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.
2023-2024 Index
2025 Index: Dec 29 – Jan 11 // Jan 12 – Jan 18 // Jan 19 – Jan 25
THIS WEEK: January 26 – February 1
Billy Boo – Gyakkou
I’m including this because I think the artist name is amusing.
BUDDiiS – Iris
This is quite moody for them. It doesn’t do much for me, sadly.
=LOVE – Koibito ijyou Suki miman
Pretty much what you’d expect from them.
HANA – Drop
People are clearly excited about this new girl group, but I don’t hear anything different from other acts who are currently promoting. The song is not for me.
KJRGL – Generation_Cloud
I wrote about this here. I thought it was alright.
Man With A Mission – Reaching For The Sky
Just the other day, I was wondering where MWAM was. It seems they’ve been absent for so long now. I love their music but sadly this isn’t a real highlight in their discography.
Number_i – GOD_i
They still have only one song I love. This is not that song.
One Love One Heart – Template Fashionista, Buttobashite GO!!, Iyanakotonante Futsukadeyamero (song of the week!)
There are a few new b-sides from One Love One Heart’s new album that I’ve really fallen for. They’ve delved into this electro-swing sound I would’ve never chosen for them, but it actually works pretty well.
PG – KANEMOCHI!
If you enjoy child rappers, you’ll enjoy this. If not, it’s probably best to stay clear. The song’s catchy and harmless.
Psychic Fever – What’s Happenin
Their style isn’t really to my taste, but this has some nice throwback elements that remind me of the early-2000’s.
Rainy。- But Nou Love (song of the week!)
I love this effusive house sound. The beat never relents and her vocals sound great.
The Rampage – Spider Web
Not a great Rampage song, sadly. It only makes me miss how incredible their first few albums were.
RealRomantic – Sleepless Lullaby
This feels very K-pop adjacent. It’s not bad. It needs a chorus, though.
ReLit – Hunade Brand New World
Pretty classic idol fare. It won’t appeal to everyone, but the chorus is good and the piratey outfits are funny.
Sard Underground – I Still Believe
Pretty beige as far as this style goes.
SKY-HI – ID (ft. Ryoki, Ryuki, Jimmy, Felip)
Is this just what rap music is now? I find this very loud and monotonous and not fun.
Takahisa Masuda – Kidoairaku
The News singer finally goes solo with his first album. I love him and his voice, but the song is just okay. The a cappella breakdown midway through is very cool, though.
Takanori Iwata – Phone Number
Smooth and funky but a bit dull.
TRENDZ – Bad Enough
I wrote about this here. I didn’t like it.
WEST. – A.H.O
Pretty much what you’d expect from a WEST. song. It’s okay, but nothing that knocks me over.
ZEROBASEONE – Firework, Hana (song of the week!)
I wrote about Firework here and loved it, but I also want to shout out Hana, which continues the group’s run of great rock-influenced ballads.
&TEAM – Extraordinary Day
I swear this group releases new music every week. This is pleasant but definitely inessential.
This week’s old favorite:
Nanase Aikawa – Yumemiru.. (2009)
I’ve written about Nanase Aikawa’s early career on the blog before, but she also released an excellent 2009 album that’s among her best work. This opening track is so fun. It heavily references her debut Yumemiru Shoujo Ja Irarenai but reinvents it with a pummeling dance sheen and new melodies.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Hi Nick, I was wondering if you have been watching Timelesz Project? they had the auditionees perform three new timelesz songs. These songs would likely end up as B-sides, but I was wondering if you (or anyone else) had thoughts on the songs/how the audition program has been going?
Sweet:
New Phase:
Kakumei no Dancin’ Night (革命のDancin’night, jp: revolutionary Dancin’ night):
LikeLike
Yep, I’m up to the episode where the Sweet team performed. I… didn’t like that song at all. New Phase sounds promising but I haven’t heard it in full yet.
I’ve gotta say, though, this is another one of those audition shows that could benefit from judicious editing. There’s no reason they need to be spending a whole hour on one group/performance. It kind of drags on…
LikeLike
yeah, the episode that aired in Japan on Friday 1/31 (the new phase and elimination episode) is 1 hour and 18 minutes long – not quite Kingdom: Legendary War length, but still seems like it will be a slog. Any opinion on the contestants? Or will you write about them and the show at the end of the series when they announce if/who is added (thanks for the blog from the way, really enjoy it).
