Fuji Rock Festival, one of Japan’s biggest summer music events, always manages to assemble an eclectic mix of current and rising stars, nostalgia acts, perennial fixtures and a couple of artists chosen seemingly at random from the “Where are they now?” file.

It's pretty much guaranteed that every year the crowd at Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture will come away swooning over at least one newcomer playing their first high-profile Japan show. There are plenty of early contenders for this year’s informal rookie of the year award, but the most surefire bet for 2025 is Mei Semones, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who plays what she describes as “jazz-influenced indie J-pop.”

Raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by a Japanese mother and American father, the 24-year-old speaks fluent Japanese (“fluent enough,” she clarifies) and sings in both of her native languages. Jazz and indie rock are just two of the touchstones for her music: On debut album “Animaru,” released in May, she combines them with the gentle caresses of bossa nova, the knotty structures of math rock and a dash of early-1990s grunge.