SINGAPORE – J-pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki is finally returning to Singapore and, for the first time in her nearly 30-year career, will hold a solo concert in the city.

News of the upcoming concert stop was announced on April 9 via the website of her label, Avex. Hamasaki, 46, known as Ayu to her fans, also posted the news on her official Instagram page the next day.

The announcement said the star’s 2025 Asia tour titled I Am Ayu -Ep.II- will tour the Asian cities of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei. These are in addition to stops in Japanese cities Nagoya, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Sendai and Fukuoka.

No other details such as venues, dates or ticket sales were announced. The tour follows the I Am Ayu tour in 2024, which made stops in Chinese cities including Shanghai, Chengdu, Ningbo and Guangzhou.

Her upcoming Singapore stop will be her first solo concert here. Hamasaki, who made her debut in 1998, is one of the most well-known J-pop singers of the early 2000s, who inspired fashion trends and had hit songs such as A (1999) and Seasons (2000).

In Singapore, she performed at the Japanese music festival A-Nation held at Marina Bay Sands in 2014. She also performed at the MTV Asia Music Awards held in Singapore in 2002.

Health troubles have plagued Hamasaki for years. She is partially deaf, mostly in her left ear – a condition that she revealed in 2008. Then in 2017, she said her right ear has suffered hearing loss after years of overcompensating for her left ear.

But the star has continued to perform.

In 2023, Hamasaki – whose two sons were born in 2019 and 2021 – posted on Instagram to say that she considered retiring from performing at one point. The Covid-19 pandemic, her age, having two children in quick succession, her exhausted vocal cords and worsening hearing loss made her want to quit.

She said then that she met her singing teacher, known as Kon-chan, and soldiered on with his help.

Hamasaki has been married twice, but divorced both her former husbands in 2012 and 2016. It is not known who the father of her children is.

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