J-rock Belgium: J-Pop Corner: Yuya Matsushita (松下優也)

Yuya Matsushita's music style is based on pop, R&B and hip-hop. His music is featured in several anime series, but that's not all. Yuya is also an actor an appeared in drama, movies and even musicals. He is probably best known for his role of Sebastian Michaelis in the “Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler” musical. Similar artists are Daichi Miura and Yamashita Tomohisa.

Singer/actor Yuya was born on May 24, 1990, in the Hyōgo Prefecture. He was raised by his mother and grandmother. At the age of 12, Yuya wanted to pursue a career in music so he did his own researches at bookstores and enrolled in Osaka's vocal and dance school “CALESS” to train his vocals and dance skills. During his training he learned various music styles like gospel and western, but he took an interest in street dancing. He improved his dancing skills through intense practicing.

In 2004 he formed the band “Suger” with some of his fellow classmates, but the group would disband in 2008. After the formation of “Suger” Yuya met producer Jin Nakamura, who wrote the single “foolish foolish”. The song was inspired by Jin's first impression of Yuya.

Around 2005 Yuya had disagreements with his mother about his future. Despite that, he visited New York by himself. The trip was a turning point and made him even more determined to pursue a music career. Against the wishes of his mother, Yuya dropped out of high school to make his dream come true. After that he recorded “foolish foolish”. Because Yuya would start his solo career, he left “Suger” in 2007 and signed with “Epic Records”. Preparations for his major debut started. It also meant that he had to return to New York. The video for his debut single would be shot there.

On November 26, 2008, “foolish foolish” was finally released. In the following year he released two more singles in January and August. 2009 was also the year of Yuya's acing debut. He played in a movie called “Kanashii Boyfriend” and also took care of it's insert song, “Mr. Broken Heart”. That same year he also made his theater debut with the “Kuroshitsuji” musical. The solo version of the musical's theme song, “Kanata e” was also featured on his 3rd single “Honesty/Negai ga Kanau Nara...”.

Early in 2010, Yuya saw the results of his hard work. His single “Trust Me” was used as the first ending theme for the anime series “Durarara!!”. It peaked at #10 in the Oricon charts. The other song of the “Trust Me” single, “Futari”, was used as the insert song for the movie “Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”. Yuya also made an appearance in the movie. It was a very busy year for Yuya since he also performed in the movie “Hikari, Sono Saki e” and the second musical of Kuroshitsuji, “The Most Beautiful DEATH in The World”. The solo version of the theme song “Hallucination” was also featured on his 5th single, “YOU”.

On June 2, 2010, Yuya released his first album “I AM ME”. During July & August Yuya went on tour. Single “Bird” was then released on August 25 and used as the ending theme for the second season of the “Kuroshitsuji” anime. “4 Seasons” was the theme song for the “Kobe Collection 2010 Autumn/Winter” and “Hikari, Sono Saki E”, which Yuya starred in.

In January 2011 Yuya made his TV debut by starring in the drama series “Quartet”. His single “Paradise” was used as the theme song. “Naturally” from his 8th single was featured in three “Natural Beauty Basic” commercials. That same year in May he made his overseas debut by performing at the anime convention “FanimeCon” in California. He performed for 4000 people at the con. Later that year the second season of drama “Asu No Hikari Wo Tsukame” aired. Yuya played a high school soccer captain. Yuya also went on his “~Super Drive~” tour from early August until the end of September.

On February 22, 2012, Yuya's second album “2U” was released. It was a reference to the fact that was turning 22 that year. For his first commercial to promote “Shionogi”, Yuya was dressed up as a butler. It was a small reference to his role as Sebastian Michaelis in the “Kuroshitsuji” musicals. He also appeared in the “Dream High” musical and played a supporting roll in “Pillow Talk ~Bed of Speculation~”.On December 5, he released U 〜BEST MUSIC VIDEOS〜 and U 〜BEST of BEST〜 simultaneously.

His latest single, “Sweet Love” was released on July 31, 2013, as a digital single. “#musicoverdose” was released as a digital album on August 28.