Biography
Maaya Sakamoto (坂本真綾, born March 31, 1980) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, lyricist and actress from Tokyo. Her recording career encompasses j-pop albums, anime and video game theme songs, and collaborations with other singers, composers and bands.
Sakamoto began working as a child actress at eight. In 1996, she released her debut single, “Yakusoku wa Iranai,” composed by Yoko Kanno for The Vision of Escaflowne, in which she voiced the lead character, Hitomi Kanzaki. Kanno remained her principal musical collaborator through her first four studio albums, beginning with グレープフルーツ (Grapefruit, 1997) and continuing through 少年アリス (Shonen Alice, 2003). Their work also included “Platinum” for Cardcaptor Sakura and “Hemisphere” for RahXephon.
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With 夕凪LOOP (Yunagi Loop, 2005), Sakamoto began recording with a wider range of songwriters and producers. You can't catch me reached number one on the Oricon album chart in 2011. She had already contributed lyrics to her earlier recordings, but シンガーソングライター (Singer-Songwriter, 2013) was her first album for which she wrote all the lyrics and music and handled production.
Collaboration remained central to her subsequent recordings. Duets (2021) paired her with seven performers, including Asako Toki and Kyoko Koizumi. For her eleventh studio album, 記憶の図書館 (Kioku no Toshokan, 2023), she shared an original story about a library of human memories with the contributing songwriters. Its credits include tricot, Shigeru Kishida of Quruli, and Yu Arauchi of cero.
Alongside her music, Sakamoto has continued acting for animation, games and the stage. Her voice roles include Haruhi Fujioka in Ouran High School Host Club and Shiki Ryougi in The Garden of Sinners. She also played Éponine in Japanese productions of Les Misérables and Jerusha in Daddy Long Legs.
The anniversary compilation M30～Your Best～, released in October 2025, brought together selections chosen by fans and musical associates. 余韻 (Yoin), released on July 29, 2026, collected her Fate/Grand Order theme songs alongside acoustic recordings and her own version of “Toumei,” which she originally wrote lyrics for for Mamoru Miyano.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.