Ever since her debut in December 1999 with the million-selling single "Love, Day After Tomorrow", female vocalist Mai Kuraki has been one of J-pop's most popular artists. Inspired by singers such as Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, Kuraki began making demo tapes while still in middle school. Her talent soon came to the notice of Giza Studio, a label belonging to the Tokyo-based artist management/label group Being, and sensing Kuraki's potential, Giza signed her. From the start, Giza...

Ever since her debut in December 1999 with the million-selling single "Love, Day After Tomorrow", female vocalist Mai Kuraki has been one of J-pop's most popular artists. Inspired by singers such as Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, Kuraki began making demo tapes while still in middle school. Her talent soon came to the notice of Giza Studio, a label belonging to the Tokyo-based artist management/label group Being, and sensing Kuraki's potential, Giza signed her. From the start, Giza has tried to give Kuraki an "American" cachet, recording her at Boston's Cybersound studio and releasing an English-language single, "Baby I Like", in the U.S. under the name Mai-K in advance of her Japanese debut. Kuraki's first album, Delicious Way was released in June 2000 and went on to sell some 4 million copies, cementing her status as one of Japan's biggest female acts, along with Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada. Kuraki's appeal lies midway between those two superstars - like Hamasaki, Kuraki is blessed with photogenic looks in the classic big-eyed idol mold, and like Utada, her music is based on a pop/R&B template, although closer to standard J-pop than Hikki-chan's material. In February 2002, Kuraki released a competently performed English-language album in the U.S. and Japan titled Secret of My Heart, which sold poorly in the U.S. and not at all badly in Japan, which was hardly a surprise. Amid her busy recording, touring and promotional schedule, Kuraki somehow found time to attend classes at Kyoto's prestigious Ritsumeikan University. In 2003 Kuraki expanded her international profile by recording a duet with Singaporean female vocalist Sun Yan Zi.