Miwa

miwa (ミワ) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actress under Tristone Entertainment and belongs to the Sony Records label. She debuted on March 3, 2010, with the single "don't cry anymore".

Early life
miwa was born on June 15, 1990, in Kanagawa, Japan, and moved to Tokyo at a young age. Due to the influence of her father who had a great love for music, she naturally began to enjoy music as she grew up. miwa began writing her own songs at the age of 15 and started to teach herself how to play the guitar after entering high school, but gave up and paid for professional lessons after discovering she wasn't making much progress on her own. Her high school had a ban on students having part-time jobs. Even so, miwa secretly worked and eventually used these savings by her second year of high school to buy a Gibson J-45 guitar. Thereupon, she played live performances mostly around Shimokitazawa in Tokyo and in Okinawa during the summer vacation, where her parents had a house around there. Owing to the fact that her high school also forbids students from working in the entertainment industry, she had to do these performances in secret, without even telling her school friends. At that time, miwa released two independent singles under N Cube Entertainment, "Song for You/TODAY" in 2007 and "Soba ni Itai Kara" in 2008.

2010: Debut
During the third year of high school, miwa signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Later, she debuted on March 3, 2010, with the single "don't cry anymore". At that time, she was a student at Keio University. The title track was featured as the ending theme for Fuji Television's drama, Nakanai to Kimeta Hi. It was a minor commercial success; breaking the top 20 on Oricon's single charts and being certified by the RIAJ as selling 100,000 full-length cellphone downloads a month after its release. In April 2010, the song won the award for best drama theme song at the 64th Television Drama Academy Awards.

On June 23, 2010, miwa released her second single, "Little Girl". Its title track was featured as the opening theme for TBS Television's program CDTV throughout July 2010. The single managed to reach the 18th position on the Oricon's single charts.

On August 16, 2010, miwa released a cover of two songs by famous Japanese artists, Ozaki Yutaka's "Boku ga Boku de Aru Tame ni" and THE BLUE HEARTS' "Aozora" as digital singles. The songs were featured as the image song and ending theme respectively for the animated film adaptation of Eto Mori's novel, Colorful.

On September 1, 2010, miwa released her third single, "chAngE". The title track was featured as the 12th opening theme for TV Tokyo's anime, Bleach. The capital letter "A" and "E" in the title represent "acoustic" and "electric" respectively. miwa "changed" her style for this single and set aside her acoustic Gibson J-45 for an electric Gibson Joan Jett Blackheart. The single managed to enter the top 10 on the Oricon's single charts and is her first work to pull of the achievement.

At the end of 2010, miwa held her first concert tour ''miwa "very first tour" miwa yade! miwa dagah! miwa dayo!''.

2011: guitarissimo
On January 5, 2011, miwa won the Best 5 New Artist from the 25th Japan Gold Disc Award.

On April 6, 2011, miwa released her first album, guitarissimo. At first, it was scheduled to release a week earlier at the end of March but was delayed due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and its aftereffects. Nevertheless, the album managed to win first place on Oricon's album charts, making miwa the first Heisei period-born solo singer to reach number one in the history of the charts concerned.

From June 4 to July 10, 2011, miwa held the concert tour, miwa live tour 2011 "guitarissimo".

miwa concluded her activities in 2011 by holding a one-man performance, miwa -39live- "miwanissimo", at Zepp Tokyo on December 24.

2012: guitarium
On March 14, 2012, miwa released her second album, guitarium. A tour following the album release, miwa concert tour 2012 "guitarium", was held from May 12 to June 24.

On July 28, 2012, the collaboration of miwa and Momoiro Clover Z, referred as "miwa Kuro", was unveiled at GIRLS' FACTORY 2012. Subsequently, the group made their appearance on various music programs including FNS MUSIC FESTIVAL.

On August 15, 2012, miwa released her ninth single "Hikari e". The title track was provided as the theme song for Fuji Television's drama, Rich Man, Poor Woman, starring Oguri Shun and Ishihara Satomi.

miwa concluded her activities in 2012 by holding a three day tour, miwa -39live- "miwanissimo", on December.

2013: Budokan concert and Delight
On March 29, 2013, miwa held her first ever concert at Nippon Budokan, miwa live at Budokan ~Graduation Ceremony~. Two month later, miwa released her third album, Delight, and received gold certification from the RIAJ in the month of its release. A tour following the album release, miwa concert tour 2013 "Delight", was held from July 13 to September 23.

On October 8, 2013, miwa made an appearance as a guest performer at the 68th National Athletic Meet General Closing Ceremony in Tokyo.

In late December, 2013, miwa held a two day one-man performance, miwa-39 live tour-"miwanissimo2013". She also appeared at Music Station Super Live on December 27.

miwa concluded her activities in 2013 by appearing in the 64th NHK Red and White Song Battle for the first time and performed the song "Hikari e".

