LiSA (Japanese musician, born 1987)

Risa Oribe (織部 里沙, Oribe Risa, born June 24, 1987), better known by her stage name LiSA (an acronym of Love is Same All), is a Japanese singer, songwriter and lyricist from Seki, Gifu, signed to Aniplex under Sony Music Artists. After aspiring to become a musician early in life, she started her musical career as the vocalist of the indie band Chucky. Following Chucky's disbandment in 2005, LiSA moved to Tokyo in order to pursue a solo career, making her major debut in 2010 singing songs for the anime television series Angel Beats! as one of two vocalists for the fictional band Girls Dead Monster. In April 2011, she made her solo debut with the release of her mini-album Letters to U. She performed at Animelo Summer Live in August 2010, Anime Expo in 2012, and is a regular guest at Anime Festival Asia.
LiSA's songs have been featured as theme music for various anime such as Fate/Zero and Sword Art Online. Her singles have regularly been in the top ten of the Oricon weekly charts, with "Crossing Field" being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and "Oath Sign" being certified gold. She performed at the Nippon Budokan in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, she made her acting debut as Madge Nelson in the Japanese dub of the animated film Minions.

Early years and major debut

Oribe's musical experience began at the age of three when, upon her mother's suggestions, she took private piano lessons. Although she was a shy student in kindergarten, she enjoyed her music lessons. In primary school, she was inspired to sing after seeing the band Speed on television. She later took dance and vocal lessons, which continued through her junior high school years. While in elementary, she participated in an audition held at the Nippon Budokan, and it was during this time she decided to become an artist. In junior high school, she formed a band which covered songs by Avril Lavigne, Love Psychedelico, and Ego-Wrappin'.

Oribe began her singing career in 2005 during her first year in high school when she formed the indie rock band Chucky, which mainly covered songs by other artists. During her second year, the band received advice from their peers that they should start making their own songs; eventually the band's reputation grew enough that they performed in Osaka and Nagoya in addition to Gifu. Although her grades in high school were good, she decided not to go to university, despite the recommendations of her teachers, in order to focus on her work with Chucky. Nevertheless, after graduation, due to varying schedules among the band's members, it became difficult to continue performing. Following the band's disbandment in July 2008, she moved to Tokyo in order to continue her singing career.

After moving to Tokyo, Oribe formed the band Love is Same All with members from the indie band Parking Out and began using the stage name LiSA, which is an acronym for Love is Same All. The band performs with LiSA during the latter's solo live performances. In 2010, she made her major debut singing songs for the anime series Angel Beats! as one of two vocalists for the fictional in-story band Girls Dead Monster. She was the vocalist for the character Yui, and the second vocalist, Marina, sang as the character Masami Iwasawa. LiSA put out three singles and one album in 2010 under the name Girls Dead Monster on Key's record label Key Sounds Label. The first single "Thousand Enemies" was released on May 12; the second single "Little Braver" came out on June 9; and the third single "Ichiban no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)" (一番の宝物 〜Yui final ver.〜, "My Most Precious Treasure (Yui final ver.)") was sold on December 8. The album Keep The Beats! was released on June 30. LiSA made her first appearance at Animelo Summer Live during the concert's 2010 iteration on August 28.

LiSA made her solo debut on April 20, 2011 with the release of her mini-album Letters to U by Aniplex under Sony Music Artists. The songs on the album were composed by dōjin and major artists, and she composed the first song "Believe in Myself"; she wrote the album's lyrics. On November 12, 2011, She made her first appearance in Singapore at Anime Festival Asia, Southeast Asia's largest anime and pop culture convention. She released her first solo single "Oath Sign" on November 23, 2011, which was used as the opening theme to the 2011 anime series Fate/Zero. The single peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon weekly charts and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

2012–present

LiSA released her first full solo album Lover"s"mile on February 22, 2012; the album peaked at No. 7 on the Oricon weekly charts. She attended the Anime Expo 2012 in Los Angeles as a guest of honor and performed her first concert in North America there on July 1. After her success with "Oath Sign", she was chosen to perform the first opening theme to the 2012 anime series Sword Art Online; the single "Crossing Field", her second single, was released on August 8, 2012; the single peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and was later certified gold by the RIAJ. Her third single "Best Day, Best Way", which peaked at No. 6 on Oricon, was released on April 3, 2013, and her fourth single "Träumerei", which peaked at No. 15 on Oricon and was used as the opening theme to the 2013 anime series Day Break Illusion, was released on August 7, 2013. LiSA released her second solo album Landspace on October 30, 2013; the album peaked at No. 2 on Oricon charts. A photobook titled Kyō mo Ii Hi da (今日もいい日だっ, "Another Great Day") that contains photos of her taken by Lis Ani! magazine over three years was published on November 22, 2013. When asked if she would revisit the meaning of her acronym in the future in an interview with Nihongogo at Anime Festival Asia 2013 in Singapore, she suggested Lovely international Super Apple.

