Joe Inoue
Person · male · Japan · Los Angeles · born 1985 · recording since 2007
American musician
official homepageofficial homepageofficial homepagestreamingsocialsocialdatabasedatabasedatabasevideo
Also known as Joe Inoue · Inoue Joe · 井上ジョー
Timeline
1980s
2000s
· Debut release
Debut release: In a Way
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2010s
Biography
Biography
Joe Inoue (井上ジョー, Inoue Jō; born August 30, 1985) is a Japanese-American rock musician signed to Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Ki/oon Records label.
Background and career
He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to two Japanese immigrants. It was not until middle school that he became interested in music and that eventually led him to start his musical career in 2007. He was accepted to UCLA and UC Berkeley but had chosen music. Inoue performs every instrument on his recordings in addition to writing and composing the pieces on his own. He claims to have learned Japanese by reading manga and watching anime.
He gained prominence when his song "Closer
CLOSERSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1CLOSER3:282GRAVITY3:103考えたくない ~Can a guy talk all night?~2:154CLOSER -NARUTO オープニング ver.-1:315CLOSER -"ケリオキ"ver.-(KARAOKE)3:27" was used as the fourth opening theme for Naruto: Shippuden. His fifth single "Kaze no Gotoku" was used as the second theme song for the Yorinuki Gin Tama-san anime.
Inoue contributed to Tetsuya's 2011 solo album Come On! by rapping on the track "Eden" and later wrote and was featured on Totalfat's 2011 single "World of Glory".
Songwriting contributions
"Eden" by Tetsuya from the album Come On! – rap
"World of Glory" by Totalfat from the album Damn Hero – songwriting
"Adrenaline" by Yoko Yazawa from the album Give Me!!! – songwriting
"Spinning World" from Naruto: Shippuden – songwriting
"Rescue Rescue" by Kanjani 8 – songwriting
"Chan-Chara-Chan" by Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku – songwriting
"Hankō Seimei" by Ayumikurikamaki from the album Dai Gyakushū – songwriting, credited as Tenguboy
"Amagami Days" by Ayumikurikamaki from the album Dai Gyakushū – songwriting, credited as Tenguboy
"Elevator Girl" (English ver.) by Babymetal from the album Metal Galaxy – lyrics, credited as Joemetal
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 13 | 67.6th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 8 | 81.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 6 | 80.8th |
| Recording span (years) | 9 | 24.5th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (8 release groups · 4 studio albums)
Albums · 4
2007 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 5 tracks · 17:27
1-"Nowhere" –3:452-"Kakusei" (覚醒, "Wide Awake") –3:263-"Pa! Pa! Pa!" (パッパッパ, Pappappa) –3:224-"Shinkai" (深海, "Deep Sea") –3:325-"Hummingbird" (ハミングバード, Hamingubādo) –3:222009 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 42:14
1CLOSER (Royal Ver.)3:242零時 ~TWENTY FOUR~2:323幻4:394PARTY NIGHT ~踊り足りNight~2:485INTO OBLIVION3:066ONE MAN BAND (Symphonicated Ver.)3:367瞳 ~HE TOLD ME~3:118HANNAH3:269GRAVITY (Sunset Ver.)3:0710車2:5111AFTERGLOW2:4012春3:0913HELLO! (Album Mix)3:452010 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 19 tracks · 34:57
Disc 11Can you hear me?1:262風のごとく —B.B.B. Ver.—3:393HOME3:574ふたりでひとり / The Journey4:435ANIMAL4:156キミゴコロ3:267LIGHTS —Album Ver.—4:038GO★ —Album Ver.—3:399CLOSER —English ver.—3:2910ハロハログッバイ2:20Disc 21GO★ [MUSIC VIDEOS]2風のごとく [MUSIC VIDEOS]3HOME [MUSIC VIDEOS]4MAKING OF “HOME” [SPECIAL]5CLOSER [Valentine’s Day Special Acoustic Live]6ONE MAN BAND [Valentine’s Day Special Acoustic Live]7たいせつ 〜ties the two〜 [Valentine’s Day Special Acoustic Live]8幻 [Valentine’s Day Special Acoustic Live]9春 [Valentine’s Day Special Acoustic Live]2016 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 16 tracks · 46:02
1Magic3:112Joemanian2:483Krd3:524Boys and Girls3:345The One4:316Straight Up (Killing Me)3:127Morning Light1:438Living Dead2:129Zawawa3:2010Sandomeshi3:2111Funk (Like It's a Sport)1:4812Puck You2:5713Parents2:2414Loner Boner1:3815Panic Attack3:0616Rain2:25
Single · 4
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | HELLO!Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 3 tracks · 11:101HELLO!3:46 2ONE MAN BAND3:41 3たいせつ 〜ties the two〜3:43 | 2008 | ||
| 2008 | CLOSERSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 5 tracks · 13:511CLOSER3:28 2GRAVITY3:10 3考えたくない ~Can a guy talk all night?~2:15 4CLOSER -NARUTO オープニング ver.-1:31 5CLOSER -"ケリオキ"ver.-(KARAOKE)3:27 | 17 December 2008 | ||
| 2009 | 幻Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 3 tracks · 10:021-"Maboroshi" (幻, "Illusion") –4:45 2-"P.J. Anthem" –2:31 3-"Party Night (Odoritari Night)" (PARTY NIGHT~踊り足りNight~, "Party Night (Not Enough Dancing)") –2:46 | 18 February 2009 | ||
| 2009 | GO★Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 4 tracks · 14:471"Go!" (GO★)3:39 2"What Is Your Name?"3:52 4"Jinkō Eisei" (人工衛星, "Artificial Satellite")3:37 5"Go!(Burning Bright Remix)" (GO★Burning Bright Remix)3:39 | 22 July 2009 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Joe Inoue head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 13 | 67.6th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 8 | 81.1th |
| Studio albums | 4 | 82.8th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 6 | 80.8th |
| Recording span (years) | 9 | 24.5th |
| Genres | 2 | 74th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/1d7ff2a5-25e0-4c84-8e5b-6069f80cd81ddiscography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/1d7ff2a5-25e0-4c84-8e5b-6069f80cd81dcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q630943genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q630943seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Inouebiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Inoue
Why this artist is in the database
- List of singer-songwriters
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: no portrait (not displayed: the licence credit is missing)
Wikidata: Q630943 · MusicBrainz: 1d7ff2a5-25e0-4c84-8e5b-6069f80cd81d
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