Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)

I'll be honest, the first time Cornelius really clicked for me was hearing how he treats sound like a sculptor rather than a songwriter. Keigo Oyamada came up out of that Shibuya-kei scene in Tokyo, and instead of staying cute and crate-diggy he kept drifting toward something stranger and more precise. Records like Fantasma and Point feel almost obsessive, every little click, pan, and silence placed on purpose, and somehow it never sounds cold to me, it sounds curious. He's not a belt-it-out frontman, he's the quiet guy in the corner rearranging the air, and that restraint is exactly what hooks me. His career took a hard hit in 2021, when old interviews about bullying classmates resurfaced and he stepped down from the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony. Musically, though, I just respect the patience. He makes me believe pop can still be a science experiment you can dance to.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Keigo Oyamada, known professionally as Cornelius, is a Japanese musician, producer, and composer born on January 27, 1969, in Setagaya, Tokyo. Emerging from the Shibuya-kei scene, he built a career as a solo artist under the Cornelius moniker, crafting intricately layered, experimental pop and electronic music. His meticulous approach to sound design and studio production has earned him recognition as one of Japan's most inventive musical artists. In 2021 he resigned as a composer for the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony after 1990s magazine interviews in which he described bullying classmates resurfaced. He has an official website and social media accounts.

Name (English)

Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)

Name (Japanese)

小山田圭吾

Reading

おやまだ けいご

Born

January 27, 1969 (age 57)

Origin

Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

DJ / Singer-songwriter / DJ Producer / Composer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Rooster

Active years

1987 -

Works summary

Works

434 (1991–2026)

By year (titles with a known year)

1991: 1, 1992: 2, 1993: 2, 1994: 1, 1995: 6, 1996: 6, 1997: 3, 1998: 7, 1999: 9, 2000: 4, 2001: 3, 2002: 4, 2003: 13, 2004: 6, 2005: 7, 2006: 3, 2007: 5, 2008: 5, 2009: 11, 2010: 6, 2011: 10, 2012: 11, 2013: 21, 2014: 7, 2015: 6, 2016: 4, 2017: 9, 2018: 9, 2019: 12, 2020: 10, 2021: 6, 2022: 9, 2023: 30, 2024: 21, 2025: 18, 2026: 20, year unknown: 127

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://cornelius-sound.com
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/corneliusofficial/
• Xhttps://x.com/corneliusjapan
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B1%B1%E7%94%B0%E5%9C%AD%E5%90%BE
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q778539

Tags

• From Tokyo
• DJ
• Singer-songwriter
• DJ Producer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.