Tofubeats

Tofubeats
Birth nameYūsuke Kawai (河合 佑亮)
Also known asDJ Newtown
Born (1990-11-26) 26 November 1990 (age 33)
Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
GenresHip hop, house, J-pop
Occupation(s)Singer, record producer, DJ
Years active2008–present
LabelsWarner Music Japan
Unborde
HIHATT
Maltine Records
Websitewww.tofubeats.com

Yūsuke Kawai (河合 佑亮, Kawai Yūsuke, born 26 November 1990),[1][2] known professionally as Tofubeats, is a Japanese singer, record producer, and DJ.

Kawai began producing music at the age of 14, under the name "DJ Newtown". He initially distributed his music online through websites such as 2channel and YouTube. He later released music with Maltine Records, a Japanese netlabel, before signing with the Warner Music Japan sublabel Unborde in 2013.[1][3] Kawai also manages HIHATT, a label he launched in 2018.[4]

The video for his song "No. 1" featuring G.Rina was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award Japan for Best Dance Video (in 2014),[5][6][7][8][9] and his album titled First Album for the Grand Prix at the 2015 CD Shop Awards.[10][11][12][13]

Discography

Albums

As Tofubeats

No. Album details Charts
JPN
[14]
1 Lost Decade
  • First album
  • Released: 24 April 2013 (2013-04-24)
 40
2 First Album
  • First album on a major label
  • Released: 2 October 2014 (2014-10-02)
 11
3 Positive
  • Second album on a major label
  • Released: 16 September 2015 (2015-09-16)
 16
4 Fantasy Club
  • Third album on a major label
  • Released: 24 May 2017 (2017-05-24)
 19
5 Run
  • Fourth album on a major label
  • Released: 3 October 2018 (2018-10-03)
 22
6 Reflection
  • Fifth album on a major label
  • Released: 18 May 2022 (2022-05-18)
 14

As DJ Newtown

No. Album details
1 high-school girl(we loved)
  • Released: 10 January 2009 (2009-January-10)
2 Cutegirl.jpg
  • Released: 16 December 2009 (2009-12-16)
3 Sweet Days, Sweet Memories
  • Released: 30 March 2011 (2011-03-30)
4 S.U.B. Urban
  • Credited as Tofubeats & DJ newtown
  • Released: 10 July 2011 (2011-07-10)
5 West Members
  • Released: 16 September 2019 (2019-09-16)

EPs

No. Album details Charts
JPN
[14]
1 Beats for Rap
  • Released: 28 March 2008 (2008-03-28)
 N/A
2 Touch
  • Released: 25 July 2011 (2011-07-25)
 N/A
3 Summer Dreams
  • Released: 30 August 2012 (2012-08-30)
 N/A
4 Don't Stop The Music
  • First EP on a major label
  • Released: 13 November 2013 (2013-11-13)
 26
5 Disco no Kami-sama (ディスコの神様)
  • Second EP on a major label
  • Released: 30 April 2014 (2014-04-30)
 35
6 TBEP
  • Released: 27 March 2020 (2020-03-27)
 70
7 A440
  • Collab with DJ Q
  • Released 27 January 2023
 N/A
Remix albums
  1. Lost Decade Remixes (19 September 2013)
  2. First Album Remixes (28 January 2015)
  3. Positive Remixes (20 January 2016)
  4. Fantasy Club Remixes & Instrumentals (27 July 2018)
  5. RUN Remixes (4 September 2020)
  6. Reflection Remixes (3 November 2022)

Singles

Music videos

Title Director(s)
"Her Favorite" feat. Okadada & "Koromogae"
"Oshiete Kensaku" feat. Noko
"Shopping Mall"
"Callin" 		tofubeats
"Suisei" feat. Onomatope Daijin Arasounara Ōkan Moyase
"Come On Honey!" feat. Arai Hitomi from Tokyo Girls' Style Shunsuke Sugiyama, Kuroudo Furuya, and Shōta Mori
"poolside" feat. PES (RIP SLYME) Shunsuke Sugiyama, Kuroudo Furuya, and Hiroyuki Ohashi
"No.1" feat. G.Rina Takuya Hosogane and Shunsuke Sugiyama
"Don't Stop The Music" feat. Chisato Moritaka
"Disco no Kamisama" feat. Takashi Fujii
"BABY" 		Yuki Mori
"Stakeholder" Shunsuke Sugiyama, Yūya Yamaguchi, and Takuma Miyamoto
"Lonely Nights" Ryoji Kamiyama

References

  1. ^ a b "Kobe's tofubeats moves from blogs to the big time". Japan Times. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  2. ^ "作品データベース検索". JASRAC. 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  3. ^ "tofubeats calls on pals for his 'First Album'". Japan Times. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Don't Stop The Music: Introduction To tofubeats, Bridging Netlabels with J-pop". OTAQUEST. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  5. ^ "VMAJ 2014: Our Moment in Music History". MTV 81 (in Japanese). Viacom International Inc. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  6. ^ "VMAJ 2014: We Ask MTV Japan's Interns to Share Their Picks!". MTV 81 (in Japanese). Viacom International Inc. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  7. ^ "ミュージックビデオの国際的授賞式「MTV VMAJ 2014」最優秀ダンスポップビデオ部門に「No.1 feat. G.RINA」がノミネート！｜tofubeats｜ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン" (in Japanese). Warner Music Japan. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Best Dance Video | MTV VMAJ 2014". MTV Japan (in Japanese). Viacom International Inc. n.d. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  9. ^ "MTV Japan Unveils 'MTV VMAJ 2014' Nominations" (in Japanese). MTV Asia. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  10. ^ "第7回CDショップ大賞2015に「First Album」がノミネート｜tofubeats｜ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン" (in Japanese). Warner Music Japan. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  11. ^ Barks (6 February 2015). "tofubeats、4/1に新作『STAKEHOLDER』リリース" (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  12. ^ "tofubeats、メジャー3枚目となるEPが4月1日発売 – TOWER RECORDS ONLINE" (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  13. ^ "「CDショップ大賞」二次ノミネートに大森靖子、林檎、しゃちほこら" (in Japanese). Natalie. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  14. ^ a b "tofubeatsのアルバム売上ランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. n.d. Retrieved 26 April 2015.