P.S. they are doing Run in the next round, along with another new song. Hopefully they do Run justice and the other song is better than Anthem, which I have grown to loathe even more as the theme song for this series.
LikeLike
Idk why but for me What’s Happenin’ reminds me of brave bros’ “Brave Sound” songs from 2000s-2010s kpop. Just some random association i made as a kpop fan myself
LikeLike
KJRGL – The song is cute ig. Not something I’d revisit much.
number_i – Idk what to say about the song, it’s just… weird. Could have been worse, we could have had a Goat 2.0. I think it’s okay. Pretty weird though.
One Love One Heart – Ooh, love the B-sides! Buttobashite GO!! might be my fave out of the three
PG – ngl, seeing pre-teens brag about money (or the lack of) makes me laugh 😭 not as strong as Wa Bi Sa Bi (my guilty pleasure song tbh), but passable ig
Psychic Fever – Damn, love the throwback to the 00s sound (even the MV screams 00s!). Could do stronger, but I like it
Rainy – ooh, this is cute! The energy never falters, I like it!
Trendz – yeah… me not likey much…
LikeLike
SKY-HI really had a single good song, eh? (Nanisama I mean)
Oh, and so it’s not just me feeling The Rampage are not as fun as their early songs. Probably your one lasting effect on me was getting me into J-pop, starting with the newer Exiles (with Invisible Love ), but nothing of their newer output’s doing much for me either. Though Got Boost? has grown on me. Listening to it every Sunday evening for twenty weeks straight probably has that effect, since it’s the new Kamen Rider’s intro song.
(the main actor’s some Ebidan boyo; I’m still not sure what exactly Ebidan is, but since they seem to feature M!LK often I figured it might be up your alley)
BTW, did you really sub the Ryugujo drama?
…
Dunno if you accept “old” songs here, but this group was one of my best discoveries from last year, and I got them on Spotify after listening to Alexandros, so… (idk, I think I read here that you like Alexandros. Or maybe I’m trippin’. Anyway, here it goes)
LikeLike
Well, this is a coincidence. I’m actually watching Kamen Rider Gavv right now, too! I’ve always wanted to get into a tokusatsu (I grew up on Power Rangers, after all), but could never find one that held my interest. I watched a fair amount of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger since Genic’s Atsuki was in it, but this new series might just be the one I stick with. I’m only six episodes in, but I’m finding it very entertaining!
And yes, I did sub that stupid little Ryugujo drama back when I was actively studying Japanese. I had to rely on a lot of translation tools but I think it turned out okay. I mean, the drama wasn’t exactly “deep” haha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(Nick-san is not into Zenkaiger!!!! 😱)
I’m currently 3/5 of the way through that one, along with Gavv, and I find it so incredibly fun! I went through a bunch of KR seasons before realizing that I actually like Sentai better, even though it’s super childish and campy while KR is all dramatic and stuff.
But I agree, Gavv’s a very compelling and well written season so far, which is surprising seeing how silly the theme is. The main guy is very endearing, but what really does it for me is the sound design, the fight BGM and the fight choreography itself. I’ve watched a few seasons now and that is a definite standout.
KR Build, with Akaso Eiji (who I see you know) and Inukai Atsuhiro (who I’m sure you know) is another season I can vouch for, generally well regarded and the source of a popular BL ship (😉), so that could be your next one.
I was never able to find subs for the Ryugujo drama. But you’re right, the dialogue was really easy and I ended up not needing them (and that’s when it dawned on me that damn, I’m pretty good at this whole Japanese thing now.) The promotional poster brought me in, Reiya kept me in, but somehow my favorite member ended up being the guy with red hair whose whole shtick was earbuds and looking like a kicked puppy. (I still don’t know the members’ names. I think Reiya is a Kaito? But my favorite Kaito’s still Goshikida Kaito 🫡)
How’s your Japanese now?
LikeLike
Oh, my Japanese is absolutely horrible now haha. I started studying it with the aim to be able to watch content from my favorite acts without subtitles but now with Whisper AI’s transcription capability and other advancements it’s pretty quick and easy to construct decent-ish English subtitles without needing to translate yourself so I ended up losing my discipline to keep studying.
That guy with red hair is Ryugujo’s leader Keigo and just so happens to be my favorite member! He’s a real oddball with a killer expressive singing voice and the group’s best solo song so far:
LikeLike