2024.03.08 UP
Sony Music Japan
Tokyo, Japan — Pioneering Japanese electronic artist and globally popular Vocaloid producer Kikuo announced their first-ever solo tour of North America, scheduled for early March 2024. The jaunt brings a creator who has helped add an experimental edge to works featuring singing-synthesizer software will play shows in Mexico City, Dallas, and Los Angeles, while also appearing at the famous South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.
Learn more about the tour here
First sharing original works online in 2003, Kikuo embraced the singing-synthesizer software Vocaloid and the digi-deliver of its avatar Hatsune Miku starting in 2010. He quickly stood out thanks to a genre-blurring approach to sound, a unique approach to layering melodies over one another, and balancing bright music against often cryptic lyrics. He also pushed the artistic capabilities of Vocaloid to the edge, revealing new ways that synthesized voices could be deployed in 21st-century music.
Kikuo stands as one of the most popular and influential Vocaloid artists today. In Japan, he has helped shape a new generation of artists, both in online spaces and younger creators stepping up into the J-pop mainstream. Internationally, he’s one of the most listened-to names in this style, with his song “Aishite Aishite Aishite” being the first Vocaloid track to ever surpass 100 million streams on Spotify. In early 2024, Kikuo toured the United States alongside British artist bo en. This March’s trip marks the first time he himself has hosted solo shows in North America.
This tour serves as a career milestone for Kikuo and for Vocaloid music outside Japan, but it’s only just the beginning. It’s really a chance for Kikuo to step into the limelight, and show the world just how much musical wonder remains to be found with the instrument.
Kikuo North American Tour “kikuoland”
March 10 – Lunario, Mexico City [SOLD OUT] [Tickets]
March 12 – SXSW at Palm Door on Sixth, Ristband: Future x Music
March 13 – SXSW at Coconut Club
March 14 – SXSW at Empire Garage, JADED | FRIENDS:FOREVER
March 15 – The Lexus Box Garden At Legacy Hall, Dallas, Texas [Tickets]
March 17 – The Regent Theater, Los Angeles, California [Tickets]
ABOUT KIKUO
Japanese electronic artist Kikuo showcases the full potential of Vocaloid through his dazzling and dizzying music. He started sharing original songs online in the early 2000s, but blossomed as a creator when he started using the singing-synthesizer software in 2010. Kikuo has become one of the most popular and influential creators in this corner of music. His “Aishite Aishite Aishite” became the first Vocaloid song to surpass 100 million streams on Spotify, with others recording millions of plays and views on a wide array of platforms. He’s also one of the most visible Vocaloid creators internationally, with plans to bring his music to live audiences all over the world in the near future.
Website: https://kikuo.jp/
YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCsrf178D7cjgbhrxfcIWcXg
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kikuo_sound
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikuo_sound/