Olivia’s character experience

Olivia was born in Okinawa in 1979. Because her father was an American sailor at the time, she moved around a lot. In 1982, Olivia moved to San Diego, California, and later returned to Okinawa. Olivia then moved back to the United States (Northern Carolina) to attend White Oak High School in Jacksonville. Two years later, Olivia moved back to Okinawa.

When Olivia was a child, she listened to classical music played by her parents every morning and saw many musicians on TV. She originally loved painting and doing crafts, and won many awards when she was in school.

Olivia started making music during her first year of high school. She participated in a Japanese production of "The Sound of Music" but didn't get the role she wanted. After that, Olivia entered the Okinawa Performing Arts School (Amuro Namie and SPEED both graduated from there). She was discovered by Avex Trax while attending a performance in 1996 and was invited to join the Eurobeat dance music group "Dance & Dream", or "D&D" for short. She accepted the invitation. Then D&D debuted in 1996.

OLIVIA, formerly known as Olivia Lufkin, was born in Okinawa, Japan, but has lived in the United States for about 6 years. She spent her childhood based in Philadelphia, San Diego in the United States, and Okinawa in Japan. Starting in elementary school, I discovered my love for singing through the experience of participating in music schools and musicals. She was discovered while attending the Okinawa Performing Arts School and was invited to join the eurobeat group "D&D". She accepted the invitation and debuted in 1996 with the single "IN YOUR EYES". The group was not very successful, and Olivia decided to go solo.

Olivia's music style has changed from the original idol style to experimental rock (Experimental Rock). All of her current works are written and arranged by herself. Olivia took a two-year break after the release of her album "The Lost Lolli" in 2004. After her comeback, she sang the ending song "A Little Pain" for the TV version of Ai Yazawa's manga "NANA". After that she also sang many songs for this animation.

Olivia’s other relatives are also musicians. Her brother Jeffrey formed a band, and her sister Caroline is an electronic music singer under the American underground label Temporary Records. Olivia also worked as an art editor for Caroline's album.

It combines the heavy industrial rock (Gothic) represented by NINE INCH NAILS, Björk’s danceable and light style, and the fantasy aesthetics that are reminiscent of Northern Europe. OLIVIA spreads her dreamy musicality with her gifted high-pitched and mellow voice. OLIVIA's world view is unique not only from a Japanese perspective, but also from a global perspective.

In addition, Olivia is often confused with another pop singer Wang Liting whose stage name is OLIVIA. For details about her, please see the entry Olivia Ong.

1999-2002

The famous producer Tetsuya Komuro heard Olivia's music one day. He described "her voice as crisp but with unparalleled explosive power" and thought she was joining him. The perfect person to collaborate on a musical project with Jean Michel Jarre. The plan is to produce the Japanese team's theme song "Together Now" for the 1998 World Cup in France. The single was released in Japan and France one month after the release of D&D's album. Olivia also appeared in the song's music video. The release of this single made Olivia move away from the previous dance music style and towards a more rock style.

Ten months after the single was released, Olivia once again got a good opportunity in her music career. Tetsuya Komuro decided to let Olivia go solo (just like Namie Amuro had a successful solo career from SUPER MONKEYS).

Olivia officially became a solo artist under Avex Trax in February 1999. T2ya produced Olivia's first two singles "I.L.Y.~Desire~" (peaking at No. 32 on Oricon) and "re-ACT" (peaking at No. 29 on Oricon). Like D&D, she did not achieve extreme success. Big success.

However, Olivia was not happy at this time because she could not control her music career. Although her third single "Dear Angel" was not entirely arranged by herself (it was arranged by Ebine Yuuko), the song used Olivia's own lyrics in English and Japanese, and she also participated in the arrangement. . Olivia said she "wrote this song on a down day" when she was trying to "create more complex music." After that, all of Olivia's music was written and produced by herself. Before writing the song, Olivia listened to a lot of music from artists she liked (such as PJ Harvey and Bjork), but found it difficult to "make this kind of music in the Japanese music industry." Therefore, Olivia decided to change her music style to "more accessible rock".

Olivia later released 3 singles and released the album "Synchronicity" two years after her solo career. Olivia said that this album does not have a very prominent genre, because almost every song has a different style (it can be said that this album is a mixture of rock, pop, ethereal and even jazz). This album has the highest number on the Oricon chart. The ranking is 20th.

