Born in Osaka in 1982, HINOUCHI Emi spent ten of her formative years in Taiwan. At age fourteen, she returned to Osaka, where she took part in a contemporary black music band, Buranko. Around that time, Emi began to write her own lyrics and compose songs. With the self-written song Painful, she won an audition organized by Taku Takahashi from the band m-flo, of which she'd been a long-time fan. Taku was interested in the young singer and decided to give her the opportunity of co-writing, producing and releasing under his own label Tachytelic Records. Emi's first single, Magic, was released in November 2002. This first attempt at R&B, quite similar to m-flo's tracks musically, went unnoticed on the Oricon chart, reaching only 112th place and staying four weeks.
These discouraging sales didn't slow her down however, and three new singles were released during 2003, each written and composed by the singer herself. Painful, the track she had won the audition with, was selected to be the fourth single. However, these releases didn't fare any better than her debut single. The same year, Emi began collaborating with other artists, first with MIC BANDITZ (a hip-hop band mainly famous for having m-flo's rapper VERBAL as a member). She was featured on one of their albums in the song What's Your Secret? Emi also met the female duo Heartsdales, and later made the choruses of several tracks for them. She also started participating regularly in festivals, especially those in partnerships with radio stations such as J-Wave.
At the end of that first year of solo activity, the artist also had the opportunity to release an album. Dramatiques, available in November, was representative of her work, as she again wrote and composed most of the album's fifteen tracks. The songs had various influences, sometimes mixing bossa nova or jazz elements with more conventional R&B sounds. Despite attracting some interest from Japanese urban audiences, this album was once again a commercial failure, reaching only 125th on the Oricon and leaving the charts after two weeks.
Far from being disheartened, Emi set recording aside and instead devoted herself to live performances during the year. She attended the promotional live events of her label, the Tachytelic Nights, and also did several live shows once again under partnership with radio stations.
She also favored collaborations, which would later boost her popularity. Thus, in 2004, her voice appeared on mixture rock band SOURCE's FEEL LIKE THAT... track, on funk band BLACK BOTTOM BRASS BAND's Can't stop lovin' you and also on m-flo's album ASTROMANTIC for the song STARSTRUCK ～"The Return of the LuvBytes", where she co-starred with rapper/singer AI and one of Heartsdales's members, Rum. Emi continued to participate in festivals and performed with m-flo on their ASTROMANTIC tour.
In the following years, Emi became increasingly more involved in the careers of other bands she met, particularly Heartsdales for whom she composed several tracks. The singer continued her "featurings": in 2005, she joined hip-hop boys band SOUL'd OUT in the song To All Tha Dreamers, and made an appearance at m-flo's new tour.
June 2006 saw the release of Summer Time Love, the new single of the "m-flo loves" concept. She sang with YAMAMOTO Ryôhei and the single was a big summer hit, which finally gave her the chance to make her name popular to a massive audience. She was invited to take part in the famous SUMMER SONIC and a-nation festivals along with m-flo, though she didn't abandon the traditional Tachytelic Nights and other more conventional events.
In 2007, Emi returned with more confidence than ever; she even composed for her mentors, m-flo, on their album COSMICOLOR. Her fame increased when several of those tracks, including Luvotomy, Love Don't Cry and Simple & Lovely, were sung by major Japanese stars AMURO Namie, Crystal Kay and KODA Kumi, respectively.
The singer relaunched her career in May 2007. This was a genuine new beginning, as she left her label for KING RECORDS and modified her stage name, abandoning the use of kanji for her surname in favor of the more simple katakana. She also recreated her image with more brightly colored CD covers, similar to those in the Jpop world. Emi's new popularity gained by her collaborations with m-flo was reflected in the sales results: her new single, O'Kay, reached 50th on the Oricon charts. It was followed in September by a new release, GOODIE MEMORIES, a theme for a drama. She also collaborated with Korean band Epik High (on the track Flow), and also with DJ EMMA (on the track Life After Sundown). Live performances remained one of Emi's priorities, and she was on stage every month that year for several musical events (some taking place in Korea) and for m-flo's COSMICOLOR tour, which she took part in on six dates, including the one in Seoul.
At the end of February 2008, Emi's voice rejoined with m-flo's for a limited release single taken from a new best-of by the two. She joined regular colleagues of the "m-flo loves" concept YAMAMOTO Ryôhei, Emyli, YOSHIKA and LISA. But fans of her solo work will have to wait until April for Emi's new single, once again produced by DJ Taku and entitled Ai dake ga, which she's been promoting through live performances in various stores.
