Meg (singer)

Meg

Meg singing live at Japan Expo 2011 (Paris, France)

Meg live at Japan Expo 2011 in Paris
Born (1980-10-03) October 3, 1980
Occupation

Musical career

Genres
Years active 2001–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website megweb.jp

Meg (born October 3, 1980,[1] whose name is officially stylised as MEG) is a Japanese recording artist, record producer, model and fashion designer from Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. She is signed with Starchild Records, a division of King Records.

Biography

Career

Meg made her singing debut in July 2002 with the song "傘としずく (Kasa To Shizuku)",[2] which she produced herself and arranged by CMJK. The single was an indie single released under Burger Inn Records.

In the summer of 2004, Meg started her own fashion brand called "Cheryl". In January 2006, she changed the capitalization of her stage name from "meg" to "MEG".

Her third studio album, Aquaberry, reached number 1 on the pop albums chart on the Japanese upon its release and managed to sell higher than her previous album Dithyrambos.[1][1] The album did not produce any singles.[3]

Meg began working with producer Yasutaka Nakata in 2007 and released her ninth single, "Amai Zeitaku", in May 2007, switching to the electropop genre.[1] She has since worked with other producers, including the new rave English band Hadouken! for her 14th single, "Freak", and the Shanghai Restoration Project for a mini album titled Journey.[4]

Meg's 2008 album Step became her best-selling album in her career, peaking at number 8 in the Oricon chart, selling 29,048 units, making it the second technopop album to reach the Oricon Top Ten since Perfume's Game, which debuted at number one.[5]

Her sixth studio album, Beautiful, was released on May 27, 2009, and also has reached the Oricon Top Ten.[6] Her seventh full studio album, Maverick, was released on June 23, 2010, once again featuring production and songwriting work by Yasutaka Nakata.

In July 2010, Meg wrote in her blog informing fans that she would be leaving Universal Music Japan and travelling to Paris for a break. She would release the single "Passport/Paris" and a compilation album titled Best Flight with her label before going on indefinite hiatus.[7] On a May 2012 interview with Natalie.mu, Meg revealed that some of the reasons of her going on hiatus was the quick production of Yasutaka Nakata on her album Maverick, completing the album for just three weeks, and that she realized that she did not take much time on the lyrical content of the songs and added that the album is leaning towards more "pop" than club music, in which she considered a "fast pace" on the album's production.[8]

In 2011, she returned to Warner Music, under the management of the newly launched Unborde Records label. Starting June 20, 2011 Meg began releasing digital singles only available in the French iTunes Store. Her fourth digital single, "Rouge No Dengon", was originally supposed to be released on September 26, 2011, but due to issues getting it onto the iTunes France Store, it was delayed and released on September 27 instead.

Two singles, "Kiss or Bite" and "Save", were announced in April 2013 and marked Meg's first dual single release. They were released together in a special package and as separate releases on June 5, 2013. The tracks from the two singles were created with a unified narrative involving a love story with post-apocalyptic and horror themes. The release was also accompanied by a set of seven trading cards and a browser game called "Meg the World." The browser game was designed with a pixel art style evocative of fourth generation video games and featured chiptune versions of songs from the two singles, while dialogue in the game elaborated upon the themes found in the songs' lyrics.[9] These themes would later be used on the following studio album, Continue, which was released on December 4, 2013.[10]

Since 2014, she has been focused on business by her retail cosmetic brand Baws.

