Noa (Japanese singer, born 2000)

Noa (born March 13, 2000 ) is a Japanese singer associated with Amuse. He debuted as a singer in 2020 with the song "Lights Up". As an actor, he starred in the television drama Kimi no Hana ni Naru (2022), of which he was also part of the show's in-universe boy band 8loom.

Early life
Noa became interested in music after watching High School Musical and began composing music in elementary school. He is also a fan of Big Bang and planned on eventually auditioning for K-pop agencies after moving to South Korea. While living in South Korea, he became fluent in Korean and English.

Career
In 2012, after relocating to South Korea due to his mother's job, Noa was scouted by a hairstylist for K-pop artists, who encouraged him to audition. He was a trainee at YG Entertainment, and after training for seven years, he left the company in 2018 to return to Japan. He signed with Amuse, Inc. and released his debut single, "Lights Up", on January 10, 2020, as a digital single in both Japanese and Korean versions. The song was co-produced with Millenium. On June 12, 2020, Noa released his second digital single, "Taxi", which featured Tofubeats. The song received at least 1 million playbacks on YouTube as of 2020 and also reached No. 1 on Spotify's Viral Chart in Thailand.

On March 5, 2021, Noa released the digital single "Too Young", a collaboration with Twopee Southside. On March 13, 2021, Noa held his first online concert on his 21st birthday. Later in the year, he announced that he will be releasing one digital single per month over the course of three months. "Let Go", featuring Jeon Woong from AB6IX, was released on August 22; "Don't Waste My Time" was released on September 19; and "Highway" was released on October 10.

On March 4, 2022, Noa released the song "True Colors" digitally, which was used in a campaign by the brand Liese. On May 6, 2022, Noa was announced to star in TBS' television drama Kimi no Hana ni Naru as Takumi Kurushima, which was set to premiere in October 2022. He will also participate in the drama's in-universe boy band 8loom, where he was announced as the fifth member of the group. On April 3, 2022, Noa released the song "It Ain't Over" digitally, of which the song was produced by KM-Markit. On September 9, 2022, Noa released the song "Paradise" digitally; the song was produced by Tofubeats.

On March 22, 2023, Noa released his debut studio album, No.A, which featured "Purple Sky" as its lead track.

Endorsements
Throughout his music career, Noa has modeled and endorsed brands such as Marc Jacobs and Crocs. He also served as a brand ambassador for Liese, of which his song "True Colors" was featured in a campaign.