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.
2023-2025 Index
2026 Index: Dec 28 – Jan 3 // Jan 4 – Jan 10 // Jan 11 – Jan 17 // Jan 18 – Jan 24 // Jan 25 – Jan 31 // Feb 1 – Feb 7 // Feb 8 – Feb 14 // Feb 15 – Feb 21 // Feb 22 – Feb 28 // Mar 1 – Mar 7 // Mar 8 – Mar 14 // Mar 15 – Mar 21 // Mar 22 – Mar 28 // Mar 29 – Apr 4
THIS WEEK: April 5 – April 11
ALI – Funkin’ Beautiful (ft. ZORN)
Not something I’d listen to all the time, but this is quite charming.
B’z – Heaven Knows
At this point, you pretty much know what to expect from a B’z song. This meets expectations.
Candy Tune – Hot! Scoop!
Big and splashy and pretty fun.
Class Seven – Kokoronikisuwoshita
Good old-fashioned idol pop. Kind of dull, though.
f5ve – Wish
I enjoy the atmosphere of this, even if I wish it went a bit harder.
ILLIT – Bubee
My immature mind can’t handle that title, but I appreciate how this sounds kind of like an old Lovelyz track mixed with J-pop.
INI – All 4 U (song of the week!)
I wrote about this here. I loved it. In fact, it’s my favorite J-pop single of 2026 so far!
Kis-My-Ft2 – Heartloud (song of the week!)
Not their best (the chorus is a bit simple), but definitely one of their better recent singles. I like the video, too.
MONAKI – Honmayade Nandeyanen Shirankedo (song of the week!)
This is unhinged Eurobeat and I’ll always love that. Definitely a guilty pleasure, if such a thing exists.
Nogizaka46 – Sakurabashiooshietekureta
They’ve released so many videos from this latest single. Unfortunately, none have done much for me.
One N’ Only – WARAiNA
This is a type of song I tend to love. It’s summery and almost World Cup ish? It’s definitely missing something, though.
Penguin Research – uten zokkou
Unrelenting energy, as usual.
SE7ENTHSENSE – Love Doll
This has the driving energy I like. If only there weren’t a few rough patches throughout…
The Sixth Lie – Blue
A strong rock track.
Yurina Hirate – Kill Or Kiss (song of the week!)
I really like the sound of this and I of course love her. It feels like it’s missing a bit of spark, but it’s still solid.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
That INI song is great! A real callback to what feels like simpler times now.
A friend turned me onto this song from a band called Metal Blossom this week, it’s got some grand, dramatic stuff with powerful vocals and guitar solos. I gotta find some time to dig into more of their stuff.
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What in the world is that title? The song’s cute and all, but who names their song “Bubee”??? I laughed so hard when they sang ‘my bubee, bubee, bubee love’ 😭😭
Anyway, thanks to your review, I gave INI’s All 4 U a listen, and wowwww. I lost interest in them back in 2023 but I’m glad I saw your review of that song and gave it a listen. That’s song is soooo good!!! It reminds me of Golden Child’s 3! 6! 5! a lot. I love it.😍
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i think bubee is perfectly fine, not as good as toki yo tomare. i get what you mean when you said it’s reminiscent of lovely’z work, but it’s missing those fizzy synths which i absolutely adore (which is why ah-choo is one of my favorite songs) and it’s not that interesting in terms of melody.
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