Asian music "what's on your mind" thread III
 

This thread needs a new one, apparently. First new thread...in over five years. Either time has gone so fast since the last one was first created, or things have gone so slow to fill up to 500 posts...

Anyways, today is April 8th, and it's DAIGO's 40th birthday (Karen, I know you've already heard about it), ex-AKB48's Takamina's (Minami Takahashi) 27th birthday, and, obviously, since this is the Ayumi Hamasaki forum, it's Ayu's 20th anniversary since her debut.

But things have been a little bit too stale, been hearing too many of "been there, done that" kind of experiences, even with all the singings. I mean, when will the next breakout star pop up - especially a soloist at a time where we're way too filled with groups such as Johnny's and AKB/Nogizaka? If that breakout star does come, I hope he/she isn't part of Sony!

Anyways, I'm not enthused at this:

https://i.imgur.com/mLK8NA0l.jpg

What in the world is this? This is the cover of miwa's upcoming new single "Update" - and I'm not liking this cover! I know she's wearing a blue bob wig, but still - what is wrong with this cover???

(To clarify, that's the CD+DVD limited edition cover. There's also the regular edition cover which I'm liking a little bit more, but there's that 'blue wig girl' behind the miwa I'm familiar of.

Other covers can be found here:
https://natalie.mu/music/news/276973

Last Sat's CDTV 25th Anniversary SP was good especially when Fukuyama Masaharu-san , Kisumai , Kobukuro & NEWS performed their new songs

That goes for KinKi Kids performing a great 3 songs medley as well

And for once I'm surprised Kisumai didn't performed ex SMAP's Nakai's 'favourite song' from them haha

YU-A announced a new mini-album coming!
It's called "OFF" and will be released 05/30.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...924/5ekETo.jpg

It deals with her pregnancy and the time afterwards e.g. Shaping Up is about, well, getting in form again. :laugh
Kimi o shita and the cover song I've Told Every Little Star are songs she sang to her baby, when he cried.
The last single before her small hiatus because of her kid "30 -My Thirty-" is included in a new mix.
I'm looking forward!

Kira is releasing another digital single called "Ecstasy" on April 25!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/DPMwHd.jpg

I don't support X JAPAN but knowing that this year is the 20th anniversary of hide's death , it's pretty wild

Oh wow :( I didn't even realize it had been that long.

In Two by Namie is so freaking good. I wish it wasn't so Engrishy because I feel like it could be a major hit in the States. It's frustrating that so many of Namie's lyrics are in English but her pronunciation isn't quite good enough to bring those songs stateside. Sucks, because I think she'd probably do pretty well here.

Yeah next month will be 20 years since hide passed away D:

Seems like this year , 15 is a 'magic' number for some artistes , anniversary wise

- DAIGO☆STARDUST (who's coming back to perform for 1 night only heh heh heh xD)
- NEWS
- SID

And this year is B'z's 30th anniversary which's wow & next year is ARASHI's 20th anniversary :O

Looking forward to it!

I also wanna check out YU-A's mini album when it comes out. I still have her last album PURPLE on my computer; I only listened to it once and I think I had mildly positive feelings about it (which is why I never deleted it). I should give it another spin.

JILLE shared a CM with a new song of hers today! I'm happy she's been able to get a tie-up even though she's now independent. I think I remember her mentioning that she had a new album in the works late last year, I hope that's true and there will be album news soon.

Today is exactly 10 years since VS ARASHI 1st started airing

Wow , that's insane & I still remembered the early days when ARASHI kept losing so horribly for several straight weeks which got so bad until they had to sit down for a 'meeting' to discuss how to break the losing momentum , LOL

That said I missed some of the old games ARASHI used to play and let alone suck horribly at it , like Falling Pipe & maybe Go Go Sweeper . They should bring them back again

And also the MDA corner too which used to be aired each time prior to the end of each episode . That's something Sakurai is always 'good' in winning & when I mean winning , it's not a good thing to be MDA within ARASHI x)

Also , ENDRECHERI will be doing a live house tour starting from next month onwards & for a Johnnys to do 1 of this scale , it's unheard of & I'm sure tickets will be even more harder to get as per norm

The thought of me buying 3 batches of AKIHIDE's upcoming solo concert goods & probably next month's MUSCLE ATTACK 5th Anniversary LIVE and solo debut 15th anniversary live [DAIGO VS DAIGO☆STARDUST] concert goods in July , that's quite a scary thought @_@ :dead2

Luckily this time round for next weekend's AKIHIDE SEASON LIVE -Spring- Watage no Gondola , I only plan to buy 1 concert good

I was listening to Folder 5 (idol group from the early 2000's mostly known for "Believe" from ONE PIECE), and it turns out that AKINA is back and her mini album sounds absolutely great! It was partly produced by her, and it sounds kinda reminiscent of what Dev Hynes and Carly Rae Jepsen are doing right now.

