Jurina Matsui


Jurina Matsui is a Japanese singer and actress. She is a member of the japanese idol girl group SKE48 and a former concurrent member of AKB48. She is recognized as the group's absolute ace, having placed in the top 10 in many of AKB48's annual general elections and winning the 2018 election. Matsui debuted with SKE48's first generation group Team S when she was 11 years old, and was soon appointed the center position on AKB48's single "Ōgoe Diamond", making her the first sister group member to participate and to center perform in AKB48's main single lineup. She continues to appear regularly on both SKE48 and AKB48's title track singles.
Matsui's first solo album, Privacy, which all lyrics were written by herself, was released on October 5, 2019.

Career

1997–2012: Early life and career beginnings

Jurina Matsui was born on March 8, 1997 in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture. Matsui was interested in singing since in nursery school, then came to like dancing when she started to learn hip-hop dance around 3rd grade of primary school. Thinking singing and dancing are what idols do, Matsui started aiming to become an idol.
In 2008, as a sixth grader, Matsui auditioned with SKE48 and was chosen with 22 other participants to form the group's inaugural team, Team S, which debuted on October 5. In the same year, at age 11, Matsui took part in the recording of AKB48's single "Ōgoe Diamond" and was selected to be the center performer and cover girl for the single. It was the first time an AKB48 single would feature a member of a sister group.
On March 25, 2009, at AKB48's concert at Saitama Super Arena, Matsui suddenly left in the middle of a song. Matsui was diagnosed with "dizziness due to anemia, overwork" and was hospitalized for a few days. According to the event manager, in the past few months there had been reports of her poor physical condition, but Matsui had stated that she "absolutely did not want a break". AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto informed the group's fans that he had let Matsui rest for an indefinite period of time.

2012–2017: Breakthrough

In early 2012, following scandals in which members Natsumi Hirajima and Rumi Yonezawa had resigned from AKB48, Matsui was added to AKB48 as a concurrent member. At the 2012 AKB48 general election to determine the lineup of their 27th single, Matsui placed ninth overall with 45,747 votes, the highest for an SKE48 member. For the 28th single, "Uza", Matsui was selected to be the center performer along with top vote getter Yuko Oshima. In the rock-paper-scissors tournament for the 29th single, Matsui lost in the second round to Mariko Namamura.
In the 2013 general election, Matsui placed sixth overall with 77,170 votes. In September 18, Matsui won the rock-paper-scissors tournament to become the center performer for the group's 34th single.
In the 2014 general election, Matsui placed fourth overall with 90,910 votes.
On October 21, 2015, Matsui concurrent position in AKB48 Team K was terminated.
In June 2016, it was revealed that Matsui would play the lead role in the horror drama scheduled for broadcast on TBS on July 13. In the 2016 general elections, Matsui placed third overall with 112,341 votes.
On October 2, 2016, it was announced that Matsui would be managed by Irving.

2018–present: Brief hiatus and solo album

In May 2018, Matsui was one of the two SKE48 members to participate in the South Korean competition show, Produce 48, but stepped down after the crisis in 10th general election. On June 16, at the concert in Nagoya Dome to announce the results of the AKB48 general election, Matsui collapsed on stage and had to be carried aside to rest before returning. At the end of the night, it was announced that Matsui had finished first overall in the election with 194,453 votes, and would become the center performer for AKB48's 53rd single. On July 7, SKE48 manager Yuasa Hiroshi released a statement that Matsui would halt all activities to take some time off to recover. Mnet confirmed Matsui was also withdrawing from Produce 48; where she placed 13th in the voting results of the fifth episode with 329,455 votes.
Matsui resumed her activities on September 6, 2018 and made a surprise appearance at the SKE48 Theater to announce her return. Because of her long hiatus, Matsui was unable to participate in recording of the song and music video of her winning single "Sentimental Train". Matsui was temporarily replaced by storyboard and CG images in the unfinished version of the music video. On September 25th, the full version of both song and music video were released and could be downloaded by CD purchasers with serial numbers included in the CD.
On April 6, 2019, Matsui started the broadcasting of her first regular radio program titled "Koe no Koibito Matsui Jurina desu supported by Simeji" on CBC Radio. The program airs every Saturday on 19:30 JST. Matsui made her comeback on TV drama by guest-starring TV Asahi's Emergency Interrogation Room as a female shogi player. On April 18, Matsui made her debut in stage play by playing Hamlet in Hamlet SKE48 ver. The stage play is culmination of acting challenges SKE48 members received from specialists on their variety TV show SKEBINGO!.
On October 5, 2019, which is also 11th anniversary of her debut, Matsui released her debut solo album, Privacy, through SHOWROOM RECORDS. A pre-release single "KMT Dance" was distributed on August 28 with a campaign by LINE MUSIC. All nine tracks in the album were written by Matsui herself and composed by Yoshimasa Inoue. The release of this album was proposed by AKB48 Group's producer Yasushi Akimoto after witnessing how Matsui's sensitive lyrics and singing voice grabbed fans through her live streams on SHOWROOM.
On February 7, 2020, Matsui announced her graduation from SKE48. Her graduation concert is scheduled to be held in Nippon Gaishi Hall on September 26-27, and her farewell performance on October 5 at SKE48 theater.

AKB48 general election placements

Matsui's placements in AKB48's annual general election:
EditionYearFinal rankNumber of votesPosition on singleSingle
12009191,371Main"Iiwake Maybe"
220101012,168Main "Heavy Rotation"
320111427,804Main"Flying Get"
42012945,747Main"Gingham Check"
52013677,170Main"Koi Suru Fortune Cookie"
62014490,910Main"Kokoro no Placard"
720155105,289Main"Halloween Night"
820163112,341Main"Love Trip / Shiawase wo Wakenasai"
920173113,615Main"Sukinanda"
1020181194,453Main, Center"Sentimental Train"

Stage units

A listing of Matsui's participation in SKE48 and AKB48's theatre programs, called stages:

With SKE48

With AKB48

Discography

Albums

Singles

Appearances

Movies

Television series

Television shows

Stage play

Radio hosting

Commercials

Awards