Discography

Albums

Year Title Genre Label Oricon
album
charts
Sales Producer
2003 Mgrmx Electronic dance 300 Kouichi Tsutaya
Room Girl Pop Dream Machine 87 4,000 Yasuyuki Okamura, CMJK, Nobuhiko Kashihara, Meg
2006 Dithyrambos Pop Shampoo Nine 291 800 Meg
2007 Aquaberry Indie electronic AZ Tribe, Rainbow 139 2,000 Nakamura Hiroshi
Beam J-pop/electropop Universal J 24 29,000 Nakata Yasutaka
2008 Step J-pop/electropop 8 29,000
2009 Beautiful J-pop/electropop 10 18,000
Journey Indie electronic 38 6,000 Shanghai Restoration Project
2010 Maverick[11] J-pop/electropop 20 8,000 Nakata Yasutaka
Best Flight J-pop/electropop/ electronica/pop-rock 22 7,000 Nakata Yasutaka, Hadouken!, Shanghai Restoration Project, Zentarou Watanabe
2012 La Japonaise[12] Pop Starchild, King 60 2,000 Nakata Yasutaka, Shanghai Restoration Project, The Telephones, various
Wear I Am[13] Pop 36 3,000 Nakata Yasutaka, taku (m-flo), Yasuyuki Okamura, various
2013 Continue Pop 80 TeddyLoid, Masaru Yokoyama, Tomoki Hasegawa, various

Singles

Year Title Peak
(Oricon)
Peak
(Billboard)
Sales Album
2001 "Kasa To Shizuku" (傘としずく) Room Girl
2002 "Scanty Blues" (スキャンティブルース Sukyanti Burūsu)
"Ikenai Kotokai/Kasa to Shizuku" (イケナイコトカイ/傘としずく) 84 4,000
2003 "Kōro" (光露) 156 700
"Groove Tube" 131 1,400
2004 "Stereo04" Dithyrambos
2006 "Rockstar" 1
"Dawn" 1
2007 "Amai Zeitaku" (甘い贅沢) 1 183 600 Beam
"OK" 43 8,000
2008 "Magic" 42 4,000 Step
"Heart" 26 62 6,000
"Precious" 17 49 8,000 Beautiful
2009 "Freak" 21 5,000 Best Flight
2010 "Secret Adventure" 44 2,400 Maverick
"Passport/Paris" 75 1,600 Best Flight
2012 "Trap" 34 3,000 Wear I Am
2013 "Kiss or Bite" 72 Continued
"Save" 73
Digital singles

Other appearances

Year Song Artist Album
2008 "Hikyou no Oku no Ushi no Kioku" (秘境の奥の虫歯の記憶) Ukawanimation! N/A
"Denwa" (電話) Suneohair Birthday
"Wish You Smile" Sound Around Sweet Music
2009 "Lyricist" Towa Tei Big Fun
"Haruka" () Ryukyudisko, iLL Pleasure,
"When You Wish Upon a Star" Meg × Q;indivi House☆Disney
2012 "Hijitsuzai Boy" (非実在ボーイ) Ram Rider Audio Galaxy: Ram Rider vs Stars!!!

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Biography. universal-music.co.jp
  2. "Oricon entertainment encyclopedia". Oricon.
  3. MEG Official Discography Page On Official Website. Megweb.jp. Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  4. Oricon Style "Freak" Information. Oricon.co.jp (1999-02-22). Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  5. "2008年06月16日~2008年06月22日のCDアルバム週間ランキング(2008年06月30日付)". Oricon. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  6. Oricon Style "Beautiful" Detail. Oricon.co.jp (1999-02-22). Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  7. News on Meg's Hiatus. Tokyograph.com (2010-07-30). Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  8. ナタリー – [Power Push] MEG「LA JAPONAISE」インタビュー (1/3). Natalie.mu. Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  9. MEG&MEG ZOMBIES、ゲームで新作の世界観チラ見せ. Natalie.mu. Retrieved on 2014-01-19.
  10. MEG師走に新アルバム&RPG「MEG THE WORLD」続編も. Natalie.mu. Retrieved on 2014-01-19.
  11. "TBA/Ltd Edition". 95music (in Chinese). Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  12. MEG Concept Album "LA JAPONAISE". Cdjapan.co.jp (2012-04-25). Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
  13. MEG reveals new album wtitle, "WEAR I AM". Natalie.mu. Retrieved on 2013-10-14.
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