Jpop: Top 20 of 2015

Another great year for jpop and as usual it is hard to choose only 20 of them but here goes:

The five videos just outside the top 20 was:

25. Meiri Alaha - Crave. New and interesting debutante.
24. Dotama - Music Valyrie 2. A very personal style of rap.
23. Ringo Shiina - God, nor Buddha. The visuals oh the visuals.
22. Momoiro Clover Z vs. KISS - Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mina. KISS *and* nerdy jpop!!
21. 5572320 - Ponpara Pekoruna Papiyotta. If you ever loved Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, you have to see this!

For the final 20 I have chosen:

20. 0.8Syooogeki - Words of rainbow color. Punk and jpop, attitude and passion.

19. Towa Tei - Luv Pandemic. Again the man produces a electronic pop song that exists in its own unique universe.

18. Sloth - Bi Bi Bi. Not high culture this, but the rap and the hands-on party feeling makes an excellent contrast to much else in jpop.

17. Perfume - Pick Me Up. Ironically, after seeing them live last year, my appreciation for their more static videos has lessened.

16. Charisma.com - Kongara girl. The duo with the impressive attitude delivers maybe their most rhythmic offer so far with this.

15. Mizuki Nana - Super☆man. No more dark and gothic here, and I love this 180 degrees turn-around!

14. Suiyoubi no Campanella - Ra, Medusa, Ono Imako, Diablo, Napoleon, ... this group is hard to place in a list as on the one hand they *are* a bit special and an aquired taste, on the other hand I couldn't make a list of jpop this year without including them as a prime example of what the japanese sound is about.

13. Root Five - Love Ninja. I just love the charm of these guys, somehow they turn the whole kawaii concept around and create a male version of it that really works!

12. Tokyo Karan Koron - Spice. Their best song, with a musical sweetness perfected by adding real feelings and empathy to the mix.

11. Especia - Aviator & Boogie Aroma. Explicit 80s retro done right.

10. Tofubeats - Stakeholder. Tofubeats has strong sound going for him, but often it is just a bit too intelligent and a little to hard to access for me. But not here, Stakeholder was his best song this year.

9. Asako Toki - C’est La Vie ~Onna wa Ai ni Isogashii~. Soft and soulful, her song embraces and relaxes you.

8. Daichi Miura - Unlock. He has a full sound that is very much international and his performance as an artist adds to that impression.

7. Frederic - Owarase Night. Their sound flows like a summers day through my mind; light and flowing without uninteresting partsbut without being stressed.

6. Rebecca ft Charisma.com - Friends. A perfect example on how to make a good cover - update it to the present (make a dance song out of a rock song) and add some personal new elements (like the rap). Viola!

5. Asakura Saya - River Boat Song, and more. Her songs are the most personal and charming I know from jpop, and she is a hopeful beacon for the future of enka styled music too.

4. Osaka Syunkasyuto - Furo the King. I dare you to be able to not have to join the chorus for this fantastic Rainbow cover!

3. BoA - Kiss My Lips (and Lookbook). I don't know any other asian pop artist that has the same presense and pondus in her artistry as BoA has. In the end her songs may lack depth, but the return to greatness in Kiss My Lips was still pure perfection.

2. Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Romance is too much for me. I just can't get enough of the lyrics for this one, with the music perfectly set to heighten the mood.

1. Sakanaction - New Treasure Island. They was my number two favorite last year and again they deliver their trade mark sound that is a combination of singer Ichiro's voice and airy and light sound that somehow conveys both happiness and melancholy at the same time.

Jpop: Top 20 of the fourth quarter of 2015

With a few exceptions, this last quarter of 2015 seems dedicated to the odd, the different and the ugly, which is in some sense is just business as usual for what makes me love the japanese music world.

20. Riemann Mic - Re: Gokun OK. If nothing else, I liked a lot of "ugly culture" videos this autumn, with aesthetics that one would maybe think is un-Japanese, but they are very much a part of Japanese culture, believe me. ;-)

19. Inshow ha - Pretty. The life-size ice copies gimmick aside, this is very much the sound of Inshow ha again, in a good way.

18. Daoko - ShibuyaK. A rather new and young aquaintance but then she also has a very fresh and interesting take on the jpop sound.

17. Suiyoubi no Campanella - Ra. It is obvious that this video shows that SnC is getting more and more recognition for their music as it is their most expensive and visually impressive video be far.

16. Suiyoubi no Campanella - Medusa. If 'Ra' is carried by its visual strength, Medusa is more a meld of a sound and vision - yes, a typical good SnC video in other words.

15. AoA - Oh Boy. First single from their japanese debut this song and video delivers all of what the fans expects in terms of looks, choreography and sound, but I find it slightly repetitive in the long run.

14. Crayon Pop - Dancing all night. Their second japanese single is actually one of their better songs the last year, and the video shows of yet another of their excellent and nerdy dance numbers.

13. 0.8Syooogeki - Words of rainbow color. Both very beautiful *and* very punk, that is a feat in itself. Love this video.

12. Sloth - Bi Bi Bi. The video is on the trashy side, but that just suits the Serebro cover perfectly, with Tokyo rapper Sloth managing to make the song even more addictive.

