Why did Persona 5 become such a mainstream video game hit, unlike past games in the phenomenal Atlus JRPG series? That is a question with several answers to it, many of which are subjective. However, there is one element that I think transcends all of them, and that is the style and music that is at the heart of Persona 5.
When it comes to the music, we have no one to thank more than the literal soul and voice of the Persona 5 soundtrack, who just so happens to be the focus of this Lyn Inaizumi guide.
Lyn Inaizumi is a Japanese singer with a bright future ahead of her. Her popularity skyrocketed around the world with the release of Persona 5 in 2016 in Japan and in 2017 worldwide.
Her voice is behind the masterful songs that have transcended video games into pop culture, memes, and TikTok. Nearly overnight, she has become the new face of the Persona soundtrack, as you will see in this Lyn Inaizumi guide.
Bottom Line Up Front
Lyn Inaizumi is a 34-year-old jazz singer from Japan. Initially, she went by the name Lyn, stylized like that in its English format, but she has since switched back to her original Japanese name, Rin, which she goes by these days. Her debut was working on the Masshiro Japanese drama TV show, but she soon contributed afterward to Persona 5.
Creating famous tracks like Last Surprise and Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There, she has quickly become the face of the Persona musical style. She contributed to later games, too, most recently being Persona 5 Strikers.
Lyn Inaizumi Overview
Lyn Inaizumi is someone who is newer to the Japanese music scene as a professional, only popping up in the last few years. She was born in Japan on March 13, 1988. The 34-year-old singer has little known about her history and life, so I had to take from her official Japanese website to find information using my still-in-progress Japanese learning.
Inaizumi is known for her jazz style and passion for making that type of soulful music. It is why she was quickly chosen to contribute to Persona 5, a game that you likely already know to be dripping in style and a jazzy soundtrack. Much of that comes from Inaizumi’s beautifully unique voice.
But she didn’t just stop with video games like Persona 5, though. Lyn Inaizumi also contributed to other mediums and series, including live-action TV shows, TV anime, and even some animated films. At this point in time, her credits list is still relatively small, but the vast majority of it is dominated by Atlus JRPGs in just the last few years.
It seems unlikely for that to change anytime soon as Inaizumi continues to make wonderful music that fits the theme of Atlus games so well.
History
Here is what I was able to take about Lyn Inaizumi’s history and inspirations from her official website. Born on March 13, 1988, it wasn’t long before she discovered a love for music and making it. She, specifically, found success and passion for singing jazz music.
After meeting the renowned American soul singer Donny Hathaway in 2008, she took her singing aspirations more seriously. She studied music for quite some time, even studying under the legendary Philip Woo for a period of time.
From that point forward, she found herself working in music much more often, occasionally being a background or guest singer in various chorus groups and other projects. She contributed at venues to projects, all the while continuing to hone her skills as a soulful singer herself.
Her first credited project came in 2015 with the release of the nurse-themed Masshiro live-action TV show in Japan. Though it wouldn’t be a hit that would make her well-known, it at least led to her joining Atlus in the creation of their next major JRPG hit, Persona 5.
Lyn Inaizumi was a relatively unknown quantity at the time. Still, Atlus saw the potential in her and chose her as the lead vocalist in the vast majority of the songs from that JRPG. In turn, she lent her jazzy style to tracks that would go on to make Persona 5 one of the biggest JRPGs of all time.
Her time didn’t stop there as Lyn Inaizumi blasted through space in terms of popularity once Persona 5 dropped. Since then, she has contributed to more Persona games and even expanded to anime as well. It looks today like she is one of the most impactful rising stars in the Japanese jazz industry.
When Inaizumi first debuted as a singer, she took her Japanese name. She used the English translation Lyn as her stylized stage name. However, from 2018 forward, though, she is now operating under her original Japanese name, Rin Inaizumi, and is credited as such on her current projects.
Contributions to the Persona Series
Though Inaizumi has worked on other projects out there, there is easily none bigger or more influential on her career than Persona 5. The game was released in 2016 and was only her second major professional credit working on the music for a property.
This was intriguing given that there were other singers and rappers who had dominated the Atlus JRPG series up until that point. But, instead of going for the known singers used in the past, Lyn Inaizumi was a newer jazz vocalist that Atlus took a chance on.
She contributed her voice as the lead vocalist on a whopping eight tracks in the Persona 5 soundtrack, including the most popular theme songs on it. However, her work on the 2016 JRPG was only the beginning of her time, lending her voice to the most popular series from Atlus.
She returned a couple of years later for the first Persona 5 spin-off game, Dancing in Starlight, where recorded two new songs for everyone to enjoy, GROOVY and One Nightbreak. Once again, she created more songs after that for yet another spin-off, this time Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth.
In between her work on some of the Atlus games, she also recorded some new songs that would be used in Persona 5 The Animation, the official anime adaptation of the legendary JRPG.
Lyn Inaizumi didn’t stop one bit at this point in her career, turning around the following year and releasing a whopping six new tracks that added some new music for players to enjoy in the definitive masterpiece that is Persona 5 Royal.
And, yet, she still wasn’t done making music for the Atlus titles. Her final and most recent credit on an Atlus game was creating six brand new songs to debut in Persona 5 Strikers, the pseudo-sequel and spin-off of Persona 5 that switched things up to an action-based format.
