# Rei Yasuda

Rachel Rhodes (born April 15, 1993), known professionally as Rei Yasuda (安田レイ, Yasuda Rei), is a Japanese singer and model. She portrayed and co-voiced the character Lumi, the fictional lead vocalist of Genki Rockets in 2006. She debuted as a solo singer in 2013.

## Early life and education

Rachel Rhodes was born in North Carolina, United States on April 15, 1993, but moved to Japan at the age of 3. She attended an American school at Yokota Air Base. Rhodes is a hāfu from an American father who was from Michigan and a Japanese mother and is fluent in both English and Japanese. When Rhodes was in first grade, she was inspired to become a singer after hearing her mother listening to "First Love" by Hikaru Utada. She was later influenced by Mariya Takeuchi and Love Psychedelico. When she was in third grade she listened to American R&B artists Alicia Keys and Usher. Her younger brother is model Musashi Rhodes.

## Career
### 2006–2013: Genki Rockets

Yasuda first began modeling in 2006, and appeared in a promotional campaign for Sony's CMOS Sensors. At age 13, Yasuda auditioned to appear in Genki Rockets' music video by dancing to BoA'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. Yasuda became the image model for Lumi, the band's virtual vocalist, and providing vocals along with Nami Miyahara. The band's first single "Heavenly Star" and its music video were featured in video game Lumines II and No More Heroes. The song was nominated for Best Song by Spike Video Game Awards in 2006 while the band won Best New Artist in Electronic category from iTunes in 2007. As her junior high school didn't allow students to perform, Yasuda kept her work with Genki Rockets a secret and later transferred schools to continue pursuing a singing career.
Yasuda acted as Lumi in Child of Eden, where she was resurrected as a persona in the 23rd century. The player is tasked with saving her from a malicious virus. While in Genki Rockets, Yasuda gained no stage experience because all of the band's events use high tech pre-recorded video of her for Live PA, with the notable example of Lumi introducing the former U.S. Vice President Al Gore using Musion Eyeliner in Live Earth concert, Tokyo 2007. 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.

### 2013–present: Solo career

After graduating high school, Yasuda decided to pursue a full-time music career in spite of advice given to her to attend university instead. In 2013, Yasuda changed agencies and debuted as a solo singer under Sony Records with her Japanese name, Rei Yasuda, debuting with "Best of My Love", which served as the ending theme to Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Unlike Genki Rockets, the song's music video was shot on location instead of a green screen. In its music video, the UFO came to the world where the civilization hasn't been developed, which Yasuda found that that contrast is interesting. Kenji Tamai, who Yasuda worked with in Genki Rockets, helped produce and prepare for her solo debut after her high school graduation. In addition to singing, Yasuda also continued modeling, starting the fashion blog Nylonista for Nylon Japan and performing for Nylon's special stage in Girls Award 2013 Autumn/Winter. In April 2014, she started shoe blog for ABC-Mart, accompanied with the release of her single "Passcode 4854." She participated in Escada fashion event in April 2014 and Tokyo Girls Collection festival once a year from 2013 to 2016, with the 2013 Autumn/Winter being her first live performance. 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.
Her first two albums, Will and Prism, both ranked first on the Japanese iTunes Store's J-Pop Top Album chart and second on the Overall Album chart. She was selected as Japanese iTunes New Artist 2014 and nominated in 57th Japan Record Awards for Best New Artist in 2015.
In August 2015, she performed to 34,000 youths from 150 countries gathered in Yamaguchi Prefecture for 23rd World Scout Jamboree.
She had been appeared as a model for three consecutive years on Flags fashion building in Shinjuku for its 16th-18th anniversary and was selected along with Rihwa as campaign ambassadors for its 20th anniversary. She was both the performer and model for Kansai Collection Autumn/Winter 2016. She was the 60th Tokyo IT Girls model for Vogue Girl Japan.
Her first live performance outside Japan was in November 2016 for the event "Japan Media Mix Festival in Taipei 2016". She was nominated for Best Teen Choice Award in 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
In 2017, she became Lumine Est brand ambassador and her song "Up to Me" became its promotional theme for their summer collection and "Not Enough" for winter collection.

### Radio host

Rei hosted her own program "City Girls Music" for Japan FM Network since 2016. She also co-host "JA Zen-noh Countdown Japan" with another British-Japanese radio personality George Williams for Tokyo FM in every Saturday noon began in April 2017.

### Other works

Rei was the NylonTV Japan's backstage reporter for Vantan Cutting Edge 2013 fashion show. She was selected as Yahoo! Japan smartphone guide for iTunes Festival 2014 in London, interviewing Foxes, Jenny Lewis, and Clean Bandit. She wrote the lyrics for the Japanese version of Charli XCX's song "Boom Clap" and later wrote the lyrics for some of her own songs. She made a cameo appearance in TBS drama 100 days: Love, Marriage, Sickness and Mom that used her song "Ashitairo" as theme song.

