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 // Apr 5 – Apr 11 // Apr 12 – Apr 18 // Apr 19 – Apr 25 // Apr 26 – May 2 // May 3 – May 9 // May 10 – May 16

THIS WEEK: May 17 – May 23

BOKUAO – Funky Summer

Sounds like the season!

Exile B Happy – EXILE B Opapi ~Kaze No Fune~ (ft. Yoshio Kojima)

I wrote about this already but now it has a music video.

Fantastics – Sunflower (song of the week!)

Yay! They released a music video for this highlight. I wrote about it before and I’m excited that it’s being officially promoted because I really like this.
(I could do without the obvious AI effects, though…)

Girls2 – BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM!

Verses are good. Chorus is not.

GPP – Ate!

The electro beat reminds me of old-school SM but the hook is pure new-gen slop. Do people still say “ate”?

Hinatazaka46 – Ensyuritu

Jaunty and upbeat.

IS:SUE – Telepathy

Yawn. I’m so sick of this kind of song.

IVE – Lucid Dream

An atmospheric midtempo. Inessential.

Let Me Know – Dairokkan Yori

A decent bit of indie rock.

Nanase Aikawa – Challengers

I love her so much but this is just okay for me.

News – KMK

It kind of feels like they’ve been releasing the same song again and again over the past few years. The music has generally been quite good, but this one doesn’t do much for me.