CHEMISTRY

Overview

CHEMISTRY (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese male vocal duo made up of Yoshikuni Dōchin (born November 17, 1978) and Kaname Kawabata (born January 28, 1979). The two were chosen in a male vocalist audition held by the TV Tokyo program ASAYAN. The name reflects the "musical chemical reaction" expected from their voices; producer Kiyoshi Matsuo told them the name, meaning chemistry, on January 1, 2001, in the United States. Their official fan club is called "chemistry club."

Career

Audition era

Both entered the first round of the ASAYAN audition in Osaka in August 1999 and advanced to the finals. Their provisional debut single "Saigo no Yoru" (released December 15, 2000 under the name "ASAYAN Chō-Danshi. Kawabata/Dōchin") debuted at No. 9 on Oricon. They were chosen as a duo on January 1, 2001, and the name CHEMISTRY was made official on January 21.

The Kiyoshi Matsuo years

CHEMISTRY debuted on March 7, 2001 with "PIECES OF A DREAM," which hit No. 1 on Oricon in its sixth week and passed a million copies in its fifteenth. Their first album, The Way We Are (November 2001), sold triple platinum-million levels and set the all-time Oricon record for a male artist's debut album. They made their first appearance at the 52nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, and 2001 was called "the year of CHEMISTRY."

In 2002 they joined Korean artists including Brown Eyes and Lena Park in the project "Voices of KOREA/JAPAN" and released "Let's Get Together Now," a theme song for the Japan–Korea World Cup, performing at the pre-opening events in Seoul in May. "My Gift to You" (December 2002) was used as the world's first au Chaku-uta song. The second album, Second to None (January 2003), topped the Oricon weekly chart for two weeks, went million-selling and ranked No. 1 for the 2003 year. The remix-focused Between the Lines (June 2003) marked their move to self-production.

Self-production era

The third album One × One (February 2004) and the ballad collection Hot Chemistry (January 2005, limited to 300,000 copies) both debuted at No. 1. In October 2005 they released "Two As One" with Crystal Kay, and the fourth album fo(u)r reached No. 2 that November. After a break they released "Yakusoku no Basho" and "Tookage feat. John Legend," followed by their first best-of ALL THE BEST (November 2006). Face to Face (January 2008) reached No. 3, Winter of Love followed in November 2008, and the collaboration compilation the CHEMISTRY joint album in March 2009. Kawabata married model Miki Takahashi on March 6, 2008.

CHEMISTRY + Synergy and the 10th anniversary

The sixth album regeneration came in February 2010. They then formed the limited unit CHEMISTRY + Synergy with four backup dancers, releasing "Shawty" on August 18 and "Keep Your Love" on November 3, 2010. That year they also sang "a better tomorrow," the Korean-language worldwide theme of the Korean film Mutjeokja (무적자), included as a coupling track on "Keep Your Love." At the Mnet Asian Music Awards in Macau they appeared with Perfume and won Best Asian Male Artist. Dee left the project in December.

The best-of CHEMISTRY 2001-2011 arrived in March 2011, though some tour dates were cancelled or postponed after the Tōhoku earthquake. They also recorded "Merry-go-round" for the OVA Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and appeared at Otakon in Baltimore in July 2011, then began serious solo activity.

Hiatus and return

At the final show of CHEMISTRY TOUR 2012 -Trinity- in Okinawa on April 7, 2012, they announced a hiatus to focus on solo careers; the live album CHEMISTRY TOUR 2012 〜Trinity〜 followed in November. They returned with CHEMISTRY LIVE 2017 - TWO - at Tokyo International Forum (February 28–March 1, 2017) and released their 35th single "Windy/Yume no Tsuzuki" on November 15, 2017, their first in six years. "Windy" served as the second ending theme of the anime Altair: A Record of Battles. In 2018 they performed "Wings of Words" with figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu at Fantasy on Ice.

Musical style

Blending pop and R&B around two intertwined lead voices, CHEMISTRY has also pursued many collaborations under the banner "a CHEMISTRY joint." They are well known for anime tie-ins: "Period" was the fourth opening of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and "Wings of Words" was the fourth opening of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Representative songs include "PIECES OF A DREAM," "Wings of Words" and "My Gift to You."