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 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.

Jpop: Tofubeats - Stakeholder

I totally loved tofubeats single "Don't stop the music", and his sound is really soft and laidback in general. Still, I have been a bit disappointed in the later songs (think Her Favorite, Season Change Clothes or Poolside), as they haven't felt as accessible (or nerdy, or something...). The single "Stakeholder" from his third album with the same name is promising and the video is quite funny, the theme being depicting destructiveness in a relationship in a surprisingly funny and ironic way. The greasy chips finger on someone's glasses is a classic example of nasty everyday sadism... ;-)

• Tofubeats - Stakeholder

Jpop: My current top 20 songs

As I am leaving for 17 days in Sapporo, Japan, I thought it suitable to do a semi-sorted top 20 list of my current favorite jpop songs. Although the looks of the videos are important, the songs and how much I actually listen to them rate the highest. I also, a little illogically, chose to give an artist with several top 20 songs only one spot, but I really wanted to squeeze as many as possible into the list...
But first, I would like to mention 10 songs/artsist that didn't make it to top 20, and they are:

• Yun*Chi - Your Song
• Sowelu - Let Me Lead U
• Mademoiselle Yulia - Gimmie Gimmie
• Tommy February
• Iwasa Misaki
• Oomori Seiko - Zettai Girl
• Kanon Wakeshima - Lolitawork Libretto
• Dempagumi
• Bomi - Party Night, Hold Me Tight
• Kotoko - Re-sublimity

Now for the top 20. Lets start from the bottom. Remember, the order is not hewn into rocks, but roughly true.

20. Scandal - Pinheel Surfer. I have a great respect for Scandal, because the four girls seem to me be one of the most "believable" girl rock acts in Japan. Just watch the live version of Space Ranger to see what I mean. Respect.

19. C-ute - Adam and Eve's dilemma. Having matured with the last few songs and videos, they are one of the Hello Project! groups I now follow with interest.

18. Baby Metal - Headbangerrrrr! They may not seem to imposing but their mix of jpop and metal is really fun and they go all in in their videos and performances.

17. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Ninyari Pang Pang. One of the biggest profiles of Japanese pop, Kyary has made a name for her internationally for her quirkiness and just cray videos. This video may not be the strangest, but the best song in my opinion.

16. Sweet Vacation - Sayonara my days. A really sweet Japanese classic sung by a thai girl. ;-)

15. Immi - Swimmer. She writes her own electronic jpop and does it well.

14. Juice=Juice - Don't be spiteful, but embrace me. J=J may be the most energetic of the Hello Project! groups, even though I have chosen one of the "slower" tracks.

13. Ami Suzuki - One. One of the older tracks in my list this is still going strong.

12. Mizca - 1925. I had a hard time choosing between 1925 and Dame Yo, both energetic and focused pop songs.

11. World Order - World Order. I have been impressed with this dance group since I found them, but with the latest song I also find I enjoy it even without the video.

10. Naka Riisa - Tears through his heart. The movie for which this song was written (and it is actually shown almost unchanged as part of the story), Zebraman 2, may not be the best there is, but the song is really special with actress Naka Riisa showing her potential as a singer.

9. MAA - Ghost Enemy. There is something sexy and early 90s over this video, and thats two words I don't often combine in the same sentence...

8. Ringo Sheena - Discovered during passionate love. I really loved her return video this autumn.

7. Inshow-ha - Swap. Chic indie-jpop.

6. Perfume - Laser Beam. Perfume has made so many hits and to be honest their thing is about a certain sound and choreography, but some songs stand out, among them Laser beam, Spring of Life and 1mm. (Yes, I know, the image is from Spring of Life...)

5. Aural Vampire - Cannibal Coast. Love this semi-nerdy song who wants to be emo/alternative or something.

4. Emi Maria - Mr Alien. This is my kind of Japanese R&B.

3. After School - Heaven. Hey, what does this korean pop group do on a jpop list? Well, Koreans has a clear presence on the Japanese market and they sing in Japanese. Usually this translation from kpop to jpop actually doesn't work that well in my opinion, but After School has with their releases this year, Heaven and Shh, really managed to create something that works by combining Korean style and slickness with Japanese sophistication to create something really worthwhile.

2. Tofubeats - Don't stop the music. With this song, lone musician tofubeats may have created a indie classic, with veteran jpop singer Moritaka Chisato really making an impression with her voice. A masterful happy/melancholic piece that the Japanese do so well.

1. Omodaka - Fortune 1 Mark. This may seem like a pretentious "i am soo indie"-kind of choice for my number one spot, but it is actually just that I really, really like when Omodaka/Soichi Terada combines classic Enka music with modern bit pop. This is also really what the Japanese music scene is about - invention and experiments. If you want to find inspiration and something new, then Japan is where to look.