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.

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2023-2024 Index

2025 Index: Dec 29 – Jan 11

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THIS WEEK: January 12 – January 18

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Aimer – Scope

This style of anime track is so popular and oversaturated at the moment. This is a solid example, though.

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Ako – Twilight

Her vocals are quite subdued on this. It actually works well for the song.

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Breimen – Rolling Stone

I like the frontman’s voice and this has a nice groove to it.

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Charisma.com – BKLV (ft. Tomoyuki Yara x powerful complex)

A rare miss for them.

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CYNHN – Nominee

I’m into the boisterous instrumental on this. The song’s a bit all over the place, though.

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Da-iCE – Funkeys

Gosh, I used to love this group. However, their music has changed a lot since then. I’m not a fan of this song – especially its sillier moments.

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Doberman Infinity – Take A Ticket

Decent upbeat hip-hop. I could do without the vocal effects.

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East Of Eden – Shooting Star

I want to love this group so much since one of my favorite Predia vocalists is a member and the violin is so cool, but the overall sound isn’t quite my thing. It’s objectively good, though.

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Fantastics – Top Of The Game

There are parts of this I love (mainly the chorus), but I really hate how their music has started to embrace the shout-chant style so popular with boy groups. Their songs no longer sound unique.

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Genic – It’s Showtime (song of the week!)

A music video will be released tomorrow so I’ll have more to say then, but this is easily my favorite Genic single since Flavor. I love that we get to hear them singing passionately and the funky chorus is a real earworm.

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INI – Make It Count

INI has become so popular! Unfortunately, the music is getting more generic and boring. This does absolutely nothing for me.

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Kento Nakajima – Meimu

If you would have told me even a year ago that I would have no interest in re-playing a solo Kento Nakajima song, I would have scoffed. Yet, here we are. This is fine.

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Leo Ieiri -Ame Kaze Sora Niji

The symphonic elements give this a ton of drama. I really appreciate that anthemic sound.

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Mayu Maeshima – True Peak

Not my thing, but I appreciate the explosive rock energy.

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Queen Bee – Headless Angel (song of the week!)

Avu-chan has officially resumed activities with Queen Bee and a new album is slated for an early March release. Yay!! Their return is dramatized in the compelling new music video for Headless Angel — a song that was released all the way back in May of last year.

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ReoNa – Debris

Standard J-rock with a good vocal.

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STU48 – Chiheisen wo Miteiruka?

A bit subdued for me.

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Vaundy – Run Sakamoto Run

It’s so nice to hear Vaundy tackle something more upbeat and driving again.

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Wild Blue – Our Magic

Easily my least favorite track they’ve released so far. It’s just kind of forgettable.

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ZEROBASEONE – Now Or Never (song of the week!)

I wrote about this here. I liked it!

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&TEAM – Deer Hunter (song of the week!)

I wrote about this here. I liked it!

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This week’s old favorite:

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Kentaro Nishida – Once More (2018)

I’m a big fan of Kentaro Nishida’s production style. He also has a great ear for a melody. This is one of my favorite tracks from his super-solid 2019 album. The chorus reminds me of aspects I love from 90’s J-pop. The melody is so nimble and bright. In fact, that chorus is so good he doesn’t even bother with a second verse!