User:ColorTheoryRGB/Formaline
Formaline | |
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| Birth name | Mizuki Reon Naito |
| Also known as |
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| Born | August 3, 2007 Davis, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 2018–present (as producer) 2023–present (as rapper) |
| Labels | Mak Muzik |
| Member of | Mak Muzik |
| Website | makmuzik |
Mizuki Reon Naito (born August 3, 2007), better known under their stage name Formaline (stylized in lowercase), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Davis, California. Part of the artistic collective Mak Muzik, they began producing in 2017 before starting their rap career in 2023. Their debut mixtape, Beside at Heart, is set to be released in 2023.
Early life, early career, and Space Cadets: 2007-2022
Mizuki Reon Naito was born on August 3, 2007 in Davis, California; their mother is a cheesemaker and their father is an emergency doctor. Their aunt is a rock musician, signed to Alternative Tentacles as part of her band, The Darts. Growing up, Naito was treated well by their parents, who frequently bought them films, video games, and music, inspiring Naito's interests in those subjects. They were introduced to rap music by their brother, who played them Eminem's music; however, they were more interested in |pop music played on the radio, such as those by Demi Lovato, Zendaya, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and Ariana Grande. They would later become more interested in rap after hearing Lil Uzi Vert's mixtape Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World and album Luv is Rage 2; their signature hairstyle was inspired by the former album's cover art, as well as by Pokémon character Ash Ketchum.
Naito first started producing while sick from school; their first beat was made on mobile app Medly and was inspired by Migos album Culture II, which was released the same day. They would make beats on Medly as well as on GarageBand for a year until installing Logic Pro on their computer. After installing Logic Pro, Naito frequently used the site Looperman as a source of melodies, preferring not to use the app's default presets to make their own melodies due to dissatisfaction with the quality of said sounds. Inspired by fellow producer Guala Beatz, they would later install the plugin ElectraX, using the sounds in Guala's kits to make their own melodies.
In late 2019, they started more frequently making instrumentals and posting them on their YouTube channel, which increased in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; they would frequently promote their instrumentals on the Reddit pages of the artists who inspired said beats. This kind of promotion would lead them to meet fellow producer IanPlug, who asked them to send melodies after being impressed with their skills. In 2021, Naito and Ian formed the Space Cadet producer collective, along with other producers Ian had made contact with. That year, Naito posted five instrumental albums, all of which were later taken down in 2023 due to Naito's dissatisfaction with them as well as the credits having their deadname. They would also release the Juice Wrld and Playboi Carti stem edits "Crack Money" and "Backpack Cash" that year, which went viral on YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok. In August 2022, they and Philadelphia rapper Visay released their collaborative mixtape Words of a Dreamer, which they entirely produced by themselves; the following month, Ian dissolved the Space Cadets collective, citing his feelings that it was too early in their careers to have a collective.