As the creative alchemist behind Emergency Tiara, Juri Jinnai merges left-field and classic pop sounds to create something entirely her own—drawing from personal experience and her own feminist expression for art that's as life-affirming as it is thought-provoking. After an impressive run of recent singles as well as facing personal and life-threatening struggles, Jinnai is continuing to push Emergency Tiara's delightfully off-kilter sound forward, and no one is ready for what’s to come.

Born and raised in Japan, Jinnai moved to the U.S. in 2004 to study music at Berklee College of Music, decamping to NYC to kick start her music career after graduation. "My main thing was background singing back then, so I was singing for a band of one of my Berklee teachers while I was writing my own music," she explains, and after starting to perform her own music solo in 2010, Jinnai formed Emergency Tiara two years later in creative partnership with producer and frequent collaborator Dave Cole.

The project’s 2019 debut Unsophisticated Circus was drawn from the wealth of material that Jinnai had accrued over the years residing in NYC—and during time in lockdown the following year, she found herself productive as ever and yet again amassing a collection of new and wonderful sounds. “I was able to revisit who I am as an artist and human,” she explains, and alot of what came forth as a result was directly influenced by her reaction to the social unrest that took place the world over in 2020. “My music is more honest to myself now,” she says. “It was a good opportunity for me to shake off all the preconceptions I had as an artist and an Asian woman, and to be more naked and authentic when it comes to who I am.”

Since then, Jinnai has released a string of Emergency Tiara singles bridging the gap between the project’s beginnings and where it’s heading. Released in the fall of 2023, EP Cat’s Meow— the title of which is inspired by Jinnai’s love for feline friends—pushes things further when it comes to exploring new territory for Emergency Tiara. “OMG” possesses a lovely melodic bounce with a slightly futuristic sheen, while the lush disco sounds of first single “Sore Loser” accompany Jinnai’s verbal clowning on an aggressive male musician she recently encountered at London Fashion Week. “He was not my favorite kind of person,” she laughs. “His mother was with him and he was trying to flirt with me the entire time, even though I’m married and he was engaged. Every time he bought me a drink, he had to borrow his mommy’s credit card…. How cute.”

Jinnai describes EP cut “Thirsty” as “My version of a love song,” dedicated to her husband— who has been by her side since she was diagnosed with a rare form of stage 4 colon cancer due to Lynch syndrome (one of the cancer hereditary gene mutations) after experiencing abdominal pain on vacation in August 2022. After months of tests and uncertainty, Jinnai entered immunotherapy treatment and underwent several surgeries which fortunately led her to be in remission and with the ability to return to her normal day-to-day schedule last winter. “I was very fortunate and lucky in this unfortunate circumstance,” she said about her continuing close cancer surveillance due to not only Lynch syndrome but also BRCA2 (another cancer hereditary gene mutation) and how it’s played a role in her own self-reflection. “I deeply feel for other women who have gone through this as well. If I can make even one person feel less alone, then I want to incorporate that into my art.”

Her newest EP Custom Made was released in February 2025 which continues to celebrate the resilience of women with her unique quirk and charm. The EP cut “Yum” is a song about her embarrassing story when she thought a hot drummer boy was flirting with her and quickly to realized he was gay and was flirting with another hot gay boy standing behind her. To complement her self deprecating lyrics, surf dance beat and playful chorus keep it light, silly and hard not to dance to.

Embracing her sense of self is crucial to Emergency Tiara’s future, as Jinnai preps severalnew albums for the project and continues heading down darker, more challenging—and more truthful—paths. “As challenging as this experience has been, I’m also very grateful to have the opportunity to appreciate what I’ve been given,” she reflects. “I just want to be who I am in every aspect of life, including my music. Otherwise, what else am I saving myself for?”