XY

XY is a 13 member Japanese pop-rock boy band who formed through the audition program YOSHIKI SUPERSTAR PROJECT X hosted by YOSHIKI of X Japan; the auditions were announced on February 27th, 2022, and, in April, the announcement was made that a band and a boy group would be formed.

The gruelling audition process hosted famous international judges that also included YOSHIKI’s longtime friend, and bandmate HYDE of L'Arc~en~Ciel fame. The audition judges also included kazuki from s**t kingz, TAKAHIRO, and Travis Payne.

After auditions, both the band and the group had been finalized. From the band, the members consist of drummer KYOHEY, vocalists KARMA and GAI (GAI is also the rapper for the band), bassist FURUTATSU, and guitarist KAIRI. From the group, the members consist of P→★, MITCHY, RAIA, KANJI, KICE, HAYATO, JAY and KOSEI.

During the initial audition process, one of the main vocalist parts was to be given to another trainee, YOSHI, however, he would pass away tragically in a car accident on November 5th, 2022, only days after YOSHIKI made his final selections for the band members; the funeral was attended by YOSHIKI himself, along with his SUPER STAR X bandmates. He was only 19 years of age at the time of his passing.

It was later revealed that YOSHI’s bereaved family members wished for the band to continue, and with this, auditions continued for another band member, which ended up being an addition of two, including a vocalist and rapper, who would end up being GAI.

YOSHI was later honored in a digital single, in which all of the participants of the program participated in. The single, which was also a posthumous release for YOSHI, titled simply XY ft. YOSHI was released on February 26th, 2023. On the 28th, the final members of both the band and the group were announced. They would later release their debut single Crazy Love on June 30th, 2023, with an accompanying music video which released on July 8th, 2023.