Ado is the anonymous face of J-Pop

For Japanese singer Ado, the blue rose is a mirror of her very being. Once believed impossible, this flower did not exist until 2002 – the year she was born – when it was finally created in her home country, and it became a symbol of dreams brought to life.

It seems only natural that she identifies with it: though her face has never been revealed, she has brought the unimaginable to life with nothing but her voice. “I’ve been singing all along – even before my indie days, even at home – and I’ve always dreamed of turning it into a career, performing on a huge stage before an audience,” Ado tells Dazed over video call. Though absent from view, her tone conveys a powerful presence. “But there were moments I almost gave up, and I thought that dream was impossible.”

One day shy of her 18th birthday, she entered the J-Pop sphere with music that felt like rebellion. “Usseewa”, her debut single released in October 2020 which translates as “shut up”, ignited a reaction no one expected among Japan’s youth and became a generational anthem of liberation. J-Pop with a sprinkling of punk rock grit, “Usseewa”’s lyrics aired a disdain for the tedium of adulthood in a traditionally rigid society, and her vocal delivery hit with angst.

Ado admits that, during those early days, her music was “fueled by anger, even hatred”. It was a time of inner reckoning. “I had myriad complexes and even doubted my own existence,” she says. “I wasn’t sure why I was born, so at that point, it was about wanting to be understood, and the way that I sang was 100 per cent emotion.”

Captivated by Vocaloid culture in her childhood, she started off as an utaite – singers who upload covers on digital platforms such as Nico Nico Douga and YouTube, but use avatars to shield their privacy – a decision that has kept the spotlight on her songs. Anonymity, however, hasn’t prevented her from becoming the most-streamed Japanese artist worldwide.

Amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, “Usseewa” catapulted her to the vanguard of J-Pop, amassing over 100 million streams in just a few weeks and dominating the country’s major charts. That success rolled into a slew of singles in a similarly defiant vein to “Usseewa” – like “Readymade” and “Gira Gira” – before she introduced her first full-length album, Kyougen in 2022. Across all her projects, the image of a young woman with long hair clutching a blue rose to her heart has been a constant companion, a visual emblem of her artistry and beginnings.

Five years on, Ado has gained a seasoned perspective. The young girl who once believed that “powerful songs were the only way [she] could express [herself]” has since dabbled in different genres, refusing to be pigeonholed. She places special importance on her role as the singing voice of Uta – one of the main characters in One Piece Film: Red, the 2022 installment of the world’s biggest manga franchise – framing it as a turning point. “It left a strong impression on me in the sense that it made me realize that there are many ways of thinking and expressing oneself through different types of music,” she says.

Ado’s repertoire remains intense and her voice unyielding, but it now reveals a more rounded artist. And what began as a personal outlet has turned into a soundscape that has expanded its frontiers beyond Japan. Her recently concluded second world tour, Hibana (which translates as “spark”), is already the most ambitious international venture by a Japanese artist to date, attracting more than 500,000 attendees. “I used to connect [to the lyrics] purely through my own experiences, but recently, when I sing them, it’s not about expressing my emotions [completely],” she says. “Nowadays, I take a more objective stance and analyze the song through a listener’s lens. It’s good, but at the same time, I feel a little melancholic, realising that this is what it means to grow up.”

“[My perspective] slowly shifted [about] what it means to sing for others, and I began wondering if, in some way, I could be a helping hand for people,” she continues. “It’s not possible to make everybody in the world happy through my music, but if I can help guide even a few toward happiness, that would be wonderful.”

Some credit Ado’s arrival with accelerating J-Pop’s digital era, but she humbly disagrees – for Ado, it was just coincidence. “I think I was just in the right place at the right time,” she says, noting that streaming was already finding its way, but COVID-19 ended up pushing the transition. “People couldn’t really go into stores to buy physical CDs, or it was becoming increasingly difficult, so they were looking for ways to enjoy themselves during the lockdown. At the same time, artists and the music industry were also figuring out how to bring music to people. The pandemic had a huge impact and was a very sad time, but it also gave people a chance to reflect and look inward.”

Since 2020, the tides of J-Pop have been changing, with artists making strides internationally, and nowadays Ado hopes to be a conduit for audiences to discover and connect with Japanese music and the culture at its heart. “That’s the kind of change in myself that I am sensing right now,” she says. “When I debuted, I didn’t think about this at all and I felt that the outside world had nothing to do with who I am. But now I feel both pride and pressure to share Japanese music with the world.”

In Ado’s story, nothing feels unattainable. Today, the thought of giving up is long behind her, and the word “impossible” holds no meaning. Much like the blue rose, she says “I aim to become beautiful and strong.”