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]
UMI | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Tierra Umi Wilson |
| Born | February 9, 1999[1] Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2017–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | whoisumi |
Early life
editWilson 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
edit2017–2018: Happy Again and debut EP
editIn 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
editShe 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
editOn 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
editUMI 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
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Forest in the City |
|
Extended plays
edit| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Interlude |
|
| Balance |
|
| Love Language |
|
| Introspection |
|
| Introspection Reimagined |
|
| Talking to the Wind |
|
Singles
editAs a lead artist
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Dig. [23] |
US R&B [24] |
CAN Dig. [25] |
NZ Hot [26] |
UK Dig. [27] |
WW [28] | |||
| "Friendzone" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "Midnight Blues" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Interlude |
| "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" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "Introspection" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Introspection | |
| "Open Up" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Sorry"[22] | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Forest in the City |
| "Whatever U Like" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Say Im Ur Luv" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Wish That I Could" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Happy Im" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Talking to the Wind |
| "Why Dont We Go" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Wherever U R"[29] (featuring V) |
5 | 20 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 99 | Non-album single | |
As a featured artist
edit| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Play Too Much" (Kyle Dion featuring UMI & Duckwrth) |
2020 | Suga |
| "JULIETTE!" (pH-1 featuring UMI) |
2022 | But For Now Leave Me Alone |
Promotional singles
edit| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Happy Again" | 2017 | Non-album single |
| "Butterfly" | 2018 | |
| "Sukidakara" | 2019 | Love Language |
| "Runnin'" (featuring Yeek) | ||
| "Picture Perfect" | 2020 | Non-album single |
| "Pretty Girl hi!" | Introspection | |
| "Moonlit Room" | 2022 | Forest in the City |
Notes
edit- ^ Wilson uses both she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses she/her pronouns for consistency.
References
edit- ^ a b "About". Facebook. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Chang, Joyce (2022-11-21). "With Peace and Love, UMI". Character Media. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ "UMI". Spotify. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ "REVIEW: Conan Gray, Umi @ House of Blues 11/13 | WTBU Radio". sites.bu.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- ^ "UMI: Introspection / Introspection Reimagined". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
- ^ "Magic Hour Tour: Tink, Kiana Ledé, and UMI Set the Stage for Jhené Aiko - Empower Atlanta". Empower Atlanta. 16 July 2024. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ Saunders, Luke (November 14, 2019). "Introducing UMI: delivering neo-soul magic that's out of this world". Happy Mag. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ "Interview with Singer and Songwriter UMI". Bright Lite Magazine. February 22, 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Chan, Justin (February 19, 2020). "UMI's soulfulness is hard to miss in her lo-fi music". In The Know. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Little, Heartleigh (May 13, 2019). "Meet UMI, The R&B Songstress Who Swears By Her Morning Meditation". Cools.com. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ Robinson, Kristin (October 17, 2018). "Meet UMI, the Lo-fi R&B Songstress Capturing the Human Experience". Ones to Watch. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
- ^ del Rosario, Michael (November 1, 2019). "Love Language EP- [UMI]". Lyrical Lemonade. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
- ^ Folk, Antwane (June 22, 2020). "Stream UMI's New EP Introspection". Rated R&B. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
- ^ Umi [@whoisumi] (March 22, 2021). "Introspection Reimagined • out this Friday
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. - ^ "UMI | Forestin the city".
- ^ Heifner, Makaila (March 7, 2018). "UMI Talks Activism, Frank Ocean, and Remaining Authentic". Berkeley B-Side.
- ^ a b "UMI Announces Her Debut Album, 'Forest In The City' With The Release Of New Single + Video "Sorry"". RCA Records. March 11, 2022. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
- ^ "V Chart History: Digital Song Sales". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 9, 2024. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "V Chart History: Hot R&B Songs". Billboard. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "V Chart History: Canadian Digital Song Sales". Billboard. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. January 8, 2024. Archived from the original on January 6, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
- ^ "UMI FT V songs and albums | full Official chart history". Official Charts. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
- ^ "Billboard Global 200: Week of January 13, 2024". Billboard. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "UMI unveils heartfelt lyrics for 'Wherever u r' feat. V of BTS, ahead of highly anticipated release". The Times of India. December 29, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2023.