Amatsuki released his 2nd album, Hakoniwa Dramatic (箱庭ドラマチック), focusing on the "dramatic" points in one's life.^[17] In this album, he also participates in lyric writing and composition.^[18][19] Through his various collaborations with film projects (such as creating the opening theme song to the Digimon series of which he was a childhood fan), live concerts, festival appearances, and a wide variety of promotional activities, Amatsuki has expanded his audience to include a wide range of ages as well as male listeners.^[20][21][9] In June 2018, he released his 3rd album, Sorewa Kitto Koi Deshita. (それはきっと恋でした。), which presents various perspectives on romance.^[22] In addition to the songs, the white background and the blue roses of the album's cover carry deep meaning to the artist.^[22] On August 23rd 2018, Amatsuki realized his dream and performed a one-man concert at the Nippon Budokan. As in all of his live performances, he reflected on his life and career thus far and thanked all the people who supported him.^[23][24] In October 2018, he transferred to Universal Music Japan.^[25] In July 2019, Amatsuki held a 10-year anniversary live at Osaka-jō Hall.^[26] Through December 2019 to January 2020, he held a live tour at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A to celebrate all the miracles and encounters he had experienced over the past 10 years.^[27]

In April 2020, as part of his 10-year anniversary tour, Amatsuki had planned a 2-day solo concert at the Makuhari Event Hall, however, due to the spread of COVID-19, the performance was postponed.^[28][29] On August 29th and 30th of that year, in the same event hall, he performed a solo concert to an empty theatre, live streaming his performance with approximately 50,000 people attending virtually over the two days.^[30][31] On December 30th 2020, he held a live stream of his Resfeber solo concert at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A.^[32]

As both a listener and an artist, Amatsuki enjoys releasing music.^[13] Since his major debut, he has continued to release albums in cooperation with his label. At the same time, since the beginning of his career, Amatsuki has continued to regularly upload videos and live stream on NicoNico and YouTube, following his unchanging desire to share his videos and music.^[11] He also continues to deepen his friendships with the artists he has met during his singing career (such as Mafumafu, Eve, etc.) through mutual collaborations on songs and by contributing to their lyric writing and music production.^[33] In addition to performing concerts overseas, Amatsuki has increased the range and variety of his activities to include voice acting, theatrical plays, closet dramas, and television appearances.^[34] In July 2021, Amatsuki joined the professional gaming team Crazy Raccoon as a streamer.^[35]

Single

Album

Major album