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
THIS WEEK: May 4 – May 10
BABYMONSTER – Ghost
This Japanese OST is legitimately stronger than the vast majority of their Korean work. I like the refreshing funk sound. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s quite nice.
Bullet Train (Chotokkyu) – Caramel Heart
This is soooo milquetoast for them. They’re struggling to get the balance right between out-and-out bonkers and safe, dull background music like this.
DXTEEN – Tick-Tack
A boilerplate boy group song. Not much to see here. It’s fine.
f5ve – Sugar Free Venom (ft. Kesha) / Bow Chika Wow Wow
I’m not feeling this main single, but the group released mini mvs for all the other new tracks on their album, so I’ll also embed the one for Bow Chika Wow Wow, which is the superior track in my opinion. I love its old-school beat.
Generations – My Generation (song of the week!)
This has a sprightly energy and a few nice melodies. It’s nothing spectacular, but it caught my ear and that’s more than I can say about most releases this week/month/year.
Hinatazaka46 – Love Yourself! (song of the week!)
A classic, surging J-pop song. In a very forgettable J-pop week, that’s enough to make this a standout.
IS:SUE – Shining
I wrote about this before but now it has an mv. It’s still not doing much for me. There are so many songs that sound exactly like this right now.
Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai – Lovey Dovey
This has a nice, upbeat sound. It’s not knocking my socks off, but I like it.
MYERA – No Drip
God, we need a sea change in music trends…
One Love One Heart – Hoshi no Shoumei
I’m always happy for new music from One Love One Heart, but they have much better songs in this same vein.
Phantom Siita – Love, Hate
Funny enough, this is like a darker version of some One Love One Heart songs. I don’t particularly love it, though.
Queen Bee – Aku
As much as I adore Queen Bee, I wasn’t too enamored with their latest album. This song seems to put most of its focus on lyrics and mood. Melodically, it kind of spins its wheels.
SE7ENTH SENSE – Gouhou Ikemen Paradise
This devolves into pure silliness, but it’s great for a minute or so.
Takuya Sugimoto – Sure Sure
This has fun moments. It’s pretty formulaic, though.
timelesz – One And Only
This isn’t the full song, but I’ve heard enough to say that I want Sexy Zone’s music back. This is so generic.
This week’s old favorite:
KinKi Kids – Jetcoaster Romance (1998)
KinKi Kids are the latest J-pop legend to bring their music to streaming services worldwide (KAT-TUN and V6 next, please!) so it’s a good week to once again spotlight my favorite single of theirs. This is a stone cold classic.