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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| Occupations |
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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
[edit]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.
Career
[edit]2018-2022: Early career, Space Cadets, and Words of a Dreamer
[edit]Formaline 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, Formaline 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, Formaline 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, Formaline and Ian formed the Space Cadet producer collective, along with other producers Ian had made contact with. That year, Formaline posted five instrumental albums, all of which were later taken down in 2023 due to Formaline'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 2022, Formaline became more active on Twitter, initially forming a YoungBoy Never Broke Again fan account and meeting other fans via Twitter and Discord; they would frequently troll others on the site and fight with others, including lolicons. This trolling would lead to multiple of their accounts getting suspended due to mass reporting from lolicons. In August, 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. To deal with the resulting musical burnout they faced, Formaline would be introduced to multiple transgender users on Twitter, including Molly Niessi, who they quickly bonded with. They would later realize they were non-binary, and subsequently gender fluid, and the support from their friends encourage them; they would leave the YoungBoy fandom, due to their feelings that the fandom had died down.
2023: Rap career, Beside at Heart
[edit]In 2023, Formaline started to look for local studios to record music in, signing up for multiple recording camps and starting to rap. Forming the collective Mak Muzik, as well as setting up an account on Bandcamp, they would announce their debut mixtape, Beside at Heart, and start recording for it after finding a studio located in a nearby city.
Personal life
[edit]Formaline is openly pansexual, non-binary, and gender-fluid; as such, they have described themselves as being transgender. However, they have repeatedly refused to describe themselves as trans-masculine or trans-feminine, due to them feeling that those labels don't completely fit them. They are polyamorous and have four partners.
Formaline's preferred name, Mizuki Reon Naito, was inspired by their interests. "Mizuki" represents their gender-fluidity ("Mizu" is Japanese for "water), "Reon" was taken from their liking for the color red, and "Naito" is the last name of the main character from the film Belle, which they have repeatedly praised and noted as their comfort film; their profile picture on Instagram, Bandcamp, and their professional Twitter account is a still from the movie.
In July 2022, Formaline and their grandmother were involved in a car crash in Portland, Oregon; the crash resulted in their grandmother having her arm broken and in them suffering a spinal fracture; despite this, they were let out of the hospital without needing surgery or back braces. They have cited this incident as a sign shown to them that they were strong and could deal with anything thrown at them.
In March 2023, one of Formaline's former partners, Emma, attempted suicide; her presumed death was subsequently mocked by Joshua Moon, the owner of Kiwi Farms, and transphobic Twitter account ValidLs. However, it would later come out that Emma had survived her attempt, although she ended up quitting Twitter and Discord as a result of the harassment. They have spoken about her attempt, revealing it to be a reason that they started rapping, as they wanted to help others when they were under the assumption they had failed in helping her.
Twitter controversies
[edit]Formaline was the victim of attempted grooming from zoophile and pedophile Nikoli Sveta, also known as Zrcalo, who they met via Zrcalo's account TransphobicLs. Under the impression that Zrcalo was 17 instead of 34, they interacted frequently, with them submitting posts to the account and frequently replying to him; this behavior would also extend to harassing Zrcalo's accuser Andient Art, which they would later regret and apologize for. However, after finding out about Zrcalo's nature after more evidence against him surfaced, they cut ties with him; they have stated that if that evidence never came out, he would have likely succeeded in grooming them. Due to their guilts about having associated with him and harassing his victim, they have come close to suicide multiple times.
In February 2023, Formaline started interacting with transphobic troll Jace4PF, who found them after looking for fellow fans of rapper Iayze. He would later express public support for Zrcalo, claim that "consent is a myth", mock one of their partners' child sexual assault, and stalked them and their friends on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Discord. He eventually posted their school and the name of one of their personal friends, leading them to have a breakdown and private their account before he deleted his account amid him being reported multiple times.
In April 2023, Formaline had a falling out with former friend Rose, after she admitted to hacking one of their friend's accounts and having been active with ValidLs. After she faked screenshots of an evidence account against her, falsely indicating that the account had framed Molly as a pedophile, they called her out, leading to her blocking them on all of their Twitter accounts and going private. Rose would subsequently claim she would detransition due to the backlash against her, increased her association with ValidLs, and posted revenge porn of Molly, who she had previously dated. After they called her out, she claimed in ValidLs's Telegram channel that she wanted them doxxed, murdered, and raped.