After more than a year of rest, Olivia released her 7th single "Sea me". After that, she moved from Avex Trax to Cutting Edge, another label under AVEX (for overseas markets). After that, her popularity abroad began to increase, and the fan website OliviaLufkinOnline.com was established soon after. However, the single itself did not sell well (the highest ranking was No. 89).

After that, Olivia's records were released less and less, and her first PV set "Video Clip Collection" was released 4 months later. After this, Olivia's next single "Into the Stars" is planned to be released in July together with a mini album. However, plans changed for some reason, and the single's release was postponed until September, while the album's release was also postponed.

2003-2004

At this time, Olivia decided to completely change her music style and will write and sing all her works in English. Her next mini-album, Internal Bleeding Strawberry, was released, but was sold exclusively on Tower Records. The mini-album includes two English songs from "Synchronicity", the English version of "Dress me Up" and the Goidelc (Irish) version of "Color of your Spoon".

At the same time, in 2003 Olivia decided to create a clothing brand called Black Daisy Ville with her friend Friedia Niimura (Rin Kozue). This brand has released a series of summer clothing and accessories by 2004. Later Friedia moved to the United States, and since then the brand has stopped releasing new products. "Internal Bleeding Strawberry" is the first of four mini albums released by Olivia during this period. After its release in 2003, three mini-albums, "Merry & Hell Go Round", "Comatose Bunny Butcher" and "The Return of the Chlorophyll Bunny" were also released. These three mini-albums, like "Internal Bleeding Strawberry", were only released on Tower Records and were sung only in English.

Olivia's brother Jeffrey Lufkin participated heavily in the creation of these four albums, including lyrics, composition, accompaniment, and was even responsible for the backing vocals and rap of many songs.

Afterwards, Olivia released her second album "The Lost Lolli". In this album, except for the new songs "Alone in Our Castle" and "Fake Flowers", other songs are selected from the previous mini album. The album was released nationwide (Tower Records sold a limited edition of the first edition) and peaked at No. 111 on the Oricon chart. "The Lost Lolli" used "SpidERSpins (Lost Lolli Mix)" as a promotional song during its release and filmed a PV for this song. The name "The Lost Lolli" fully reveals Olivia's preference for Western music. In the Japanese music market, it can be said to be a challenging album that has never been seen before. After the album was released, it received very high praise overseas and was also released on the European version in 43 European countries.

2005-2006

After the album was released, Olivia once again entered a period of rest and only occasionally participated in some concerts. These include Hyde's "HALLOWEEN OF THE LIVING DEAD" concert in 2005.

During this period, Olivia rarely appeared in public except for modeling for fashion magazines. She later said that she took this break because she was "feeling pretty depressed" at the time of The Lost Lolli's release and "started to notice and realize a lot of [ her] faults). This feeling stems from "...dark filter through which [she] saw everything" (...dark filter through which [she] saw everything), which first occurred during the production of the mini album "Merry & Hell Go Round". To dispel the idea, she flew to Los Angeles and lived there for three months. Afterwards, she returned to Tokyo and began to completely change her life: eating more healthy food and slowing down her pace.

While Olivia was resting, her sister Caroline made her official debut with the single "Where's My Love" under the American independent label Temporary Residence, and released her first album "Murmurs" in early 2006. . Olivia helped Caroline do the art for the album, including taking photos with Caroline and drawing on the inside of the album.

In early March 2006, Olivia released music again in the Japanese music industry. She voices Serizawa Leila, the lead singer of the band Trapnest in the anime version of the manga "NANA". As her first time playing this role, Olivia sang the animation's first ending song "A Little Pain". Starring alongside her is Anna Tsuchiya, who plays Nana Osaki, the lead singer of Trapnest's rival Black Stones. Likewise, Anna Tsuchiya sang the anime's opening theme song. The author of the manga, Ai Yazawa, discovered Olivia when an AVEX staff member gave her a CD of two singles, "Sea Me" and "Into The Stars". According to reports, she exclaimed in surprise after hearing it for the first time, "This role belongs to her!" When composing the song "a little pain", Olivia first determined the theme of the song, then wrote the lyrics in English, and then Lyrics translated into Japanese. The song is about "(Layla's) loneliness, pain and strength," so Olivia found she could relate to the character very well.

Olivia said that the feelings her music wants to convey now have changed. Her style has "become more nuanced," it's "sweet" and "cooler."

She "never really read the comics" and now has to read them to get a closer look at Layla's psyche. She specifically wrote songs based on Layla's experiences. "It was fun to sing as another person, like an actor," she said. She said she had "written a lot of different songs," but they sounded too "Western and dark," and "a "little pain" sounds more like a "top Japanese band".

