Today is J-pop day on The Bias List and I’m counting down my fifty favorite songs of the year! You’ll want to start with the honorable mentions and work your way up to the best of the best. HONORABLE MENTIONS SONGS 50-31 SONGS 30-11 SONGS 10-1 2023 YEAR-END MASTERPOST 10. Snow Man – Tapestry Snow … Continue reading
Tag Archives: jpop
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2023: 30-11
Today is J-pop day on The Bias List and I’m counting down my fifty favorite songs of the year! You’ll want to start with the honorable mentions, but this post will cover songs 30 to 11. HONORABLE MENTIONS SONGS 50-31 SONGS 30-11 SONGS 10-1 2023 YEAR-END MASTERPOST 30. 7ORDER – Who I Am An early-2023 … Continue reading
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2023: 50-31
Today is J-pop day on The Bias List! I’m dropping fifty of my favorite songs from 2023 in one day. You may want to check out the honorable mentions first, but if you’re looking to dive into the proper countdown at once, you’ve found the right spot! Here are songs 50 to 31, presented with … Continue reading
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2023: Honorable Mentions
Tomorrow is J-pop Day on The Bias List, with my top 50 songs of the year unveiled throughout the day. Before that, I thought I’d compile some honorable mentions. It was a very strong year, so there’s a ton of music that didn’t quite make the cut for the main list. I settled on twenty … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 17, 2023)
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 … Continue reading
Best of 2023 Masterpost
This post is your one-stop shop for all my end-of-year countdowns. It will be stickied to the top of the blog for the remainder of the year. Check back often for new links to new countdowns, and make sure you check out past years’ masterposts if you’re interested! Top 50 K-Pop Songs >> 50-41, 40-31, … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 10, 2023)
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 … Continue reading
Year-End Countdown Prelude: A Re-evaluation of Last Year’s Top Tens
Tomorrow, I’ll post a year-end recap and my ten honorable mentions before launching into my Top 50 K-pop Songs of 2023 countdown on Monday. But in the spirit of my monthly “Risers and Fallers” feature, I thought it would also be fun to take a look back at the top tens of last year’s countdowns … Continue reading
Song Review: Kis-My-Ft2 – C’monova
When a group has a handful of 10-out-of-10 Legendary Songs in their discography, it can be hard to temper expectations for new music. I probably hold Kis-My-Ft2 to a higher standard than many other groups because their 2016-18 era is among my favorite discographies in all of J-pop. They’re unlikely to replicate that again, making … Continue reading
Song Review: CRAVITY – Dilly Dally
Earlier this year, I was impressed by a Japanese b-side from CRAVITY, but the group hadn’t yet released an original J-pop single. That changes with Dilly Dally, though it feels more like a Korean comeback that just happens to be performed in Japanese. Dilly Dally‘s pop/rock sheen builds naturally upon September’s Ready Or Not, and … Continue reading
Song Review: STAYC – Lit
STAYC’s had a pretty strong year, though their music has shifted toward poppier sounds. For those unsure about this transformation, new Japanese single Lit references an energy more akin to their debut year. It’s subdued and quirky, eschewing the bright tones of tracks like Teddy Bear and Bubble. The group pull off this sound well … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 3, 2023)
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 … Continue reading
The Top Three K-Pop Songs of November 2023
At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade. November 2023 Overall Thoughts For the purpose of this blog, November marks the end of the … Continue reading
Song Review: &TEAM – Dropkick
I don’t often write “buried treasure” posts for Japanese b-sides, but I almost made an exception for &TEAM’s Dropkick. As fate would have it, HYBE decided to release the song with its own music video and send the guys to promote it on music shows. That’s one hundred percent the correct choice, since Dropkick laps … Continue reading
Grading the J-Pop Agencies 2023: Johnny’s & Associates / Family Club / (Who Knows?)
The Good Prior to the agency undergoing dramatic changes this fall, the entity-formerly-known-as-Johnny’s (seriously, I don’t even know what to call it!) had a solid enough start to the year. Its acts continued to dominate, with record sales numbers for King & Prince ahead of their reconfiguration and Snow Man leading the charge for the … Continue reading
Song Review: Ryugujo – SHORYU (→↓↘︎+P)
Ryugujo are my favorite 2023 debut in any music market. I find the concept of a boy group taking on Avu-chan’s genre-bending, gutsy alt-rock very compelling and unlike anything else on the market. Part of the fun is watching them grow into this challenge. You don’t simply sing an Avu-chan track, nor are there many … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (November 26, 2023)
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 … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (November 19, 2023)
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 … Continue reading
Song Review: Hiromitsu Kitayama – RANSHIN
Just yesterday, Kis-My-Ft2 released the video for their upcoming single Heartbreaker. And now, we have the solo debut from former member Hiromitsu Kitayama, who left the group earlier this year to join Hideaki Takizawa’s TOBE company. Needless to say, it’s been an unsettled year for us fans! While nothing about Heartbreaker bowled me over, RANSHIN … Continue reading
Song Review: Kis-My-Ft2 – Heartbreaker
Over the past few months, I’ve had a horserace in my mind regarding which Bias List favorite would return with new music first: Golden Child or Kis-My-Ft2. It turns out Golcha emerged victorious, though Kisumai arrives right on their tail. But while Golcha’s recent efforts have been infrequent but excellent, Kis-My-Ft2’s recent material has been … Continue reading