Ado World Tour 2025 "Hibana"
Live Performance by Ado
The O2, London
19 June 2025
Review by Shaun English
No teenager has probably ever had a more idyllic break to stardom than Ado. During the clutches of lockdown, her debut single gained widespread popularity and scrutiny across all of Japan, not just as a promising talent but voicing issues in Japan’s social structure. Merely 5 years on, she would just conclude her second full scale world tour, reaching out to all corners of the world, touching down at the O2 in June for the first time. Her thoughts? Well, she said that she was only able to visit Buckingham Palace during her short stay.
Ado’s story is much deeper than her seemingly hellish tour schedule. She is an utaite - a singer who performs on platforms such as YouTube or NicoNicoDouga (Japan’s version of YT), singing cover songs by other musicians or sometimes their own originals. Whilst some artists reveal their faces, many, including Ado, are known for keeping their full name and personal details private, and their face hidden, reflective, in her case, when she uses her avatar, which usually takes the form of a blue haired young woman. It is evident that in her shows, this desire is upheld to the extreme. Photography, flash or not, filming and even torches are forbidden at any time. The stage is a single cube shaped cage in the middle where only the singer’s silhouette is visible because of the black light reflected on it. Whilst utaite can become professional singers (kashu), it is worth noting that they are distinct in that they exclusively come from an online community of independent singers, and despite stardom, Ado’s desire to keep true as much as possible to her anonymous nature is a nod to her roots from which she started.
Despite being just an avatar to many in the world, and a shadow in live performances, the stage presence Ado gives is otherworldly. Her eclectic repertoire, which encompasses multiple genres including J-rock, pop ballads and hip-hop, sometimes all in one track, is only capable because of her immense vocal diversity. In her song Gira-gira, Ado goes from singing breathy head vocals to a growly snarl in one line, something which seasoned vocalists would struggle with in a recording studio, yet just one example of many in that performance. Despite what is said, the simplest way of describing her vocals would be through her debut album title, Kyogen, which refers to a form of traditional Japanese comic theatre and combines the characters of “crazy/untamed/wild” and “speech” (狂言). Her dancing, a chaotic and unhinged style, draws audiences in, if they’re not focused on the stage visuals or the dynamic lighting, giving a sensory feast in combination with the sheer grandiose of the O2.
An eighteen-song strong setlist contained some of her greatest hits from her two albums, the aforementioned Kyogen (2022) and Zanmu (2024). Some obvious crowd pleasers contain her bombastic recent hit Show and the closing track Odo, which was released in 2023, and cemented her legacy as a heavyweight in J-pop. Others are much more subtle and convey her immense skill, such as Readymade, a tireless punchy rock track or Elf, a powerful, symphonic ballad with beautiful drawn-out melodies
Cover songs play a big part of Ado’s setlist, reflective of her utaite artistry, with some very notable inclusions. Vocaloid artist Balloon, who prominent in the mid 2010’s on NicoNicoDouga, had one of their defining tracks, Charles, featured in the setlist, which Ado had covered in late 2024, with fellow J-pop artist Kitani Tatsuya. Also featured is fellow vocalo heavyweight DECO*27’s song Hibana which is incidentally the name of this current tour. Ado’s setlist also included Gyakkou, notable for being a song written for the 2022 One Piece: Red movie, which is sort of an anomaly in her repertoire. Ado does few jobs for film and dramas, something which makes her similar to J-pop contemporaries such as YOASOBI and Zutto Mayonaka de Iinoni and put emphasis on in their discographies.
All in all, to understand Ado the key is her debut single, and the opener for her London show titled Usseewa, translating more or less to “shut the f*** up”. A dynamic, gut busting song influenced by rock and metal, creating the atmosphere of a menacing, symphonic nightmare. The lyrics are an intense criticism of Japan’s rigid social structure, which excludes outsiders and people who don’t fit in, speaking of breaking through this by “pointing a gun of her words to your head”. In interviews, Ado frequently expresses her struggles with growing up in Japan, feeling like an outsider, potential lack of opportunities and finding comfort in being in the community of utaite. The single was released after finding sustainability on YouTube, doing “I sang it” videos of covers and uploading some originals. Her brash confidence, uncompromising messages and vocal virtuosity, encapsulated in this one song from an at-the-time relatively unknown, faceless singer sent shockwaves across Japan. Whilst resonating with many, particularly the youth facing similar issues, the lyrics were considered so shocking that some schools prohibited the playing of the song, putting Ado further into the spotlight. The song gave a voice to those who were silenced, leading to her being the cultural phenomenon that she still is.
Whilst staying an intensely private, humble human being altogether, there is no doubt the same fire lingers within her performances five years later. Her vocal style, whilst arguably more refined, remains unorthodox and eclectic. Her songs are still very experimental but blended with talented musicianship and songwriting. Her messages are still aggressive and profound, true to her roots and sincere. Her symbol gives big hope and inspiration to many, including in the UK and to those in the audience who visited that show in June 2025. It was vibrant, with cosplayers of not just Ado herself, but also of Hatsune Miku, who Ado has expressed was her biggest inspiration, and of characters from One Piece: Red were common. Music lovers, anime lovers, otaku of all kinds gathered in the O2, a place just a tube stop away from Excel London, where Comic Con takes place twice a year. Everyone was holding glowsticks, which changed colour depending on the song, giving it a real traditional Japanese music show experience. In one of the largest arenas in the world, Ado has become a global star and a key part of J-pop music.