Japanese singer Ado has officially set off on her European tour on March 9 starting with the city of Brussels, after visiting various Asian cities, and has encapsulated all her eccentricities and incredible talent in a frenetic show, while never once revealing her identity.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, singer Ado is more than a rising star. From a very young age, she was influenced by utaite, those Japanese singers who cover previously released songs while concealing their faces, as well as vocaloid music, a singing software used to model human voices, and started uploading cover songs at 14. In October 2020, she releases her debut single Usseewa, a worldwide hit that spread all over Asia and the whole world and has gathered more than 300 million views on YouTube, followed by her first album Kyougen, which also quite rapidly made an impression.
Gifted with a prism of vocal colors and versatile timbres, Ado’s musical style revolves around J-Pop, pop rock, funk rock and Yakousei (which literally translates to ‘nocturnal’), a very addictive Japanese subgenre comparable to alternative rock that emerged from three artists from Japan.
© Ado staff
More recently, Ado’s interpretation of Uta, an idol character in the 2022 Japanese movie ‘One Piece Film: Red’, based on one of the most legendary anime in history, really propelled her career forward in an even more significant way, especially with the song New Genesis quickly becoming an iconic song in her repertoire. The singer also released her song Kura Kura in 2023, which serves as an opening theme for the popular anime series ‘Spy × Family’.
Faceless talent with a mighty voice
Evidently, Ado’s most prominent feature is her powerful and daring singing voice. She effortlessly displays an unprecedented and bold vocal range that consists of frequent deep growls and consistently oscillates between chest voice and head voice, from very lows to opera-level high notes.
© Ado staff
Beyond her extraordinarily unique vocal aptitudes, Ado conveys various messages on self-love and self-doubt, social marginalization and what growing up in a world while being different entails. More importantly, she represents a new defiant generation, determined to question every corrupt aspect of society and make a change, and that is precisely what makes her music particularly relatable.
Besides, Ado carefully picked the term ‘Wish’ to name her first world tour, referring to her ‘wish’ to introduce the Japanese utaite subculture to the world.
© Ado staff
Her artist image is also very intriguing, since she uses an anime avatar to express herself online, a characteristic that utaite fans know all too well, but is also keen to remain completely anonymous. During the concert, she made sure her face was kept hidden from the public with the help of stage lights and we were strictly forbidden from recording or filming. This peculiar facade allows her to deliver her messages solely through her voice, songs and silhouette, undoubtedly adding to her phenomenal singularity. Ado’s first world tour proves how tirelessly committed she is to her messages and how strikingly wide the extent of her talent is.
Watch Ado’s most viewed music video on YouTube:
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