Studio albums

 * guitarissimo (2011)
 * guitarium (2012)
 * Delight (2013)
 * ONENESS (2015)
 * SPLASH☆WORLD (2017)

Compilation albums

 * miwa ballad collection ~graduation~ (2016)
 * miwa THE BEST (2018)

Singles

 * "don't cry anymore" (2010)
 * "Little Girl" (2010)
 * "chAngE" (2010)
 * "Otoshimono" (2010)
 * "Haru ni Nattara" (2011)
 * "441" (2011)
 * "FRiDAY-MA-MAGiC" (2011)
 * "Kataomoi" (2012)
 * "Hikari e" (2012)
 * "Whistle ~Kimi to Sugoshita Hibi~" (2013)
 * "Miracle" (2013)
 * "Faraway/Kiss you" (2013)
 * "Faith" (2014)
 * "Kimi ni Deaeta Kara" (2014)
 * "Kibou no WA/Gesshoku ~winter moon~" (2014)
 * "fighting-φ-girls" (2015)
 * "360°" (2015)
 * "Yozora. feat.Hazzie→/Stress Free" (2015)
 * "Anata ga Koko ni Ite Dakishimeru Koto ga Dekiru nara" (2015)
 * "Princess/Shanranran" (2016)
 * "Yui" (2016)
 * "Shiny" (2017)
 * "We are the light" (2017)
 * "Update" (2018)
 * "Reboot" (2019)
 * "Storyteller/Teenage Dream" (2019)
 * "DAITAN!" (2020)

Digital singles

 * "Boku ga Boku de Aru Tame ni" (2010)
 * "Aozora" (2010)
 * "Futari no Saturday" (2011)
 * "Aiokuri/Kimi to Hyakkai-me no Koi" (2017)
 * "SPLASH" (2017)
 * "Shiny" (2017)
 * "Under the Sea" (2017)
 * "We are the light" (2017)
 * "Live Fast Die Young" (2018)
 * "Yume de Aetara" (2018)
 * "Unchained Love" (2018)
 * "Acoustic Story" (2018)
 * "Title" (2018)
 * "RUN FUN RUN" (2019)
 * "Reboot" (2019)
 * "Teenage Dream" (2019)
 * "Look At Me Now" (2020)
 * "Who I Am" (2020)

Independent singles

 * "Song for you/TODAY" (2007)
 * "Soba ni Itai Kara" (2008)
 * "message"

Videography

 * miwa live tour 2011 "guitarissimo" (2011)
 * miwa clips vol.1 (2012)
 * miwa concert tour 2012 "guitarium" (2012)
 * miwa live at Budokan ~Graduation Ceremony~ (2013)
 * miwa concert tour 2013 "Delight" (2014)
 * miwa spring concert 2014 "Shibuya Monogatari ~Complete~" (2014)
 * miwa live at Budokan ~acoguissimo~ (2015)
 * miwa "ballad collection" tour 2016 ~graduation~ (2016)
 * miwa ARENA tour 2017 "SPLASH☆WORLD" (2017)
 * miwa concert tour 2015 "ONENESS" ~Complete Version~ (2018)
 * miwa live at Budokan Graduation Ceremony/acoguissimo (2018)
 * miwa live tour 2018 38/39DAY / acoguissimo 47 Prefectures ~Complete~ (2018)
 * miwa concert tour 2018-2019 "miwa THE BEST" (2019)

Concerts and tours

 * miwa "very first tour" miwa yade! miwa dagah! miwa dayo! (2010)
 * miwa live tour 2011 "guitarissimo" (2011)
 * miwa acoustic live tour "acoguissimo" (2011)
 * miwa concert tour 2012 "guitarium" (2012)
 * miwa acoustic live tour 2012 "acoguissimo 2" (2012)
 * miwa -39 live tour- "miwanissimo 2012" (2012)
 * miwa concert tour 2013 "Delight" (2013)
 * miwa acoustic live tour 2014 "acoguissimo 3" (2014)
 * miwa -39 live ARENA tour- "miwanissimo 2014" (2014)
 * miwa concert tour 2015 "ONENESS" (2015)
 * miwa -39 live tour- "yaneura-no-neko" (2015)
 * miwa "ballad collection" tour 2016 ~graduation~ (2016)
 * miwa -39 live tour- "yaneura-no-neko 2016" (2016)
 * miwa ARENA tour 2017 "SPLASH☆WORLD" (2017)
 * miwa -39 live tour- "yaneura-no-neko 2017" (2017)
 * miwa acoustic live tour 2018 "acoguissimo 4" (2018)
 * miwa concert tour 2018-2019 "miwa THE BEST" (2018-2019)

Awards and nominations

 * 25th Japan Gold Disc Award The Best 5 New Artist (2011)
 * International Jewelery Tokyo "3rd Christmas Jewelry Princess Award" Singer Category (2017)
 * LINE BLOG OF THE YEAR 2017 Excellence Award
 * 64th Television Drama Academy Awards Drama Song Award - don't cry anymore

Trivia

 * Her official fan club is called "yaneura-no-neko".
 * Her favorite saying is "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" (千里の道も一歩から)
 * Her favorite Japanese musicians are Angela Aki, aiko, YUKI, and RADWIMPS.
 * Her favorite Western musicians are Sheryl Crow, Deep Purple, Carole King, Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift.