Tierra Umi Wilson[2][3] (born February 9, 1999),[1] known professionally as UMI, is an American singer and songwriter blending elements of R&B, neo-soul, and alternative pop. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she[a] attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out in 2019 to pursue music.[4] UMI began gaining attention with her single "Remember Me" in 2018.[5] Since then, UMI has released a string of projects, including the Love Language and Introspection EPs, her debut studio album Forest in the City (2022), and her 2024 EP Talking to the Wind. She has toured with artists like Conan Gray[6] and Jhené Aiko,[7] and collaborated with global figures such as BTS’s V.
Wilson was born in Seattle in 1999 to an African-American father and a Japanese mother.[8][9] Her mother taught her how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Wilson's mother plays piano and her father plays the drums.[8] UMI started writing music when she was 4 or 5, with a songwriting journal.[10] Throughout high school, she was involved in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and her track team at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley.[11] In high school, she discovered YouTube beats and started writing to tracks.[12] She would record the songs with a USB mic and upload them to SoundCloud and YouTube.[13] Her cover versions of songs were determined by SoundCloud to be copyright infringement.[14] This made her start writing and posting her own originals.[8]
Career
2017–2018: Happy Again and debut EP
In 2017, UMI released five singles before her four-track debut EP, Interlude. This led to making it onto Spotify's Fresh Finds Best of 2017 playlist. She opened for rapper ODIE in Los Angeles.
UMI's most popular release to date is "Remember Me". UMI debuted "Remember Me" through a music video with focus on universalism by portraying couples of different race, class, and sexual orientation. She said, "the message in the video, for me, is that no matter who you love or how you love, we all hurt the same in the end."[15]
2019–2021: Balance, Love Language,Introspection EP, and Introspection Reimagined
UMI released the Balance EP on May 17, 2019, which included the songs "Ordinary" and "Down To Earth." On October 30, 2019, they released their EP, Love Language[16] On June 21, 2020, she released her EP, Introspection.[17] Following the release of her EP, Introspection, UMI released a follow-up EP entitled Introspection Reimagined on March 26, 2021, featuring new versions of the songs on the Introspection EP as well as two new interludes.[18]
2022–2024: Forest in the City debut album, Leaving RCA, Talking to the Wind
On May 26, 2022, UMI released her debut album, Forest in the City, which featured the singles "moonlit room", "whatever u like", and "sorry", and was the focus of her first headlining tour.[19]
In January 2023, UMI left RCA to go independent. Two singles that were part of her 2024 EP Talking to the Wind, "happy im" and "why dont we go", were released in mid-2023 before the EP was published in January 2024.[20] In December 2023, she collaborated with V from BTS on "wherever u r", a non-album single that topped multiple charts and spawned two remixes.
2025-present: Signing with Epic, People Stories
In 2024, UMI signed with Epic Records. Her first project with Epic and her second album, People Stories, was released on August 22, 2025.[21]
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