City Of Stars PV


Mini Album Trailer

You should check out Purple again, it's a solid album!
I like the upbeat tracks like Purple or Unlock, her dorky side with a song like Fried Potato (I don't know another singer singing about her favourite food or like in her new mini about dieting, rofl), mellow R&B tracks like Seishun Sho (her unique voice just shines in those) or the experimental ending track Mission My Duty, which almost only uses her voice and works surprisingly well.
Only those boring pop ballads in between are unnecessary.
And I'm still a bit salty she didn't include her best single song from this era, You are my superman, in the album.

Thanks for the heads-up for Jille.
The new song is pretty mellow as well.

^ Well many years ago DAIGO☆STARDUST wrote/composed a song about his love for ice tea called Ice Tea no Uta so lol

Not only that , during when DAIGO was a regular on Waratte Iitomo , he released a really dumb 'album' filled with 'songs' which some of the fake group names are derived from real life food names such as PARM ice cream ('song' is a hip hop no. lmao) , Black Thunder chocolate ('song' is Christmas theme hahaha) :roflmao :roflmao :roflmao

Also years later on , DAIGO wrote/composed a song about his obsession for Pop Corn in his DAIGOLD album x)

Kanjani∞ also has some food related song titles which're still hilarious , they have sung about Pudding , Onigiri , Crouton (they even made a PV for it which's just so dumb xD) , Takoyaki (Takoyaki In My Heart LOL) and last year they released a studio album called Jam which's also food related xD

Not only that , some of Kanjani∞'s solo songs are food theme too . Ice cream , banana juice ? :laugh

Haha, yeah, right, Kanjani 8 of course! They're just dorky and hilarious altogether. :laugh
Didn't know Daigo is the same. :roflmao
But I've meant for female solos. ;)

I used to listen to Kanjani∞ but after a while I stopped cos after Ryo left NEWS , their releases intensified to the point where I find it hard to keep up with them anymore :x

But I still respect them cos I know publicly they portray themselves as really dumb but they're very talented & all of them know how to play different music instruments (same with DAIGO who overplays his talento image way too much which doesn't do good for him)

I guess if not for TOKIO , Kanjani∞ would go the Johnnys band instruments road

That said I always look forward to every Johnny's Countdown cos I know for sure , Kanjani∞ will steal the limelight 1 way or another

From dressing up like sushi (with poor Yokoyama wearing a soya sauce bottle outfit :roflmao) , butchering Sexy Zone's Cha-Cha-Cha Champion (in full soccer gear onstage LOL) to Kisumai's Everybody Go (rollerskate epic fail & Kisumai made it look so easy) , I hope Kanjani∞ will up the crazy antics once more in the next Johnny's Countdown

===

I look forward to the day when DAIGO writes a song about Pretz , LOL

Is it really that true that Avex is in a bit of a budget crunch recently? (This is after what I heard that it may be the reason why Ayu's not doing anything new in terms of concept for her ongoing Arena Tour. Has to do with the departure of Namie and TK or something.)

After the horrible things on what Hilcrhyme went through last year , so glad they're making a comeback this Sept

I hope the next artiste that will resume activities will be flumpool

Preview for Kira's Ecstasy!

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/984365686758637568

Beverly'll release her second album in June and I'm not sure that it'll be as good as her first album. She has a great potential with her voice but she doesn't work with people who can polish her talent.

Uh, nice to know!
THough her first album was boring as hell. The 2nd one can't be any worse.
I did like the singles after the 1st album much more.

Okay, seriously???

Last night I was talking a bit of Avex declining, partially because of Tetsuya Komuro (plus Namie Amuro)...but speaking of TK, he's back in some way???

As a game music director???

http://aramajapan.com/news/otaku/vid...is-back/87230/

I don't know what to say about this...

Kanjani∞'s Subaru is leaving both the group and J&A :(

This's so awful & frankly Kanjani∞ will not be the same without Subaru

That said wishing Subaru all the best for his future endeavours

Yeah, I'm surprised to hear Subaru Shibutani is leaving not just Kanjani8, but the Johnny's agency. Why is he withdrawing from them?

(Could be interesting if Subaru ends up joining Twitter or some other SNS now that he's no longer part of the Johnny's agency.)

EDIT: It turns out that there seems to be some behind-the-scenes disagreements between Subaru and Johnny's staff, with Subaru preferring to be a musician, not just an idol.

Now I have to wonder what's going to happen with Kanjani8's "GR8EST" best album in terms of cover art and promotion-wise...

