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.
2023-2025 Index
2026 Index: Dec 28 – Jan 3 // Jan 4 – Jan 10 // Jan 11 – Jan 17 // Jan 18 – Jan 24 // Jan 25 – Jan 31 // Feb 1 – Feb 7 // Feb 8 – Feb 14 // Feb 15 – Feb 21 // Feb 22 – Feb 28 // Mar 1 – Mar 7 // Mar 8 – Mar 21 // Mar 22 – Mar 28
THIS WEEK: March 22 – 28
Bestted – Swagger (song of the week!)
I think this is their best single yet. It’s a lot of upbeat fun (even if the chorus needs to be developed more).
Cutie Street – Very Nice
There are some interesting instrumental choices here that don’t quite meld with the song or performance.
Daichi Miura – Feel So Bright
Miura’s new sort-of-greatest-hits album (it’s all of his songs made with frequent collaborator UTA) comes with three new tracks. This funky number is the best of the new material.
DOMOTO – Mata ne
Not one of their stronger songs, but it meets expectations.
DXTEEN – Spring Love
This is basically like their last single (it even keeps The Wind’s production team!) but not nearly as good/catchy.
=LOVE – Moratoriamu
This has a sweet girl group sound that should appeal to fans of K-pop groups like Lovelyz and early GFriend.
HANA – Bad Girl
I actually prefer their rock-influenced sound, as if works surprisingly well for them. This isn’t as good as Cold Night, but it’s nice.
HiiT FACTORY – Stay Me Now (song of the week!)
I mean, this song has been out since last fall, but J-pop’s giving us so little these days that I’m happy to spotlight another great track by HiiT Factory.
King & Prince – Waltz For Lily
A decent ballad.
MAZZEL – Get Up And Dance
Well, I approve of the title! The song is indeed dancey, but ultimately too generic to offer much staying power. There are some cool rhythm guitar moments, though.
m-flo loves Diggy-MO’ & Ryosuke Shinoda – GateWay
Worth it for the music video, honestly.
Miyase Ryubi – SUPER!!
I like the gritty production. The song itself isn’t much to write home about.
NOA – Say Yes (song of the week!)
Nice bassline and I like how the chorus accelerates rather than pulling back.
Nogizaka46 – Aitteurayamashii
Definitely one of their more upbeat singles.
OrβIT – Line Me Now
I wrote about this earlier and now it has a music video. And as I suspected, it is about the messaging app.
Re:inc. – LITM (Live In The Moment)
An easy, breezy new jack swing track will never go amiss.
ROIROM – Dress Code
A little too dull for me.
Snow Man – BANG!!
I miss when I loved Snow Man’s music. This is fine, but the chorus is basically just melodic shouting. I can’t help but lose interest pretty quickly.
STU48 – Lemon To Lemon
I enjoy the sprightliness of this, even if it’s pretty lightweight.
Taisho Maeda – Love Is A Maze
There’s a lot of potential here. It’s not quite there for me, but I like the theatrical nature of the song.
UVERworld – Ever
This is a pretty good power ballad, but the heavy-handed vocal effects quickly grow tiresome.
Zavage – Numa! Joutou
The silly band name brought me in, but the song itself is pretty good too.