Mai Mizuhashi (水橋 舞, Mizuhashi Mai, born January 31, 1992), better known by her stage name MARiA (メイリア 美依礼芽, Meiria), is a Japanese pop singer, songwriter, dancer, model and costume designer from Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Originally a member of a music group, Mizuhashi found fame posting videos on the Japanese website Niconico, and later gained viral popularity in Mainland China in 2018 after posting a dance video of her 2016 single "Gokuraku Jodo" on Bilibili. She is currently part of the pop rock duo Garnidelia.[1]
Biography
Mizuhashi began her career as a member of the music group Harajuku BJ Girls, later known as the Chix Chicks. While a member of the group, Mizuhashi performed a number of opening and ending themes for different anime series, such as "Brand New Morning", which was used as the opening theme to the 2006 anime television series Kamisama Kazoku, "Yumemiru Otome" (夢みる乙女, Dream Maiden), which was used as the ending theme to the 2007 anime television series Dōjin Work,[2] and "Kaze no Message" (風のメッセージ, Message of the Wind), which was used as the second ending theme to the 2007 anime television series Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl.[3]
Following Chix Chicks's disbandment in 2010, Mizuhashi pursued a solo career by posting videos on the Japanese website Niconico, where she caught the attention of music producer Yoshinori Abe, also known as Toku, also known as old man 4. Toku produced Mizuhashi's single "Color" which was used as the opening theme to the 2010 anime television series Freezing. The two would later form the music unit Garnidelia, which made its major debut in 2013 with the single "Ambiguous", used as the second opening theme to the anime television series Kill la Kill.[4] Both attained popularity, particularly in China, with the success of their 2016 single Gokuraku Jodo.[5][6]
In 2023, Mizuhashi participated in the fourth season of Sisters Who Make Waves. Against a backdrop of nationalism sentiments that were easily kindled in China when comes to diplomatic dealings between Japan and China, Mizuhashi was well-received by the Chinese public throughout the season.[7][8] On July 23, 2023, at the season finale, she was ranked third among the 21 participants.[9]
.jpg)
