So I thought of another song for yesterday's post. Perfume's Flash. I was thinking it was 2015, but nope! Released this year. Oh well. This year I feel like I really expanded my horizons with J-idol music. However, I wouldn't say I necessarily expanded my interest in other groups. I've listened to a lot of stuff and for me, most of it is very meh. There's a lot of 48G music clones and then there's also a lot of the "anti-idol" scene out there recently which doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I don't like rock or alternative music like I used to. Some stuff I can tolerate, but other than that I just don't care for it. I kind of want some H!P music clones. I like H!P's J-popxEDM style where it's not EDM like K-Pop's or like Western music but it's a very specific style to them that kind of blends idol pop & EDM. It's cool, I like it.
#10
Dianna Sweet - Super Hero
#9
Bakusute Sotokanda Icchome - Otome Gokoro
#8
Predia - Setsuna no Yoru no Naka de
#7
Galette - Sonic Fighter
#6
P.IDL - Hello! Halloween
#5
FuwaFuwa - Koi no Lesson
#4
Tokyo Performance Doll - GyakkoxRaisan
No good YT videos, but you can listen to it on my newest 8tracks playlist! Click me!
#3
Orange Port - Trigger
#2
Rev. from DVL - Ungaisouten Samurai Tamashii!
Like TPD, this isn't on YT, but it is on the 8tracks playlist. Clicky Clicky.
Am I allowed to do two posts in a day? I don't think I've ever done that lol. Well, I'm actually avoiding working on some things and was thinking how I haven't done anything like this recently, so why not! Since I haven't done it in so long, I'll just explain the purpose of this kind of post. Essentially, I love music and I can't stand how there's hardly any type of blogs out there that have just a list of songs to listen to. I'm lazy, just give me lists! So I figured why not do that sometimes on my blog? Unfortunately I haven't really been keeping up with that, but I still want to do it every once in a while. What I do is just list some songs, link their videos, and maybe give a little blurb about what the song is like. So...onward to music!
Park Ki Ryang - Hustle (ft. Mechilling) (2016)
This is such a bad song to start out with because no one's going to want to look at the rest because of my terrible music taste lol. Okay, this song is kinda bad, but it's a guilty pleasure type of song. Catchy, mindless, dancey. Great as a distraction in my opinion.
Lindsey Stirling - Hold My Heart (ft. ZZ Ward) (2016; from the album Brave Enough)
Violins & dance music? Yes please! Best song on her new album from the singles I've heard so far. I love when she teams up with vocalists.
Playback - Playback (Areia Remix) (2016)
Is a remix cheating? I actually disliked the original, but I heard this two days ago and I'm just obsessed with that instrumental. Props to the remixer because wow it's one of the best pieces of pop music ever.
JoJo - FAB. (ft. Remy Ma) (2016; from the album Mad Love)
If you're not big into songs with a lot of swearing, don't listen to this one. This type of song isn't usually my thing, but it's just so catchy and attitude filled. Love it! The rap is slowing growing on me too (not a rap fan at all).
Predia - Kindan no Masquerade (2017)
Predia's newest single! I'd say that if you're mainly a K-pop/Western pop person, this is probably a good group to get started on if you want to look into J-pop. They have amazing vocals and their music is modern dance pop.
Peter Possession - Have You Here (ft. Matt Pardus) (2016)
It's probably pretty clear what type of music I prefer huh? The instrumental is so awesome.
Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young (2016)
Discovered this from YouTube a couple of days ago. Pure pop perfection. Love it.
Dear Kiss - Shiny Shy Girl (2016)
Okay final one. I semi-like this. It's an okay J-Pop song. BUT I just found out that Nonoko from Galette recently joined this group!!! AHHH *Excited dancing* I love her & I'm looking forward to following Dear Kiss. Saki Shishima who left Galette early this year is also in this group. Hoping Yui Komori will come along too because she & Nonoko were my favorite Galette girls and I'd love to see them stick together.
So last year when I did this one, I didn't really know many J-pop songs outside of idol groups. This year I've gone more out of my way to find J-pop songs from soloists and bands. I still have a long way to go to get into other J-pop, but it's improving lol. Because of expanding my horizons, this list is much different than last year's. As with last year, this will not feature any songs from H!P or 48G (minus one) because the entire list would be from them otherwise.
#10
One Ok Rock - Mighty Long Fall (2014) (NEW)
Yeah blah blah this isn't technically J"pop" but I don't technically care. The only reason I checked this song out was because I saw their Taking Off video uploaded on the Fueled By Ramen YouTube & I was so confused because I knew they were a Japanese group and didn't know why they were being uploaded on an American YouTube channel. I'm glad I did decide to check it out though because it's such a great song. Reminds me a lot of Fall Out Boy who I love.
#9
Minako Honda - Dramatic Escape (1988) (NEW)
One thing I've really been trying to do over the past year is focus on 80s J-Pop. I really love the sound of it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to check out too many CDs, but one that I have is Minako's Lips album. It's SO good. I'm a sucker for great 80s music and it really is awesome.
