I. Get To Know Yukika
Yukika (유키카) is a Japanese solo singer, actress, and former voice actress and model.
She appeared on the South Korean drama, “The Idolmaster KR”, and debuted with the girl group “Real Girls Project” associated with the series. She officially debuted as a soloist under ESTIMATE Entertainment with the song, “Neon” on February 22, 2019.
She then signed with Ubuntu Entertainment in Nov 30 2020, a new agency established by her former manager.
Yukika’s Journey
Yukika took her first step into the entertainment industry when she was a 12-year-old nicomo model working for the pre-teen magazine label Nicola. Out of 5,986 applicants she was one of the Grand Prix winners. She began working as an exclusive model for Nicola beginning in the September 2006 issue until March 2009 issue.
In 2007, she became a member of the idol teen duo Choco & Mimi with former AKB48 member Masuyama Kayano.
The duo released two singles together before disbanding sometime in 2008. Yukika was then active as a voice actress in several anime and video games until 2012 when she took a career break. She moved to Korea sometime in 2015.
Her path as a K-pop idol
“I first came to Korea for a field trip in high school. On my way home, I was looking through the plane window and got this feeling that I’d come back again,” she said.
“After that, I went to Korea several times more for travel, but had forgotten about it. Then in my senior year of college, when I started thinking seriously about what career path to take, I saw the announcement for The Idolmaster KR. On my flight to the audition, I had an ‘aha’ moment, recalling the feeling I had in high school.”
She appeared on TV again, but this time in the Korean show, The Idolmaster Kr and passed the audition for the recruitment of the project girl group Real Girls Project and became one of the main members. She made her debut with the project girl group on August 25, 2016 with their debut digital single, "Dreaming".
In late 2017, she was a contestant on YG survival show, MIXNINE. She was disqualified in Episode 10, where she ranked #34 and shortly after Real Girls Project disbanded sometime in 2018.
Despite Yukika’s many hardships and how rare it is to see a Japanese artist releasing music in the Korean industry, she persevered and is one of the few solo K-pop artists to start the trend of city pop.
She continues to show different aspects of the genre and is known as the City Pop Princess.
II. Discography
| Studio Albums | Date |
|---|---|
| Soul Lady | 2020 |
| Mini Albums | Date |
|---|---|
| Timeabout, | 2021 |
| Digital Singles | Date |
|---|---|
| Neon | 2019 |
| Cherries Jubiles | 2019 |
| Yesterday | 2020 |
| Lovemonth | 2021 |
| OST & Collaborations | Date |
|---|---|
| Love in TV World OST Part.4 ("Love In TV World") | 2020 |
| Starry Lights" (with Jinjalim) | 2021 |
III. Music Videos
IV. Covers
V. 1 Hour Lo-Fi
VI. Social Media
VII. Fun Facts
- Her role model is BoA
- Her nickname was Yukka (ゆっか) in Japan, but after she moved to Korea, it became Kika (키카). The reason behind this change is that 'Yu' sounded too much like the Korean surname 'Yoo'.
