Wakita Monari is a Jpop soloist who I first discovered 2 years ago when I heard a very bouncy upbeat song by her called 'Boyfriend'. Since then her musical style has become more funky but it's her voice which has grabbed my attention, IMO she has one of the best singing voices of any Japanese artist, and last Sunday at HMV Esola in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, I took the opportunity to see her perform in a mini-live. She comes originally from Nagasaki, she's 24 years old and she used to be in an idol group called Especia before she graduated from it in 2016 to pursue her solo career. She's released 2 albums and 6 singles, the latest being 'Gozigen Lover-Joi' which was released in July last year: if the video does not show watch the video here (MVs of her previous songs can be found on her Official Website: https://www.monariwakita.com/pages/756624/page_201612070127) She doesn't appear to have released anything since then so I was hoping that her mini-live would be connected with new material but it turned out to be simply marking the release of a vinyl version of her 2017 album 'I am ONLY'. However it was still great to see her perform live and her voice was good to listen to. She's also very pretty and seeing her up close she reminded me a little of Tani Marika of SKE48. Photos were allowed during one song and here's some I took: The mini-live lasted about 25 minutes and was very enjoyable. Hopefully she'll release some new material soon and have success in the Oricon charts!
MV for 'Esupadoriiyu de tsukamaete', the main track from Monari's 3rd album 'RIGHT HERE' to be released on 7/31: if the video does not show watch the video here