JC
Metropolis gives us a heads up on a new pop sensation in Japan — Crystal Kay (thanks to Michelle Myers for the tipoff on this story!) . Not only does she wow audiences with her voice and dancing skills, but also with her dual heritage. Her album, Almost Seventeen, will be out later this month.

With a single, “Hard to Say,” omnipresent on the charts this summer and her face plastered over billboards around Tokyo, the winsome 16-year-old-born in Yokohama to African American and Korean parents-is J-pop’s latest answer to R&B stars Janet Jackson et. al. She’s got a winning voice that bears much in common with the “lite” soul stylings of Hikaru Utada, matched to an exotic look that belies the sweetness of her demeanor.

Kay also has a record company, Sony’s Epic imprint, in overdrive to promote what it no doubt hopes will be its riposte to Toshiba EMI (Utada) and Avex Trax (Ayumi Hamasaki). In keeping with Sony’s international flavor, Kay truly looks the part of world citizen, but crucially, this bright young thing happens to be fluent in Japanese.