PUBLISHED ONMay 25, 2025 4:45 AMByHu Bing ChengKhoo Yi-HangIntimacy is one of the key allures of a concert, where you're just metres away from your favourite artiste — you would be forgiven for thinking you had a personal connection with them, even if just for a moment.
But could you experience that intimacy if she appears in a cage on stage, obscured, with only her silhouette visible?
Ado's Crunchyroll-powered Hibana world tour concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday (May 21) proved you certainly could, and perhaps far more than a casual listener might expect.
Kicking off the show with her debut single Ussewa (2020), Ado ignited the crowd with her iconic, powerful vocals packed with raw emotions.
In the confines of her cage, her silhouette danced, tumbled and thrashed, making the most of the small space she had.
But the visuals were far from lacklustre — the laser lightshow more than made up for it, with beams of light spinning and overlapping, reminiscent of a rave.
On the ground, the audience reciprocated with that same energy, waving their lightsticks and moving to the beat as the beams brushed over them.
Ado's cage — purely physical — could do nothing to restrict the auditory delight that is her signature raspy-yet-tuneful screams as she belted out hit after hit.
Each stood in stark contrast to the mellowed whispers that interspersed her songs, causing the audience to erupt in passionate cheers.
Ado sang fan-favourite from One Piece Film: Red such as Fleeting Lullaby (2022) and Spy X Family season two's Kura Kura (2023), also powering through newer songs like Rockstar (2025) and Elf (2025).
An impactful rendition of Sia's Chandelier (2014) was also delivered in the encore, which she closed with the rousing and hopeful New Genesis (2022) from One Piece Film: Red.
During her encore, Ado also thanked fans present for their support.
"These days, so many people know who I am... across oceans, around the world," she began.
"No matter how much I think about it, it still feels surreal. I don't quite feel like myself, because at the beginning, I was completely alone."
Recalling her past, Ado revealed that she used to sing alone in her closet at home, the only light in her room from her computer screen.
"I sang and sang every single day," she reminisced, laughing as she shared how her mum used to yell at her to "turn it down" because she was too loud.
There were people who criticised her voice or the way she sang, days when she felt very much alone and days where she felt like giving up on her dream of being a singer, Ado said.
"Now, look at this," she said, her silhouette gesturing at the audience before her. "So many of you are right here in front of me. There are people all over the world who say they love my music.
"I still can't believe it. This view feels like a dream, and I'm just... truly, deeply happy."
Ado also wondered if there were people in the audience who were feeling the loneliness that she felt before.
She empathised: "It's okay to be alone. It's okay to dream. Loneliness isn't something to be ashamed of. Even if you have insecurities, even if you feel like you're all alone — You're still allowed to dream.
"No matter how lonely you are, you can still sing. That's the message I want to share — beyond language, beyond borders — with the world."
Perhaps that's the secret behind Ado's popularity despite the impersonality of never showing her face — she isn't just a mysterious singer or an artiste to her fans, but more of a concept.
In that concept is a silhouette — an outline which fans can fit themselves within, for them to find catharsis among other likeminded individuals and keep their own dreams alive.
bingchenghu@asiaone.com
khooyihang@asiaone.com
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