The Official Hirai Ken Thread
 

I thought that Hirai Ken deserved his own thread in AHS so I started one!! Hirai Ken is a great artist and he's definitely in my top five favorites. He cracks me up and I don't really know a lot about him--that's kind of how this thread got started. I'd really like to learn some more about him, so whatever you guys can tell me would be great!

Well this question's been bugging me for the longest time!!! Does anyone know what's going on with Hirai Ken's career as of now? Is he retired?

NO, HECK NO.
Lol it's just typical for Ken to release songs slowly...maybe one or two singles per year. He merely released the best album to commemorate his 10th year since debut. Nothing to do w/ retiring. :P
He's probably taking a break while writing more new music...or getting ready for upcoming concerts.

no..i think he was taking a break

LATEST news i got is ken said that he was a gay
really i'm not lying

^ Yeah, I heard about that too. Anyone know if that's true?

That rumour has been going on for a while now, but that's only 'cause he's been very private with his personal life, ppl never caught him going on a date, that sorta thing...
There was also a rumour a while ago saying he has a thing for young girls. Like teenage girls. O_o

It would be cool if he was gay :P

Um...not really.

But anyway, he is really good looking. Plus he has an absolutely wonderful voice. I guess that's all he needs. None of those publicity stunts for him!

lol.. i read news about it too.. it said that he wanna announce to the media that he is gay.. but apparently his music company forbade him to do so.. as it will affect his career drastically..

^ lol nice pic. He's quite a good-lookin' guy ^^ I can't say I know for sure whether he's gay or not, he could be gay but you never know if it's just a rumor. For instance, there used to be a rumor that, oh I forget his name-- he's a famous Japanese actor who played the main part in the drama Shogun and also played Benke in the drama Yoshitsune (he came to the 2004 Kouhaku too to perform a song called "Samba."). Anyway, people started saying that he was gay just because he wasn't married or going out or anything and the media once saw him in a gay bar. But it turned out he got married later and that he wasn't really gay. Maybe that's the same case w/ Hirai Ken too. Can't say for sure, maybe he really is gay, or maybe people are just starting rumors about him because he doesn't have a girlfriend or something.

I hope he's not retired! He's a great singer! :yes

He doesn't even look Japanese to me :laugh

Anyways, he's a very good singer! His POP STAR PV kinda scared me, but it was cute :laugh Lol. His voice is something to fall asleep to at night :yes

It's not bad if he keeps his personal life quiet. All people wish that, but he's just very good about keeping things quiet and discreet :evillaugh

a japanese friend of mine said he (hirai ken) turned up2a wedding with his boyfriend, i think he mite well b gay, but who really gives1way or da other...? it aint got jack2do wit his music

is it true he is the king of j-R&B?

Even if he is gay, he's one HAWT gay guy :lech

Yes, he is the King of R&B.

i agree, he dont look japanese@all...
ive never seen ne of his pvs, y is pop star scary??

^He's dancing around and acting all silly.. I mean, it's cute and all that, because it's with kids.. but it freaks me out just a little :laugh

lol, the dancin wit little kids part does sound kinda freaky, just cos da guys so goddamned tall!! argh, i wanna watch da pv now >_<

Ken Hirai is hot! His songs are awesome too.

If he's gay, he's even hotter! Gay men are hot. :)

Well said. :yes
It's just that ppl are extra curious about celebrities in general...

And he DOESN'T dance around with lil kids in "POP STAR"...in fact, the only person that appears in that video is himself. He plays 7 diferent roles. :P Love that PV, too funny.

^ It's actually very creative too.

XD I absolutely LOVED the POP STAR PV!! XDD I laughed so hard. He's a funny guy in person too--I saw him on HEYX3 and he was just a funny guy. Definitely one of my favorite Japanese artists. But we're all sure that he isn't retired or whatever right? Because that whole bit about "Final Concert in Saitama" kinda threw me off...

