Albums
Undeniable
Nao Yoshioka, the Japanese soul siren, releases her long-awaited 4th album ‘Undeniable’ which unleashes unbridled and passionate feelings from deep down in her soul
‘Undeniable’, Nao’s 4th album born out of her unrelenting motivation, a motivation that has led her to create an album with a sublime concoction of warm, yet brisk live instrumentation and digital cutting-edge beats. In addition to Musicman Ty, producer of ‘I Love When’ from her album ‘The Truth’, ‘Undeniable’ features production work of an all-star team including the “King of Indie Soul” Eric Roberson, Lorenzo Johnson (Ledisi, Maysa), Chris Dave and The Drumhedz keyboardist Daniel Crawford, and A Touch of Jazz production team alumni and Grammy-winning producer, Vidal Davis (Ne-yo, Usher) to name a few. The music was recorded live at the legendary Philly studio, MilkBoy the Studio with Khari Mateen (Jill Scott, The Roots) at the engineering helm.
The album’s lead single, ‘Got Me’, again produced by Musicman Ty, is a grey area love song of mixed feelings — not all love and hate is black and white. On the track ‘Liberation’, Nao delves into when there are times fear compels you to make mistakes in life. ‘Up and Away feat. PHER’, produced by LA-based Lorenzo Johnson, features the extremely talented singer/songwriter Chris Turner (PHER) who after living in New York for more than 10 years, recently picked-up and moved to LA, while Nao just recently moved to the US from Japan. Naturally their ambitions to start afresh synched to create a perfect song. ‘Undeniable’ will put Nao on the same level as her counterparts around the world, and turn a few heads along the way.
The Truth
Nao Yoshioka’s 3rd album, “The Truth”, features well-know collaborators including a member of the The Roots while her performance at Capital Jazz Fest 2016, was received with an outpouring of love and respect.
Since arriving on the scene in 2013, Nao Yoshioka has crisscrossed the globe performing in numerous cities in the US, The Netherlands, and most recently the UK for the first time, while still performing at a number of well-known venues in Japan including Blue Note and Billboard Live. In June 2016, she hopped a plane for Washington DC to perform at one of the largest US summer festivals, Capital Jazz Fest, where she witnessed an outpouring of love from the crowd. The reception and experience has given rise to her standing on the international soul music stage. “The Truth” is testimony that real music connects people beyond all boundaries. “The Truth” comprises all original material with the title track, “The Truth” being produced by Grammy-nominated Khari Mateen who has also worked with Jill Scott and James Poyser to name a few. In addition, the dreamy R&B ballad, “I Love When”, was produced by Swizz Beatz producer and writer Musicman Ty who has worked with Alicia Keys and Nicki Minaj. This album embodies a new generation feel that has evolved over time while highlighting Nao’s undeniable talent.
Rising
A Talented Singer has Arrived and Knows No Boundaries: The Long-awaited Major Debut of a Soul Singer Who Is Making Japan Proud
Set to release her major debut album, "Rising", Nao Yoshioka has created new possibilities for the Japanese music industry around the world, and has done so with a certain quality that Japan can take pride in. She has trained in New York which is known for being one of the main arteries of in the world, and while there she reached the final stage at one the largest gospel music festivals in the US from amongst 40,000 entrants. She has shown ability that goes beyond cultural and racial barriers. After retuning to Japan in 2012, the following year she released her very successful debut album, “The Light”, and in April 2015 will release her much anticipated major label debut album “Rising.”
Nao Yoshioka is one of the few Japanese artists where such genuine music can be heard. As testament, a number of first-class artists from all over the world have participated in her music production bringing with them a variety of flavors. Grammy Award-winning Gordon Chambers who has worked with Whitney Houston and Beyonce, the Dutch Queen of Soul Shirma Rouse, and the new voice of American soul Brian Owens to name a few have all produced music for her albums. This revolutionary music is worthy of the major debut of Nao Yoshioka. A new standard of Japanese music is defined here.
The Light
“The Light” was recorded in three countries, the US, The Netherlands, and Japan with artist from five different nations participating!
Nao Yoshioka’s debut album “The Light” was recorded in three countries, the United States, The Netherlands, and Japan. The new voice of American soul, Brian Owens who performed live at the Obama Whitehorse, recorded the instruments for three songs in the US and also gave vocal direction. Two very talented singer-songwriters based in New York, ORLY and Dani Elliott composed and co-wrote the fun, rock love song included on the album. Shrima Rouse, The Netherlands No. 1 Soul Queen, produced and recorded the instruments in The Netherlands for three songs and also contributed with vocal direction.
Some of Japan’s top soul musicians were active in the project and supported by Takuya Kuroda, the talented trumpeter from José James’ band. In addition, Miho Fukuhara and HIROYUKI MATSUDA also participated by composing the title track “The Light.”
“You will know that Yoshioka possesses the gift after hearing her version of “Feeling Good,” the album’s opening track, which begins with Yoshioka singing a cappella before the arrangement shifts into a mid-tempo funk number. We get it. This imouto has soul.” - Howard Dukes (SoulTracks.com)