Yui's rise to Japanese stardom is as simple in retelling as it was difficult in execution, deserving a manga adaptation or a movie of its own. At 16, the music-loving Yoshioka Yui, who grew up without a father, followed the recommendation of a friend and switched from a normal high school to a private music school in Fukuoka. There she honed her performing and composing skills, dragging her guitar around with her everywhere she went and doing street performances, which also helped her in her battle with shyness. The battle was clearly won by 2003, when she participated in an audition organized by Sony Music, having to hold her ground against no less than 20,000 opponents and managing to score a record contract. This led to her only 䀘indie' single, It's A Happy Line, released in 2004. The A-side song was heard by the director of a prime time TV drama #Fukigen na Gene ("Grumpy Gene") and impressed him enough to get Yui's music employed in the show.
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