When "A Little Pain" was first released, it reached No. 8 on the Oricon chart (it was also her first time entering the top 10 on the Oricon chart), ranking behind Anna Tsuchiya's single (title title) released on the same day. song) the last two. The following week, the single outsold her debut single "I.L.Y. ~Desire~" (which was her highest-selling single at the time).

Olivia continued to produce music for "NANA" after that. The opening and ending songs after Anna Tsuchiya's "Rose" and Olivia's "A Little Pain" were both sung by Olivia. The single "Wish / Starless Night" was subsequently released in October. Olivia's first overseas performance was held at the Pacific Media Expo in California, USA on October 28, and was warmly welcomed by the audience.

2007-2008

Shortly after the release of the single "Wish / Starless Night", OLIVIA began her "Share your treats tour" concert tour. On October 28, she held her first U.S. concert at the Pacific Media Expo in Los Angeles and announced that she would release a new mini album. Finally in early 2007, she released her fifth mini album "The Cloudy Dreamer". After that, two albums, "OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST)" and "NANA BEST", were released successively under the name OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST).

In July 2007, a special CD+DVD album including all singles released under the name OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST) and the new mini-album "The Cloudy Dreamer" was released by Wasabi Records Released in France. The Lost Lolli (French version) was also released shortly after. That is, in the summer of 2007, OLIVIA's works began to be released on US iTunes.

On July 6, 2007, OLIVIA held her second overseas concert in Paris, France. In July 2007, he held a solo concert "OLIVIA LIVE in PARIS" at the historic Live House La Loco in Moulin Rouge, Paris, France (The Beatles, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, etc. have also performed here). About 1,000 fans from France and neighboring countries gathered together. The long-awaited French fans responded with cheers consisting of stomping on the ground, completing the enthusiastic first performance in France. On July 6th and 7th, she also participated in the "Japan Expo" held in France as a special guest. During the performance, OLIVIA revealed that she will release a new single titled "Real Love" in October. However, the new single was later canceled and replaced by plans to release a new mini-album. Unfortunately, the mini-album was also canceled and nothing has been heard from since.

In early 2008, the French version of the album "OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST)" was released. On March 14, 2008, OLIVIA announced a new song "Bleeding Heart" produced by herself on her blog. This song was included in the collection "FLOWER FESTIVAL" released by Vision Factory.

On September 17, 2008, OLIVIA released a new mini-album "Trinka Trinka" in Japan, which took place 1 year and 8 months ago.

"Trinka" is a word coined by OLIVIA to describe the bell-like laughter of girls when they giggle. The long-awaited new work combines Techno, industrial rock, Ambient and the rock elements that she is good at, and is more layered and varied. Compared with past works, it has a more lively and bright feeling, which echoes OLIVIA's mood. She also hopes to convey the changes to everyone through music. The previously planned single "Real Love" was also renamed "Your Smile" and included in this mini-album, and the previously mentioned new song "Excited" was also renamed to the album's title track "Trinka Trinka". The main hit "Rain" is included as the ending theme of the Japanese drama "Mobile Detective 7". Taiwan released the CD+DVD version of "Trinka Trinka" on September 19, 2008.

2009

On April 15, 2009, OLIVIA released a new single "Sailing Free". This song "Sailing Free" is a new game "Sengoku BASARA" released in the spring of 2009. 's episode, the single entered the top 10 on the Oricon chart on its first day of release. This is also her third time entering the top 10 of the Oricon chart after her single "Wish/Starless Night" (the first time was "A Little Pain").

2010

The French version of the album "Trinka Trinka+" was released on February 14, including 3 singles "Sailing Free", 6 songs "Trinka Trinka" and "If you only knew" (world's end girlfriend remix)", ***10 songs.

On September 11, OLIVIA held a concert in Germany.

On October 13th, a selection album titled "Greatest Hits" was released, which featured 22 songs plus two new songs titled "Sunlight" and "Be your friend". The A-side included Songs composed for "NANA" and many classic songs used in TV series and games, and the B-side is OLIVIA's personal favorite song.

2013

On October 14th, she announced the pregnancy news on her Share Your Treats official website. In the photo, Olivia, a first-time mother, exudes a softer aura that is different from the past

2014

I gave birth to a son at 11:44 pm on January 13, and I have named him Atlas

Looks like my mother~