Akitoshi Oka, known professionally by the stage nameTaiiku Okazaki, is a Japanese musician and songwriter who is signed to SME Records. Beginning his career as an independent musician in 2012, he made his major debut with the release of his first major album Basin Techno in 2016. The album includes the song "Music Video", which became a viral hit in Japan for parodying common tropes used in music videos. That same year, he performed the song "Pose", which was used as the first closing theme for the anime series . He has also written music for commercials and for other musicians.
Biography
Oka was born in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture on July 3, 1989. When he was around three years old, he and his family moved to Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, where he would spend much of his early life. While in elementary school, he started learning to play the piano and became part of a local baseball team. His interest in music began at an early age, when he began listening to artists such as Eminem, Queen, and Deep Purple. To further his music skills, he would compose songs on the Nintendo DS game Daigasso! Band Brothers. Upon graduating from high school, Oka enrolled at Doshisha University and started working part-time at a video store. He then became part of a band called Aishinkakura Nuruhachi, which disbanded after a year when one of its members emigrated to America. He then became part of another music group, while starting a new part-time job at a supermarket. Following his graduation from university in 2012, Oka began his music career as an independent musician under the stage name Taiiku Okazaki. His first three releases were albums titled Greatest Hits, Koi no Hello Keihō, and Phantom Seishōnen. The following year, he released two more albums, Bonchi Hero Kenzan and Fictional Zodiac. In 2016, Okazaki made his major debut on the SME Records label with the release of the albumBasin Techno. The album ranked first on iTunes's J-Pop chart, and peaked at number 9 on Oricon's Weekly Album Charts. The song "Music Video" from the album became a viral hit in Japan for its lyrics and music video, which parodied commonly-used tropes in Japanese music videos. That same year, he began performing songs for various commercials, as well as writing music for other artists. He then performed two songs for anime series: "Shiokaze", which was used as the opening theme for The Great Passage, and "Pose", which was used as the first closing theme for ; "Shiokaze" was released as his first single on December 7, 2016. In 2017, Okazaki released his second major album, XXL, which peaked at number 2 on Oricon's Weekly Album Charts. The album includes the song "Natural Lips", which features lyrics that are in Japanese but sung in a way that makes them resemble English words. The following year, he performed the song "Jari Boy Jari Girl", which was used as a closing theme for Pokémon: Sun & Moon. He released his third major album, OT Works, in April 2018; the album peaked at number 18 on Oricon's Weekly Album Charts. In October of that year, his song "Kimi no Bōken" began to be used as the fourth opening theme to Pokémon: Sun & Moon. Okazaki released his fourth studio album, Saitama, on January 9, 2019; the album peaked at number 5 on Oricon's Weekly Album Charts. He made a voice acting cameo in Pokémon Sun and Moon as a rapping Team Skull member, and he will hold a solo live concert at the Saitama Super Arena on June 9, 2019.
