# Tanaka (musician)

Tanaka (Japanese: たなか, born February 12, 1998) is a Japanese rapper, vocalist and lyricist. He was known by the moniker Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi (ぼくのりりっくのぼうよみ, Boku no Ririkku no Bōyomi, "Reading My Lyrics Monotone") from 2014 to 2018. In 2021, Tanaka formed a band with Ichika Nito and Sasanomaly called Dios.

## Biography

Tanaka (birth name unknown) was born in Yokohama, Japan, and went to school in the same area. He first became interested in releasing music in junior high school, and began uploading songs on the Japanese video streaming service Nico Nico under the moniker Shigaisen (市街戦, "Street Fighting") from February 2012, at the age of 14. This name (later changing the name to Shigaisen (紫外線, "Ultraviolet")) was his utaite moniker, a Nico Nico specific term for a person who uploads sung vocal covers of Vocaloid songs. Among the songs he covered were Ishifuro's "Yurufuwa Jukai Girl", Denpol-P's "Hitorinbo Envy" and Hachi's "Donut Hole".
Tanaka became interested in rap music through the Nico Nico community Nico Rap, especially a rapper in the community called Vacon. After becoming friends, Vacon inspired Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi to try releasing original rap songs. In late 2012, he uploaded his first rap song, "One Night Stand and Rain". He decided on his stage name late at night while uploading the song, arbitrarily choosing the phrase Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi (ぼくのりりっくのぼうよみ, "Reading My Lyrics Monotone"). He felt that his voice while rapping sounded as if he were singing in a monotone instead of rapping, so decided on the name because of this. Originally he wanted to form a band, however did not have any friends who wanted to join in. As a student at an elite high school, he found that his friends had little interest in music, so he decided to release music as a solo act.
In April 2014, Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi released a free to download extended play through the independent hip-hop label Idler Records, a label run by Denpa Girl member Hashishi. Later in 2014, he was announced as one of the finalists of the Tokyo FM teen music contest Senkō Riot, after submitting the song "Sub/objective" because it had the biggest response on the internet. Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi submitted another song, "Fuckin' Summer Vacatioooooon!!!!!!!!!!!", for the contest's annual contestant compilation album.
In December 2015, Tanaka released his debut album Hollow World as Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi through newly founded JVC Kenwood Victor Entertainment sub-label Connectone, His second album Noah’s Ark (2017) features a collaboration with Latin jazz producer Nicola Conte, and "Be Noble", the theme song for the film March Comes in like a Lion Part 1 (2017).
In September 2018, Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi announced that he would leave the music industry, by releasing a final studio album, Botsuraku, and a compilation album, Ningen, on December 12. In 2019, he announced that he would change his stage name to Tanaka. In April 2021, Tanaka formed a band with Ichika Nito and Sasanomaly called Dios.

## Discography
### Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak positions | Peak positions |
| Title | Album details | JPN Oricon | JPN Billboard |
| Hollow World | Released: December 16, 2015 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, digital download | 39 | 17 |
| Noah’s Ark | Released: January 25, 2017 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, digital download | 24 | 22 |
| Fruits Decaying | Released: November 22, 2017 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, 2CD, 2CD/DVD, digital download | 18 | 15 |
| Botsuraku (没落, "Downfall") | Released: December 12, 2018 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, digital download | 20 | 17 |

### Extended plays

List of extended plays, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak positions | Peak positions |
| Title | Album details | JPN Oricon | JPN Billboard |
| Parrot's Paranoia | Released: April 30, 2014 Label: Idler Records Formats: Free digital download | — | — |
| Dystopia (ディストピア, Disutopia) | Released: October 12, 2016 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, digital download | 26 | — |
| "—" denotes items which were ineligible to chart, or charted on a Billboard sub-chart. ||||

### Compilation albums

List of compilation albums, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Album details | Peak positions | Peak positions |
| Title | Album details | JPN Oricon | JPN Billboard |
| Ningen (人間, "Human") | Released: December 12, 2018 Label: Connectone Formats: CD, digital download | 32 | 47 |

### Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | JPN Oricon | JPN Billboard | Album |
| "Patchwork" (パッチワーク, Pacchiwāku) | 2015 | — | 86 | Hollow World |
| "Sub/objective" | 2015 | — | 39 | Hollow World |
| "Newspeak" | 2016 | — | 73 | Dystopia / Noah's Ark |
| "After That" | 2016 | — | 53 | Noah's Ark |
| "Be Noble" | 2017 | 77 | 50 | Noah's Ark |
| "Sky's the Limit" | 2017 | 45 | 27 | Fruits Decaying |
| "Tsuki to Sanagi" (つきとさなぎ, "The Moon and a Chrysalis") | 2017 | 45 | — | Fruits Decaying |
| "Wana" (罠, "Trap") (featuring Soil & "Pimp" Sessions) | 2017 | — | 85 | Fruits Decaying |
| "Rinne Tensei" (輪廻転生, "Reincarnation") | 2018 | — | — | Botsuraku |
| "Boku wa Mō Inai" (僕はもういない, "I'm Not Here Anymore") | 2018 | — | 86 | Botsuraku |
| "—" denotes items that were ineligible to chart on Oricon singles chart, or items that did not chart. |||||

### Guest appearances

List of non-single guest appearances with other performing artists :
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
| "Sunrise" | 2014 | Nqrse | Compilation Album W.W.W 2014 |
| "Cock Pitt" | 2014 | Rikon Nozaki, Shakabooz, Nera_K, Twoface | None |
| "Fuckin' Summer Vacatioooooon!!!!!!!!!!!" | 2014 | None | Senkō Riot 2014 |
| "Idler Stella" | 2015 | Denpa Girl, Nera_K, Rikon Nozaki | Who |
| "Fukurou Session featuring Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi (streamed online live on 2016.06.21)" | 2016 | Sakanaction | "Tabun, Kaze" (single) |
| "Game of Life" | 2017 | Sasanomaly | Game of Life |
| "Kubinawa" (クビナワ) | 2017 | Denpa Girl, Sasanomaly | Health |
| "Nanisama" (何様, "Someone") | 2018 | Sky-Hi | Best Catalyst: Collaboration Best Album |
| Suspected, Confused and Action | 2019 | Asca | |
| Foolish | 2019 | Teddyloid | Silent Planet: Infinity |

## Songwriting credits

List of songs written by Boku no Lyric no Bōyomi for other artists.
| Year | Song | Artist | Album | Co-written with |
| 2018 | "Kiss Is My Life" | SingTuyo (Shingo Katori and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) | "Kiss Is My Life" (single) | Yoshi Kenkai (Loyly Lewis) |
| 2018 | "Anymore" | Miyakawa-kun | Star Land | Yoshi Kenkai (Loyly Lewis) |