GR8EST covers were already released before Subaru's decision to leave

Their upcoming Dome tour will not include Subaru

Subaru is following what EXILE ATSUSHI did except in this case , he's leaving both the group and J&A but ATSUSHI stays put when he came back from overseas

Out of all the Johnnys groups , Kanjani∞ are the closest as they hang out a lot both during their public & private lives . I don't think it's an easy decision for Subaru to make but he spent more than 20 years in J&A so he has seen numerous ups & downs

That said , the group dynamics in Kanjani∞ wouldn't be the same after Subaru leaves , he's 1 of the most talented Johnnys & it will be weird not to see him in future JCDs anymore :x

Translated statement from Subaru-san on leaving KJ8 here.

http://aramajapan.com/aramaexclusive...ociates/87319/

Also, is Subaru's departure from KJ8 effective immediately? He's going to leave the Johnny's agency at the end of the year, but for sure he's not part of this upcoming dome tour.

Among the current veteran Johnny's groups, that leaves ARASHI as among the last ones (along with V6 and KinKi Kids, although the latter is a duo and KinKi Kids wouldn't make sense if one of the two decides to leave the group) that are still active yet without any member changeups? For sure NEWS, KAT-TUN, Hey! Say! JUMP and even Kis-My-Ft2 (pre-debut) had members leaving the group.

^ You forgot TOKIO

Excluding SMAP , the senior Johnny groups (ARASHI , TOKIO , KinKi Kids , V6) are still the most stable in terms of group dynamics even though it's a known fact that ARASHI weren't chummy when Johnny-san 1st put them together some 19 years ago

The other 4 members didn't know Ohno 'existed' prior to ARASHI's formation in Hawaii cos Ohno wasn't based in Tokyo back then , he was in other prefectures focusing a lot on stageplay

I wouldn't be surprised things shake up within J&A after SMAP disband which left to more Johnnys fighting for more control & rights

And there's also still the whole rumours of Julie K taking over full control management of J&A even though she's in control of JStorm & Johnny's Entertainment businesses

It'll be released on 20th June to be exact it is called 24. She already promoted the album with the preview of a new song LOVE THERAPY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-xNKkqwg4
:)
Ahah we have opposite views! ^_^ I find that A new day single (as all digital singles were thrown in it) was a gentle "covers" compilation. I know that her songs on her first album weren't original but I think that all the accents of her voice were more used, Empty being the song that exploited her voice the most.

@Yoake:
Haha, yeah, that's alright.
I love two songs from her first album - I need your love and Empty (more songs like that, please, it's heaven).
I honestly can't even remember any of the other ones.
Idk, she sounds like a totally safe and well-behaved Disney singer on most. If you know, what I mean.
A New Day is a nice ballad, but I really like All I Want especially.
Love Therapy is pretty much a R&B ballad. Definitely wouldn't mind her going further in that direction.

^I understand what you mean. I would like that her next songs sound more edgy and personal too. The verse of All I Want is great but the chorus is so common that it decreased my interest.
I don't mind when the first album of a singer is generic (especially if he/she isn't a composer) but for the second I really need they assert themselves as a singer who doesn't simply copy their inspirations. They need their own signature sound.

We're the opposite again. :laugh
It starts very generic, but the chorus and the progression of the song are awesome for me.
She realesed Baby don't cry today. It has a gospel feeling and is pretty in line with Love Therapy. Maybe the new album is going to have a more polished sound. I'll give her some more time though to find her, if that isn't the case.
Cause even though the tone of her voice isn't unique at all, her range and the power of her vocals are rare in Japan.

Wonder what PRISTIN is up to these days. I’m waiting on so many KPOP groups to make their comebacks.

Twitter was down a few mins ago which I think it's caused by this

https://twitter.com/_____arajun/stat...39655862398977

Domyouji lives on 10 years later (wow is it been SO long since he was last featured on the TV & movie screen o_O) . His face is not quite visible but it's so obvious , I mean come on

:roflmaoI think it's the first time our tastes are so different for one of the new artists we listen to. But that's what is so interesting. I'm always so amazed to see an artist gathering around him/her people who can be so different.
Thanks for telling me about Baby don't cry. I prefer this preview to LOVE THERAPY. I hope the song'll have a beautiful and powerful progression. It's the kind of song that need a high point/grand final. Finally, I shouldn't be too pessimistic XD
I agree with the last point about her voice. :yes

@Yoake
There's always a first. :P
The full song is already out on Spotify btw.
Don't know, if you will like it. The progression is beautiful, but more subtle than powerful.

^Baby don't cry is seriously the best song she released since her last album. It's the true that the progression isn't as I thought but it's nice. I really like the bridge. The structure of the song reminds me Ayu's one a lot. Especially with the slower part before the resumption of the main melody and rhythm.

New GRANRODEO single that will be out in July

Psyched !

Single is out today!




2nd album "Naked", release date 06/06!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/2yfvD6.png

While I don't listen to TOKIO , it's sad regarding the mess that Yamaguchi has gotten himself into :x

He should have known better & now TOKIO's future is in jeopardy cos of his actions which I feel it's unfair to the other members

And the fact that Taichi stood up for Yamaguchi at this morning's Mezamashi TV , it's so awful & painful to watch

The last thing I want to see is another established Johnny group to disband :x

Yuzu has worked on a song for ARASHI , very intrigued to hear how it will sound like

I'm excited for the album, but boy do I not like this song. I hope the album has some better material.

