Laura Shigihara

Laura Shigihara is an American-born Japanese singer-songwriter, video game developer, composer for video games, and Twitch streamer. She is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies and as the creator of the acclaimed indie RPG Rakuen.

Laura Shigihara
BornUnited States
OriginJapan
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • composer
Instruments
Associated acts
Websitelaurashigihara.com

Shigihara has worked on over 30 other published video game titles including Deltarune, World of Warcraft, To the Moon, High School Story and the 5th Anniversary Edition of Super Meat Boy. She co-created the ending theme song for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang with C418 and worked together with Yasunori Mitsuda on the official Square Enix Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross 20th Anniversary Album.[1]

Biography

Shigihara, whose mother is French and father is Japanese, grew up in both the United States and Japan.[2] She was classically trained on the piano for 11 years and taught herself guitar and drums. During college at UC Berkeley studying International Relations, Business and Computer Science,[3] she was given an old version of Cakewalk which she used to start learning about mixing, arranging and production by recreating old video game soundtracks and composing her own songs. After a friend leaked her original material to record companies in Japan, Shigihara was offered record contracts as a singer there, but ended up turning them down for personal reasons.[4]

Shortly after returning to the US, Shigihara took a job as the sound director for a company that produced an audio talk show and English learning materials through Apple Japan. She also released a studio album and composed her first video game soundtrack for a small casual game called Wobbly Bobbly. She was so excited to be working on a video game that she told them she'd work for free. The company liked her work and paid her to create music for several subsequent projects.[4] From there she built up her portfolio and has worked on over 30 published titles including Plants vs. Zombies, Deltarune, World of Warcraft, Minecraft and the indie RPG To the Moon.[1] She participated in Akira Yamaoka's charity album Play for Japan where she contributed an original song called "Jump",[5] alongside other composers like Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda.[6] On November 16, 2011, she released her single "Cube Land" in relation to Minecraft and Plants vs. Zombies.[7]

Shigihara is also active as a game designer—she created the adventure game Rakuen.[8][9]

Shigihara is a Christian.[10]

Shigihara is a Twitch streamer who streams weekly performing songs she composed, as well as singing English/Japanese cover songs of various genre.[11]

Discography

Shigihara's works include:[12]

References
  1. "VGM « mybluedream". Shigi.wordpress.com. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  2. arcticpenguin (May 5, 2009). "Interview with Laura Shigihara- Composer for Plants vs. Zombies". Play as Life. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  3. "laurashigihara.com". laurashigihara.com. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  4. Poisso, Lisa (November 1, 2010). "15 Minutes of Fame: Laura Shigihara, voice of WoW's Singing Sunflower". Wow.joystiq.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  5. "The Album | Artists | Play For Japan – A Game Industry Relief Effort". Play For Japan. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  6. "News – Interview: Yamaoka, Shigihara, And Jackson Play For Japan". Gamasutra. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  7. ""Cube Land" – A Minecraft Music Video – An Original Song by Laura Shigihara (PvZ Composer)". YouTube. April 1, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  8. http://store.steampowered.com/app/559210/Rakuen/
  9. https://projectrakuen.com/
  10. "The GameChurch Podcast 85: Laura Shigihara of Rakuen and Themes of Redemption". Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  11. https://www.twitch.tv/supershigi
  12. "Laura Shigihara". Laurashigihara.bandcamp.com. November 2, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  13. ""one" by C418".
  14. ""148" by C418".
  15. ""Kami Kabuto Hero on Rakuen OS"".
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