Emi Evans is an English singer, lyricist, and voice over talent based in Tokyo. She was born in London and grew up playing cello, singing in church choirs and writing songs. At the age of 16, she was scouted by a SONY Japan producer for her emotional voice and the dream of becoming a singer was born.
She relocated to Tokyo in 2000 and formed the trip hop electronic duo, freesscape, and began singing at brand events for companies such as Cartier, Lexus, and Christian Dior. Emi also recorded songs for television dramas and commercials for clients including Mercedes Benz, Canon, Nivea, Panasonic, P&G, and Suntory. She found her niche and passion within the world of videogame music starting with the
ETRIAN ODYSSEY II SUPER ARRANGE VERSION album in 2007. Her breakout in the world of videogames was with Square Enix's award-winning soundtrack to
NIER (2010) which captivated fans with her signature "Chaos Language," taking modern-day languages and imagining how they'd sound centuries or millennia into the future. Venturing into some of gaming's biggest franchises, she's recorded songs for Bandai Namco's
DARK SOULS and
ACE COMBAT franchises, Mistwalker's
TERRA BATTLE, Capcom's
MONSTER HUNTER, and Cygames's
GRANBLUE FANTASY series, collaborating with renowned Japanese game composers Keiichi Okabe, Motoi Sakuraba, Norihiko Hibino, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, and others. She was also a featured vocalist on
OCTAVE THEORY, an album by Nobuo Uematsu's rock band, The Earthbound Papas. She contributed to Square Enix's
NIER: AUTOMATA in 2017 whose soundtrack won the Soundtrack of the Year award at The Game Awards that same year. The
NIER REPLICANT VER. 1.2247 soundtrack allowed Emi to reprise her role, re-recording her original songs and the score won soundtrack of the year at The Game Awards in 2021. Her performance on "Song of Ancients" from the NieR series was played twice during the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021) and "A Beautiful Song" from NieR: Automata was played during Japan's synchronized swimming routine at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. 2024 also saw Evans take part in another lengthy
NIER world tour, performing all across the world as she has done many times before, culminating in a dinner party show in Japan.
In addition to her work on games, Emi has recorded vocals for the
STAR WARS: VISIONS series, marking Chaos Language's debut in the Star Wars universe. She's also been featured on Koji Endo's
ACE ATTORNEY film score as well as Keiichi Okabe's
YUKI YUNA IS A HERO Japanese animation and
MAYONAKA NO PANYA SAN NHK drama soundtracks. She also does narration and voice over work for documentaries and short brand videos.
Emi specializes in writing lyrics in unique made up languages and creating an ethereal, emotional atmosphere with her voice. She also loves exploring and writing lyrics in dormant languages and has recorded songs in Chamicuro (
NIER: AUTOMATA), Gaulish (
HELVETII), and Sumerian (
MY BROTHER RABBIT).
Follow Emi Evans on:
Twitter
Selected Videogame Credits
Clock Tower: Rewind
(2024) Vocals
Astral Ascent
(2023) Lyrics, Vocals
beatmania IIDX 30 RESIDENT
(2023) Lyrics, Vocals
Helvetii
(2023) Lyrics, Vocals
NieR Replicant ver. 1.2247
(2021) Lyrics, Vocals
Granblue Fantasy
(2019) Lyrics, Vocals
Vambrace: Cold Soul
(2019)
My Brother Rabbit
(2018) Lyrics, Vocals
Legrand Legacy
(2018)
NieR: Automata
(2017) Lyrics, Vocals
Labyrinth of Refrain
(2016) Lyrics, Vocals
Shometsu Toshi series
(2015-2020) Vocals
Monster Hunter Frontier G
(2014) Lyrics, Vocals
Dark Souls series
(2014) Vocals
Fantasy Life
(2014) Vocals
Terra Battle
(2014) Vocals
Drakengard 3
(2013) Vocals
The Witch and the Hundred Knight
(2013) Lyrics, Vocals
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4
(2012) Vocals
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
(2011) Vocals
Octave Theory
(2011) Vocals
Dark Souls
(2011) Vocals
NieR: Gestalt/Replicant
(2010) Lyrics, Vocals
Etrian Odyssey Super Arrange Version
(2007) Vocals
Animation
NieR: Automata Ver1.1a
Vocals
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Season 2
Vocals
Star Wars: VISIONS ("The Village Bride")
(2021) Lyrics, Vocals
Yuki Yuna is a Hero
(2017) Lyrics, Vocals
Original Albums (as freesscape)
LET DOWN
(2016)
TEN STEPS AHEAD
(2013)
20110601
(2011)
Now is the point at which I touch eternity
(2011)
Lost petals
(2011)
The next confusion
(2007)
Detour
(2006)
Fragile perfection
(2004)