Ado
The enigmatic J-pop singer known as Ado was born on October 24, 2002, in Tokyo, Japan. Inspired by the numerous utaite (a Japanese term meaning 'internet cover singer') on the video-sharing website Niconico, Ado became a cover singer herself and kicked off her career in 2017 with a version of Hatsune Miku's "Kimi no Taion." After featuring on Kujira's "Kinmokusei" (2019) and jon-YAKITORY's "Shikabanēze" (2020), Ado signed with Universal Music Japan and made her official debut with the single "Usseewa" in late 2020. Produced by Vocaloid specialist Syudou, "Usseewa" perfectly captured the growing unrest of the Japanese youth and quickly soared to the top of the Japanese Hot 100, the Oricon Digital Singles Chart, and the Oricon Streaming Chart. In 2021, Ado kept building momentum with the singles "Gira Gira," "Odo," and "Asura-chan," all of which enjoyed great popularity in Japan and helped her win the category of Best New Asian Artists Japan at Mnet's MAMA Awards. Featuring production by Syudou, Three, Teniwoha, and TeddyLoid, among others, her first album Kyōgen (2022) reached number 1 on the Japanese charts and was followed closely by the EP Uta no Uta: One Piece Film Red, another chart-topping release that contained songs from the anime film One Piece Film: Red. Following two nationwide live tours and a feature in Le Sserafim and Nile Rodgers' "Unforgiven," Ado announced the release of the compilation Ado's Utattemita Album, a collection of her most popular songs that reached number 2 in Japan. Preceded by fourteen singles with multiple commercial tie-ins, Ado's sophomore effort Zanmu arrived in July 2024, once again reaching number 1 on both the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts.
