User:SymmetricalMegalomania/Drafts/Mayumi Kojima

Mayumi Kojima (小島麻由美) is a Japanese Shibuya-kei musican. As of 2015, she has released 10 studio albums, 3 EPs and several singles. Her music has been featured in several movies and television commercials. In the west, she is best known for her songs "Hatsukoi" (はつ恋), which was featured in a Nintendo commercial for the video game Super Mario Advance 4, and "Poltergeist" (ポルターガイスト), which was used as the opening theme song of the anime Ghost Hound.

Life and Career
Mayumi Kojima was born in Tokyo. When she was in high school, she heard some music by Rosemary Clooney and suddenly became captivated by American 50s music. But English lyrics were troublesome, so she decided to make her own music. In childhood, influenced by her brother, she had enjoyed listening to classical music, but with the new influence of 50s and 60s pop, she wanted to cross jazzy rhythms with different musical genres like the old pop artists did. At the age of 18, she wrote her first song, "Manatsu no Umi" (真夏の海), and the demo tape was noticed by a record company. From then on, her life as a musician started. She made her debut release on July 21, 1995 with the single "Kekkonsōdanjo" (結婚相談所), and in 1998, having released 3 albums and 6 singles since her debut, she went on her first national tour.

Kojima's music began to be licensed by companies for use in commercials, the first of which were Calbee. This was followed by other commercials and use in other television media. In 1999, Kojima provided the song "Fūsen" (ふうせん) for the NHK TV program Minna no Uta. In addition, she was also in charge of animation for the song using her characteristic illustration style often seen on her album covers. In 2001, Nintendo aired a commercial in the United States for the video game Super Mario Advance 4, in which Kojima's song, "Hatsukoi" (はつ恋), was featured. The commercial was on air from 2001 to 2002 and was one of the first times non-Japanese people were exposed to her music. In 2005, Kojima's song "Poltergeist" (ポルターガイスト) was used as the opening theme song of Production I.G.'s 20th anniversary project, the anime Ghost Hound.

In 2015, as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of her debut, she collaborated with Israeli surf rock band Boom Pam to create the album With Boom Pam, which consists of new interpretations of some of her earlier songs in a new style influenced by Mediterranean surf rock. The album was released on July 22, 2015. On the same day, the limited edition commemorative album compilation La saison de Cécile 1995-1999 (セシルの季節) was also released. It includes her three first albums, also called the Cécile trilogy, in new remastered UHQCD format with previously unreleased demos, instrumentals and alternate takes/mixes. Furthermore, the unfinished album Ai no Mirage (愛のミラージュ) is included.