Singer/songwriter iri layers earnest, heartfelt lyrics over a genre-bending sound that incorporates pop, R&B, soul, and hip-hop. Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1994, iri began learning how to play the guitar and sing in high school. She honed her skills by occasionally playing in a jazz bar where she also held a part-time job. All this practice paid off when it was time to audition for major J-pop labels, helping her land a spot on Victor Entertainment’s roster. From there, iri started merging her husky vocal stylings with a funk and urban-pop sound, as she crooned about the ups and downs faced by Tokyo youth over tight bass plucks and locked grooves. She could turn tender on acoustic cuts such as “Aitaiwa” or embrace edgier elements of contemporary club music on numbers like the euphoric “Sparkle.” Her biggest moments, like 2019’s “Wonderland,” balance huge hooks with verses focused on millennial dread, ultimately finding that even youthful anxiety can have a silver lining. With her music, iri is quickly establishing herself as an artist who is more than capable of capturing her generation’s voice—downtrodden by daily life but upbeat when thinking about a better tomorrow—all backed by irresistible grooves and melodies.