Fukui Mai recorded her first demo tape at the age of 22 and sent it to the label avex. Her hopes came to fruition and on August 20th, 2008 her debut single Ai no uta was released. It was promptly used in the TBS drama "Koi sora." The single impacted like a bomb and the artist was honoured with the "best hit award of the year" (to name only one). Just a few months later her second single Lucky came out, in which she blend rock, hip-hop and folk.
In January 2009 and for the 25th anniversary of Disneyland in Tokyo, Fukui Mai sang the song Whole New World (Atarashii sekai) for the cover album Disney Dream Pop~Tribute to Tokyo Disney Resort ® 25th Anniversary. In the subsequent months, another single and her first album MY SONG FOR YOU were both released. Her first one-man live was held in May. And on the FM Yokohama radio show "BREAK IT DOWN", the single You are everything was introduced, a song which Fukui recorded together with PHATE.
She kicked off the new year with the release of her new track Kibou no uta. Until the release of her second album, Lucky Charm, on July 28th, Fukui was diligently recording songs. She also used the time to make a new arrangement of her debut song Ai no uta, which was also featured on the album.
With the change of the year, the artist also changed the spelling of her name. Until the end of 2010 she wrote her name with kanji characters only, while after January 2011 she only wrote her first name with a kanji character and her family name in katakana characters. Under this "new" name she started again with the release of her new single Ikutabi no sakura on February 2nd. Various concerts followed this release. In November her next single, titled Yakusoku no basho/Tatta hitori no mikata, the theme song to the video game "FINAL FANTASY XIII-2", came out and ranked 26th on the Oricon charts. This release was again accompanied by several promotion lives.
A day after the release of Fukui's mini-album Beautiful Days, she sang at the release party of the video game "FINAL FANTASY XIII-2" in Akiba. At a specialist shop she celebrated with the creative heads of the game, some of the dubbers and the first buyers of the game. The mini-album release itself was accompanied by various promotion concerts.
Fukui Mai started 2012 with a radio performance on January 3rd, followed by more promotion lives. She also performed at avex monthly night! alongside May J in Kawasaki on January 27th.
The singer has quickly made her first steps in the music business and has left an impression. We are curious to see how her career will develop in the near future.