Oooooooh. No no no, it was titled "FINAL" 'cause it was the final concert of the tour, lol. Not his last. Not unless he suddenly decides to announce his retirement now. :P

And yes, in contrast to how his record company/Japanese media try to portray him, Ken is actually a very funny guy. He cracks so many jokes during his concerts the audience is very much like watching a stand up comedy, lol.

I heard somewhere that he's releasing a new single this March? A new ballad would be nice.

i don't think that he can sing live very well
he has a GREAT voice but her live performance was bad...if you compare it with ayu..it was so far far away

POP STAR was too cute to be true. Ken with a pot-belly! And the song itself was so unlike Ken too.

Did anyone see the parody by Yamada Yu of the PV too?

This thread makes me love Ken even more. <3

How many performances by Ken have you seen? He is considered one of the BEST performers in Japan. You should definitely check out his perfs. It was close to flawless.

My thoughts exactly. :P If you were to compare Ayu & Ken, it would be the other way around. Ken's live singing is flawless. As good as CD, if not better. *thumbs up*

Wow. Makes me want to see some of his live preformances. I need to watch some of the videos I have of his first. I haven't even gotten around to doing that yet.

^ Yeah...I plan on buying the Final at Saitama soon...

yeah..i have seen his vcd concert and some of his performance
but his performance, his dance, his movement was terrible for me
his voice was EXCELLENT, his technique was BRILLIANT
but his live performance (not about voice) was poor for me
sorry if i made a wrong opinion

You think anything that Ayu does is great.
Ayu can barely sing on key during TV performances.
Ken could sing almost CD quality or better on any kind of lives. and I'm not exaggerating.

I think ken sings live better than ayu :rolleyes

I changed the topic title by greggerz189's request.

anyways , I like Ken Hirais music too. my favorite songs by him are 'ex-girlfirend' , 'taboo (m-flo remix)' and 'jealousy' :)

^popstar is mine

Honestly? Not surprised at all XD. But I love Ken Hirai <3.

And whats this about a new single? ^^

W00t someone else who likes "ex-girlfriend"!! :)

I haven't listened to all of his songs, I like Pop Star and Kiss Of Life a lot :P

^__^ Thanks a bunch Halla! ^__^ My favorite Hirai songs are 'Hitomi wo Tojite', 'POP STAR', 'Miracles', and pretty much all of the SENTIMENTALovers album. Kagiana was a pretty dirty song though! LOL

I enjoy SENTIMENTALovers as well. It's really the only album I have of his. It's really good though. I really want to hear Pop Star and Strawberry Sex since I hear so much about them.

I heard that he's coming out with a new single for 2006 and it will be a ballad and hopefully it will be released early in the year, preferably April, so it will continue to sell for the whole year. His ballads are very good on the rankings in terms of longevity. He needs a one million seller single. Has he even had a one million single?
I know HITOMI WO TOJITE almost break the 1-million. Wait didn't Grandfather's clock came close to a million too?

^ I guess not then...I always thought that Hitomi wo Tojite was a million-seller.

Nope, neither hit 1 million. But "Hitomi wo tojite" was #1 single of the year (despite the fact that it never hit #1 on the weekly charts).

EDIT: Oh I took pics of my "Utabaka" when I got it a while ago. Might as well post them here.

http://jumpykakki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/utabaka01.jpghttp://jumpykakki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/utabaka02.jpg
http://jumpykakki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/utabaka03.jpghttp://jumpykakki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/utabaka04.jpg

^ nice!

Ooooo! I want Utabaka too!

Lol I didn't even listen to mine. I just burned my own CD containing my favourite Ken songs...:P

I did, however, watch the DVD. Some of his PVs are weird...:P

^LOL! Yeah...how about Ookina furudokei? XD The water bottle!

what is utabaka? i intend to get his 10 year anniversary album soon. are all his pvs for ballads?