Covers for Yu-a's mini are out!
They're a collab with fashion magazine Nylon.

CD only
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/e6D7it.jpg

CD+DVD
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/5Yfntz.jpg

Kamenashi Kazuya wins PRIME magazine’s most liked Johnnys, no one wins most disliked!

Yamapi was so close yet again. I want him to be number one.:laugh
But I get why Kazuya gets number one. I would be tempted to vote for him too.

^ Kame is perfect that's why haha x)

Out of so many Johnnys that I like over the years , he's still my overall favourite

Hirai Ken releasing 2 singles on the same day

Psyched , it's about time for new Ken material !

It's not easy to like UVERworld's songs but I really like their latest single ODD FUTURE , it's very different from what they used to do

The last UVERworld song I really like was 2015's I LOVE THE WORLD , glad that now I have a new favourite song from them !

There are so many Johnnys that I can never keep track of them all but those two I always remember.:heart:tipsy

Oh yeah both Kame & Yamapi are still so popular after all these years , same thing with Shuuji to Akira

The popularity of Seishun Amigo is still as strong as ever which's fantastic

Did you hear what just happened about TOKIO's Tatsuya Yamaguchi? Want to follow up on what Karen said on the previous page:

What Yamaguchi did was completely disgusting and unacceptable. Now all of a sudden Yamaguchi has resigned and TOKIO - the group that has Tomoya Nagase (remember a decade ago with Ayu?) - is now a four-member group instead of five.

All because of a "forced indecency" with a 16-year-old girl. WT*.

http://aramajapan.com/news/johnny-as...ld-girl/87619/
http://aramajapan.com/news/tokio-yam...ed-news/87706/
http://aramajapan.com/news/johnny-ki...maguchi/87874/
http://aramajapan.com/news/tatsuya-y...m-tokio/87912/

What he did was horrible and so wrong, to say the least. I could go on and on.
But I don't think the whole group should suffer because of his actions.:no

^ Unfortunately whether you like it or not , 1 member's wrong actions will have spill over effects

This reminded me of what happened to ex KAT-TUN's Akanishi's shotgun marriage to Kuroki Meisa where Johnny-san & the members found out about it via the media and there was no prempt warning

Due to this , Akanishi's solo tour was cancelled as a form of punishment . Perhaps it was a good thing he eventually left J&A cos he said before he does not fit the mold of how a typical Johnny should behave

Same thing happened to TOKIO & naturally the members were furious in that they also found out about it via the media and not directly from Yamaguchi himself

It's sad but Johnnys have to give up so much in order to maintain popularity . If not why up to now ARASHI's MatsuJun has not get married yet , cos crazy disillusional people will not able to accept it

Even if Johnnys do get married , it's always very late around their late 30s onwards cos they worry if they do it early , backlash will happen

Which did happened when V6's Okada got married last year & some were so upset that they burnt the marriage annoucement Christmas card they received from Johnny Family Club o_O

That said it's very unfortunate on what happened to TOKIO & guess Yamaguchi's divorce heartache finally got in the way :x

I hope Yamaguchi is able to get professional help to kick his alcoholic problems once & for all . Maybe this's the wake up call he needs ?

I feel sorry for the fans who support TOKIO for almost 3 decades & knowing next year is their 25th anniversary , this couldn't have come at a worst possible timing

Aqua Timez is disbanding end of 2018 =(

Yet another established band going to bite the dust

Short pv of LOVE THERAPY is out. The lettering on the window shop bothers me a little.



Avex released this song for Guardian game :luv2 She reminds me Emily Bindiger + Yuki Kajiura a bit.

Anyone else got this problem? You keep hoarding music you might want to listen to but never seem to have time to get to it, so you end up with hundreds of releases stashed away in a folder somewhere eating up your disc space? I just added some new things and my folder now contains well over 200 things and it's getting out of hand, but I also can't just make myself delete that one album that I thought looked cool in 2014 or that one album which had one track that sounded promising or that compilation from an artist I've heard good things about. :dead2

^I'm like that too. I listen to so many artists that I haven't even heard all cds from them. I collect them in a "to listen to" folder that can't stop to grow. I try to be up to date for the new cds but don't stop to be left behind.
Sometimes I think that I like to many things because it happens for books, movies and animes too. X_X

FLOWER FLOWER will be performing on MUSIC STATION next week woo hoo

Very exciting , this sorta will be a homecoming for yui . Was hoping they will perform Inochi but I think it will scare people away who haven't heard the song xD

You know, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I also have a similar thing with books, anime, and other things as well. I guess I also like too many things... but maybe it's better to like too many things than too few.

