imase

Imase’s J-pop defies genres and borders. The singer-songwriter launched his career in 2021 but experienced his first massive breakthrough the year after with the floor-filling number “NIGHT DANCER”. The track, detailing a dizzying, FOMO-inducing night out on the town, melds rock, dance and hip-hop sounds to create a borderless single perfect for the social media age. “NIGHT DANCER” was a viral phenomenon, especially in South Korea, where it became the first J-pop song ever to land on the domestic charts. Subsequent singles found imase continuing to blur disparate genres. He gave shimmering city pop a modern makeover via club beats on 2023’s “Nagisa” and breezy funk a playful edge on that same year’s “Heroine”. He also built a musical bridge between J-pop and K-pop in his collaborations with the Korean quintet LE SSERAFIM.