I don't think he's gay really.. Maybe its just his style. x___x

I like his songs though. ^^ Especially Grandfather's Clock, Pop Star, blah blah..

"Utabaka" is the name of his 10th year annivesary album, hehe. And that's what I have in the pictures.

And no, he has a PV for every single, including ones that aren't ballads.

"Utabaka" literally means "Song Fool"

I want that album :headache

lol I was just about to comment on that. you've seen it? That was the most plain and boring music video I've ever seen! I was laughing so hard! XD I heard that he said he refuses to dance, he only sings and that's it. But I still like Hirai Ken even if his music videos are wierd. He's got an exceptionally good voice ^^ Glad to hear that he's not retiring :yes

Lol well he certainly did dance in "POP STAR"...:P

^Yeah! XD I was just about to say...POP STAR! LOL DDR ninja, lol--I think you're forgetting about CAROLS...XDD (Oh! BTW, I won't be able to engage in a powerful J-pop conversation with you tomorrow in math...V_V I'm sick.)

I like where he put the water bottle. Did anyone think of something else........?

does he have any pvs for urban songs?

^ I think precious day.

awww :( We missed you today. You're sick? Hope you feel better soon, then we can have more powerful J-pop conversations :D

What about CAROLS?? :yconfused

so did he dance since it was a urban song?

I think the videos that feature ken dancing are "love and lust" and "pop star".

The dancing Ken did in LOVE OR LUST was nothing compared to POP STAR.

Lol if you call that "dancing" in "LOVE OR LUST"...:P

That was another weird PV btw...& was I the only one who thought it was clearly too hot for Ken to wear a suit in that desert weather?? No wonder he fainted in the end of the PV. xP

^ XD I thought it made him look fat. It wasn't good for them to shoot from the low angle like that...made him look like he had 3 chins. XD

i better watch that pv at youtube

Wait, didn't he dance in STYLE? that was a dance song.

oh yeah! a little bit.

Just wondering. Have there ever been a rumor about Ken and a "woman"?

hello hirai ken fan here!

i was wondering... anyone has the ring single? I mean can anyone upload it? (not MU please :() I really wan to buy this single... the song it's perfect! reminds me of mika's will.

BTW anyone seen this before? it's super kool
http://www.youtube.com/?v=Pd4ywCWrnrI

When they pitch down the song of a female singer sound JUST like hirai ken!!! it's really weird and scary!!

Haha, I love your signature ;)

Hirai Ken is awesome...wish I had more songs of his. x_x; POPSTAR is a funny song/PV...I showed the PV to my friends and they were like "What the heck?!!?" Hahaha.

Hmm, I guess he does dance then. I've never seen it o_O Thanks for the you tube link. That female singer really did sound like Hirai Ken!! XD

Thanks! :D

I love what I've heard from him. He's quite good ^^. My favorite was my friends reaction to just hearing Strawberry Sex XD That was awesome. <3

Is there any shirtless pictures of Ken?

thats a very good question

so..........anyone knows of any nice shirtless pictures of Ken? I need to do a wallpaper for a friend.

which single of ken sold the highest amount?

I'm pretty sure it's HITOMI WO TOJITE with at least 900,000 copies. Second with GRANDFATHER"S CLOCK (a cover) with 800,000 copies. So that's two album worth of sales.

whats his total sales figure?

OMG, I just saw his popstar PV. It was HILARIOUS!! :D LOL! That's gotta be one of the best PVs ever. I was dying XD

Such a contrast to the Ookina furudokei. I guess he does dance, but he doesn't dance very well. After watching T.M. Revolution he appears very stiff, but I'd say he dances better than Gackt though. Loved the raccoon and the mole :yes It's stuck in my head now.

