Kenshi Yonezu

Overview

Kenshi Yonezu (米津玄師, Yonezu Kenshi) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer, Vocaloid producer, illustrator and video creator, born March 10, 1991 in Tokushima Prefecture. As a Vocaloid producer he is known as Hachi (ハチ). He began releasing Vocaloid music in 2009, debuted under his real name in 2012 with the album diorama, and made his major-label debut in 2013 with Universal Sigma. In 2016 he moved to Sony Music Records. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and over 7 million digital copies in Japan.

His single "Lemon" topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100 year-end chart for two consecutive years and was the first song to exceed three million downloads. "KICK BACK" became the first Japanese-language song certified Gold by the RIAA, and was later certified Platinum. In 2025 he won the J-Pop Favorite Artist award at the Melon Music Awards.

Career

Early life and Vocaloid years (to 2011)

Yonezu originally wanted to be a manga artist. In fifth grade he watched a Flash animation featuring music by BUMP OF CHICKEN and was deeply impressed. He began making original songs in junior high and formed the band Late Rabbit Edda; in 2008 he passed the first round of the teen rock festival Senkō Riot but failed the second.

After discovering Susumu Hirasawa, who strongly influenced him, he started DTM and posted around 30 original songs as Hachi, later deleting them because his influences showed too heavily. From 2009 he made Vocaloid songs with Hatsune Miku; "Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro" was his first song to pass a million views. In 2010 he joined Minakata Kenkyūjo and released the self-produced albums Hanataba to Suisō and Official Orange (both given nationwide releases in 2013). By 2011 hits such as "Matryoshka" and "Panda Hero" had followed, and in July 2011 he traveled to Los Angeles for events tied to MIKUNOPOLIS.

2012–2014

His album diorama, released May 16, 2012 on Balloom, debuted at number 6 on the Oricon weekly albums chart and was among the winners of the 5th CD Shop Awards. He debuted on a major label with the single "Santa Maria" on May 29, 2013. His second album, YANKEE (April 23, 2014), debuted at number 2, and he held his first concert in June 2014.

2015–2017

The single "Flowerwall" (January 2015) reached number 3 on the Oricon singles chart, and the album Bremen (October 2015) topped major charts. In September 2016 he released "LOSER / Number Nine", moving to Sony Music Records. In 2017 he released "orion" and "Peace Sign", the latter used as an opening theme for My Hero Academia.

2018 onward

"Lemon" became his biggest hit. The album BOOTLEG earned top honors at the CD Shop Awards and the 60th Japan Record Awards. His 2020 album STRAY SHEEP won 28 year-end album ranking titles, and he received the 71st Japan Art Festival Prize for New Artists. "KICK BACK" (2022) was the first Japanese song to enter the Spotify Global 50, and in 2023 he was the first Japanese artist named to RIAA's Class of 2023. "IRIS OUT" (2025) reached 100 million streams faster than any song before it and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Global 200, the highest for a Japanese-language song. Peace Sign was certified Gold in 2026, making him the only artist with three RIAA certifications for Japanese-language songs.

Recent releases include the album LOST CORNER (August 2024), and the singles "Azalea", "Plazma", "BOW AND ARROW", "IRIS OUT", "1991", plus several "KICK BACK" remixes.

Musical style

His genres are J-pop, anime and J-rock. He writes, composes and sings his own material and also works as an illustrator and video creator. He has cited BUMP OF CHICKEN and Susumu Hirasawa as influences.