Rachel Rhodes (born April 15, 1993), known professionally asRei Yasuda (安田レイ,Yasuda Rei), is a Japanese singer and model. She portrayed and co-voiced the character Lumi, the fictionallead vocalist ofGenki Rockets in 2006. She debuted as a solo singer in 2013.
Yasuda first began modeling in 2006,[12] and appeared in a promotional campaign forSony's CMOS Sensors.[13] At age 13, Yasuda auditioned to appear inGenki Rockets' music video by dancing toBoA's "Valenti" and singing "Happy Birthday to You." She passed the audition two days later and was not only asked to appear in the music video, but as a singer as well.[7][14] Yasuda became the image model for Lumi, the band's virtual vocalist, and providing vocals along withNami Miyahara.[15][16][17] The band's first single "Heavenly Star" and its music video were featured invideo gameLumines II andNo More Heroes.[18] The song was nominated for Best Song bySpike Video Game Awards in 2006[19] while the band won Best New Artist in Electronic category from iTunes in 2007.[20] As her junior high school didn't allow students to perform, Yasuda kept her work withGenki Rockets a secret and later transferred schools to continue pursuing a singing career.[21]
Yasuda acted as Lumi inChild of Eden, where she was resurrected as apersona in the23rd century. The player is tasked with saving her from a malicious virus.[22] While in Genki Rockets, Yasuda gained no stage experience[23] because all of the band's events usehigh tech pre-recorded video of her forLive PA,[24] with the notable example of Lumi introducing the former U.S. Vice PresidentAl Gore usingMusion Eyeliner inLive Earth concert, Tokyo 2007.[25] Yasuda noted that at first her voice and appearance are heavily processed but later the process effect became weaker and her identity became more clear.[1]
After graduating high school, Yasuda decided to pursue a full-time music career in spite of advice given to her to attend university instead.[14] In 2013, Yasuda changed agencies and debuted as a solo singer under Sony Records with her Japanese name, Rei Yasuda,[26] debuting with "Best of My Love", which served as the ending theme toSpace Battleship Yamato 2199. Unlike Genki Rockets, the song's music video was shot on location instead of agreen screen. In its music video, theUFO came to the world where the civilization hasn't been developed, which Yasuda found that that contrast is interesting.[1] Kenji Tamai, who Yasuda worked with in Genki Rockets, helped produce and prepare for her solo debut after her high school graduation.[27][28] In addition to singing, Yasuda also continued modeling, starting thefashion blogNylonista forNylon Japan and performing for Nylon's special stage inGirls Award 2013 Autumn/Winter.[29] In April 2014, she started shoe blog forABC-Mart, accompanied with the release of her single "Passcode 4854."[30] She participated inEscada fashion event in April 2014[31] andTokyo Girls Collection festival once a year from 2013 to 2016, with the 2013 Autumn/Winter being her first live performance.[9] She was featured in Sendai Collection 2014 and her song "Inside Out" became the brand's promotional single for the brand's event in August 2014.[32]
Her first two albums,Will andPrism, both ranked first on the Japanese iTunes Store's J-Pop Top Album chart and second on the Overall Album chart.[33][34] She was selected as Japanese iTunes New Artist 2014[35] and nominated in57th Japan Record Awards for Best New Artist in 2015.[36]
She had been appeared as a model for three consecutive years on Flags fashion building in Shinjuku for its 16th-18th anniversary[38][39] and was selected along withRihwa as campaign ambassadors for its 20th anniversary.[40] She was both the performer and model for Kansai Collection Autumn/Winter 2016.[41] She was the 60th Tokyo IT Girls model for Vogue Girl Japan.[4]
Her first live performance outside Japan was in November 2016 for the event "Japan Media Mix Festival inTaipei 2016".[42] She was nominated for Best Teen Choice Award in2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.[43]
In 2017, she became Lumine Est brand ambassador and her song "Up to Me" became its promotional theme for their summer collection[44] and "Not Enough" for winter collection.[45]
Rei was the NylonTV Japan's backstage reporter for Vantan Cutting Edge 2013fashion show.[48] She was selected asYahoo! Japan smartphone guide foriTunes Festival 2014 in London, interviewingFoxes,Jenny Lewis, andClean Bandit.[49][50] She wrote the lyrics for the Japanese version ofCharli XCX's song "Boom Clap"[51] and later wrote the lyrics for some of her own songs.[52][53] She made a cameo appearance in TBS drama100 days: Love, Marriage, Sickness and Mom that used her song "Ashitairo" as theme song.[54]
^"安田レイABC-MART店内放送"ABCリコメンズ"のMCに決定！".ソニーミュージック オフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. April 16, 2014. RetrievedAugust 10, 2018.
^安田レイ、主題歌歌う「結婚式の前日に」でドラマデビュー [Rei Yasuda makes her drama debut with the theme song "The Day Before the Wedding"].Music Natalie (in Japanese). RetrievedAugust 10, 2018.
^"Will".Oricon (in Japanese). RetrievedFebruary 21, 2019.
(in Japanese)