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 // 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

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THIS WEEK: March 2 – March 8

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AKB48 – Masaka No Confession

Not one of their best, but it’s sprightly enough I guess.

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f5ve – Magic Clock (song of the week!)

This group has quickly developed a cult following. I get it, even if the music isn’t always for me. This one’s quite good, though. It’s very bouncy!

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flumpool – Arashi no Yoru ni

I really like this style of cathartic rock track.

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Galileo Galilei – Ao Ni Modoru

This one requires a bit of patience, but it’s nice.

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Ganmi – Mirror (ft. w-inds.)

The chorus is way better than the verses here.

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Genic – Gyutto

This is the opposite! I love the verses… not so much the chorus. It’s all a bit frantic at times. It’s interesting to hear them sing this kind of quintessential idol song, though.

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I am HEROINE? – Meme Tokyo

This is certainly interesting. I think I like the sound more than the song.

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JAXX/JAXX – Dou ni Demo Nare! (song of the week!)

This song was released last summer but they debuted a new music video this week. I like the song a lot and wanted to feature it even though it’s technically not new.

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Kenshi Yonezu – Bow And Arrow

I like this better than his last few tracks.

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Lienel – Tsumi To Batsu

I hear promise in this, but the final product doesn’t quite come together for me.

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LiSA – Red Zone

This feels like a real shift in sound for her. I’m liking this dancier energy.

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M!LK – E Jan

I wrote about this last week and now it has a music video. I still don’t think the contrast between its two parts works at all. It comes from a new album, though, so I should probably give that a listen.

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OEN High – Finish Line ~Last Race, New Start~

I wrote about this here. I liked it.

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PG – Version Of Me

The girls of this kid group release their unit track. It’s the style of sing-songy pop I’m not fond of.

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Queen Bee – Zero Hachi

A groovy b-side from Queen Bee’s new album. I haven’t been able to spend as much time with it as I’d like since I’ve been busy with MAYHEM this week, but I’m looking forward to more listens.

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Ryubi Miyase – Nekogaibikide

I love him as an actor but this is incredibly dull.

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Scandal – Soundly

A decent rock track.

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Shigeko Shima & Hikaru – Clock

A bit of a surprising side project. I can’t quite tell what I think of the song but it’s definitely interesting.

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SKE48 Team E – Kokoro yo, Koe wo Agero!

This has a nice chorus.

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SPYAIR – Buddy (song of the week!)

I really like the sound of this and I think it can easily grow more addictive over time.

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Travis Japan – Say I Do / Tokyo Crazy Night

These guys released two new music videos this week. Say I Do is a rock-tinged mid-tempo while Tokyo Crazy Night is a funkier affair. I prefer the latter, though neither are among the group’s best work.

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XG – Is This Love

It seems we’re getting a video for this song… eventually? I’ll probably write about it more then. The music was originally released as a b-side last year.

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XY – Talk (song of the week!)

I first wrote about this months ago with a performance video was released, but now the song is officially released and I’m going to mention it again because I need more music I enjoy in this week’s round-up! I still feel like this group is aimlessly flailing about when they should be defining their sound, but this is a fun dance track.

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This week’s old favorite:

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Meik – Dance Forever (2022)

I just want to give my dance diva Meik some love. Her music should be much more well-known than it is.