On another topic: I'm excited for June, there are many albums coming out! Hikki, Miliyah, Crystal Kay... But what I'm most looking forward to is KOTOKO's new album! It's been four years since her last one, so I've really started to miss her, and she's working with I've Sound again! I'm interested in hearing what they produce together.

@Kacku and Yoake
I love a lot of stuff as well, but interestingly, with music I don't have a problem with that. I just listen at once when I'm downloading or if I have to go somwhere, put it on my phone and listen on the way. Like that I listen to everything pretty soon.
Books are somwthing different though. :laugh

Quite a few Japanese artistes will be coming back here to perform if not 1st timers which include

- LiSA
- Do As Infinity , BAND-MAID & Nishizawa Shiena as part of a 3 artistes outdoor performance festival
- Linked Horizon

I hope somemore artistes will come here to perform

I try to do the same by putting new releases on my iPod asap, but I still always end up falling behind and the backlog keeps building up. :laugh

During my university time I could listen to new music quickly thanks to my long train travel(3 hour twice a week) to go to the town I was studying. Since I work, my commute time lasts barely a single on foot and a song in car. And when I'm at home I'm often distracted by other things to do (or the cat XD). And as I'm in two orchestras my weekend aren't that free.

I always listen to music when doing housework and homework and stuff, cause in fact with university and two jobs I don't have that much time as well.
That's the great thing for me about music, you can listen to it anytime, while doing anything. But interesting to see, how it differs.^^

So anisong singer LiSA (Risa Oribe) just got her first-ever Oricon #1 weekly, I heard? She released two best albums "LiSA BEST -Way-" and "LiSA BEST -Day-" and picked up a 1-2 weekly. But not without competition from Korea's EXO-CBX (three members of EXO), they put up a good fight against LiSA throughout the week!

But in the end, LiSA has joined an elite, exclusive club that, interestingly, Ayumi Hamasaki is part of (remember A BEST 2 back in 2007?) - LiSA is the newest female artist to pick up a 1-2 weekly album ranking in the Oricon in the same week. (Alongside Ayu and LiSA, JUJU and Kana Nishino also achieved that feat.)

Honestly, this was LiSA's BEST (pun intended) shot at a #1, she has been waiting for a #1 weekly ranking for quite some time.

So this is how close LiSA was to EXO-CBX at the end of the week:
https://i.imgur.com/KhyevYR.png

(EXO-CBX was on top of the Billboard rankings, though, but Oricon is more notable. Although I'm still skeptical with all the changes Oricon has been making, from not counting foreign sales, to limiting 'bulk' sales to 20 copies counted per order - I'm not sure if those changes, particularly foreign sales, actually helped LiSA propel her to 1-2...)

Earlier on during this month's 100th episode of DAIGO P , DAIGO announced that he will release his new solo single in July & it's another double A-side single release with both songs written + composed by GLAY's TAKURO !

I was already expecting BREAKERZ to focus more on solo activities this year unlike last year but time to go broke again in July , haha :x xD

Another Japanese act coming back to perform in my country in Aug and this time round it's RADWIMPS !

Kira's 2nd album Naked full tracklist:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/8Fz6jH.jpg

01. Black Knight
02. Bye Bye Boy
03. Honesty
04. Ecstasy
05. Macaron
06. さよなら (Sayonara)
07. One More Dance feat. HISATOMI
08. 他の女 (Hoka no Onna)
09. ラッキー★ボーイ (Lucky Boy)
10. #Harder
11. How Much Do You Love Me? (Naked Version)
12. Rainbow Again
13. ジェットコースターみたいな運命デス。(Jetcoaster mitai na Unmei desu.)
14. Never Ending Story
15. TERRY JANE (Remix) - KIRA & 卍LINE

Short version PV for Bye Bye Boy:

So, King & Prince, Johnny's newest group, unsurprisingly takes #1 daily in the Oricon charts, and is expected to be #1 weekly. I'm still asking myself - why do Johnny's acts, even newer ones like King & Prince (and Kis-My-Ft2 back in 2011, for example), still that popular? Are key tie-ins to drama series (e.g. Fuji TV Getsu9 - Monday 9PM - dramas) part of the factor?

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2112040/full/

(Also, asking to Karen: Are you interested in the King & Prince group?)

Johnnys still have appeal even though in recent years they have been over taken by the AKB family tree & LDH family tree

For King & Prince , 1 of the members Hirano Sho is currently starring in Hana Nochi Hare ~HanaDan Next Season~ which Cinderella Girl is being used to promote it

Cos of this I'm not surprised at the high sales that Cinderella Girl sold on the 1st day . The amount of publicity drum up for their debut single is high & that goes for having a garden party event in Tokyo

And there's the nostalgic factor towards Hana Nochi Hare ~HanaDan Next Season~ , if not why ARASHI's MatsuJun & Oguri Shun made cameo appearances in the drama ?

