generasia:Featured article for 2023 week 11
w-inds.
w-inds. is a male Japanese pop group that originally consisted of three members: Tachibana Keita, Chiba Ryohei and Ogata Ryuichi, with Ogata leaving on May 31, 2020. They are managed by VISION FACTORY and are published under the Pony Canyon label. Tachibana is the lead singer of the group, and initially Chiba and Ogata were to join as back-up dancers. However, throughout their career, Chiba and Ogata both gained larger roles in their music by providing back-up vocals and occasionally rapping. Though their music style is primarily pop, w-inds. have also dabbled in styles such as hip-hop, rock, and R&B. In addition to selling 5 million copies of CDs in Japan, they have earned numerous awards and accolades from China, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
w-inds. debuted in 2001 with the single "Forever Memories". They were named "Best New Artists" at the Japan Cable Awards and 43rd Japan Record Awards for the release of their second single, "Paradox". On December 19, 2001, w-inds.'s first album, 1st Message, was released and debuted at #1 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Charts. On February 6, 2002, they released a behind-the-scenes DVD titled PRIVATE of w-inds., which charted at #3 on the Oricon Weekly DVD Chart. The DVD was the best-selling male idol DVD for nine years until 2011. At the end of the year, they gained the opportunity to perform at Kohaku Uta Gassen for the first time, where they sang "New Paradise."
In 2004, Vision Factory included Taiwan as one of their locations for the Prime of Life tour. Following that, w-inds. made their debut in Taiwan, and the tickets for their concert there sold out within 23 minutes, which set a record in Taiwan for "the artist with the fastest selling tickets." They became the only Japanese group invited to perform on the MTV Mandarin Awards in September 2006. That same year, w-inds. made an appearance on Mnet KM Music Video Festival, a music awards show in South Korea. They were the first Japanese artists to ever appear on the show. w-inds. also took part in a China-Japan music festival in 2006. In March 2007, the group flew to Beijing to participate in another China-Japan music festival along with two other Japanese artists. On July 2, 2007 w-inds. joined the Pop Rock Gala in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. On this visit they picked up ten awards, accumulated from the years since their debut.
Their 15th studio album Beyond is released this week on March 14th.
