Yohio
Kevin Johio Lucas Rehn Eires, known professionally as Yohio, stylized as YOHIO (born July 12, 1995) is a Swedish singer and songwriter currently active in Japan. He is best known for his performances as Yohio, wearing a lolita dress in previous years, with an androgynous appearance on stage.[1][2][3][4] He is a former member of the Swedish rock band Seremedy, which disbanded in April 2013.[5][6][7] Yohio has participated in Melodifestivalen both in 2013 and 2014, making it to the final on both occasions. He is one of the co-founders and current CEO of Keios Entertainment.
Yohio | |
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Yohio (2013) | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Kevin Johio Lucas Rehn Eires |
Also known as | YOHIO (ヨヒオ) |
Born | Sundsvall, Sweden | July 12, 1995
Genres | |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, bass |
Years active | 2010–present |
Labels | Keios Entertainment (CEO) |
Associated acts | Seremedy, DISREIGN, Awoken by Silence |
Family and early life
Yohio was born in Stockholm, Sweden on 12 July 1995 and is the son of Tommy Rehn of the Swedish heavy metal band Corroded, and Johanna Eires.[1] Shortly after, his family moved to Sundsvall, where he grew up. When he was six years old he started learning to play the piano, and later learned the guitar at age eleven. He wrote his first song when he was six years old.
He is the grandson of Jan-Eric Rehn, who was a guitarist in 1960s band The Panthers[8] and the nephew of Chris Rehn of Swedish post-grunge/pop rock band Takida. Chris and Tommy Rehn were also both in the band Angtoria. Yohio speaks Japanese, after becoming interested in Japanese culture and visual kei at a young age, and also spending time in Japan on his several trips to the country performing his music.[9]
Career in Sweden
Yohio and his band Seremedy gained some recognition in Sweden starting in 2011. The band consisted of lead vocalist SEIKE, YOHIO on lead guitar, Ray on guitar, JENZiiH on bass and LINDER on drums.[10] The band released their first EP Seasons Will Change in 2011[11] and their first album Welcome to our Madness on July 25, 2012.[12] The band then broke up and made a one time return for a last live show and EP Re:Madness on September 20, 2014.[13]
Yohio received special attention for wearing a dress when performing.[14] In 2012 Yohio released his first English song as a solo performer, "Our Story".[15] Yohio has made four music videos – for "Sky Limit", "Our Story", "Heartbreak Hotel" (his entry for Melodifestivalen 2013) and "Revolution".[16]
In 2013, it was announced that Yohio was lending his voice to a Vocaloid voicebank within the PowerFX range that contains both an English and Japanese vocal.[17] He provided the voicebank for YOHIOloid.
Melodifestivalen 2013
Yohio was one of the contestants in the 2013 edition of Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 to be held in Malmö. His song was "Heartbreak Hotel",[18] which he wrote along with Johan Fransson, Tobias Lundgren, Tim Larsson and Henrik Göranson.[18] On February 2, Yohio was qualified for the contest's finals. Soon after, on the 9th of March, he came second place with Robin Stjernberg leading him as the final winner with 166 points. Yohio earned 133 points with his successful song; Heartbreak Hotel.[19][20][21] Yohio was the Swedish spokesperson and announcer of the Swedish voting result at the 2013 Eurovision final in Malmö.[22]
Melodifestivalen 2014
Yohio took part in the first heat of Melodifestivalen 2014 at the Malmö Arena with the song "To the End", performing first. Yohio was announced as the first act to go directly to the final at the Friends Arena on 8 March.[23] In the final, he came in sixth place.
