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 // Mar 2 – Mar 8 // Mar 9 – Mar 15 // Mar 16 – Mar 22
THIS WEEK: March 23 – March 29
[Alexandros] – After School
For those of you who love moody 90’s rock.
The Beat Garden – Happy Ender
Not their best, but I’m so happy to hear them release something upbeat again.
CRAVITY – Jelly Bean (song of the week!)
I wrote about this here. I liked it, and it’s already grown on me more.
Hey! Say! JUMP – Super Cruisin’
Sometime I really need to write a feature on Hey! Say! JUMP’s discography. They have so many incredible bangers. This isn’t one of them, unfortunately.
imase – Soyokaze
I really like the instrumental. The actual song isn’t as effective, but this is a nice breezy vibe overall.
JO1 – Be Classic
Sigh. We’re never getting back to “Born To Be Wild” goodness, are we? The classical-meets-hip-hop style has potential, but this sounds like so many other boy group tracks. The chorus is okay but I wish they’d remove the trap beats and shouting.
JO3 – Lost (song of the week!)
This is Joe from Genic’s solo project. I don’t usually flock to mostly-instrumental music, but I like this a lot. The instrumental is great and there are just enough vocals to keep me engaged. He’s a really talented producer.
Leon Niihama – Hono no Kiss
Well, this is something different! I don’t know that I’d want to listen to it often, but I very much admire it.
Lonesome_Blue – Go Nuts
A hard rocking girl band. This is pretty good.
m-flo loves Mamiko Suzuki – Judgement?
Too downbeat for me.
Mashiho – UV
He has such a nice voice. I wish the song truly took flight, though.
MYERA – Upboomboom
I feel like there’s a lot of promise in this group and this sound, but the song isn’t quite working for me. It feels too fragmented and predictable and lacks strong hooks.
NMB48 – Chu Strike
Ooh, this has some of that unhinged 80’s/90’s energy I like.
Nogizaka46 – Koukanshinkei Yuui
Pretty unmemorable by their standards. The chorus is nice, though.
Nogizaka46 – Navel Orange (song of the week!)
This one is stronger overall, which was probably why it was chosen as the lead single. I really like the pre-chorus and chorus. The sound is so wistful.
Noisemaker – Koe (ft. KJ)
This has major ONE OK ROCK energy.
≠ME – Kamisama No Iutori!
Jaunty!
Philosophy no Dance – Love Me More
A retro, brassy disco sound. At this point, they can rattle off a song like this in their sleep.
SKY-HI – No Flexin’
One of his better solo singles of the past few years.
Super Beaver – Kataomoi
Japan loves this kind of rock ballad.
WEST. – West Side Soul
Yeah… this one isn’t for me.
Wild Blue – POP (song of the week!)
Well, this takes me right to the roller rink. This is the exact style of music they should be doing. I’m excited for the music video.
This week’s old favorite:
Junho – DSMN (2016)
Junho’s Japanese work never gets as much praise as it deserves. I reviewed this in the early days of this blog and loved it, but in case you missed that I want to feature it again because it’s a total electro banger.