Shiena Nishizawa

Career

Nishizawa's professional career began with her debut single "Fubuki," released on February 18, 2015, which served as the closing theme for the 2015 anime series Kantai Collection. She performed at Animelo Summer Live in August 2015. Her second single, "Brand-new World / Piacere," came out on November 11, 2015; "Brand-new World" was used as the first opening theme for The Asterisk War, while "Piacere" closed the OVA Aria the Avvenire. She made her first overseas appearance at the DoKomi anime convention in Düsseldorf, Germany, in April 2016.

Her third single, "The Asterisk War," was released on May 25, 2016, as the second opening theme for the same series. The fourth single, "Kikan," dropped on November 23, 2016, as the theme for KanColle: The Movie. Her debut album Break Your Fate arrived on March 15, 2017, and her official fanclub Face to Face opened in April 2017. She appeared at Anime Festival Asia Indonesia in August 2017, Cosplay Mania in the Philippines in October 2017, Anime Festival Asia Singapore in November 2017, and C3 AFA Hong Kong on February 11, 2018.

Her fifth single, "Love Men Holic," was released on February 21, 2018, as the closing theme for Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles. The digital single "Meteor / New Generation" came out on June 27, 2018, with both songs used as insert songs in the anime Last Hope. After returning to Singapore for the Natsu Rock concert in June 2018, she performed at Penang Anime Matsuri in Malaysia in July 2018 and at Otakuthon in Montreal, Canada, in August 2018, then returned to AFA Singapore in December 2018.

On July 9, 2019, she adopted the stage name Exina and moved to Sacra Music under Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Her first mini album under Exina, XiX, was released on August 21, 2019. She released the single "Divine" in May 2021, which opened the anime Blue Reflection Ray, and "Ending Mirage" in February 2022, which closed World's End Harem.

Musical style and influences

Nishizawa's music focuses on rock, and she lists Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters among her musical inspirations. Her father, who owned a guitar and first taught her to play, also influenced her love of music. In interviews with Anican and Animate Times, she discussed the production of her debut single "Fubuki." The single began as a demo recorded shortly after her audition win, with no title and different lyrics; at the time of the audition, it had not yet been decided that she would sing the song for Kantai Collection.

She was not familiar with the series before making the single and felt pressured about debuting in a popular franchise. After the single's release, she was "filled with emotions" and resolved to start writing her own songs, as "Fubuki" was not written by her. For her second single "Brand New World," discussed in an interview with Newtype, she wanted to challenge herself by writing the lyrics. She drew on the relationship of the characters Ayato and Julis from The Asterisk War, particularly their "feelings of emotion," and used lyrics such as "bloom powerfully" to convey pushing through pain.

For the B-side "Piacere," she aimed to relate to Aria the Avvenire's generational change and express kindness, pleasure, and sadness. In an interview with Akiba Souken, she described her first album Break Your Fate as revolving around the theme of "fate," particularly fighting one's self. The track "Shark" was meant to convey sharks as "scary and dangerous" creatures that must swim to breathe, and features a long English phrase as she wanted to attempt expressions she had never done before. "Gemini" represents a fantasy world, while "Feel This Moment" was intended as her anthem for live performances.