Make Believe Melodies For March 3, 2025
A Couple Big Names, Both Digital And Flesh-And-Blood, Return
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Fujii Kaze — “Masshiro”
The downside of optimism is a keener awareness for when something is doomed. It’s easy to march forward all bright and chipper, but to keep that pace you sometimes have to abandon other opportunities. Fujii Kaze’s music has long opted for positivity1, the sort of belief in better times ahead that it borders on the spiritual. Negativity gets pushed aside in favor of life’s rich matsuri, and even the act of workin’ hard becomes a source of fulfillment. Newest single “Masshiro,” though, offers a moment where that viewpoint leads to a song a touch more melancholy.
Against a stroll of a melody built for a sunny Sunday, Kaze bids farewell to a situation that sounds like it has some promise, but simply came at the wrong time. “I like you, I'm not sure tho / I guess we're at that kind of stage,” he sings, not sad or confused but accepting, letting the guitar strums and synth breeze push him forward…the only way he can go. His melodic sense makes “Masshiro” still sound golden, but more than anything before it, the brightness of his songwriting2 conceals something pained, blanketed by acceptance for what must be. It’s not easy being so upright, and here’s Kaze offering a glance at the bittersweet. Listen above.
reona — Machine heat dissipation EP
A techno set informed by the past but carrying a very 2020s-bend. Producer reona channels the early days of Warp Records across the floor throbs of Machine heat dissipation, finding a happy space between whirring rave outs (“bl006”) and disorienting squiggle-outs (“Pile of sound wave”). The references to like, early Aphex Twin are clear — the delicate intersecting with the acidic — yet it never feels like a dance-club diorama but rather an attempt to restructure those sonic ideas into something new. Listen above, or get it here.
Яu-a — SLY GAL
Man, is this what being young sounds like? I’ve passed out in my fair share of bathrooms as an early 20-something, but SLY GAL sounds like the way the room spins during a long night out. The title track is club constriction, with the following number opening with a flurry of ringtones and vocal samples set against a mutating beat that sounds several shots of NyQuil down. It’s disorienting, but it also captures the feeling of fun of just giving in to the night, and letting your desire for joy smash fully into your sadder thoughts. Listen above.
Botsu a.k.a NGS — “Hiccup”
A short but…surprisingly upbeat sounding dispatch from one member of Dos Monos. The beat is pure sunshine, and while Botsu coats his voice in effects to add a touch of the unreal to it all, it still manages to sound quite skippy. Listen above.
NERNE — “ART”
Worry about getting older? Well, drop that, and appreciate the moments where the sounds you came up on become a base for a new generation! The debut song from Fukuoka pop unit NERNE comes produced by rising creator Ongaku Kaito, and the influence of tofubeats and Kenmochi Hidefumi comes through in the nervy vocal distortions and general light-speed pace of it. The duo at its core keep up, and deliver some solid rhymes alongside it, helping to make the most of it all. Listen above.
Sawa Angstrom Featuring YonYon — “NNN”
A pop song experiencing relay distortion. Electronic trio Sawa Angstrom call on ace guest vocalist YonYon to offer the longing above their skittering club track, with the singer bouncing over it and knowing when to let the woozier elements take over. A fun and fragmented dance cut. Listen above.
KizunaAI — “kamone”
Perhaps the most important detail of pioneering virtual YouTuber Kizuna AI’s return after a multi-year hiatus came in her “I’m back” upload. It’s not about why she spent three years away from the industry she helped forged and which enjoyed an acceleration in that time, or how she felt like she hit a wall when it came to her goal of “connecting with everyone.” Nope, it’s when she reveals what her new goals are…starting by putting an emphasis on her music.
While pop has always been a part of her digitized DNA, the new KizunaAI says she’ll focus on music first. Which makes sense…as she puts it, it’s one of the best ways to transcend language barriers as she attempts to go even further globally, while VTuber music is booming in 2025 too.
Return number “kamone” is part narrative place setting, with the lyrics focused on her “awakening” from her “sleep” but really about the thrill she feels being able to reconnect with fans after this time away. It’s the dance-pop glisten of the track — shout out ESME MORI — that steals the day, moving swiftly enough and featuring enough of a synthesized shimmer to relay the longing for connection at the core of the single and KizunaAI’s return. It’s nervous joy captured quite well, making “kamone” a very earnest return to the spotlight for a year where she will be in that space a lot. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of February 17, 2025 To February 23, 2025
Back in the day, the Oricon Music Charts were the go-to path to music stardom in Japan. Acts of all sorts traversed these lands, trying to sell as many CDs as possible in order to land a good ranking on a chart choosing to only count physical sales, even as the Internet came to be and the number of versions offered for sale got ridiculous. Today, with the country finally in on digital, these roads are more barren and only looked at by the most fanatic of supporters needing something to celebrate. Yet every week, a new song sells enough plastic to take the top spot. So let’s take a trip down…the Oricon Trail.
