Kwon Bo-ah, known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. BoA has been recognized as one of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers throughout her career, and is therefore commonly credited as the "Queen of K-pop."
Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and made their debut CD on November 3, 1999. The group was initially signed to Pony Canyon and released one studio album and six singles—beginning with their 1999 eponymous debut single before moving to the Johnny's subsidiary label J Storm in 2001, which was initially set up for their succeeding releases. While their debut single sold close to a million copies, the group took a mixture of pop and alternate/contemporary approach to its music which attracted core followers, but subsequently faced commercially slow sales.
Namie Amuro is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of the Japanese entertainment industry since the early 1990s, Amuro is known for breaking the youthful idol stereotype of J-Pop, changing the fashion trends and lifestyle of women in Japan, her experimentation across music styles, and for her visual imagery in music videos and live performances. Due to her career longevity, resilience, professionalism, efforts behind-the-scenes in the music industry, and her way of living, she is a pop culture icon in Japan and Asia. She has been referred to as "the diva of the Heisei era" and the "Queen of Japanese Pop", and has been recognized as having the influence and career impact domestically equivalent to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western music and pop culture.
Chihiro Onitsuka is a Japanese singer-songwriter.
KAT-TUN is a Japanese boy band formed under Johnny & Associates (Johnny's) in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda, and Yuichi Nakamaru. Their debut on March 22, 2006 was marked by a tripartite release of a CD single, album and music DVD on their exclusive record label J-One Records. Since then, all of their single, album and music DVD releases have debuted at number one on the Oricon music and DVD charts.
Yui, stylized as YUI or yui, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Born and raised in Fukuoka prefecture, she played live at various locations in her hometown before being noticed by Sony Music Japan when she was 17 years old, and released her debut single months later. Her singles, however, were only met with moderate success until the breakout "Good-bye Days", which charted for 44 weeks on Oricon and marked her as one of the Japanese music industry's rising stars.
Lead is a Japanese hip-hop dance and vocal group, initially formed under the name Rhymix in Osaka, Japan in March 2002. They went through two name changes before debuting as "Lead" in May 2002 under the Pony Canyon sub-label Flight Master. The group consists of Shinya Taniuichi, Keita Furuya, Akira Kagimoto and, formerly, Hiroki Nakadoi.
Masahiko Kondō or Matchy is a Japanese singer, lyricist, actor, racing car manager and former semi-professional racing driver represented by Johnny & Associates. He was part of the Tanokin Trio.
"Kiss & Cry" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Hikaru Utada for her seventh studio and fifth Japanese album, Heart Station (2007). It was written, composed, and arranged by Utada, whilst production was handled by Utada, her father Teruzane Utada, and Akira Miyake. The single premiered on May 31, 2007 as the third single from the album in Japan. It was re-released as a double A-side single with "Beautiful World", which also appeared on the parent album on August 29 in Japan, and digitally worldwide. Musically, "Kiss & Cry" is an R&B song, influenced by pop and hip-hop music. Lyrically, it discusses both Utada's upbringing and social beliefs between both Western and oriental regions.
Girls' Generation, also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece group, Jessica left the group in September 2014. One of the prominent figures of the Korean Wave, the group has earned numerous accolades and the honorific nickname "The Nation's Girl Group" in their home country.
Kim Hyun-joong is a South Korean actor, singer and songwriter. He is a member of the boy band SS501 and played roles in the Korean dramas Boys Over Flowers and Playful Kiss.
CNBLUE is a South Korean pop rock band formed in 2009. The band consists of Jung Yong-hwa, Kang Min-hyuk (drums), and Lee Jung-shin (bass). First bassist Kwon Kwang-jin left the band after they released their debut Japanese extended play Now or Never in 2009, and was replaced by Lee Jung-shin. Lee Jong-hyun left the band on August 28, 2019.
ClariS is a Japanese pop music duo which formed in 2009 with singers Clara and Alice from Hokkaido, who were in junior high school at the time. The pair began singing covers and submitting them to Japanese video sharing website Niconico between 2009 and 2010. ClariS later signed to SME Records and released their debut single "Irony" in October 2010. Three more singles were released between 2011 and 2012, followed by their debut album Birthday (2012). Birthday was awarded a Gold Disc by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for having exceeded 100,000 copies shipped in a single year. Six more singles were released between 2012 and 2014, which were featured on their second album Second Story (2013) and third album Party Time (2014). Alice left the unit following Party Time's release, and Karen joined ClariS in late 2014. ClariS moved to the Sacra Music record label under Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 2017.
Risa Oribe, better known by her stage name LiSA, is a Japanese singer, songwriter and lyricist from Seki, Gifu, signed to Sacra Music under Sony Music Artists.
ChouCho is a Japanese female singer from Osaka Prefecture and is signed to Lantis.
Konomi Suzuki is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture who is signed to Mages. After winning the Animax All-Japan Anisong Grand Prix in 2011, she made her debut in 2012 with the release of her first single "Choir Jail", which peaked at 34 on the Oricon charts; the title track of which was used as the opening theme to the anime television series Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. She released her first album 17, in 2014, two albums in 2015, and a further album Lead, in 2016.
Got7 is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of seven members: JB, Mark, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam, and Yugyeom. Got7 debuted in January 2014 with the release of their first EP Got It?, which peaked at number two on the Gaon Album Chart and number one on Billboard's World Albums Chart. The group gained attention also for their live performances, which often includes elements of martial arts tricking and street dancing.
Charlotte is a 2015 Japanese anime television series produced by P.A.Works and Aniplex and directed by Yoshiyuki Asai. The anime aired 13 episodes in Japan between July 5 and September 27, 2015. An original video animation episode was released in March 2016. Two manga series were serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Comic. The story takes place in an alternate reality where a small percentage of children manifest superhuman abilities upon reaching puberty. A focus is placed on Yuu Otosaka, a high school boy who awakens the ability to temporarily possess others, which brings him to the attention of Nao Tomori, the student council president of a school founded as a haven for children with such abilities.
When the World is Wide is the debut studio album by Japanese indie rock band Ykiki Beat. It was released on July 22, 2015 by P-Vine Records.
DYGL are a four-piece indie rock band from Tokyo, Japan.
