Lately, I’ve been delving further into the music of the “46” groups within Japan’s Sakamichi Series. I’ve casually kept up with a few singles here and there, but at the moment I’m finding their sound to be a refreshing contrast to the trends dominating K-pop’s girl group landscape.
You all know I’m a sucker for melody, and songs like Hito wa Yume wo Nido Miru (人は夢を二度見る) shine full focus on that element. You can tell by how often this track repeats its chorus. They know they’ve got a good thing! In fact, this whole single is quite nice and perfectly suited for spring. I think I prefer coupling track Kokoro ni mo Nai Koto just slightly for its tautness and the lift of its chorus, but Hito has charms of its own. I’m especially taken with the bounding dance beat that underlines the entire song. Symphonic flourishes ensure a lyrical flow that keeps the rustic production well within the Sakamichi wheelhouse, but the sense of forward motion is consistent and exciting.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.75 |
Grade: B+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Refreshed to see a Sakamichi series review once again. Giving this sings a spin when I’ll be free (sooner than later). Unraveling songs like this is one of the fruits of the compact format change, imo.
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Yknow what, I’m kinda harder on the cruise-ier, midtempo Sakamichi songs but I’ve come around on this one!
If you are checking out 46, is it possible we could get a Keyakizaka retrospective/top 10, since they’re (unfairly) disbanded? They got the songs for it, and I think they pulled off “bad girls/rebel girls” better than the kpop side did. I’d be interested to see what your rank would be!
(Oh and PS, the newest A-side from AKB just dropped with its MV, I think it’s a winner! Has the classic pathos-infused chorus that I always am fond of)
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You never know! Keyakizaka were my first 46 group, so I definitely have a soft spot for them.
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Its been a long time since I have dipped my toe into the _48 and _46 world. They really perfected the rotational pop-as-fast-fashion music. All about the what’s new. All about the frisson. This one here, yeah, a good one for spring. And just when it wears itself out, there will be something new!
I don’t think kpop has learned enough from these groups, this style of management. Especially the very stylish but simple and cost-effective video and promotion they do. Kpop spends wayyy too much on costumes and videos and lore. Jpop also handles the almost but not quite perfection perfectly – they have a visual art term for the same in Japanese which I can’t remember right now, that same principle but in music and performance.
This is one of my favorite AKB48’s. Stylish as hell.
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I love that one too!
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I haven’t worked out how to interpret Spotify streaming numbers for Japanese artists (according to Oricon, AKB48 are the Beatles of Japan, dominating charts year after year after year; yet their Spotify streaming numbers are very low, compared to streaming monsters like Yoasobi, LiSA, Official Hige Dandism, Kenshi Yonezu, King Gnu, et al [please note I don’t know most of these artists]). (Why might that be? I’m very curious. Do Spotify streaming numbers for J-artists represent international rather than domestic interest, since Japanese consumers are known to prefer buying CDs?) But for what it’s worth, this is the most-streamed Nogizaka46 tune at a very respectable 23 million (there are 2 tunes right on its heels at 22 and 21 m)
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For some time, AKB48 physical sales were vastly inflated since each cd purchase offered benefits like member voting and fan engagement. Many, many cds were bought, stripped of their benefit and promptly tossed in the garbage. At least, that’s my understanding.
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A few notes in addition to Nick’s:
1) Yes, AKB’s numbers are inflated due to the CD benefits
2) The artists with good Spotify numbers are acts that have had popular songs *within the streaming age* (post-2017 or so). AKB has hits which people obviously would look up even if they aren’t currently charting (Heavy Rotation, Koisuru Fortune Cookie, etc.), but there’s not a large group of the populace that’s going to be listening to Nemo Hamo Rumor or Moto Kare Desu on Spotify once a day for three months.
3) It’s a misconception that Japanese listeners are attached to owning a CD: Idol fans disproportionately are buying CDs for the benefits, as aforementioned. The non-idol fan moved onto buying MP3s, and then streaming on Spotify/Apple Music/etc. at the same pace the rest of the world did.
4) About international vs domestic interest when it comes to songs with high numbers, it depends: Id argue the bulk of Spotify numbers you can see are from Japan. Keep in mind that English pop songs can be sorted into any popular playlist without raising an eyebrow, for the most part. That’s a potential audience of 500million, let’s say that for the sake of argument. Let’s say Jpop has an audience of 25million, and the bulk of these are Japanese people. Having 100m streams for a big hit when your country’s population is 300m is pretty good, no? As an audience, Kpop fans are more globally spread out, so they’re probably also at around 25million, despite Korea being smaller. Yet, bar two exceptions in BTS and Blackpink, most of the popular kpop songs in 2023 are gonna peter out in the 100 million play range as well. I think Spotify numbers show Japanese domestic numbers, minus cases where a song a gets a major sync with an anime that’s an international hit, like Kick Back or Crossing Field/Gurenge.
5) Actually, that Nogizaka song has more views on Japanese YouTube: around 75million, if I recall correctly? (And Keyakizaka has more views than them!) what you’re seeing is the MV that Sony has geo-unlocked, which has a separate view counter from the geo-locked video in Japan!
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*Correction, their previous song INFLUENCER is the one with 75million views on the Japanese side, which is hilarious as our international version has a paltry 125k lol. Synchronicity has around 50mil in japan (which, again in the context of an audience of 300M people is equivalent to a BTS MV lmao)
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OMG, thank you both for the wealth of information! I learned so much! When I recently took a look at the Oricon 100 numbers for each year, I was flabbergasted at the success of AKB48, dominating the top 5 year after year. Now I better understand why. (Not to minimize their songs; they have a wealth of them that I really like.)
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Check this one out Nick, this was Naruto Shippuden Opening from them and I think you would agree the song was excellent.
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