Sakurazaka46 — “UDAGAWA GENERATION” (480,033 Copies Sold)
An upbeat and often too chipper pop song about Japanese society trying to choke out youthful fun en route to boring maturation. Sakurazaka46 stay winning when it comes to staring down the realities of modern society and translating it into pop, even if I think the sound of “UDAGAWA GENERATION” gets a little too crowded at times.
Yet the lyrics really stand out — what starts as a familiar screed against having to figure out your life too quickly morphs into a commentary on generational division (they call out “Gen Z” as marketing crap) and the weird state of Tokyo, specifically Shibuya. They reference Shibuya Halloween and offer a pretty sharp observation on how the city is trying to root out good times, calling it “Operation Purgatory.” “We can’t even have a blast here anymore!” The general observations on 21st century Japan are forceful but familiar — the gloomy era of J-pop carries on — but “UDAGAWA GENERATION” shines when zeroing in on the very specific.
News And Views
This top spot in the news section tends to go to big idol news, or maybe a festival announcement, or a prominent death in the Japanese music industry. Let’s mix it up this week and check in on GACKT! What’s on your mind GACKT, via an X translation?
The rocker offered some praise of U.S. President Donald Trump last week and wondered when Japan would get a leader like that, which set X off. He doubled down on this two days later after an initial wave of backlash, though has been pretty quiet, wonder why. Anyway, GACKT is one of the stupidest people you could ask for a political opinion so none of this is surprising, and honestly all it made me think about the time where people were like “oh, GACKT’s got a good point” which might only be when he tore into Cool Japan.
Summer Sonic unveiled its first proper lineup announcement. My hot fest take…swap Fred, Again.. with The Prodigy to Fuji Rock and both events get a boost.
The last time Perfume played Tokyo Dome, it was February 2020 and everyone felt just a little on nerve about a little ol’ virus that had been found on a cruise ship docked in Yokohama. After a truly bizarre first night, the pandemic got underway in Japan the following day with all live shows — including their second performance — cancelled.
The good news? Perfume gets to have a “revenge” set of shows this fall, which will either be a nice triumph for the trio…or a marker of the arrival of the next major airborne disease we need to freak out about.LDH officially joins Japanese professional dance league the D League. Dan Orlowitz wrote about the project a bit before this news at Nikkei Asia, featuring a quote from me.
I’m a documented XG hater…but this interview between that group’s producer JAKOPS and m-flo is interesting, so that’s something.
Here’s a chance to see Sasuke Haraguchi in action.
Sandal Telephone going out…with NFTs = /
Might as well pack all the goofy news down here…in what is one of the most pathetic “exclusives” you will ever encounter, Variety reports that Ado’s music has been selected to be sent to the moon. Yes yes, full disclosure I work with the Ado team on English PR materials, so I suppose when I write “look, it’s not like she chose to do this” could be read as bias. Overall though…very stupid stunt, made annoying by the presence of SpaceX and, placed prominently in the Variety headline, Elon Musk.
A positive spin on this? It’s good to see J-pop getting involved in these kind of dumbass stunts that used to only be the domain of American and K-pop. The industry’s making it!In other signs of J-pop’s international ambition (and my own conflict of interest zooming into frame), CEIPA teamed with Toyota Group to launch an initiative called “Music Way Project,” which aims to help spread Japanese music further in the world. Steps to do so include various educational offerings, songwriting camps, live events (like the upcoming matsuri ‘25 in Los Angeles), the establishment of hubs for J-pop in the United States, Europe and Asia, and more.
I was at the press conference for this, and was impressed by the scale of all this. Most notably…Toyota getting coiled up with J-pop shows how serious this undertaking is becoming, because a lot of money seems to be flying around. The most intriguing detail from the event I picked up on was the chairman of Toyota Group comparing J-pop to sports…with ample Shohei Ohtani references. That’s a first, but underlines this new era quite well.Nagoya-based idol outfit Team Shachi announced plans to disband at the end of 2025.
Last, here’s G.RINA winning some table tennis from the Spotify Japan office.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Check out the Best Of 2025 Spotify Playlist here!
Not sure where else to put this, but an interesting trend in the YouTube comments section for this song is a number of older men claiming to be from the Showa Era expressing how they’ve faced very dilemmas recently…and found their way to Kaze’s music. I’m sure it’s earnest, but seeing so many similar messages is very loopy.
CERTIFIED XG HATERS UNITE