It only takes seconds of an Ado performance to grasp the hold the Japanese singer has over her adoring fans in the crowd.
The 22-year-old singer – who actually refers to herself as an “Utaite,” a Japanese word for a typically amateur singer who uses an avatar to post song covers online – shot to the top of music charts in her home country when she was just a teenager. She’s performed at Japan’s National Stadium, which holds over 60,000 fans. Despite Ado’s overwhelming fame, even her biggest fan wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a crowd.
Ado, keeping in line with the cultural norm for Utaite singers, has never revealed her identity, instead using an anime character-like avatar online. In person, during one of her heart-pounding and thrilling concerts, the singer performs in the “Ado box” – a shadowed metal box on stage that allows her to perform live without being seen. Photos and videos are not allowed at her shows, making the atmosphere all about living in the moment.
Wrapping up her biggest world tour to date, Hibana, Sunday, Ado’s global profile only continues to grow. Below, the singer speaks with THR about why she doesn’t want to reveal her identity, how she felt before heading out on her first overseas tour, and bringing Japanese music and culture to the world.
Can you share a bit about your decision not to reveal your identity and why it’s important to you as an artist?
In Japan, I’m known as… well, I call myself an Utaite rather than an artist. There’s this culture in Japan that started from the internet – there’s a video sharing platform called Niconico where Vocaloid (a voice synthesizer software) songs are covered by Utaite as well. The people post videos, but not under their real names. They come up with a new nickname for themselves. They come up with a new sort of anime character design as an icon for themselves.
As a young child, I was very much drawn by the Vocaloid genre and the people as well. I had an inferiority complex in terms of how I looked, so when I found the culture, I realized that this was finally something that I could do. This is how my so-called mysterious career sort of evolved. I started with posting on the internet and that has led to where I I’m now.
You started quite young. Do you feel that not showing your identity and being able to perform in a “mysterious” way, as you put it, has been different for you as a woman? In the entertainment industry, particularly younger women, are often forced into a box.
That’s actually something I’ve never thought about, really. But now that you’ve mentioned it, it does ring true. In the Utaite world, there are male and female singers, but it’s not really about hiding gender. So, I’ve never really thought about it in those terms, but when you think of artists or your singers in general, it’s a lot about the visual aspect.
There’s the visual aspect and then the song. Then they sing and do live performances, go on tv, that’s the usual route that people take. But I never really had to think about that because I come from the utaite background. My voice isn’t exactly what you’d call feminine – it’s very low and sometimes I’d be shouting. My voice has that punkish quality to it as well when I’m singing. Maybe there’s not so much of that feminine side that people really think of as feminine in general to my voice. It’s not about being masculine or feminine. My voice goes beyond that because you’ve taken away the visual aspect of it as well.
What was your thought process going into your world tour last year? Were there any concerns? What did you think when you saw your extremely dedicated fanbase here?
Before the first tour last year, I was thinking, what is going to happen? There was a part of me that was looking forward to it, but there’s also another part of me that was quite anxious because I hadn’t a clue as to how it was going to shake out. Actually, I had never been abroad before up until then, so all I knew about countries abroad was what I saw on TV or the internet. I couldn’t wrap my head around me going overseas, and beyond that, to actually perform not just in the countries in Asia close to Japan but [also] going all the way over to North America and Europe. That I had fans, there was something that I couldn’t quite believe. I was also thinking about the response, how the audience would respond as well. I thought perhaps, depending on the country, I might get booed at or people might get bored and leave. I had to really gear up and decide that come what may, [I had] that kind of mentality.
My first show abroad was in Bangkok, Thailand. The show started, and I was waiting side stage for my time to go on. Then I heard the crowd roar, and I was just ecstatic. Actually, the cheering was louder and more powerful than in Japan, and I thought, “Oh my goodness, there are so many people that were waiting for me.” I realized I had nothing to be worried about and realized that all I needed to do was just concentrate on what was before me. From there, all my anxieties disappeared. It resulted in a very fun tour for me. Looking back on it now, my fears were actually something really tiny.
There’s been an influx of Japanese artists breaking into the U.S. market over this last year. It’s fair to say you’re one of the artists leading the charge in this globalization – your latest tour is one of the biggest world tours a Japanese act has ever undergone. Do you feel pressure from this, or is it something that brings you pride?
When I look back at my first tour, it was more about being excited about seeing many places abroad, that type of feeling. I wish I had more pride as a Japanese artist, but it was more about that, so I wasn’t really thinking about leading the J-music scene abroad. I was still stuck on not being able to believe I was going abroad. Looking back on it now, I wish I had more pride as a professional. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t back then. Having come back from that tour, I did a show at the Japan National Stadium. After that, I began to think about more of where I stand as a Japanese artist on the global scene musically. I felt a sense of pride emerge as well. As well as pressure, too. Pride, I’m saying in a good way. [This] has led to the new tour. This time around, my tour has grown in scale. I’m thinking more about how I can bring more of the Japanese music, more of the Japanese culture to the audience. I’m thinking about how I can get them to know more about that. I’m thinking more and more about my standing as a Japanese artist abroad,
Is there anything you’d like to add about your new world tour or anything else?
I am touring the world with my music, hoping to spread Japanese music and Japanese culture. Beyond that, I’m just hoping for the happiness of everybody that comes to my shows, whether they be Japanese or not. Yes, I am, as a Japanese artist, bringing my music and my culture to the world, but that’s not my goal. It is more about people enjoying my music and as a result, they feel happy. I do hope that they become more interested in Japanese music and Japanese culture through my music, but in the end, I’m wishing for everybody’s happiness.
