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 Starto 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 // Mar 23 – Mar 29 // Mar 30 – Apr 5 // Apr 6 – Apr 12 // Apr 13 – Apr 19 // Apr 20 – Apr 26 // Apr 27 – May 3 // May 4 – May 10 // May 11 – May 16 // May 17 – May 24
THIS WEEK: May 25 – May 31
Airi Suzuki – Oops!
This has a nice groove.
AMEFURASSHI – Don’t Stop The Music (song of the week!)
This is a refreshing surprise! Very bright and ready for summer. I like this sound a lot.
BABYMETAL x Slaughter To Prevail – Song 3
A bit much for me, but it would definitely be good for head banging if that’s your thing.
BE:FIRST – Grit (song of the week!)
Finally a hip-hop track that doesn’t recycle the same tired trap beats! This is such an authentic replication of early-2000’s hip-hop sounds. The simple hooks are also slyly addicting.
BoA – Young & Free
Gosh, she hasn’t released a Japanese single in a while, huh? I don’t know if this will eventually receive a music video, but it’s quite good. Very breezy and upbeat.
BUGVEL – Zone
Follows every overused boy group trope you could imagine.
DÉ DÉ MOUSE × Pa’s Lam System – Carry On (song of the week!)
I really, really love the production on this. That 80’s disco sound is huge and satisfying. A great dance track. I wish there was more of a melody to it.
DISH// – Gunjo Flight
A solid, anthemic rock track.
Fantastics – Unmei Nante
A perfectly fine mid-tempo. Not even close to their best work.
Hiromitsu Kitayama – OMG!!!
Not a fan of the AI video, but the song is pretty fun I guess.
Hokuto – Au Pas, Camarades!
A cute little song. It doesn’t really go anywhere, though.
imase x Yumi Matsutoya – Buntsu
Very sleepy.
LEØNAGE – Pirate
I’m not sure this is the style of song pirates would actually listen to, but it’s a decent enough re-creation of this very K-pop sound.
Mandy Sekiguchi – MANDEMIC
This had the potential to be very funny, but despite its title the song plays things straight down the middle and ends up kind of dull.
Morning Musume ‘25 – Ki ni Naru Sono Ki no Uta
Sounds pretty much like you’d expect from one of their songs, but at least it has some energy.
Nayeon – Kimagure Romantic
Kudos for diving right in and releasing a very J-pop sounding song. A pity it wasn’t stronger.
Sakurazaka46 – Make Or Break
Another energetic hit from Sakurazaka46. It might not be their most memorable or unique, but the intensity is great.
Ten – Silence
I wrote about this here. It didn’t do much for me.
Tora Project – SNooZe
I’ve heard this song template at least a thousand times before. The shouty chorus is particularly bad.
TXT – Step By Step
Peppy and fun. Nothing particularly notable, though.
Wednesday Campanella – Chateaubriand (song of the week!)
This has a very fun, bouncy sound. The song itself feels a bit throwaway, but I love the instrumental.
Yuto Adachi – Blue Spring
Pretty typical trap ballad/mid-tempo.
This week’s old favorite:
Nogizaka46 – Inochiha Utsukushii (2015)
One of my favorite older Nogizaka46 songs. It’s got that surging, electric guitar assisted J-pop sound I love so much. The chorus is especially fantastic.