Other Musical Releases
What you’ll find with Lyn Inaizumi is that she isn’t just an Atlus-exclusive singer, though she might as well be, with other projects under her belt. Before she ever became famous with Persona 5, there was Masshiro, where she lent her deep and rich voice to the nurse-themed TV drama show.
In addition to that, there were a couple of Lupin the Third shows that she contributed to, including Lupin the Third Part 5, the latest in the string of the beloved anime TV series.
She also helped out with the soundtrack for Lupin the Third: The First, which is the strange 3D anime film adaptation/reboot of Hayao Miyazaki’s classic Castle of Cagliostro.
If that wasn’t enough, there is Megalobox 2: Nomad that she lent her voice for its jazzy and emotional soundtrack. When it comes to the anime and projects on this list that wasn’t Persona or Atlus-themed, this is the one that I recommend to everyone.
I will admit that I still need to finish the second season of Megalobox. Still, I adored the underrated first season, and I can’t wait to hear more of Inaizumi’s voice in the second season.
Best Lyn Inaizumi Songs
When it comes to music, everyone has their own tastes and preferences. Of course, this means that my opinion on music and Lyn Inaizumi’s songs will likely differ from someone else entirely. That said, here are the best Lyn Inaizumi songs, courtesy of me.
There are the classics that made her famous on social media in the first place and perhaps even boosted Persona 5 to the mainstream fame that it has today, including Last Surprise. I mean, everyone knows the classic “You’ll never see it coming” line from the chorus, but there are more songs beyond that one.
When it comes to my favorites, the first one I have to mention is the highly underrated Hoshi to Bokura to, basically Stars and Us or Us and Stars; there are a couple of possible translations.
The smooth, slow feel of the song is so different from the rest of the soundtrack, and it allows you to actually see the immense talent and bravado that Inaizumi has.
In the same vein, there is my favorite Inaizumi song of all time, which is Bokura no Hikari (Our Light) from Persona 5 Royal. The ending song for that game is also slow but in a vastly different way.
It is the single most unique song in the Persona 5 pantheon, being so hauntingly beautiful with a melody so deep and emotional, unlike anything else.
It almost seems like a song better served in something like Kingdom Hearts than Persona, and it makes the wonderful ending of Royal so much more impactful in the process.
Beyond that, some other notable works that I like from Lyn include Colors Flying High (Royal), To Wish (Persona 5 Strikers), and Throw Away Your Mask (Royal). There are seriously some wonderful gems in the Persona 5 tracks, so just be like me and put the whole soundtrack on while you work. Spoilers: that’s what I’m doing as I write this article.
Is Lyn Inaizumi Working on Persona 6 Next?
The biggest question when it comes to Lyn Inaizumi, or should I say Rin, is what is she up to these days? There is no way that a young singer like her, in the midst of her prime, isn’t working hard on something amazing right now that is going to shock everyone.
In that case, what exactly is it? The fact of the matter remains that she hasn’t really worked on anything since 2020, when Persona 5 Strikers came out. And, to be fair, the way that development and recording work, it is likely that she was done with that project in 2019.
So, if that is the case, what has Inaizumi been working on for the last two to three years? It could literally be anything from anime to even live-action series. However, the reality is that Inaizumi has worked on Atlus projects the most in her professional career, and I don’t see that changing.
If anything, I am all but certain that she is working on some music related to Atlus games at this time. It wasn’t seemingly Soul Hackers 2, despite the fact that her voice would have worked really well there, so then it would need to be something else.
I think it would be interesting if there was an off-the-wall surprising Atlus game like Catherine 2 that she is working on. I think that would be a nice shock for fans and make a lot of sense for her style. But the real hope that I have is for Inaizumi to be recording songs for the inevitable Persona 6.
I have long said that Persona 6’s unveiling is just around the corner, and I still stand by that. I think the pandemic could have affected its production somewhat, but I think the game is still sooner than we might think. For now, though, we will just have to wait and see.
FAQs
Question: How Old is Lyn Inaizumi?
Answer: Lyn Inaizumi is currently 34 years old at the time of writing this, with a bright and shining musical future ahead of her.
Question: Who is the Singer in Persona 5?
Answer: The main singer behind the Persona 5 songs is none other than the star of this guide, Lyn Inaizumi.
Question: Who is the Singer in the Persona Games?
Answer: While Lyn Inaizumi is the main singer in the latest Persona 5 games, that wasn’t always the case. Yumi Kawamura is who I think of initially, being the iconic voice behind School Days in the original Persona, the entire Persona 3 soundtrack and its versions, and even Persona 4 Arena. Also, shout out to Shihoko Hirata for Persona 4’s classic songs.
Your Next Persona Developer Deep Dive
Lyn Inaizumi is the voice of the Persona series these days. Still, she is only a single part of the overall machine that made the masterful Persona 5. At the end of the day, it takes an entire team of people to make it happen. One such person who contributed to Persona 5 and made it one of the greatest JRPGs of all time was none other than Kazuma Kaneko.
This legendary artist and director for Atlus has only worked on a couple of Persona projects, mainly focusing on the core Shin Megami Tensei series. However, that changed with Persona 5, where he came back for a significant role that helped to define that legendary game. You can find out more about his contributions and legacy right here.
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