w-inds.

Overview

w-inds. (ウィンズ, pronounced "winds") is a Japanese male dance and vocal unit managed by Rising Production (Vision Factory) and signed to PONY CANYON. They made their major debut on March 14, 2001 with the single "Forever Memories" and won Best New Artist at the 43rd Japan Record Awards that year for "Paradox." Beyond Japan, they have been active in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea, earning numerous awards.

The name carries meaning: Chiba and Ogata from Hokkaido represent the north, Tachibana from Fukuoka the south, and their winds join to reach the world and win. They are junior to DA PUMP, and their debut song was choreographed by KEN, then a DA PUMP member.

Career

Pre-debut (2000)

In 2000, Keita Tachibana passed Vision Factory's Starlight Audition, while Ryohei Chiba and Ryuichi Ogata, who attended the same dance school in Sapporo, passed dance auditions. The three moved to Tokyo together and began street performances in Yoyogi Park and Shibuya in November 2000. In March 2001 they drew 8,000 people to Shibuya's pedestrian zone.

2001-2002

"Forever Memories" (March 14, 2001) sold 216,590 copies, followed by "Feel the Fate" (July) and "Paradox" (October), which also featured in their film debut, Star Light. Their first album, 1st message, debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly albums chart on December 19, 2001. In 2002 they released "Try Your Emotion" (peaking at No. 2), "Another Days," "Because of You" and "New Paradise," plus the album The System of Alive in December. They made their first Kohaku Uta Gassen appearance and held their first nationwide tour.

2003-2007: Expansion across Asia

Singles included "Super Lover," "Love Is Message" and "Long Road" (2003). In 2004 they held their first overseas solo concerts in Taiwan, and the album Prime of Life topped Taiwan's overall chart, a first for a Japanese male artist. In 2006 they became the first foreign act to top Taiwan's album chart with four consecutive releases, were the only Japanese group invited to the MTV Mandarin Awards, and were the first Japanese artists to appear at Korea's Mnet KM Music Festival. In 2007 they joined a China-Japan music event in Beijing and Hong Kong's 10th handover anniversary gala, and released "Love Is the Greatest Thing," the Japanese theme for Shrek the Third. By 2012 they had won IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Awards in the Japanese/Korean category for ten works.

2008-2011

In 2009 they released "Rain Is Fallin'" featuring G-Dragon of BIGBANG (peaking at No. 2, 48,577 copies), which earned a Japan Record Awards Excellence Work prize; "New World" won the same honor in 2010. Their first Hong Kong solo concert took place in November 2009. Albums such as Seventh Ave., Another World and a 10th anniversary best album followed.

2017 to present

Since "We Don't Need to Talk Anymore" (2017), Tachibana has self-produced the group's work, handling songwriting, composition, recording, track-down and mastering. On May 31, 2020, Ogata left due to a psychosomatic illness; Tachibana and Chiba continue as a duo with twin vocals. Releases since include "DoU" and "Beautiful Now" (2020), the best album 20XX "THE BEST" (March 2021), "Strip," "Little," "The Christmas Song," the album 20XX "We are" (November 2021), "Bang! Bang!" (December 2022) and the album Beyond (March 14, 2023, their 22nd anniversary), which combines Tachibana's productions with songs from writers who supported the group in the past. Later singles were "Run" (2023), "FAKE IT" and "Imagination" (2024) and "Who's the Liar" (February 2025), followed by the album winderlust on March 26, 2025. Their official YouTube channel passed 100,000 subscribers in June 2023, and in 2024 the group color changed from blue to white.

Musical style

w-inds. work across R&B, hip-hop and dance music rather than a single genre. Since 2017, Tachibana's hands-on self-production, from songwriting to mastering, has defined their sound.