When she was eleven years old, she passed an audition to perform the national anthem at the opening of an NBA game, earning a standing ovation.

[1] On March 24, 2010, Saunders released her first major-label single under Sony Music Japan's label DefStar Records, titled "Kimi ga Iru Kara" (キミがいるから, "Because You Are Here"), which was featured as the theme song to the 2010 film Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, a Japan-America co-production in which she also gave a cameo performance.

[6][7] Her second major-label single, "Missing/It's You", was slated for release on July 7, 2010, with "Missing" being the second opening theme song to the Bones and Stan Lee anime Heroman.

[9] Saunders appeared on NBC's Today in the United States on May 13, 2011, where she was interviewed by Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, before she performed her fourth major single "Never Give Up".

[11] Her fifth major single, "Crazy for You", was released on October 5, 2011; the song was used in Japanese online clothing retailer Nissen's 2011 fall collection television commercial.