In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in what’s new in J-pop.
With that in mind, here’s where you come in: I’m one person with one set of musical preferences, so please embed any other new J-pop tracks you’ve enjoyed in the comments so we can get a fuller spectrum each week.
*And just like I do with my reviews, I’ll wait until full versions of songs are available before posting them in this round-up. This will mostly apply to Johnny’s groups, who still limit the majority of their YouTube uploads to shorter, edited versions.
2023-2024 Index
2025 Index: Dec 29 – Jan 11 // Jan 12 – Jan 18 // Jan 19 – Jan 25 // Jan 26 – Feb 1 // Feb 2 – Feb 8 // Feb 9 – Feb 15 // Feb 16 – Feb 22 // Feb 23 – Mar 1
THIS WEEK: March 2 – March 8
AKB48 – Masaka No Confession
Not one of their best, but it’s sprightly enough I guess.
f5ve – Magic Clock (song of the week!)
This group has quickly developed a cult following. I get it, even if the music isn’t always for me. This one’s quite good, though. It’s very bouncy!
flumpool – Arashi no Yoru ni
I really like this style of cathartic rock track.
Galileo Galilei – Ao Ni Modoru
This one requires a bit of patience, but it’s nice.
Ganmi – Mirror (ft. w-inds.)
The chorus is way better than the verses here.
Genic – Gyutto
This is the opposite! I love the verses… not so much the chorus. It’s all a bit frantic at times. It’s interesting to hear them sing this kind of quintessential idol song, though.
I am HEROINE? – Meme Tokyo
This is certainly interesting. I think I like the sound more than the song.
JAXX/JAXX – Dou ni Demo Nare! (song of the week!)
This song was released last summer but they debuted a new music video this week. I like the song a lot and wanted to feature it even though it’s technically not new.
Kenshi Yonezu – Bow And Arrow
I like this better than his last few tracks.
Lienel – Tsumi To Batsu
I hear promise in this, but the final product doesn’t quite come together for me.
LiSA – Red Zone
This feels like a real shift in sound for her. I’m liking this dancier energy.
M!LK – E Jan
I wrote about this last week and now it has a music video. I still don’t think the contrast between its two parts works at all. It comes from a new album, though, so I should probably give that a listen.
OEN High – Finish Line ~Last Race, New Start~
I wrote about this here. I liked it.
PG – Version Of Me
The girls of this kid group release their unit track. It’s the style of sing-songy pop I’m not fond of.
Queen Bee – Zero Hachi
A groovy b-side from Queen Bee’s new album. I haven’t been able to spend as much time with it as I’d like since I’ve been busy with MAYHEM this week, but I’m looking forward to more listens.
Ryubi Miyase – Nekogaibikide
I love him as an actor but this is incredibly dull.
Scandal – Soundly
A decent rock track.
Shigeko Shima & Hikaru – Clock
A bit of a surprising side project. I can’t quite tell what I think of the song but it’s definitely interesting.
SKE48 Team E – Kokoro yo, Koe wo Agero!
This has a nice chorus.
SPYAIR – Buddy (song of the week!)
I really like the sound of this and I think it can easily grow more addictive over time.
Travis Japan – Say I Do / Tokyo Crazy Night
These guys released two new music videos this week. Say I Do is a rock-tinged mid-tempo while Tokyo Crazy Night is a funkier affair. I prefer the latter, though neither are among the group’s best work.
XG – Is This Love
It seems we’re getting a video for this song… eventually? I’ll probably write about it more then. The music was originally released as a b-side last year.
XY – Talk (song of the week!)
I first wrote about this months ago with a performance video was released, but now the song is officially released and I’m going to mention it again because I need more music I enjoy in this week’s round-up! I still feel like this group is aimlessly flailing about when they should be defining their sound, but this is a fun dance track.
This week’s old favorite:
Meik – Dance Forever (2022)
I just want to give my dance diva Meik some love. Her music should be much more well-known than it is.