## Discography
### Albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Sales |
| Title | Album details | Oricon Albums Chart | Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales | Sales |
| Will | Released: October 8, 2014 Label: SME Records Formats: CD, digital download | 15 | 13 | — |
| Prism | Released: February 3, 2016 Label: SME Records Formats: CD, digital download | 15 | 16 | 5,863 |
| Re:I | Released: March 18, 2020 Label: SME Records Formats: CD, digital download | 44 | 42 | 1,478 |
| Circle | Released: February 8, 2023 Label: SME Records Formats: CD, digital download | 65 | 52 | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. |||||

### EP

| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | Tie-in |
| It's You | Released: November 3, 2021 Label: SME Records Formats: CD, digital download | 161 | Campaign song for Shiseido Anessa sunscreen in TikTok (A Perfect Sky, a cover of a Bonnie Pink song with the same name) |
| Ray of Light | Released: February 7, 2024 Label: Sacra Music Formats: CD, digital download | 82 | Insert song for movie Love You as the World Ends Final (Ray of Light) Ending theme song for the Japanese broadcast version of Chinese TV animation Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire (Koe no Kakera) |

### Singles

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Tie-in | Album |
| Title | Year | Oricon Singles Chart | Billboard Japan Hot 100 | Tie-in | Album |
| "Best of My Love" | 2013 | 21 | 27 | Second ending theme song for Space Battleship Yamato 2199 | Will |
| "Brand New Day" | 2014 | 84 | 32 | TV Commercial song for Nissen Spring 2014 | Will |
| "Passcode 4854" | 2014 | 84 | 90 | First ending theme song for Kindaichi Case Files R | Will |
| "Mirror" | 2014 | 19 | 25 | Second ending theme song for the anime The Irregular at Magic High School | Will |
| "Koiuta" | 2015 | 43 | 22 | Theme song for the TBS drama Zanka: Beautiful Snares Cover of an Ikimono-gakari song with the same name | Prism |
| "Tweedia" | 2015 | 23 | 33 | Ending theme song for Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages | Prism |
| "Ashitairo" | 2015 | 41 | 33 | Theme song for the TBS drama 100 days: Love, Marriage, Sickness and Mom | Prism |
| "Message" | 2016 | 51 | 46 | First ending theme song for the anime Ace Attorney | Non-album single |
| "Kiminouta" | 2017 | 65 | 98 | Ending theme song for Natsume's Book of Friends Season 6 | Re:I |
| "Sunny" | 2018 | 128 | 84 | Opening theme song for Fuji TV drama adapted from manga of the same name Caseworker's Diary - Constitutional Rights | Re:I |
| "Blooming" | 2019 | 78 | — | Second opening theme song for Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File | Re:I |
| "Over and Over/Dazzling Tomorrow" | 2019 | 105 | — | TV commercial song for Kao merit PYUAN shampoo (Dazzling Tomorrow) | Re:I |
| "Asymmetry" | 2019 | 74 | 72 | Opening theme song for Fuji TV drama adapted from manga of the same name Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania | Re:I |
| "Through the Dark" | 2020 | 34 | — | Ending theme song for White Cat Project anime adaptation Zero Chronicle | Circle |
| "Not the End" | 2021 | 62 | 68 | Insert song for Nippon TV drama Love You as the World Ends (Not the End) Theme song for movie Photograph of Memories (Amber) | Circle |
| "Kazenonaka" | 2022 | 91 | — | Second ending theme song for the anime Love All Play | Circle |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. ||||||

#### Digital singles

| Title | Year | Tie-in | Album |
| "Let It Snow" | 2013 | Sony Headphone MDR-10 commercial music video | Will |
| "Classy" | 2016 | TV commercial song for Sony Bravia | Re:I |
| "Dazzling Tomorrow" | 2019 | TV commercial song for Kao merit PYUAN shampoo | Re:I |
| "A Perfect Sky" | 2021 | Campaign song for Shiseido Anessa sunscreen in TikTok Cover of a Bonnie Pink song with the same name | It's you |
| "Each Day Each Night" | 2022 | SoftBank HeartBuds special short movie | Circle |

#### As featured artist

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
| Title | Year | Oricon Singles Chart | Billboard Japan Hot 100 | Sales | Album |
| "Onajisora" (Spicy Chocolate feat. Naoto Inti Raymi & Rei Yasuda) | 2016 | — | 55 | — | Shibuya Junai Monogatari 3 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. ||||||