Nah , King & Prince members are all younger than me so no . The younger more recent Johnnys debuted groups such as Sexy Zone , A.B.C-Z , Johnny's West , I don't listen to them

For Kisumai , yes because I know about them way back in Shounen Club (back when Hey ! Say ! JUMP appeared on the show prior to their debut) and I 1st saw them perform FIRE BEAT many years ago on MUSIC STATION prior to their official debut

But I must say that Sexy Zone has changed a LOT over the years especially when I watch them perform in the last few Johnnys Countdowns , they look so different back when they 1st started as compared to now

Another artiste returning back to perform in my country in mid Sept & this time round it's Sekai no Owari who will be performing at the F1 Grand Prix

So happy to know that AKIHIDE is finally singing again after 4 years on his upcoming new solo album !

I don't think Kikai Shikake no Yuenchi -Electric Wonderland- will be a fully sung album like AKIHIDE's 1st album Amber (which's still a perfect album in my books) but it's better than nothing

When my sister 1st heard AKIHIDE's singing , she was shocked cos she didn't expect AKIHIDE would sound very different from what she thought

I personally like AKIHIDE's singing voice a lot more than DAIGO which I know about this way back during AKIHIDE's indie days many years ago prior to BREAKERZ . Sorry DAIGO it's the truth but you're still a great lovable idiot so haha :p

So, the highlight of Kira's new album is Hoka no Onna for me.
Such a crazy climax of the song and her voice is awesome in it.
Sayonara is also a really awesome ballad/midtempo.
#Harder is rounding up my top 3 from the album for now.

DAIGO☆STARDUST is going to gate crash 3 of DAIGO's 8 Manatsu no Zankyou / Konya , Nostalgia de release events

Hahahahaha this's going to be so hilarious :roflmao :roflmao :roflmao

Surprisingly DAIGO☆STARDUST is not going to give Spacey Hug(s) xD

Makes me wonder what DAIGO☆STARDUST will wear when he gate crash DAIGO's release events ? Eien no Space Cowboy or his infamous ROCK THE PLANET outfit which he still can wear both 15 years after his debut :rofl

I'm currently watching B'z 30th Year Special Vol.2 2003-2018 which WOWOW Prime aired last month

The live concert footages that's included in B'z 30th Year Special Vol.2 2003-2018 , B'z commands such a powerful presence onstage & even the way they came up onstage , it gives me chills

If for some remarkable miracle that B'z are able to come here to perform , I would most definitely go see them perform even though to call myself a fan , it's a bit far fetched as I only started supporting them from 2009 onwards so this means I have to catch up 20 years worth of their backlog material , LOL

Finally I listened to Naked. None songs (but #Harder) wowed me. It's a gentle and quiet album that need a time of gestation to make me like it what it is worth. Because it's not bad it's just pretty average/common compared to her past releases.

:heart

I thought SID would stop touring end of June but nope , they announce today they will be doing another live house tour from Sept to Nov prior to the release of their 1st mini album in Aug

This year is SID's 15th anniversary so it makes sense for them to do 2 extensive tours back to back

Also it's quite an irony that there're SO many releases out on 25th July but none from BREAKERZ :x

Have anyone realized recently that the YouTube J-pop blockade has significantly loosened? (I'm talking to you, Sony and Victor. Okay, there are still some Japan-only blockades for certain SMEJ artists, but there are some key ones that are no longer subject to geoblock, whether it's Sony's infamous geoblocks to outside of Japan or the YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) blockade)

Here are a few videos that used to be blocked in certain countries in some way but are now available worldwide (except where YouTube is prohibited :P )

It's so awesome to hear AKIHIDE sing again in his new solo album Kikai Jikake no Yuenchi -Electric Wonderland- :heart

I think AKIHIDE knows the fans also want to hear him sing again so for him to sing 1/2 of Kikai Jikake no Yuenchi -Electric Wonderland- , I have no complaints

Vocally AKIHIDE always has been better than DAIGO . DAIGO sounds like crap if not a completely different person during his indie days and that was before he debuted as DAIGO☆STARDUST but he has improved a lot vocally over the years

Not AKIHIDE , he still sounds so good back when he was in NEVER LAND & also now

I'm surprised to hear that Hey! Say! JUMP's Keito Okamoto could be leaving Hey! Say! JUMP. Already down to nine after Ryutaro Morimoto's underage smoking scandal several years back, that's going to be the second member HSJ is going to lose. :cry

I'm not sure how viable it is for me to continue buying HSJ releases (I'm targeting CDs at the moment, not concert Blu-rays) after hearing this news. :(

Over the past few weeks, I've been so ridiculously busy I haven't had much time for music. Pretty much the only things I listened to were Crystal Kay's disappointing new album, Spotify's daily J-Pop mixes to lull me into a trance during long bus trips, and, most importantly, some old I've Sound CDs I recently got. And boy have those I've Sound CDs been a re-discovery. diRTY GiFT still blows my mind with how captivating, emotional and timeless the songs are - most of the tracks don't sound (to me) like they're from 2002, and the one that does, MELL's Sabaku no Yuki, sounds like 2002 in all the best ways, and is her best song and THE central track of this release besides. I can't believe Eiko Shimamiya made the ultimate mini-album of nothing but classics back in 2003 with Ozone, the amount of quality on one CD just blows my mind. I've MANIA Tracks Vol. III is such a cool collection of songs that works together remarkably well for a release that's supposed to be about just throwing rare songs onto one CD (must be all the "cross" tracks tying it together - cross up, cross my heart, Cross talk). KOTOKO's first album is still so impressive, I wouldn't be mad if she went back to this style sometimes.