On January 3, 2014, LiSA held a sold-out solo concert at the Nippon Budokan. Her fifth single "Rising Hope", which is used as the opening theme to the 2014 anime series The Irregular at Magic High School, was released on May 7, 2014; the single peaked at No. 4 on Oricon. She later covered the songs "Headphone Actor" (ヘッドフォンアクター) and "Yūkei Yesterday" (夕景イエスタデイ, "Yesterday Evening") from the Kagerou Project franchise for the sixth episode of the 2014 anime series Mekakucity Actors. She released her sixth single "Bright Flight / L. Miranic" on September 17, 2014, which peaked at No. 8 on Oricon, and her seventh single "Shirushi" (シルシ, lit. "Sign") on December 10, 2014, which peaked at No. 3 on the Oricon; the title song is used as the third ending theme to the 2014 anime series Sword Art Online II, and the single also includes the song "No More Time Machine", which was used as the second ending theme to Sword Art Online II. She held her second Nippon Budokan concert on January 10 and 11, 2015, tickets for which were sold out. She released her third solo album Launcher on March 4, 2015 and her eighth single "Rally Go Round" on May 27, 2015; the song is used as the opening theme to the second season of the anime television series Nisekoi. She was cast as Madge Nelson in the Japanese dub of the animated film Minions, which premiered in Japanese theaters on July 31, 2015. She released her ninth single "Empty Mermaid" on September 30, 2015.

In late 2015, she performed "ID", which is used as theme song of the 2015 video game Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition. To commemorate her fifth year as a solo artist, LiSA released her Letters To U EP as a limited edition LP on March 23, 2016. LiSA released a mini-album titled Lucky Hi Five! on April 20, 2016. She released the single "Brave Freak Out", which is used as the first opening theme to the 2016 anime television series Qualidea Code, and the single also includes the song "AxxxiS", which is used as the second opening theme to Qualidea Code, on August 24, 2016. She will release the single "Catch the Moment" on February 15, 2017; the title track will be used as the theme song to the 2017 anime film Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale. LiSA will move to the Sacra Music record label under Sony Music Entertainment Japan in April 2017. She will be holding a two-day concert at the Saitama Super Arena on June 24 and 25, 2017.

LiSA lists Avril Lavigne, Oasis, Green Day, Paramore, Ke$ha, and Rihanna as among her musical influences, as well as her time in Chucky. LiSA wrote the lyrics for some of her songs in her Landspace and Launcher albums, as well as the lyrics for the singles "Bright Flight / L. Miranic", "Shirushi", and "Rally Go Round"; "Rally Go Round" was co-written with songwriter Shin Furuya.

LiSA's musical style is described by Dennis Amith of J!-ENT as a young woman with style, beautiful vocals, and the ability to take on various musical styles, may it be happy, upbeat rock music or "even something more darker." She has used the phrase "kyō mo ii hi da" (今日もいい日だっ, "Another Great Day") as a theme throughout her career; the phrase is also the name of her personal blog. In an interview with HMV Japan, she mentioned that before her major debut, she tended to sing pop songs, and because of this, she felt uneasy when making "Oath Sign", which had a heavy and dark style, although she was able to receive several favorable responses to the single, which allowed her to make her next single "Crossing Field" with confidence. As for "Crossing Field", she says that feels that the song grows every time she sings it, in the same way that love is nurtured through dates or love letters. In "Best Day, Best Way", she mentioned that the song's theme is "what you did yesterday will lead to what happens today", and that the lyrics are delivered as if they are her own words. She also shared her experience with the single's B-sides: "I'm a Rock Star", which according to her represents her fulfilling her dream of becoming a singer, and "Shiroi Toiki" (シロイトイキ, "White Sigh"), which represents happy feelings.

In an interview with Oricon, LiSA explained her experiences with "Träumerei", where she stated that because Day Break Illusion is an original anime, she wanted the song to be presented in the color of her own work, but even in the world of anime, her music would continue to have an atmosphere of rock, as opposed to the pop style she used in "Best Day, Best Way". She mentioned that she sang that song in a way that she felt the conflicts that were present in the story and with the strength that was part of the show's theme. With regards to the song's music video, she wanted to have a video which would express in color emotions, such as the use of red to represent confrontations, black to represent the feeling of being lost, and green for frightening things.

In making the single "Bright Flight / L. Miranic", she mentions in an interview with HMV Japan that the concept of the single is that it can be divided into two parts: pink and black. Pink is the color of "Bright Flight", a song which is in a pop style and was written in a "cute" image in mind, while black is the color of "L. Miranic", which is in a dark rock style and has the theme of a "bad woman". LiSA mentioned that the name "L. Miranic" was chosen because the song is linked to criminals and that since "Miranic" is a name in some countries, adding her name to "Miranic" to make "LiSA-Miranic" would mean that the criminal in the song is her.

Dennis Amith of J!-ENT reviewed LiSA's album Landspace, where he describes the song "Crossing Field" as a song about "wanting to forget the weakness and securities of one past and being with someone you love who gives you the strength to become even stronger." Meanwhile, he describes the song "Best Day, Best Way" as "a fun and happy track about believing in yourself and overcoming anything bad that have happened in the past and moving forward." Finally, he describes "Träumerei" as " another inspirational song about one losing the rhythm in their heart and is now on the road of loneliness, but still the person wants to pierce the sky with their own light, shatter the darkness and have a fresh new start in life." He concludes the review by saying that the album is full of upbeat and inspirational songs and showcases LiSA's talents as a vocalist, and in contrast to many anison artists who are known for their cute and sweet vocals, LiSA is able to take on many musical styles.

The discography of LiSA includes three studio albums, one extended play, ten singles, and five video albums.

Studio albums

• Lover"s"mile (2012)
• Landspace (2013)
• Launcher (2015)