Rina Aiuchi

Rina Aiuchi (愛内 里菜, Aiuchi Rina, born 31 July 1980) is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. She wrote her own lyrics to her songs and self-produced in the last few years before retirement. She was previously affiliated with the Giza Studio recording label. In 2016, she announced that after six years of retirement, she would be returning to the music industry.^[1]

Career

Rina debuted on March 23, 2000, with the release of the single "Close To Your Heart". She released three more singles that year, and her song "Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense (恋はスリル、ショック、サスペンス)" was used as an opening theme for the anime series Detective Conan. In 2001, Rina's first album, Be Happy, which included "Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense", was released.

In 2002, Rina's second album, Power of Words, was released. It reached the top of the Oricon charts and sold over 540,000 copies. Her third album, A.I.R. did the same, reaching the number one spot in the Oricon charts again.

Her singles have since been used in other anime series, as well as video games. "Miracle" was used for the fifth ending theme of MAR and "Bara ga Saku, Bara ga Chiru" was used for the opening theme of Souten no Ken. Her song "Code Crush" was chosen to be the opening theme to Capcom's Rockman X7, helping her single "Over Shine" and her third album gain popularity in 2003. Also, with the hit of her 13th single, "Full Jump", she was invited to perform on the stage of NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. Her popularity has been stable ever since, earning her fourth album Playgirl and fifth album Delight constant success. On May 21, 2008, she released her sixth album, Trip, two years after Delight. Once again, the album reached the Top 10 in the Oricon chart, however it became her lowest charting and selling album (with the album peaking at number 10 and selling around 18,502 copies). Her sales became worse when her seventh album, Thanx reached number 12.

In 2010, she released her last and thirty-second single, "Hanabi", which reached number 28 on the Oricon charts. Two months later, on September 15, she released her eighth and last album, Last Scene. On September 18 and 26, Aiuchi scheduled her "Last Scene 2010 Last Live" concert, and soon after, she announced her retirement from music because of health problems. Her last album, Last Scene reached number 8 on the Oricon charts.

Post-retirement and comeback

In August 2013, she legally changed her name to Rika Kakiuchi (垣内 りか, Kakiuchi Rika). She later explained via her blog that she did so because of, among other reasons, her desire to separate her identity as a former singer from her post-retirement work as a producer of her "BonBon Copine" brand of pet-related items and services.^[2]

In August 2015, she appeared on the Japanese TV competition program, The Karaoke Battle.^[3]

In the end of 2015, she announced resume of music activities^[4]

Discography

Digital singles

1. Good Days (14 April 2010)
2. Sing a Song (26 May 2010)
3. Clover (23 June 2010)

DVDs

1. PREMIER SHOT #1 (5 December 2001)
2. RINA AIUCHI LIVE TOUR 2002 POWER OF WORDS (17 July 2002)
3. PREMIER SHOT #2 (25 June 2003)
4. Rina Matsuri 2003 (25 September 2003)
5. RINA AIUCHI LIVE TOUR 2003 "A.I.R." (22 March 2004)
6. Rina Matsuri 2004 (3 November 2004)
7. PREMIER SHOT ♯3 CLIP & LIVE COLLECTION (27 July 2005)
8. Rina Matsuri 2005 (28 September 2005)
9. Rina Matsuri 2006 (11 November 2006)
10. Rina Aiuchi Valentine Live 2007 (23 May 2007)
11. PREMIER SHOT #4 VISUAL COLLECTION (15 October 2008)
12. RINA AIUCHI THANX 10th ANNIVERSARY LIVE - MAGIC OF THE LOVE- (28 July 2010)
13. RINA AIUCHI LAST LIVE 2010 ~LAST SCENE~ (31 December 2010)

References

External links

• Official website
• Asian-Stuff.com - Rina Aiuchi Reviews
• Rina Aiuchi Good Life Blog(Japanese)