Also, those Spotify mixes have reminded me that AAA's Daiji na Koto is one of the best J-Pop songs ever.

Now that I'm a little less busy for a while, I hope to catch up on some music. I still need to listen to KIRA's new album, for starters.

Daoko's Uchiage Hanabi is suddenly back in the Top 5 at both iTunes and recochoku.
I mean, ever since it was released it never left the Top 50, but I wonder what caused the sudden jump.

Do As Infinity are back in my country where they will be performing later tonight alongside with other artistes at Natsu Rock 2018

Natsu Rock 2018 was supposed to take place outdoors at a beach but the last few days it has been raining very heavily here so it's smart for the organisers to decide to hold it indoors now

I just read an article saying that 4 members will leave An Cafe... Somewhere around the end of Last year and beging of this year I found my old love for their music again, now that's pretty sad to hear... Well at least Miku will stay so I hope that He might find something new band members. But it sure wont be the same

Was hoping for a new album, sad to hear such news. They always cannot last long, without financial support they get disband easily.

Just found out she went solo, ℃-ute was disbanded last year. The new album is quite good, now the songs are stuck in my mind.

For anyone, who wants to watch the Tokyo Music Fes today, here's a live link:
https://m.zhanqi.tv//akb49

It started about an hour ago.

The various (legal) means to obtain both of BREAKERZ & their solo releases' personalised autographs never fails to amaze me

I'm just so glad my friend is just as insane sane as me :roflmao which she never bats an eyelid on all the 'crazy' things I request her to help me do xD

In this case , my friend doesn't need another DAIGO personalised autograph as she already has a few polaroid photos taken with both DAIGO & DAIGO☆STARDUST respectively

And I think my friend will be taking a 3rd polaroid photo with DAIGO☆STARDUST next Mon so :laugh

I found the time to listen to Suiyoubi no Campanella's new release Galapagos today and... goddamn, I love it, they did it again. Their choice for the musical direction of the EP completely blindsided me in the best way. I've always loved their more melodic, atmospheric, calm, pretty songs, so of course I loved this. Kenmochi, the producer, described the EP as chill and spiritual, and it's dead on, I think they nailed the mood they were going for and made some amazing songs while at it. I wasn't hyper about the pre-release tracks (Mizaru Kikazaru Iwazaru / Three Mystic Apes, Matryoshka) when they came out, so I was very pleased to discover that I loved all the completely unheard songs on the album. KOM_I was actually SINGING on Itoshii Monotachi e / The Sand Castle and she sounded so beautiful in all her vocal imperfections and she gave me my whole entire life. I'll have to listen to this EP some more to get a better feeling for it in the context of their whole discography, but so far, it's one of their best. I'm very happy to be surprised like this. :heart

Of other things to come out this week, I still need to listen to Taichi Mukai's LOVE and KOTOKO's tears cyclone (please leak already) for the first time and Hikaru Utada's Hatsukoi as a complete package. I've only listened to some of the new tracks of Hatsukoi one at a time so far, and they've been a bit of a let-down. Good Night and Yuunagi struck me as being good, but the rest of the songs all had something that didn't sit right with me. I still need to experience the album as a whole though.

Also, I can't with Perfume's upcoming album being titled Future Pop. Perfume's sound hasn't been futuristic in years, and this era especially has been nothing but painfully-2016-sounding empty Nakata-EDM songs with the dullest pop drops plaguing every song. Nakata needs some new inspiration because he is not good at EDM. Nevertheless, I hope the new album has at least one killer hit like Miracle Worker.

I'm really obsessed with the whole "Hatsukoi" package @_@

I woke up today with "Chikai" melody (really beautiful and strange tempo) in my head and I needed to listen to it twice (iiiichidooo jyaaaa taaaarinaaaaaai ♫) before I get up and live my life. During the day, songs like "Hatsukoi", "Forevermore", "Play A Love Song", "Good Night", "Nokoriga", "Pakuchii no Uta" and "Yuunagi" are echoing in my mind like ghosts. I'm really shocked because it's becoming one of my favorite releases of her so far.

