, better known as TK, is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence as lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the rock band Ling Tosite Sigure, which formed in 2002. In 2011, he started to release solo material as .
Biography
TK started his solo career with a limited DVD titled Film A Moment. Released in 2011, the DVD features a photobook and a movie shot on 8mm film that acts as a music video for the three tracks on the disc.
TK's first album, Flowering, was released on June 27, 2012, and featured alternate versions of "Film A Moment" and "White Silence" (both being originally featured on the DVD release Film A Moment) along with seven new tracks and an additional hidden track titled "Sound_am326." The limited press version featured a live studio session (DVD) of selected tracks from the album directed by P.B. Anderson. Musicians such as BOBO from Miyavi Crew, and Hidekazu Hinata from Nothing's Carved in Stone featured on the album.
Kitajima's second release was prefaced by the single "Unravel", which acted as the opening for the popular anime series Tokyo Ghoul and the mini-album Contrast. "Unravel" had three versions to note, one of them featuring artwork inspired by the series it fronted, the other featuring a DVD titled Killing You Softly (an acoustic live DVD) featuring the track "Jewel of Sin", which would be featured on TK's third album White Noise. And both TK and Ling Tosite Sigure tracks reworked as acoustic pieces. The other version pressed was the standard edition, which featured three tracks, one being featured as the BGM for the Flowering DVD.
The mini-album Contrast was released the same year as "Unravel", being 2014 and featured a live DVD from the 2013 Rock in Japan Festival along with a bonus video filmed in Berlin for the song "Tokio" (limited pressing only). The album also featured a live reworking of the Ling Tosite Sigure song "Illusion is Mine". Both "Unravel" and "Contrast" contained additional B-sides.
Fantastic Magic is TK's second album and features seven new tracks, one featuring vocalist Chara, a reworking of "Dramatic Slow Motion", and the other being "Contrast". The limited pressing contains music videos for songs featured on the album, along with "Haze", released on Flowering.
Secret Sensation was released in early 2016, Kitajima's second mini-album. As before it featured a live track, this one being "White Silence" and a song that would be reworked on White Noise along with respective B-sides as before. The limited press contained two music videos, one for "Secret Sensation" and the other for "Like There is Tomorrow".
TK's second single, "Signal", was featured as an opening for the anime 91 Days. "Signal" had two versions, one being a digipak release with artwork inspired by 91 Days, the other a standard jewel case. Both versions contained a reworked version of "Shandy", a Ling Tosite Sigure track from the album Still a Sigure Virgin?; and the acoustic version of "Unravel".
White Noise, being released in November 2016, featured six new tracks: a reworking of "Like There is Tomorrow", the singles "Signal" and "Secret Sensation", and a proper studio recording of "Jewel of Sin". The limited version featured a live DVD from the Secret Sensation Tour. In 2017, TK started to collaborate with Masayuki Nakano from the former electronic music band Boom Boom Satellites.
On November 21, 2018, TK released a new single, containing the song "Katharsis" and its instrumental and TV edit versions, and a song titled "Memento". "Katharsis" was used as the opening theme for the second season of Tokyo Ghoul:re. Its music video was released on November 20, 2018. On December 10, 2018, it was announced that TK would perform the theme song "P.S. Red I" for the Japanese release of the animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which was released in Japan on March 8, 2019.
On April 15, 2020, TK released his fourth studio album, 彩脳. April 14, 2021, he released his third EP by the name of Yesworld.
On August 5, 2021, TK releases his first teaser for "egomaniac feedback" compilation album, with release date of Oct 13th, 2021.
Continuing his solo music project, TK, collaborated with Koshi Inaba of B'z at the start of 2022 to release the single As Long as I Love/Scratch on March 26, 2022.
At the end of 2022, TK would go on to release his hit song First Death with an official music video, do numerous interviews, and release a live of First Death from the Last Death tour filmed on his birthday, December 23.
