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New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (May 11, 2025)

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New and Noteworthy J-popIn 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

THIS WEEK: May 4 – May 10

BABYMONSTER – Ghost

This Japanese OST is legitimately stronger than the vast majority of their Korean work. I like the refreshing funk sound. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s quite nice.

Bullet Train (Chotokkyu) – Caramel Heart

This is soooo milquetoast for them. They’re struggling to get the balance right between out-and-out bonkers and safe, dull background music like this.

DXTEEN – Tick-Tack

A boilerplate boy group song. Not much to see here. It’s fine.

f5ve – Sugar Free Venom (ft. Kesha) / Bow Chika Wow Wow

I’m not feeling this main single, but the group released mini mvs for all the other new tracks on their album, so I’ll also embed the one for Bow Chika Wow Wow, which is the superior track in my opinion. I love its old-school beat.

Generations – My Generation (song of the week!)

This has a sprightly energy and a few nice melodies. It’s nothing spectacular, but it caught my ear and that’s more than I can say about most releases this week/month/year.

Hinatazaka46 – Love Yourself! (song of the week!)

A classic, surging J-pop song. In a very forgettable J-pop week, that’s enough to make this a standout.

IS:SUE – Shining

I wrote about this before but now it has an mv. It’s still not doing much for me. There are so many songs that sound exactly like this right now.

Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai – Lovey Dovey

This has a nice, upbeat sound. It’s not knocking my socks off, but I like it.

MYERA – No Drip

God, we need a sea change in music trends…

One Love One Heart – Hoshi no Shoumei

I’m always happy for new music from One Love One Heart, but they have much better songs in this same vein.

Phantom Siita – Love, Hate

Funny enough, this is like a darker version of some One Love One Heart songs. I don’t particularly love it, though.

Queen Bee – Aku

As much as I adore Queen Bee, I wasn’t too enamored with their latest album. This song seems to put most of its focus on lyrics and mood. Melodically, it kind of spins its wheels.

SE7ENTH SENSE – Gouhou Ikemen Paradise

This devolves into pure silliness, but it’s great for a minute or so.

Takuya Sugimoto – Sure Sure

This has fun moments. It’s pretty formulaic, though.

timelesz – One And Only

This isn’t the full song, but I’ve heard enough to say that I want Sexy Zone’s music back. This is so generic.

This week’s old favorite:

KinKi Kids – Jetcoaster Romance (1998)

KinKi Kids are the latest J-pop legend to bring their music to streaming services worldwide (KAT-TUN and V6 next, please!) so it’s a good week to once again spotlight my favorite single of theirs. This is a stone cold classic.

16 thoughts on “New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (May 11, 2025)”

  2. i know you don’t think much of most of =love’s music, but i noticed you skipped over a track earlier in the year (at least, i couldn’t find it in the jpop roundups). which is a shame because i thought, out of that run of releases, it was the one that would appeal most to you. it reminds me a lot of early lovelyz (bubbly synth production, catchy melodies). i just wanted to know what you think (because i’m a fan desperate to get more people into them): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3P8vcZkIh4&pp=ygUPdG9rdWJlY2h1IHNoaXRl

    (also, i really love these jpop roundups! perhaps the type of post i read most from your blog; i’ve unfortunately given up on kpop producing the kind of music i like except for a scant few groups.)

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    • The song is not bad! I can definitely hear the Lovelyz comparison.

      I’m so glad you’re enjoying these round-ups. Truthfully, I’ve had a harder time writing them this year (it seems like I’m disliking about 75% of the songs each week), so I’m glad to hear that people are still reading them.

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    • srsly nick i need help here i wanna complete this project

      some highlights in the doc for reference

      1. sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana – smap
      2. private wars – dream
      3. fly high – ayumi hamasaki
      4. renai revolution 21 – morning musume
      5. colors – flow
      6. kokoro no chizu – boystyle
      7. seishun amigo – kame to yamapi
      8. tokyo drift – teriyaki boyz
      9. rescue – kat-tun
      10. polyrhythm – perfume

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      • Are you just looking for highlights/singles from 2000-2009? Without looking at your longer list and excluding any choices in this comment, my ideas would be:

        T.M.Revolution – Black Or White v3, Invoke
        Dream – Reality, My Will
        w-inds. – Super Lover (I Need You Tonight), Because Of You
        News – Akaku Moyuru Taiyo, Teppen, Weeek
        KAT-TUN – Real Face, Don’t U Ever Stop
        Ayumi Hamasaki – Born To Be…
        Namie Amuro – What A Feeling
        Arashi – Truth
        m.o.v.e – Future Breeze
        Nami Tamaki – Reason
        AAA – Blood On Fire, Hide-away

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    • I have a bunch of faves from that time period, but it may take me a day or two to go through and compile a list for you if that’s okay? My hard drive that has all my music from then is… a lot to sift through lol.

      If so, are there any particular artists and/or genres you’re wanting, or are you open to anything?

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      • i mostly look for songs with excellent melody and drive (like dance or rock), similar to nick’s taste

        and yeah, you can show me some you have in your collection

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