DAIGO did a LINE Live & I'm so shocked that it was almost 2 hours long o_O O_o

But amidst the chaos , DAIGO said my name during the LINE Live streaming ! But as before , he said my name in a weird Japanese manner & not the proper English way of saying so I was like ??? xD

Even my friend pointed that out to me which I'm not surprised cos DAIGO didn't really said my name correctly when my friend attended his past 2 autograph book signing sessions so haha

Ironically for my friend , DAIGO is always mispronouncing her name on purpose & the rare time that he said her name correctly , it felt weird lmao

^lucky you (even if he mispronounced your name). I'm glad that you got your moment of glory. :)

Haha thanks I didn't expect last night's LINE Live of DAIGO was so long , it was insane o_O

I don't watch a lot of LINE Live episodes but a 2 hours episode is not normal :roflmao

I thought DAIGO would randomly sign the Manatsu no Zankyou / Konya , Nostalgia de alternate jacket covers , I didn't expect he signed ALL and he even said every single name after he signed each which's like woah

Not only that after DAIGO finished signing everything , he even did an impromptu short acoustic guitar session which's even ?!

DAIGO probably signed a few hundreds if not close to a thousand worth of alternate jacket covers within 2 hours ? :dead2

If somebody still wants ot tune in, here's a live stream for NTV's The Music Day:
https://mov3.co/en/ntv/

Is it okay to criticize Nippon TV for broadcasting The Music Day in the middle of a natural disaster crisis, even though it didn't hit Tokyo? I don't feel this is acceptable for them to show it when a good chunk of Japan gets struck by such a disaster.

I can't believe why The Music Day happened when record rainfall in west Japan led to over 100 deaths (as of now; flooding, mudslides as a result of it).

And what good would it have done to cancel it?
Did you watch it?
Cause they aired a big news break in between to report about the heavy rainfall and the current situation.
It was Tanabata that day and there were a lot of Matsuris going on as well in the whole country.
It's fair to criticize, but I don't think stopping everything nice and cheerful is a good idea.

NTV planned this year's THE MUSIC DAY 2018 ~Tsuta Etai Uta~ weeks if not maybe months in advance

It's not as though NTV knew a natural disaster would hit Japan during the time when THE MUSIC DAY 2018 ~Tsuta Etai Uta~ was airing live on TV

Besides I don't think NTV was disrespectful in any manner . If they were they wouldn't have reported about the current ongoing flood disaster & Sat's earthquake in Tokyo to begin with

Thanks for the input. I did almost forget that NTV do have a 20-minute news break at the bottom of the four-o-clock hour, which was a good time to get an up-to-date situation (at the time) of the record rainfall. And I do have to agree what Karen said that NTV wasn't disrespectful: good thing quick 'breaking news' bulletins were added throughout the show regarding not just the rainfall but also an earthquake that struck around 8:20 PM local time! (Nothing new but very convenient. I did also realize that the earthquake news bulletin was one that aired nationwide since the one most affected was Chiba, the main location of The Music Day, in addition to the 'static' rainfall updates that western Japan, provided by NTV/NNN's local affiliates, e.g. YTV in Osaka/Kansai, was seeing.)

I hope the people affected by the rains recover as soon as possible.

I'm right now in the middle of watching this, I'm taking a break since it was my sleeping time right now. Third consecutive NTV Music Day I'm watching, first one I watched in full was 2016. Was here for Ayaka (yay!), not necessarily for all the Nogizaka46 hype (Nogi's becoming more of a thing among AkiP's groups compared to AKB48 in recent months).

So how did the viewership ratings go for this year's Music Day? I heard this one was looking really good compared to last year.

EDIT: I found it. 9.0%/10.8%/14.9% for this year, compared to 8.0/9.8/14.2 from last year. Better than last year's, but still lower than pre-2016 levels. Is NTV feeling a little bit of pressure from alternative media sources that may have contributed to the Kouhaku decline last year?

Man, Saturday night was pretty crazy considering an earthquake (!) hit off the coast of Chiba in the middle of The Music Day (in addition to the continuing rainfall west of Tokyo).

Now I still have to wonder why Fuji TV was also broadcasting Music Fair at the same time The Music Day was airing...at least Fuji TV was aware of it, so they decided that the episode on that night would be a 'low-key' episode.

^ Music Fair is pre taped unlike THE MUSIC DAY if you weren't aware

Other music shows that're pre taped in advance include

- Buzz Rhythm 02
- CDTV
- Love music
- NHK Songs
- Shibuya no Oto (talk segments only)

Anyways, Karen, what are your thoughts of this year's Music Day in general? Were you able to watch it from your TV (in Singapore) through GEM?

I was overseas the last few days & my parents don't subscribe to GEM via cable

I don't believe in watching online as quality tends to be poor & keeps lagging , I rather watch for the .ts files to be uploaded then I watch

DAIGO☆STARDUST will be gate crashing DAIGO's Manatsu no Zankyou / Konya , Nostalgia de release events this weekend , again

So hilarious to know :roflmao

To say DAIGO☆STARDUST hasn't had enough fun yet is an understatement xD