No YT video, sorry. But you can listen to it on my 8Tracks playlist! (<---Clicky Clicky)
#8
Galette - Brand New Style (2013) (-6)
I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT GUYS. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR. I was devastated by the news of their disbanding. Well, at least as devastated as I can get with music. I don't get super attached to groups even if I love them so it's not like I was crying over it but I was still upset. They had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Wasted. Utterly wasted. To be honest I'm more pissed off at their company than upset that they disbanded. But ANYWAY. This song has slipped a lot for me recently. Probably because I overplayed it to death. Still an absolutely amazing song though.
#7
Ayumi Hamasaki - Real Me (2002) (-4)
One of the very few non-English songs I enjoy primarily for its lyrics. Just a lovely song.
#6
Predia - Maboroshi wa Xanadu (2014) (NEW)
So. I feel as though I should be ashamed of myself for not knowing this song earlier. I actually owned it for a year before listening to it. I bought Predia's first album because I liked the singles and then never got around to actually listening to the album itself (which is absolutely fantastic by the way if you like dance pop & good vocals). I either like this or Yakou Chou best on the album but I couldn't decide which so I just went with which one I loved first lol.
No video
#5
Hangry & Angry - Top Secret (2009) (+1)
This really only has a placing because of nostalgia, but I remember this being my first real J-pop song addiction outside of Morning Musume.
#4
Momoiro Clover Z - Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou "Mugen no Ai"(2012) (-2)
Another song that's fallen because I played it completely to death. Still love the insane wackiness of the whole thing.
#3
Osaka Shunkashuto - Cameleon Shoujo (2015) (NEW)
When are they going to release a new single? Seriously they need to release something and not just perform all the time. I hate when I fall in love with a group and then they hardly ever release music (looking at you Coco Decoru. One release since 2014.) But at the same time Osaka Shunkashuto is one of the few groups that I actually have watched a couple live performances of, mainly because Maina is an absolute star and owns any stage she walks on.
#2
Galette - Air Summer (2015) (NEW)
Man I miss them. Their whole discography is flawless. They should've released one last single or an album before their end.
#1
Nogizaka46 - Harukanaru Bhutan (2016) (NEW)
This is my one exception. I only put this here because it is my actual favorite J-pop song of all time. It only came out this year, but it's one of those genre defining songs for me. The music is absolutely gorgeous and everything is just wonderful about it. It's actually surprising to me how much I love it as Nogizaka is one of my least favorite groups in 48G. However, when they have good songs, those songs are incredible.
It's been awhile since I've done one of these. It's been a not very good week for me so I figured doing one of these would cheer me up a bit and I hope that anyone who reads this can find a new song to make them happy :D
Crayon Pop - FM
This is just a dance shot for their new song as the MV isn't out yet, but wow I was really impressed with this song. I've liked Crayon Pop since before Bar Bar Bar and had been excited to see them get a lot of attention and was ready to see what they'd do next. Then they released Uh-ee. I find that song so bland I was very disappointed. This song makes them exciting again.
Krewella - Somewhere To Run
I love them. I do. So much. However, I've been unsure how their new music was going to go since the guy left, but this is reassuring. It's not as good as anything on their first album, but it makes me less nervous about the direction of the new album.
C-ute - The Middle Management ~Josei Chuukan Kanrishoku~
This really is the only good song from C-ute's new single tbh. Tsugi no Kado wo Magare is ok and GamushaLife is pretty much your generic idol track that you're pretty sure you've heard the 48s do 100 times. I don't like this Tsunku-less H!P....
Orange Caramel - The Gangnam Avenue
Kind of an older song (from last year), but this is such a gem in Orange Caramel's discography.
Up Up Girls - Bijo no Yajuu (Beast of Beauty)
Gosh this song. THIS FREAKING SONG. Why had I never paid attention to UUG before...
Predia - Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku
Such a wonderful song. They're a group I really need to look further into.
DIA - Paradise
This song is so beautiful. I don't know why I never knew it before. It actually made me cry when I watched it with the translation up. Gorgeous.
Country Girls - Itoshikutte Gomen ne
I usually don't like this amount of cutesy but I adore the retro feel of the song.
Fall Out Boy - Fourth Of July
Thought I'd end with this. Absolutely blew me away when I heard the album. Can't wait to do a full review on this CD
Not sure I'll be able to come up with 10 songs for this month either but I'll try. Again, they have to be songs that were released for sale in that month. Also, I hope I'll be able to get my Top Songs List for the entire year up today or tomorrow.
After a pretty lackluster year in terms of both singles and B-sides for SKE48, I was definitely surprised by Team S's song on their new single. This is the type of song I'd like to hear SKE do more, especially because they do so well with it.
This one came as a surprise too. I'd heard of DVL before, and just never cared to pay much attention. Their songs were ok, but nothing really special. Definitely was surprised when this one came up on my YouTube feed.
I fear this list will be short again....and only J-pop. I've been keeping my eye on Predia ever since I ran into their debut major label single a couple months ago. Their vocals & music style are very nice.
So ridiculously catchy. It also helps that my 3 favorite members in Muse are in Bibi....Nico, Maki, & Eli.
I'm three short again aren't I. K-pop really hasn't released much, and what it has isn't worth a mention. Western pop music pretty much is in Christmas mode by the time December starts so there's nothing outside of K/J-pop that I can think of either. Oh well. If you have a favorite song from December please feel free to share it in the comments! :D
