UMI (singer)

Tierra Umi Wilson[2][3] (born February 9, 1999)[1] is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Seattle, Washington, she attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out in 2019 in order to pursue music. She is best known for her 2018 song "Remember Me", which has over 70 million streams on Spotify. She also accompanied Conan Gray as an opening act on his Comfort Crowd Tour in 2019.

UMI
Birth nameTierra Umi Wilson
Born (1999-02-09) February 9, 1999[1]
Seattle, Washington
Genres
Years active2017–present
LabelsRCA
Associated acts
Websitewww.whoisumi.com

Early life

Wilson was born in Seattle in 1999 to an African-American father and a Japanese mother.[4][5] Her mother taught her how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Wilson's mother plays piano and her father plays the drums.[4] UMI started writing music when she was 4 or 5, with a songwriting journal.[6] Throughout high school, she was involved in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and her track team at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley.[7] She then studied at University of Southern California before dropping out in 2019 to pursue music. In high school, she discovered YouTube beats and started writing to tracks.[8] She would record the songs with a USB mic and upload them to SoundCloud and YouTube.[9] She soon started to get copyrighted on SoundCloud by posting covers of other songs.[10] This made her start writing and posting her own originals.[4]

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 21 million views on YouTube and 53 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.” [11]

2019–present: Balance, Love Language and Introspection EP

She released the Balance EP on May 17, 2019, which included the songs “Ordinary” and “Down To Earth.” On October 30, 2019, she released her EP, 'Love Language'[12] On June 21, 2020, she released her EP, "Introspection". [13]

Artistry

UMI has cited her biggest musical influences as Frank Ocean, D'Angelo, Jhené Aiko and SZA.[14] 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".[9]

Discography

Extended plays
List of extended plays
Title Details
Interlude[15]
Balance[16]
  • Released: May 17, 2019
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
  • Label: UMI
Love Language[17]
  • Released: October 30, 2019
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
  • Label: UMI
Introspection[18]
  • Released: June 21, 2020
  • Format: Streaming, digital download
  • Label: UMI

As a lead artist
Title Year Album
"Happy Again"[19] 2017 Non-album single
"Friendzone"[20]
"Butterfly"[21] 2018
"River"[22]
"Remember Me"[23]
"Lullaby"[24]
(featuring Yeek)
"High School"[25] 2019
"Down to Earth"[26] Balance
"Sonshine"[27]
(with Deaton Chris Anthony)		 BO Y
"Love Affair"[28] Love Language
"Sukidakara"[28]
"Perfect Picture"[29] 2020 Non-album single
"Mother"[30]
"Introspection"[31] Introspection
"Open Up"[32]
Title Year Album
"Play Too Much"[33]
(Kyle Dion featuring UMI & DUCKWRTH)		 2020 Suga

Promotional singles
Title Year Album
"Midnight Blues"[34] 2018 Interlude
"Runnin'"[35]
(featuring Yeek)		 2019 Love Language
"Pretty Girl hi!"[36] 2020 Introspection

References
  1. "About". Facebook. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  2. Yu, Eda (June 22, 2020). "Rising R&B star UMI makes soulful songs to help us heal". i-D. ISSN 0894-5373. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  3. Sanchez, Omar (January 12, 2020). "Musician and artist UMI manifested community through a charity yard sale event". The Daily Titan. OCLC 15193278. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  4. Yu, Eda (September 12, 2019). "UMI Is a Neo-Soul and R&B-Inspired Artist Creating Space for Healing". Complex. ISSN 1538-6848. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  5. Saunders, Luke (November 14, 2019). "Introducing UMI: delivering neo-soul magic that's out of this world". Happy Mag. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  6. "Interview with Singer and Songwriter UMI". Bright Lite Magazine. February 22, 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  7. Cotterill, TJ (April 21, 2016). "Tahoma's 4x100 relay team, Olympic-hopeful Princess Joy Griffey are fast company". The News Tribune. ISSN 1073-5860. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  8. Chan, Justin (February 19, 2020). "UMI's soulfulness is hard to miss in her lo-fi music". In The Know. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  9. Soey Kim, Soey (December 2, 2018). "Here Come The Youth – The Young Breakthrough Musicians Making Noise In The Music Industry". British Vogue. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  10. Little, Heartleigh (May 13, 2019). "Meet UMI, The R&B Songstress Who Swears By Her Morning Meditation". Cools.com. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  11. Robinson, Kristin (October 17, 2018). "Meet UMI, the Lo-fi R&B Songstress Capturing the Human Experience". Ones to Watch. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  12. del Rosario, Michael (November 1, 2019). "Love Language EP- [UMI]". Lyrical Lemonade. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  13. Folk, Antwane (June 22, 2020). "Stream UMI's New EP 'Introspection'". Rated R&B. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  14. Heifner, Makaila (March 7, 2018). "UMI Talks Activism, Frank Ocean, and Remaining Authentic". Berkeley B-Side.
  15. "Interlude – EP by UMI". iTunes. 2018-01-25. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  16. "Balance – Single by UMI". iTunes. 2019-05-17. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  17. "Love Language – EP by UMI". Spotify. October 30, 2019.
  18. "Love Language – EP by UMI". Spotify. October 30, 2019.
  19. "Happy Again - Single by UMI". Spotify. July 14, 2017.
  20. "FRIENDZONE - Single by UMI". Spotify. July 28, 2017.
  21. "Butterfly - Single by UMI". Spotify. March 9, 2018.
  22. "River - Single by UMI". Spotify. April 30, 2018.
  23. "Remember Me - Single by UMI". Spotify. October 8, 2018.
  24. "Lullaby - Single by UMI". Spotify. December 17, 2018.
  25. "High School - Single by UMI". Spotify. January 25, 2019.
  26. "Balance - EP by UMI". Spotify. May 17, 2019.
  27. "Sonshine - Single by Deaton Chris Anthony & UMI". Spotify. June 11, 2019.
  28. "Love Language - EP by UMI". Spotify. October 9, 2019.
  29. "Perfect Picture - Single by UMI". Spotify. February 9, 2020.
  30. "Mother - Single by UMI". Spotify. April 22, 2020.
  31. "Introspection - Single by UMI". Spotify. May 7, 2020.
  32. "Open Up - Single by UMI". Spotify. May 22, 2020.
  33. "Play Too Much (feat. UMI & DUCKWRTH) - Single by Kyle Dion". Spotify. February 21, 2020.
  34. "Interlude - EP by UMI". Spotify. January 25, 2018.
  35. "Runnin' - Single by UMI". Spotify. October 23, 2019.
  36. "Pretty Girl hi! - Single by UMI". Spotify. June 12, 2020.
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