She is currently the queen of J-Pop. Anything she does, everyone buys, including her remix albums and her HUGE singles. Ever since she came out in 1998 with her debut single, "Poker Face," Ayumi has been all over Japan and in Asia! In my opinion, she makes too many remixes and I am getting a little sick of them. Her music is great, but her voice needs a little more work. Compared to her debut, she is getting better!
This group formed in 1995 under the prominent porducer, TK (Tetsuya Komoru). The group consists of Keiko (vocalist), rapper (Marc Panther), and producer TK. Their debut single, "Feel Like Dance," was a smash hit and they went on from there. globe experiment too much and many of their fans are disappointed with their music. Anything after their Cruise Record is pretty much trance music.
This is a really good group! Ever since their debut single, "Tangerine Dream," DAI has been nothing but the best! The band consists of vocalist Van Tomiko, guitarist Owatari Ryo, and musician Nagao Dai. Even though they are signed on to Avex Trax (which mostly does dance music), this group does rock and alternative music. In my opinion, Van has the best voice in the J-Pop scene next to Keiko of globe.
Just think of this group as the new SPEED. Many people are saying that they WILL become the next SPEED. Their Euro-style dance music was what gave this group a good reputation. The girls were recognized in "Avex Dream 2000" singing competition and thus formed the group dream. dream consists of Mai, Yu, and Kana. Mai is the oldest and writes most of the lyrics for the group so she is sorta the leader. Their voices are pretty good, but a little flat. I have to thank them for staying in tune and not having ear shattering voices.
This is one of the most famous groups in Japan. They made their debut by releasing their first single, "Feel My Heart." Their first album did quite well, but their second broke records (during that time). This group produces ballards and some pop music. The group consists of vocalist Kaori Mochida and guitarist Ichiro Ito. Musician and producer, Mitsuru Igarashi, was part of the group until around March 2000. Then he left, so ELT's music sounds a little different, but still good.
This is one of the newest groups to be added to the Avex group. Technically, H/\L is famous for its remixes (since 1995 or so) of popular J-Pop artists such as Every Little Thing, Hamasaki Ayumi, and dream. In the beginning, H/\L did start off as a remix group (I think just the two guys), and then began to compose and arrange music for some of the Avex artist. Now, in the year 2001, they make their first album debut and released their first single, "Decide," on October of 2000. The group is composed of lead singer and lyricist, H/\LNA (I doubt that's her real name, but that's all I am given), Atsushi Sato, and Toshiharu Umesaki (the guy with red hair). Sato does most of the music composing while Umesaki does most of the remixing and synthesizing. H/\LNA's voice needs some work, but the music that H/\L makes is just wonderful! Try this group out!
Another J-Pop princess, Utada was born in New York and moved to Japan when she was about 10. At first, she wanted to be a rock singer. But she changed her mind and became an R&B singer. Ever sincer her debut single, "Automatic," was released, she has been on top of the charts! Her first album, "First Love," broke records and still (I think) holds that record. Her mom was a popular singer in the 70's and her dad was a music producer, so you can see the trend here. Her voice is really good, but some of her songs are boring (in my opinion). But give her a try and you might like her style.
If you know anime well, then you might know Okui Masami. She is a very popular anime singer and she also does a lot of pop music in Japan. I don't listen to her music anymore, but I will post my mp3's up for your enjoyment. There are some anime fans that might like her!