Naomi Watanabe

Watanabe was born in Taipei to a Japanese father and a Taiwanese mother. The family moved to Japan shortly after her birth and she was raised in Ibaraki . She is an only child.^[4][5][6] Her parents divorced when she was a very young. Her mother raised her in Ibaraki until she remarried when Watanabe was eight years old. She revealed that her mother's new husband was only interested in her mother and did not care much about her.^[7] During that time, Watanabe recalls what living in poverty was like, especially when she was five or six years old. Her mother struggled to find suitable work because she was a foreigner and could barely understand Japanese.^[7]

Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese culture, among which her imitation of Beyoncé singing "Dreamgirls" and "Crazy in Love" became popular. She has launched her own fashion line called Punyus (loosely translated to "chubby" in English), and played the role of Mabel in the musical Fame and Tracy Turnblad in the musical Hairspray.^[8]

Watanabe made her musical debut in 2017, as a featured artist on Japanese-American singer Ai's single "Kira Kira". The song served as the opening theme song for the Japanese drama Kanna-san!, with Watanabe as the lead actress.^[9] "Kira Kira" was nominated for the Grand Prix Award at the 59th Japan Record Awards.

In 2022, she appeared as a featured artist on a Japanese remix of Doja Cat's 2021 single "Kiss Me More".

In 2025, Watanabe and the comic duo Chocolate Planet formed N-choco. They released their debut single "Elusive" with M-Flo.^[10]

In March 2021, she announced she would move from Japan to the United States.^[15] Watanabe relocated to New York City, describing it as a "major rebirth".^[16]

In December 2024, Naomi Watanabe was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.^[17]

1. [A]

   Sources for chart positions:

   • "Kira Kira"^[18]