Sowelu, born Aki Haraa (原田亜希, harada aki?), is a J-pop singer. She was born on November 6, 1982 in Tokyo to a Japanese father Yoshitaka Shimada (嶋田吉隆, shimada yoshitaka?) and a half-Irish half-Japanese mother. Her career started in 2002 with the release of her first single Beautiful Dreamer, a soft love ballad which did very well in the charts, and was later featured on the Relaxin’ with Japanese Lovers compilation album. Her first single was modestly successful, and it wasn't until the release of her album Geofu in the summer of 2003 that she gained recognition. Geofu did exceptionally well in the charts, scoring a number 4 position with more than 300,000 copies sold. Her first single after Geofu, "Rainbow" was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama Netsuretsuteki Chukahanten, and the other A-side song on that single, "breath ~Omoi no Youryou~" was used for the national promotion campaign of JFN Radio. She performs under Sony Music Japan's DefSTAR Records label.