My Little Lover

Japanese pop group My Little Lover formed in 1995 around the core membership of vocalist Akko (Akamatsu Akiko) and guitarist Fujii Kenji, with producer and keyboard player <a href="spotify:artist:7LE7ux5ekXsfcYyHdC5SGz">Kobayashi Takeshi</a> joining soon after (and marrying Akko the following year). Quickly rising to national prominence, the group's sound came to be emblematic of the late-'90s J-pop sound shared with similar artists such as <a href="spotify:artist:7dZHl3ZmH21XpCwvcMlnml">Every Little Thing</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6ML3nrYx5Mu1wcXP8SmtG2">the Brilliant Green</a>. My Little Lover's debut album, Evergreen, was released in 2005, and they quickly established themselves as a Top Ten act in Japan's Oricon charts, with a sound comparable to, yet softer-edged than, their more punk-influenced contemporaries <a href="spotify:artist:7unNuvk3OEqGmegHTaxRA9">Judy & Mary</a>. Their 2006 single "Yes ~Free Flower~" reached number one and a steady flow of hit singles over the next year raised expectations for their slightly more upbeat and poppy-sounding sophomore album, Presents, which only six months later was followed by the more mature-sounding New Adventure.

In 2001 My Little Lover released Topics, which saw the band shifting toward a more ballad-oriented sound. The chart positions of subsequent singles began to drop off around this time. An album of new acoustic versions of old songs, Organic was released in 2002, a year that also saw the departure of Fujii. The following year, My Little Lover embarked on their first tour before returning with a new album, Fantasy, and a best-of compilation in 2004. This would mark the end of My Little Lover in their initial form, with the group parting company with Toy's Factory and <a href="spotify:artist:7LE7ux5ekXsfcYyHdC5SGz">Kobayashi</a> leaving the band to focus on his work as a producer. Akko continued as a solo artist under the My Little Lover moniker, re-emerging in 2006 on Avex Trax with the album Akko, followed by 2008's Identity. Neither album, however, was able to reclaim any of the band's late-'90s success, with chart positions rarely scraping the Top 40. ~ Ian Martin, Rovi