Virtual talent gaining large fanbases is a common occurrence in today’s music industry, but not too long ago it was something of an anomaly for a faceless performer to garner significant attention. It was during those early days of VTubers and other virtual talent that KAF, a singer represented by KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO, made her debut at the age of 14 years old. Despite the anonymity her avatar afforded her, the quality of her vocal performance and strength of the songs it produced would garner her a level of recognition that wouldn’t become the norm for a few more years to come.

Audiences are still unaware of who this unidentified girl, represented only by a pink-haired avatar with immaculately designed costumes, is and yet that is part of the appeal. She isn’t like the VTubers of the world who built their audiences by personality driven live streaming, moving into music as an extension of their activities. KAF is a singer and performer first and foremost, and her career reflects that with an emphasis on music and her participation in other media more in the vein of other acts in the Japanese music industry.

Despite being a virtual talent, this distinction in her activities has helped her develop quite the expansive career in a short period of time. She’s done so much that there’s a good chance that you may have even come across her work without even realizing it.

The Witch

Despite being discovered in 2017, it wouldn’t be until a year later where KAF’s story truly begins. It took some time for KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO Executive Producer PIEDPIPER to connect with her due to her age and location, but once they got rolling it was clear that there were big things in her future right from the get go.

KAF was paired up with composer Iori Kanzaki to act as the instrumental extension of her already strong vocal qualities. Her first single, “Intertwined”, was released in December 2018 just ahead of her first live streamed live performance on New Years Eve. It was something of a perfect storm of timing with her performance immediately exploding her online following, then in turn driving “Intertwined” to the top 10 of iTunes charts, and the top 30 of the Oricon chart.

Despite the momentum at the end of 2018, she took a break in early 2019 for her high school entrance exams. It could have been a devastating move for her career, but as soon as she came back she successfully crowdfunded her first ever live show at a venue, held in Ebisu’s Liquidroom. Her first full-length album, Observation, would be released in September 2019 and peaked at number 15 on the Oricon chart.

Incomprehensible

Following a successful debut, KAF continued to break new ground in her career with another full-length album in 2020 and expansion into doing higher profile work with other artists and properties. In 2020 her song “Answer” was selected to be the 11th Ending theme for the anime Black Clover, and only a few months later she would release a split EP with pioneering Vtuber Kizuna AI. The resulting collaboration gave us the songs “Transient” (written by PON and composed by Hideya Kojima from ORESAMA) and “LOVESHII” (written and composed by Enon Kawatani). These would be some of KAF’s earliest works not produced by Iori Kanzaki and would set the stage for a future phase in her career.

In addition to working with some new major artists outside her circle, KAF was making significant steps in the live performance aspect of her career. During the COVID-19 pandemic she cut her teeth further on live performance with a series of live streamed concerts, increasing the quality of her overall production. This period of development would prove to be a huge boon as in 2022 when she returned to performing at in person venues, she would quickly make a major step in her career by becoming the first virtual talent to hold a concert at Tokyo’s famed Nippon Budokan. Since that time she has graduated to sold out crowds at even larger venues in Japan.

Beyond Meta

For the bulk of her career, KAF has worked exclusively with composer Iori Kanzaki on her solo releases. Through this partnership, they were able to craft something that listeners could definitively identify as being ‘KAF’. Despite the success of this formula, in late 2021 she started a new collaboration project called Kumikyoku (Suite in English) that would pair her up with major names from the Japanese music industry for new releases alongside her solo work.

The first single from this years long project was in collaboration with rock outfit Glim Spanky, which despite having done rock oriented tracks in the past was a sonic departure from her existing work. Additional collaborations with artists such as Hakushi Hasegawa, Seiko Oomori, MIYAVI, and Mondo Grosso also saw her tackling wildly different genres and styles to great effect. None of the songs featured in the series come off as being out of her comfort zone, rather demonstrating a strong level of versatility.

The series would prove successful enough that immediately following the final release from the first project, a second round was announced which has already seen her collaborate with artists like Soushi Sakiyama, Hoshimachi Suisei, and Moe Shop. Much like the original series, this new edition is ongoing and there’s no telling who else she’s going to be linking up with.

Crazy For You

In 2023 KAF released her 3rd full-length album, Crazy For You, marking the final release with Iori Kanzaki as the composer. KAF would make also her first forays into a future endeavor in songwriting around the same time; something she would expand in 2024 under a different alias, Kaika. This final release with Kanzaki, unsurprisingly, featured some of her best work to date and ends a significant chapter of her career on a high note.

It wouldn’t be until the middle of 2024 where she would release the first post-Kanzaki work, a 3 track EP with the songs “Gestalt”, “Swimmer”, and “From Apocalypse”, all composed by different artists. The result would be something that feels distinctly different from what came before it, but also positively impacted by all of the collaborating KAF had been doing since 2021.

The new direction KAF would be taking moving onward from this release would be fully realized at the tail end of 2024 with the release of her 4th album, Fable, which saw a wide range of composers participating. Despite the varying range of styles and genres featured on the album, everything is pulled together with KAF’s vocals as the connecting thread. The end result feels like an evolution rather than a reboot, and certainly sets her up for the next major phase in her already highly accomplished career.

Five Essential Songs

Eat The Past

The biggest hit of her early career and a staple of her catalog, this powerful fan favorite track still draws a huge reaction from audiences at her live shows years after its release.

Answer

A strong and emotional ballad which was also used as the 11th ending theme to the hit Black Clover anime series, this song was also selected to be re-recorded as her first English language release.

My Incense (with Maigo Hanyuu)

Part of the Suite series, KAF’s collaboration with Maigo Hanyuu has a haunting quality to it with her vocals feeling almost ephemeral alongside an organic sounding but simple melody, and then sweeping in with a more powerful emotive quality when the chorus picks up. One of the best shows of her ability to collaborate across styles when working with different artists.

Tokyo Shandy Rendez-vous

KAF’s groovy first collaboration with producer Tsumiki, released under the MAISONdes project as the ending theme to 2022’s Urusei Yatsura remake. KAF shows off her rapping skills on this one alongside a catchy vocal performance, a prime example of her versatility as an artist.

Gestalt

The first non-collaboration song from KAF following the departure of longtime producer Iori Kanzaki. It’s an upbeat and fast-paced track with playful lyrics that sets the tone for the next phase in her career working alongside new producers.