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.
THIS WEEK: May 12 - May 18
ALI - Professionalism (ft. Hannya) (song of the week!)
I guess I just needed some time (and an accompanying visual) to appreciate this because the song is sounding awesome this week.
Beyooooonds – Go City Go
A bit of city pop influence in this one. It's okay.
BUDDiiS - Honey
There are parts of this I love but it devolves into shouty boy band tropes and bad hip-hop breakdowns too often.
DXTEEN – Dance On Open World
This is so frustrating. The song itself is good but what's going on with the vocals? What happened to the group who delivered the excellent First Flight? It sounds like this is in the wrong key.
Generations – Endless Journey
With Mandy leaving, it seems inevitable that we'd get a sentimental track like this. It does its job well enough.
Girls²×iScream – D.N.A.
How are we not sick of this kind of song by now?
IS:SUE – Connect
I wrote about this here. I didn't like it.
ITZY – Algorhythm
I wrote about this here. I thought it was okay.
JO1 – Love Seeker
This funk pop sound is fun for them, but I'm still waiting for something as good as Born To Be Wild.
M!LK – Blue Shower
Still not a fan of the direction M!LK's music has taken, but this is alright for what it is.
My First Story & Hyde – Mugen
Anything related to Demon Slayer is bound to be huge, and this is a pretty mighty collaboration. The song is good, but nothing mind-blowing.
NOA – Colors
Solid, but pretty generic.
One Love One Heart – Upgrade
I hope they've gotten these sub-unit releases out of their system because they're easily their worst material. If I wanted this kind of clattering boy group sound I'd go elsewhere.
OWV - Love Banditz
This group has so much potential. I love the raucous energy of this, even if the song could do with a bit of tightening here and there.
SennaRin – boNEs (song of the week!)
SennaRin released her first album this week and unveiled a host of music videos to promote it. Unfortunately, those videos pair with songs I'm not super fond of, so I'm going with this great b-side instead.
Tail – Toxic
Catchy and breezy and nice.
Takanori Nishikawa – Love Train (song of the week!)
What does it say about the current state of J-pop that my favorite song of the week is a cover of a 90's hit? This comes from the just-released TM Network tribute album. You can never go wrong with Takanori Nishikawa (aka T.M.Revolution) re-imagining one of their best songs.
Wolf Howl Harmony – Pink Flash Lights
Not nearly as good as their last single, but it's fine.
This week's old favorite:
9nine - Shoujo Traveler (2012)
This sounds so much like a Sweetune production, so of course I adore it.
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