I" wanna be a Popstar!" :innocent

the japanese-pop males don't tend to dance very well at all compared to the boys of the korean wave.

yea, korean male singers seem to dance better(i think)

heyy I have a question -- in Ken's song "why," it sounds like in those synthesized voices in the first stanza of verses like the voice is singing, "Talk about a lot of sex." Is this true? Anyone have a set of lyrics that proves whether I'm right or wrong? XD It sounds so weird!!! The other one sounds dirtier, but in order to avoid being hounded by the mods, I won't say it! LOL Anyone know? Seems to me Ken's got some sex songs here and there (not just Strawberry sex, but also Kagiana! =O)

It's "talk about love and sex", lol.

Is Ken the KING of Jpop?

According to corichan,
it is "Let's talk about our love & sex"....but yeah I always thought it was just "talk about love and sex". ^^;;

Yup.

XD I'm glad we got that all cleared up, Kakeru XDDD LMAO.

Lol you are right about the song being sexual though...or else he wouldn't sing "make love 'till the break of dawn" in the next verse...:P

yeah. I guess Ken's really horny. XDD It's actually a little amusing lol.

I think he's more categorized as king of R&B than JPop. His earlier songs are probably more pop-ish, but they didn't sell very well, unfortunately. Good thing Rakuen came along :D

I <3 <3 <3 <3 Ken. He's a horrible dancer, but his singing totally makes up for it with more to spare in his live performances :D I brought the Saitama final a while ago and it was awesome! I wish I knew what he was saying though; on a couple of occasion the audience was laughing so hard I feel sorry for myself for not knowing what he just said ;_;

SentimentaLOVERS, Gaining through Losing and the Utabaka albums has not left my playlist in Winamp or iPod for quite a while now :)

Thanks for letting me know. I don't really know too much about him. He seems to be the most popular Jpop male artist. I mean you're always hearing about "the queens of jpop"... so naturally I was wondering if there was a "king" also :)

Anyone getting this?
http://www.geocities.com/cybermoomba/kencover.jpg
01 ﾊﾞｲﾏｲﾒﾛﾃﾞｨｰ
02 Hug
03 ﾊﾞｲﾏｲﾒﾛﾃﾞｨｰ (Less Vocal)

It's his new single out on 14.06.06

I love the cover. SO CUTE! :bgiggle

a new single after half a year? what a nice break

I doubt that Ken is gay...

BUT...

If he was, he would NEVER come out to the public

That would be the end of his career :dead

I don't think he's gay either. I heard people speculating because of the POP STAR video. I agree if he does admit that he is it would be the end of his career. It doesn't matter if he is to me though I'll still love his music.

Yeah. He's an amazing artist. By(e) My Melody was so-so, however. POP STAR was great, but By(e) My Melody didn't quite live up to that standard. Wonder what his next single will be like?

I just started getting interested in Ken Hirai.

I completely love both Pop Star and Bye My Melody.
I'm thinking that if his next few releases are like this, I might just have to buy his next album. ^.^

He did? Where did you hear that?

Well....i read that he IS gay. Someone over at the ken hirai forum said that she knows someone in New York and his friend was Ken's EX. and Ken would frequent Queens because it's one of the safest place for homosexuals. Not to mention the pictures that were taken in the FRIDAY magazine. I saw it and he and the guy was very intimate. Also, he was never spotted with women...just men. That's suspicious.

The fact that he hasn't said anything about it despite the many reports of him being gay is also suspicious. If he was straight, he would have stopped people from speculating and tell it to the world that he is hetero a long time ago.
But then again, whatever his sexuality, i'd still support him. I fancy him because of his music and i hope everyone else will too.

Wha? I have my doubts about him being straight XD;. I really don't know why that would effect his career? He seems to be doing just fine. *shrug* URANUS said it best " If he was straight, he would have stopped people from speculating and tell it to the world that he is hetero a long time ago."

Doesn't matter to me ethier way. He still rocks no matter what.

I think the "Ken Is Gay" rumors are about as useless as a "Koda Kumi cheats on beau with Ken Hirai." Doesn't affect his music, so it doesn't really matter to me.