Another gem hiding in a theater edition! Since it seems like I’ve been working my way through the 46 and 48 groups, I thought I’d do an HKT song next. I don’t know much of their back catalog, and though their most recent single’s not bad, I was looking for Read more
Sadly relegated to the theater edition of AKB48’s 52nd single, Teacher Teacher, and with no music video, is one of my favorite AKB songs, 蜂の巣ダンス (hachinosu DANSU / Beehive Dance). It’s performed by Team 8, and is a great showcase for their energy, and for the dance and vocal prowess Read more
SKE48’s new single FRUSTRATION came out this week and… I wasn’t actually that excited for it. The A-side pop-rap didn’t really catch me, and the music video definitely didn’t help. Though actually the subsequent dance practice movie brought me back on board. Which was comforting, because I was initially super Read more
More Little Glee Monster! So 好きだ。 (suki da. / Love You.) is another one of the early J-pop songs I remember coming across, the first LGM song I found, and still one of my favorites. I’m not sure, but it seems like it’s also one of their most iconic and Read more
Right as I started getting interested in Japanese music, I think I just searched YouTube to see what I could come up with. I’m pretty sure SHISHAMO was one of the first great bands I hit upon. Well, in truth I haven’t found a lot of their songs that I Read more
STU48’s second single has a great A-side in 風を待つ (kaze wo matsu / Wait for the Wind) — it’s upbeat, catchy, and appropriately sea-themed. The video is a one-take they had to do nine times before they got the final cut, thought they eventually uploaded many of the unused runs Read more
So here’s one I’ve been turning over for a while. My favorite song, J-pop or not, is Little Glee Monster’s cover of ファイト! (Fight!). I do have to be in the mood for an 8-minute long rock ballad-turned-soul ballad sort of tune, but it’s good enough to earn that playtime. Read more
“Stand by you” is the title track of SKE48’s 24th single, and celebrates the return of Matsui Jurina from her hiatus. This is exactly the kind of upbeat, softly referential song I would have liked, sappiness and all. The video is a bit more to the point, but doesn’t get Read more
Another Ota Yuuri center! I feel like I may be revealing my NMB oshimen here. This was one of those slow-paced, relaxing songs I could pretty much get the gist of even before I looked at the lyrics. 職務質問 (shokumu shitsumon / Police Questioning), from NMB’s 19th single is the Read more
Footsteps is from Hinatazaka’s first single, Kyun, and features the five members that had regular modeling contracts. Like a lot of Hiragana/Hinatazaka songs, this one didn’t catch me on first listen. In fact I just recently stumbled across it again, and I was really caught up in the rhythm of Read more