Discography
Studio albums + List of studio albums, showing year released, selected details, and chart positions Title Details Peak chart positions JPN JPNHot Flowering Released: June 27, 2012 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download, streaming 14 — Fantastic Magic Released: August 27, 2014 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download, streaming 12 —White Noise Released: September 28, 2016 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray, digital download, streaming 14 15Sainou Released: April 15, 2020 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 8 8 Whose Blue Released: April 16, 2025 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, digital download, streaming 16— "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Compilation albums + List of compilation albums, showing year released, selected details, and chart positions Title Details Peak chart positions JPN JPN HotEgomaniac Feedback Released: October 13, 2021 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Format: CD, digital download, streaming 19 16 "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Extended plays + List of extended plays, showing year released, selected details, and chart positions Title Details Peak chart positions JPN JPNHot Contrast Released: March 5, 2014 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download, streaming 10— Secret Sensation Released: March 2, 2016 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download, streaming 11 13 Yesworld Released: April 14, 2021 Label: Sony Music Associated Records Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download, streaming 13 17 "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Singles
As lead artist + List of singles as lead artist, showing year released, selected chart positions, sales, certifications, and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Certifications Album JPN JPNHot "Unravel" 2014 9 6 JPN: 10,112+ JPN: 250,000+ RIAJ: Platinum Platinum Fantastic Magic "Signal" 2016 18 28White Noise "Katharsis" 2018 21 33 JPN: 4,539 Sainou "P.S. Red I" 2019 25 90 JPN: 3,235 "Melt" — — 2020 33 — JPN: 2,924 — — "Copy Light" — — "Will-ill" 2021 33 — Egomaniac Feedback "As Long as I Love" 2022 6 95 rowspan="2" "Scratch"— "First Death" 24 63 Whose Blue 2023 — — 2024 24 — "Un-Apex" 2025 32 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
As featuring artist +List of singles as featuring artist, showing year released and album nameTitleYearAlbum "Ender Ember" 2026
Other charted songs +List of songs not released as singles, showing year released, selected chart positions, and album name Title YearPeak chart positions Album JPNHot "Contrast" 2014 48Contrast and Fantastic Magic
Production Title Role(s) Album Album Artist Year "Mode Inversion" Guitarist Code Acid Android 2010 "Switch" (TK Remix) Remixer Alcove/#1 2011 "Nano" (TK Kaleidoscope Remix) Remixer, guitarist Since 2 Spangle call Lilli line 2013 "Tenohira no Sekai" (掌の世界) Composer, lyricist, producer Joy!! SMAP "Miruiro no Hoshi" (みるいろの星) Arranger, strings arranger Panorama Asaco Nasu 2014 "Dramatic Starlight" Composer, lyricist, producer Mr. S SMAP "Zephyr" (TK Remix) Remixer (arranger, guitarist) Immortalis Sukekiyo 2015 "Us" Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, recording, mixer, programming, guitarist, additional vocals Daydream Aimer 2016 "Kowairo" (声色) Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, recording, mixer, mastering, guitarist "Last Eye" Composer, producer Itadakimono Yuko Ando "Draw (A) Drow" Composer, arranger, producer, guitarist Draw (A) Drow Seiko Omori 2017 "Stand By You" Composer, lyricist, arranger, strings arranger, producer, recording engineer, guitarist, additional vocals Penny Rain Aimer 2019 "image _____" Producer Soushitsu MEMAI SIREN 2020 "Hikari no Akuma" (光の悪魔) Lyricist, composer, arranger Gin no Yuri/Banzai RIZING!!!/Hikari no Akuma εpsilonΦ "Red:birthmark" Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer RUBY POP Aina the End 2023 "six feet under" Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, guitarist Jigoku 6 Mori Calliope "Zez Zez Zez Zettai Seiki" (絶絶絶絶対聖域) Composer, arranger, producer, guitarist Non-album single ano feat. Ikuta Rira 2024 "request" Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer request krage "Love Sick" Composer, lyricist, arranger, producer RUBY POP Aina the End
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominee/work Result 2015 Newtype Anime Awards Best Theme Song "Unravel" (from anime Tokyo Ghoul)
References
External links
TK discography on iTunes