Kaela Kimura

Overview

Kaela Kimura (木村 カエラ, born Kaela Rie Kimura on October 24, 1984, in Adachi, Tokyo) is a Japanese pop rock singer, lyricist, fashion model and television presenter. Born to a Japanese mother and a British father, she is signed to Sony Music Artists and is married to actor Eita Nagayama. She made her major-label debut in 2004 with "Level 42", broke through with "Rirura Riruha" (No. 3 on the Oricon weekly singles chart) in 2005, scored her first No. 1 album with Scratch in 2007, and her first No. 1 single with "Ring a Ding Dong" in 2010.

Career

Before debut

Scouted as a cut model in Harajuku in sixth grade, she became a reader model for CUTiE magazine. In 2001 she was chosen as Miss Seventeen and became an exclusive model for SEVENTEEN. In 2002 she formed the indie band ANIMO, singing under the name "katie". After seeing a YUKI concert at 18, she gave up university plans to pursue singing. She appeared on the TV Kanagawa music program Saku Saku starting March 31, 2003, and hosted it until March 2006.

2004-2006

In May 2004, a 390-copy limited release of "Level 42" through Saku Saku sold out in three minutes. The song became her major-label debut on June 23, 2004, with Columbia, and was used over the Saku Saku end credits. "Happiness!!!" followed on October 27, and her debut album Kaela on December 8, entering the Oricon weekly albums chart at No. 8. Her third single "Rirura Riruha" (March 30, 2005) reached No. 3, and she graduated from Seventeen that spring. In October she released "BEAT", produced by Tamio Okuda, and made her acting debut in the lead role of the film Custom Made 10.30. In 2006 came "Magic Music" and "Tree Climbers"; she also joined the reunited Sadistic Mica Band as vocalist, releasing the album Narkissos as Sadistic Mikaela Band on October 25, their first in about 17 years.

2007-2009

Her third album Scratch, released February 7, 2007 alongside the single "Snowdome" (written by Beat Crusaders), topped the Oricon Albums Chart for two weeks and sold over 300,000 copies. She played her first solo show at Nippon Budokan on June 15, 2007, and in December joined Tamio Okuda for "In My Life" at the Dream Power John Lennon Super Live. "Samantha" (inspired by Bewitched) and "Yellow" followed in 2007. In 2008 she released "Jasper" (the Japanese theme for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), her fourth album +1 (No. 3), the video compilation Best Video 1, and her first double A-side single "Moustache/Memories", and took her first animated voice role in a Nissan Note commercial. In 2009 she released her first ballad "Doko" (No. 5), "Banzai", and her fifth album Hocus Pocus. On July 11 she held her first outdoor concert at Yokohama Red Brick Park for her fifth anniversary (22,000 attendees), and on December 31 she made her first appearance on the 60th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, performing "Butterfly".

2010-2016

Her first best album, 5years, arrived in February 2010. She announced her marriage to Eita Nagayama and her pregnancy in June, registered the marriage on September 1, and had her first child in October. "Ring a Ding Dong" gave her her first No. 1 single. From January 2010 she also performed the Chibi Maruko-chan anime theme "Odoru Ponpokorin". Albums 8Eight8 (2011) and Sync (2012) followed, and in 2012 she released "Wonder Volt", the Japanese theme for Frankenweenie. In April 2013 she left Columbia for Victor Entertainment and on June 23 founded her private label ELA, the first by a female musician at the company and making her its youngest label head. She had her second child in October and released Rock. For her 10th anniversary in 2014 she ran a year-long anniversary project, performed two shows at Yokohama Arena ("GO!GO! KAELAND 2014") and released Mieta. In 2015 she held a free concert at Shibuya Public Hall, streamed a VR live movie and gave her first Christmas solo concert; she also wrote the Japanese theme "Eye" for Moomins on the Riviera. Punky came in 2016, when she also joined the unit The Poolside.

Recent activity

She later released Ichigo (2019) and Magnetic (2022), published the picture book Nemu to Kokoro in April 2018, and in August 2023 was announced as national producer representative (MC) of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS.

Musical style

She studied Electone from age three and piano from eleven, and was inspired to sing by globe's KEIKO. Her debut came after she asked to make West Coast-style music. She names New Found Glory and Sum 41 as favorite bands and Gwen Stefani (especially from No Doubt days) and Ringo Sheena as favorite vocalists, and her pop rock sound reflects those influences. Weezer's Rivers Cuomo named "Butterfly" among his ten favorite Japanese songs.