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 // May 25 – May 31 // Jun 1 – Jun 7 // Jun 8 – Jun 14 // Jun 15 – Jun 21 // Jun 22 – Jun 28 // Jun 29 – Jul 5
BE:FIRST – Under The Same Sky
A perfectly nice ballad.
Class Seven – Miss You
This has a very classic J-idol sound. The song isn’t unique enough to stand out, but I’m intrigued by this new group.
Da Pump – Osomatsusan no Bombashéj
Incredibly obnoxious.
DÉ DÉ MOUSE – Fallin’ In
I love this style of dance music. Sure, it’s repetitive but the beat and texture are so satisfying.
fripSide – Echoes Of The Stars (song of the week!)
You always know exactly what you’re going to get with a fripSide song, and that’s kind of comforting. This is a particularly good example of their sound.
Generations – Summer Vacation
Must we shoehorn trap beats into every song? They don’t match this at all.
imase – Mr. Moonlight
This style of indie pop is feeling increasingly twee and I don’t like that. It’s just not appealing to me.
Kid Phenomenon – Sparkle Summer
I would have loved a more even distribution of the energy, but the chorus is fun and they sound good.
Koda Kumi – ChaO!
I like the brassy accents in the instrumental, but otherwise this is pretty unremarkable.
LE SSERAFIM – Kawaii
I wrote about this here. I thought it was okay.
M!LK – Aonooto
I usually like this kind of chugging, uplifting J-pop but this one’s not doing much for me.
MADKID – Resolution
Rock music is such a touchstone for these kind of groups lately. This one hits pretty hard.
Masayoshi Oishi – Kagome Kagome
This has good moments and bad moments, which is pretty common in today’s fragmented songwriting/production approach.
Miss Mercy – I SWEEK;)
I don’t know what “I Sweek” means.
One Love One Heart – Anone, Zutto Suki Deshita (song of the week!)
I wrote about this here. I liked it a lot!
Penguin Research – Kettou
I tend to be hit or miss with their music and this is a bit too heavy for me. But if you like pummeling rock music, you should check it out.
Perfume – Meguru-pu
I don’t think this is one of their best, but I like the chorus a lot and I’m excited to see what they have in store for the album because their last one was so strong.
Ryosuke Yamada – Bloomin’
Pretty dull.
SixTONES – Stargaze
I definitely enjoy their rockier tracks, but I find this one a bit flat despite the chorus being kind of interesting.