11. Rip Slyme ft Chay - Jump. The sounds of this are really cool and modern, combinating perfectly with the video.

10. Beddo In ft Ijiri Okada - C-tone beauty-eggplant. It seems I have managed to dig into  more than average of ugly videos these last few months...this is another one. Charming in all its burlesque.

9. Tokyo Karan Koron - Spice. Her voice! Those guitars! So harmonic and sweet.

8. BoA - Lookbook. Yet another good song from the queen of asian pop.

7. Asakura Saya ft Gomess - River Boat Song. Super charming Saya involves autistic rapper Gomess to reach even further with her very personal take on traditional japanese enka songs.

6. 5572320 - Ponpara Pekoruna Papiyotta. This video is so very much an indirect tribute to Queen, with its pompous and crazy video and arrangement. So impressive.

5. Asako Toki - C’est La Vie ~Onna wa Ai ni Isogashii~. Asako Toki's jazzy voice is a golden jazz voice and here it comes perfectly to its right, creating a small soft universe with her singing.

4. Mizuki Nana - Super☆man. She has already made several popular songs for animes and such, but this song cought my eye for being so positive and just happy, which felt refreshing and perfect for Mizuki Nana.

3. Osaka Syunkasyuto - Furo the King. Singer Maina is so impressive in her cover och Rainbow's original song and this video version is so completely crazy and captivating!

2. Rebecca ft Charisma.com - Friends. Yep, two covers for top three, but the new version of this song is all about the nerve of the song and the contrast between Rebecca's and rapper Itsuka's singing, it just takes the song to the next level.

1. Frederic - Owarase Night. A close fight but the guys of Frederic won this on creativity, and I really love their sound.

Jpop: Asakura Saya ft Gomess - River Boat Song (民謡日本一)

The lovely and slightly nerdy Asakura Saya which caught my attention when singing so charmingly in the Yamagata dialect now returns with new interpretation of a classic folk song about the river Mogami. This time though, she cooperates with the autistic rapper Gomess to produce something more modern, where she tries to fuse modern sounds with the traditional melody and with Gomess soft and humble rap suiting her airily song perfect. To be honest, it sounds very much like an updated enka song with a rap section, but that is very fine with me.

• Asakura Saya ft Gomess - River Boat Song (民謡日本一)

Jpop: Top 20 of the first quarter of 2015

For the first time since I started making lists of eastern asian music, I have more music videos that I want to share from Japan than Korea, but that isn't really that surprising. In the long run Japan has a bigger variation and depth than Korea has shown so far. It is not really a negative critque of anything, just a natural effect of me being exposed to so much nice music from Korea that I have come to crave a little more variation and oddness. And is it something Japan has, it is that. ;-)

20. Ringo Shiina - Ketteiteki Sanpunkan. Arguably the coolest woman in jpop music industry has a given place on my top lists. This is actually a live video too.

19. Cupitron - Battery. Using electric light dresses and using the Robot restuarant in Tokyo as a backdrop is enough for being worth noticing, I think. ;-)

18. Molice - Rainbow. Music that makes you wanna jump! Yep, indeed.

17. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Mondai Girl. The emo girl look is quite new for the queen of japanese kitsch, and the video is really great. Kyary has the problem of being expected to excel every time, but Mondai Girl is just perfect her.

16. Suiyoubi no Campanella - Jeanne d'Arc. SnC continues to give us charming and odd pieces of soft rap and electronic cozyness.

15. One Ok Rock - Cry Out. I loved Mighty Long Fall. Cry Out is not on the same level for sure, but it is still better and more "International" than most jrock I hear.

14. Wagakki Band - Ikusa. The historical cos-players of WB gives a new song on the theme of war.

13. Frederic - Oddloop. Airy sounds makes this indie music very likable.

12. LiSA - Shirushi. Having seen Sword Art Online II, I confess to being extra weak for this song...

11. Nogizaka46 - Life is Beautiful. Some darkness almost always makes idol jpop more interesting, and so it is for the self proclaimed rivals of AKB48.

10. Kira - Nadeshiko Soul. Reggea meets Japanese pop? It actually works quite well.

9. Daichi Miura - Unlock. The man really got style and character, and a voice that suits his dance moves well.

8. Especia - We are Especia ~Nakinagara Dancing~. The best idol retro act from Japan that I know of.

7. Berryz Kodo - Love together. A nostalgic piece from the group that is supposingly disbanding now.

6. Hanae - S-T-A-R-S. I loved the Kamisama Kiss songs but the new S-T-A-R-S is fine too.

5. Root Five - Love Ninja. The super charming boys does a uptempo hit song that makes me smile every time I hear it.

4. Momoiro Clover Z vs. KISS - Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mina. This wholly unexpected cooperation somehow was the final sign after Babymetalsthat jpop and metal can make a beautiful combination

3. Predia - Beautiful Lonely People. I can't for the life of me understand why the Japanese idol industry has such a fixation on extreme youth. Predia is an excellent example of why this should be amended (and then we are still talking women younger than 30 with a margin...)

2. Asakura Saya. The very charming young lady has made her fame based on singing in the local Yamagata dialect, and she does it with a inner nerve given to few.

1. Tofubeats - Stakeholder. Finally we got a new song from tofubeats that manages to balance style and hit potential. Love it.