Umi (singer)

Last updated
UMI
Birth nameTierra Umi Wilson
Born (1999-02-09) February 9, 1999 (age 25) [1]
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres
Years active2017–present
Labels
Website whoisumi.com

Tierra Umi Wilson [2] [3] (born February 9, 1999), [1] known mononymously as Umi, is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Seattle, Washington, she [a] attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out in 2019 in order to pursue music. [4] She is best known for her 2018 song "Remember Me", which has over 160 million streams on Spotify. [5] She also accompanied Conan Gray as an opening act on his Comfort Crowd Tour in 2019. [6] The same year, she released her second EP, Love Language. In 2020, she released the EP Introspection, along with a short film to accompany the project. THe following year, she released a remixed version of this EP titled Introspection Reimagined, which featured live, jazz and neo-soul inspired reworks of the tracks. [7] On May 26, 2022, Wilson released her debut studio album Forest in the City, later embarking on her first headlining tour, the Forest in the City Tour, in support of its release. In 2023, she released Wherever u r. a single in collaboration with Korean singer V of BTS. In January 2024, she released an EP titled Talking to the Wind. Later that year, she accompanied singer Jhene Aiko as an opening act on the Magic Hour Tour. [8]

Contents

Early life

Wilson was born in Seattle in 1999 to an African-American father and a Japanese mother. [9] [10] Her mother taught her how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Wilson's mother plays piano and her father plays the drums. [9] UMI started writing music when she was 4 or 5, with a songwriting journal. [11] Throughout high school, she was involved in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and her track team at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley. [12] In high school, she discovered YouTube beats and started writing to tracks. [13] She would record the songs with a USB mic and upload them to SoundCloud and YouTube. [14] She soon started to get copyrighted on SoundCloud by posting covers of other songs. [15] This made her start writing and posting her own originals. [9]

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". She has over 33 million views on YouTube and 117 million plays on Spotify. UMI debuted "Remember Me" with a music video, highlighting 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." [16]

2019–2021: Balance, Love Language,Introspection EP, and Introspection Reimagined

She 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 [17] On June 21, 2020, she released her EP, Introspection. [18] 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. [19]

2022–present: Forest in the City debut album and tour

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. [20]

Artistry

UMI has cited her biggest musical influences as Frank Ocean, D'Angelo, Jhené Aiko, Erykah Badu and SZA. [21] She grew up listening to R&B, soul, gospel and Japanese pop/rock. UMI has been described by Vogue as having a "lo-fi, alternative, laid back, R&B style". [14]

Discography

Studio albums

TitleDetails
Forest in the City

Extended plays

List of extended plays
TitleDetails
Interlude
  • Released: January 25, 2018
  • Label: 408
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
Balance
  • Released: May 17, 2019
  • Label: UMI
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
Love Language
  • Released: October 30, 2019
  • Label: UMI
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
Introspection
  • Released: June 21, 2020
  • Label: RCA, Keep Cool
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
Introspection Reimagined
  • Released: March 26, 2021
  • Label: RCA, Keep Cool
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
Talking to the Wind
  • Released: January 19, 2024
  • Label: RCA, Keep Cool
  • Format: Streaming, digital download

Singles

As a lead artist

TitleYearPeak chart positionsAlbum
US
Dig.

[23]
US
R&B

[24]
CAN
Dig.

[25]
NZ
Hot

[26]
UK
Dig.

[27]
WW
[28]
"Friendzone"2017Non-album single
"Midnight Blues"2018Interlude
"River"Non-album singles
"Remember Me"
"Lullaby"
(featuring Yeek)
"High School"2019
"Down to Earth"Balance
"Sonshine"
(with Deaton Chris Anthony)
BO Y
"Love Affair"Love Language
"Mother"2020Non-album single
"Introspection"Introspection
"Open Up"
"Sorry" [22] 2022Forest in the City
"Whatever U Like"
"Say Im Ur Luv"
"Wish That I Could"
"Happy Im"2023Talking to the Wind
"Why Dont We Go"
"Wherever U R" [29]
(featuring V)
520103699Non-album single
TitleYearAlbum
"Play Too Much"
(Kyle Dion featuring UMI & Duckwrth)
2020Suga
"JULIETTE!"
(pH-1 featuring UMI)
2022But For Now Leave Me Alone

Promotional singles

TitleYearAlbum
"Happy Again"2017Non-album single
"Butterfly"2018
"Sukidakara"2019Love Language
"Runnin'"
(featuring Yeek)
"Picture Perfect"2020Non-album single
"Pretty Girl hi!"Introspection
"Moonlit Room"2022Forest in the City

Notes

  1. Wilson uses both she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses she/her pronouns for consistency.

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References

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    This project is an art piece channeled from my spirit. Inspired by artists like D'angelo and Erykah Badu - and recorded live at Shangri-La, I hope this project brings you peace.

    Welcome to the next evolution of Introspection"
    (Tweet). Retrieved April 10, 2021 via Twitter.
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