DISREIGN
Yohio formed a new band that consists of Valentin on guitar, Tias on drums and former Seremedy bandmate, JENZiiH on bass. They released their first single and PV Until The Fade on May 8, 2015 and released the single worldwide on August 5, 2015. The PV was directed by Die/may band member Riotcolor. This marked Yohio's return to a band and his return to singing in Japanese since Shiraha in 2015.[24][25]
Producing career
Yohio has mixed a song for former Seremedy bandmate Seike's band Die/May single The Return, making this their first time working together since the break up of Seremedy (before the reunion in 2014)[26] Yohio also wrote the lyrics to the song "I'm Sorry" tweeting "Writing some R&B right now for another artist. Not my territory at all, but very interesting to create. Love how you can play with vocals!" The song was sung by Oskar Bruzell.[27]
Career in Japan
In 2012, Yohio released his first EP "Reach the Sky" in Japan.[28] His first album, Break the Border was released in June, 2013, three months after the Swedish release. It entered the Oricon weekly charts on one occasion, at position 285.[29]
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWE [30] | |||||||||
Break the Border |
|
1 |
| ||||||
Break the Border Platinum Edition |
|
1 |
| ||||||
Together We Stand Alone |
|
1 | |||||||
Snöängelns rike |
|
18 | |||||||
A Pretty Picture in a Most Disturbing Way[31] |
|
||||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
EPs
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JPN | |||||||||
Reach the Sky |
|
82 | |||||||
"—" denotes recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWE [30] | |||||||||
"Sky☆Limit" | 2012 | — | Reach the Sky | ||||||
"Heartbreak Hotel" | 2013 | 8 |
|
Break the Border | |||||
"Revolution" | — | ||||||||
"To the End" | 2014 | 38 |
|
Together We Stand Alone | |||||
"夏の終わりの約束" | 2017 | — | TBA | ||||||
"Merry Go Round" | 2018 | — | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
DVDs
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWE [30] | |||||||||
BREAK THE BORDER TOUR FINAL |
|
1 | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yohio. |
- Shohreh Zare/TT Spektra. "Yohio bakom klänningen - Kultur & Nöje" (in Swedish). Gp.se. Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- "Yohio bakom klänningen" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. Archived from the original on 2012-12-26. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
- "Svenska tonåringen YOHIO gör succé i Japan" (in Swedish). MyNewsdesk. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
- "'A guy wearing a dress is not a sexual thing': Yohio". The Local. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-02-24.
- "Yohio is a Swedish Boy Singer that Looks like a Doll". The Suite World. Archived from the original on 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- Mikael Tjernström. "Seremedy-gitarrist släpper soloalbum - Kultur & Nöje" (in Swedish). Dagbladet.se. Archived from the original on 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- "Tweet by @Seremedy". Twitter. 15 April 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- Anna-Karin Saad. "Hen har minglat med The Who - ST Grattar" (in Swedish). St.nu. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- Erik Gripenholm (2012-08-28). "Det konstigaste är att jag är svensk". DN.SE. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- "Seremedy". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Seremedy Seasons Will Change (EP)- Spirit of Metal Webzine (en)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Seremedy Welcome to Our Madness (CD Album)- Spirit of Metal Webzine (en)". Spirit-of-metal.com. 2012-07-25. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Seremedy Re:Madness (EP)- Spirit of Metal Webzine (en)". Spirit-of-metal.com. 2014-09-20. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- Löf, Anders (4 April 2011). "De kallar oss konstiga bögar". Aftonbladet. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- "Yohio - japansk popstjärna från Sundsvall". Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- "Kolla in Japansuccén Yohios nya musikvideo! | Musikvideor | Musik | Nöjesbladet | Webbtv | Aftonbladet". Aftonbladet.se. 2012-10-29. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- "Twitter / YOHIO_Seremedy: I will become a new bilingual". Twitter.com. 2013-02-18. Archived from the original on 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- "Yohio – Heartbreak Hotel". SVT.se. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- Melodifestivalen, SVT. "Winner and finalists of Melodifestivalen" Archived 2017-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, SVT, full list of the scores.
- "YOHIO och David Lindgren är i final i Melodifestivalen". SVT. 2 February 2013. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
- Emma Petersson (9 March 2013). "Robin Stjernberg är vinnaren av Melodifestivalen 2013". SVT. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- Mirja Bokholm (22 April 2013). "YOHIO presenterar de svenska rösterna i Eurovision Song Contest". SVT.se. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- "n: De gick vidare". Aftonbladet. 1 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- "Disreign". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Disreign - Until The Fade (Official Pv)". YouTube. 2015-05-08. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Die/May - The Return (Official Pv)". YouTube. 2014-05-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Oskar Bruzell - I'm Sorry (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)". YouTube. 2015-02-20. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
- "Poplight | Främsta låtarna 2012: YOHIO - SKYLiMIT | Poplight". Poplight.zitiz.se. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
- "「ブレイク・ザ・ボーダー」 YOHIO│オリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- Steffen Hung. "Discography Yohio". swedishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=299882947737857