Kis-My-Ft2

Overview

Kis-My-Ft2 (キスマイフットツー, "Kiss My Foot Two", nicknamed "Kisumai") is a Japanese boy band under STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, known for incorporating roller-skating into its stage performances. Formed on 26 July 2005, the group moved from avex trax to MENT RECORDING, a joint label of Avex and Johnny & Associates. The name comes from the initials of its members, and also from an anecdote in which tap dancer Gregory Hines kissed the shoe of Sammy Davis Jr.

They played Tokyo Dome just 18 days after their debut, a record, and staged a four-dome tour (Nagoya, Kyocera Dome Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo) in 2 years and 11 months, the fastest for a male artist. They passed 2 million cumulative attendees at their fifth anniversary, the fastest in Johnny's history. As of May 2025, all 31 of their singles and 13 albums have reached No. 1 on the Oricon charts.

Career

Formation and pre-debut (2004-2010)

The unit Kis-My-Ft. formed in April 2004. In July 2005 it merged with A.B.C.Jr., creating an eight-member group: Hiromitsu Kitayama, Taisuke Fujigaya, Wataru Yokoo and Kyohei Iida from Kis-My-Ft., plus Takashi Nikaido, Kento Senga, Toshiya Miyata and Yuta Tamamori. They began activities with the event SUMMARY at Shinagawa Stellar Ball. As Johnny's Jr. they were backup dancers for Tackey & Tsubasa, Arashi and KAT-TUN. Iida left in spring 2006, leaving seven members.

They made their first solo Music Station appearance in March 2007 and held their first concert, jointly with A.B.C-Z, at Yokohama Arena in October 2008. In 2009 they took over the musical PLAYZONE from Shonentai and held their first solo concert in Oita, followed by a national tour of 31 shows that drew 160,000 fans. In 2010 they headlined their first solo arena tour and starred in the play Shonentachi with A.B.C-Z; seeing it reportedly convinced Johnny Kitagawa to approve a CD debut. Their first photo book, Kis-My-Ft2-1st, followed in October.

Debut and breakthrough (2011-2012)

On 12 February 2011, at a concert at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, they received a surprise announcement of their debut in the so-called "brown envelope" event. Kitagawa had initially considered debuting five members without Yokoo and Nikaido, but Kitayama and Fujigaya persuaded him to include all seven. The release, planned for May, was postponed to August after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake led to a change in the song's direction.

They debuted on 10 August 2011 with "Everybody Go" (avex trax), released simultaneously in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. It sold 316,000 copies in Japan and topped the weekly Oricon Singles Chart. A debut event at Yebisu Garden Place on roller skates drew around 12,000 fans, and they were congratulated by SMAP on SMAP×SMAP. They held their first solo dome concert at Tokyo Dome on 28 August, and their first two live DVDs took the top two spots on the Oricon DVD chart.

In January 2012 they won New Artist of the Year (Japanese music) at the 26th Japan Gold Disc Awards, and ranked first in Oricon's 2011 new artist sales with 1.47 billion yen. Their first studio album, Kis-My-1st, reached No. 1 in March. That month they also performed "She! Her! Her!" aboard a boat on Osaka's Dotonbori Canal on release day. Total sales of their first three singles reached 1 million within 333 days of debut.

Large-scale tours (2013-2017)

In March 2013 a single, the album Good Ikuze! and a DVD were released together and all hit No. 1; they passed 1 million attendees at their 94th solo concert. Their variety show Kis-My Busaiku!? became a regular series, and their first book, Hadaka no Jidai, came out in July. In November the sub-unit Busaiku (Senga, Miyata, Yokoo, Nikaido) was formed and released "Tana kara Botamochi" in December.

Their first best-of album, HIT! HIT! HIT!, sold 218,000 copies in its first week in March 2014, followed by Kis-My-Journey and a four-dome tour that July, the fastest ever for a male artist. The December single "Thank You Jan!" sold 436,000 copies in its first week, their personal best. "Hikari no Signal", the theme of the Doraemon film, also reached No. 1.

They followed with KIS-MY-WORLD (2015) and a second four-dome tour, then I SCREAM (2016) and a third consecutive four-dome tour, reaching 2 million attendees at Tokyo Dome on 4 August 2016. MUSIC COLOSSEUM (May 2017) came with their first arena tour in four years, pushing their total past 2.5 million. In 2017 they joined JR Kyushu's campaign "GO!GO!! Kis-My Kumamoto Oita" to support recovery after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, with commercials and wrapped trains such as the "Kis-My-Ft2 Shinkansen".

2018 onward

On 30 November 2019 they gave their first overseas performance at the Asia Fashion Award 2019 in Taipei, and the same year made their first appearance on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen. Their drama theme "Luv Bias" received an award in 2021. Hiromitsu Kitayama left in August 2023, and the group continues as six members: Kento Senga, Toshiya Miyata, Wataru Yokoo, Taisuke Fujigaya, Yuta Tamamori and Takashi Nikaido. In February 2025 Senga launched his own beauty YouTube channel.

Musical style

Roller-skating performance is their signature, a style influenced by the agency's senior group Hikaru Genji. They are praised for elaborate live productions and large-scale stage effects, and work within mainstream idol pop.