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 Index

2024 Index: Dec 24 – Jan 6 // Jan 7 – Jan 13 // Jan 14 – Jan 20 // Jan 21 – Jan 27 // Jan 28 – Feb 3 // Feb 4 – Feb 10 // Feb 11 – Feb 17 // Feb 18 – Feb 24 // Feb 25 – Mar 2 // Mar 3 – Mar 9 // Mar 10 – Mar 16 // Mar 17 – Mar 23 // Mar 24 – Mar 30 // Mar 31 – Apr 6 // Apr 7 – Apr 13 // Apr 14 – Apr 20 // Apr 21 – Apr 27 // Apr 28 – May 4

THIS WEEK: May 5 – May 11

ICEx – Bilimi (song of the week!)

Last week, I mentioned that I was waiting on a music video to see how I felt about this song. I actually didn’t even need to wait that long because repeated listens have revealed its charms. I like this one a lot.

Millennium Parade – GOLDENWEEK

I appreciate how this is both experimental and accessible. It’s got a real mood to it, but doesn’t skimp on memorable melodies.

Miyavi – Running In My Head (song of the week!)

This is Miyavi at his best. I really love it. It’s such a shot of adrenaline.

Naniwa Danshi – Alpha

It feels like they’ve released this same song several times already. There’s no shame in repeating a successful formula, but you need to improve on it as you go on. Alpha does not do that, making it feels extraneous.

NCT Dream – Moonlight (song of the week!)

This will surely have a music video later (and thus, a song review!), so I’ll elaborate more at that point. For now, I’ll simply say I enjoy this quite a bit.

One Love One Heart – Girls Forever

I think this is the first One Love One Heart song that I dislike. I’m not thrilled with the idea of male/female unit tracks in general, and this echoes some of my least favorite J-pop girl group sounds.

REIKO – So Good

I appreciate the good vibes, but this isn’t for me.

Sean Oshima – Kuchibirowo Mikatani (Sing Sing Sing)

This is a bit too “campfire singalong” for me, but I still love his voice.

Sekai No Owari – Romantic

One of their more boring songs, unfortunately.

TK from Ling tosite sigure – Tagatame

I love his songwriting but his vocals have always put me off from diving further into his work. However, this song is really good so I may just have to take that plunge.

VK Blanka – Never Run

A satisfying, upbeat pop track.

&TEAM – Samidare

I wrote about this here. I thought it was dull.

This week’s old favorite:

Bullet Train (Choutokkyuu) – EBiDAY EBiNAI (2014)

I’ve been obsessed with Bullet Train’s latest single Steal A Kiss lately, so I thought I’d share one of my favorite tracks from their early years. That chorus is epic!