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
Bi-ray – Butterfly (song of the week!)
Yoshiki has to be one of the worst music managers in the business. I mean, look what happened to his boy group XY! However, he can still write a killer song – even though they all kind of sound the same. This is his new girl group, and if history is any precedent this may become their one and only song.
BOKUAO – Cowardly Crow (song of the week!)
Oh! They shortened their incredibly long name into an acronym. Honestly, I don’t care what they call themselves if they’re going to release a banger like this. Easily their best song yet in my opinion!
Def Class – Do Or Die
I appreciate the raucous rock energy but the song doesn’t feel particularly notable.
Fantastics – Shake It Off
This is decent but nothing they’ve released since 2023 has hit the same with me for some reason. Prior to that, I used to love pretty much everything. What happened??
Fudanjuku – To Future Me
A classic J-pop sound. Pretty forgettable, though.
Gang Parade – Gang Rise
I like the energy, but the song doesn’t do much for me.
Genic – Don’t Give Up (song of the week!)
I like everything about this except those plodding, momentum-killing pre-choruses. It’s still better than most releases this week, though.
Hiromitsu Kitayama – HAMON (song of the week!)
I wrote about this already but now it has a music video. The song’s definitely growing on me.
Kis-My-Ft2 – Cheat
I really wish this song had an actual chorus that wasn’t just them talking.
M!LK – wan
Insert cringe emoji here.
m-flo – EKO EKO (ft. Zico & eill)
We’ve got some K-pop representation on this one. The song is just okay.
Maki Goto – Chekera (ft. Da-iCE’s Sota Hanamura)
I like the punchy chorus better than the verses, but overall this is a bit too happy clappy for me.
One N’ Only – Blast
More pots and pans production and boring sing-talk. Will this style of song ever fall out of favor? We have so many of them.
One Or Eight – 365
Well, this is definitely better than the boring Rihanna interpolation of their last single, but it still doesn’t quite achieve liftoff. It needs to go faster and harder.
PG – IMA
A big ol’ ballad.
PLAVE – Hide And Seek
It was only a matter of time before they released a Japanese single, I guess. Japan is way ahead of Korea when it comes to this type of act, making this more difficult to stand out. The song is pleasant but uneventful.
Sakurazaka46 – Shindafuri
This one isn’t doing much for me. It’s a shame, because they had a very strong 2024.
Tora Project – AtoZ
Pretty boring song.
