2008–2012: Debut with "Ōgoe Diamond" and SKE48 In 2008, Matsui auditioned for
SKE48 and made her debut performance on October 5 at SKE48 Theater in
Sakae, Nagoya. Three months later, at the age of 11, Matsui was chosen as the choreography center and the cover girl for AKB48's single "
Ōgoe Diamond". It was the first time an AKB48 single would feature a member of a sister group. In 2009, Matsui was chosen again as one of the centers for AKB48's 11th major single "
10nen Sakura" with
Atsuko Maeda.
2012–2017: Concurrent position in AKB48 In early 2012, following scandals in which members Natsumi Hirajima and Rumi Yonezawa resigned from AKB48, Matsui was added to AKB48 as a temporary concurrent member to fill in one of the vacant positions. She later made her debut performance at AKB48 Theater on June 1. On September 18, Matsui was announced to be one of the center performers for AKB48's 28th single "
Uza" with
Yuko Oshima, and performed the song for the first time at the group's rock-paper-scissors tournament. At the next rock-paper-scissors tournament in 2013, Matsui came out as the winner after beating a total of 83 members which earned her the center position for the group's 34th single,
"Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru". In 2015, Matsui's first solo song "Akai Pinhiiru to Professor" was released as one of the new songs for AKB48's sixth studio album
Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe!. During the broadcast of
AKB48 All Night Nippon on October 21, 2015, Matsui announced that she would terminate her concurrent position in AKB48 Team K after three years to commit herself to SKE48. She subsequently had her last performance at the AKB48 Theater on December 24. In 2017, Matsui's first self-written song titled "Hana Uranai" was released and included in SKE48's second studio album
Kakumei no Oka. Matsui stated that the song consists of her feelings towards her fellow first-generation members. In May, Matsui shared the choreography center position with
Sakura Miyawaki for AKB48's commemorative single "
Negaigoto no Mochigusare" which was used as the theme song for the junior high school division at the
NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition.
2018–2019: Brief hiatus and solo album In May 2018, Matsui was one of the two SKE48 members to participate in the South Korean competition show,
Produce 48. On June 16, Matsui collapsed on stage during a concert for the 10th AKB48 general election and had to be carried away to rest before returning. At the end of the night, Matsui was announced as the winner with 194,453 votes and would become the center performer for AKB48's 53rd single. On July 7, SKE48 manager Yuasa Hiroshi released a statement that Matsui would halt all activities to take some time off to recover. Mnet later confirmed Matsui was also withdrawing from
Produce 48 where she placed 13th in the voting results of the fifth episode with 329,455 votes. The news of her win and sickness made her one of the three most-searched idols in the first half of 2018 according to
Yahoo! Japan. Matsui resumed her activities on September 6, 2018, and made a surprise appearance at the SKE48 Theater to announce her return. Because of her long hiatus, Matsui was unable to participate in the recording of the song and music video of her winning single "
Sentimental Train". Matsui was temporarily replaced by storyboard and CG images in the unfinished version of the music video. On September 25, the full version of both song and music video was released and could be downloaded by CD purchasers with serial numbers included in the CD. On October 5, 2019, which is also the 11th anniversary of her debut, Matsui released her debut solo album
Privacy under label Showroom Records. A pre-release single "KMT Dance" was distributed on August 28, accompanied by a
Line Music campaign. All nine tracks in the album were written by Matsui and composed by
Yoshimasa Inoue. The release of the album was proposed by
AKB48 Group's producer
Yasushi Akimoto after witnessing how Matsui's sensitive lyrics and singing voice grabbed fans through her live streams on
Showroom.
2020–2021: Graduation from SKE48 On February 7, 2020, Matsui announced her graduation from SKE48. Her graduation concert was scheduled to be held at the Nippon Gaishi Hall on September 26–27 and her farewell performance on October 5 at SKE48 theater, which were eventually postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. In commemoration of her upcoming graduation, SKE48 and
Chukyo TV launched a paid virtual exhibition titled "Jurina's Share Room" which features more than 100 pieces of content taken from her 12 years of career. The special website was opened for a limited time for about three months which was divided into three seasons starting January 9, 2021. Matsui's last single as a member of SKE48 titled "Koiochi Flag" was released on February 3, 2021. All 68 members of SKE48 participated in the recording of the song and the music video. In addition to that, Matsui also produced a unit named Black Pearl from members who she "felt they would be the future of SKE48". She participated in all aspects, including songwriting, choreography, and styling. Matsui also wrote the lyrics for her graduation solo song . The single won first place on the
Oricon Singles Weekly Chart. It marked SKE48's 23rd wins on the chart, making the group the fifth female artist who has the most number one positions in the history behind AKB48,
Ayumi Hamasaki,
Seiko Matsuda, and
Nogizaka46. On April 11, 2021, Matsui's graduation concert was held at the
Nippon Gaishi Hall and consisted of two shows - day and night - with two different
setlists, with an audience less than 50% of the venue's capacity. Matsui took part in the planning of the concert. The daytime show featured
Pro Wrestling Noah's fighters,
Naomichi Marufuji,
Kaito Kiyomiya,
Yo-Hey, and Yoshiki Inamura, as well as performance of several songs originally sung by Matsui's AKB48 senior members. Matsui had her last performance as a member of SKE48 on April 29 at SKE48 Theater, ending her 13-year career as an idol. However, Matsui only appeared 48 minutes into the show after a series of solo performances of her junior members, to which she said she wanted them to gain experience. At the end of the show, Matsui expressed her intention to be active as an actress and TV personality in the future. On May 18, 2024, it was announced Matsui would become the "playing manager" for AKB48's Malaysia-based sister group, KLP48, who will debut in August the same year. ==Acting career==