Top 10 Albums 2012

10. GReeeeN – Utautai ga Utai ni…

J-Hip-Pop (does that even exist?) band came back in 2012 with their first original album since 2009´s amazing “Shio, Koshou”. The formula hasn’t changed: happy upbeat hip-pop tunes mixed with pop ballads spiced with some hip-hop. The brilliant singles released in 2011 are the best about the whole thing, which sounds kind of repetitive. The album ranked #2 on Oricon charts and sold approximately 200.000 copies.

Rating: 6/10

Stand-out tracks: every, Greenboys, Hana Uta, Koibumi-Love Letter-, Misenai Namida Kitto Itsuka

09. Angela Aki- BLUE

My very favourite piano girl came back in July with BLUE, her best album since TODAY (back in 2007). Preceded by the gorgeous single “Kokuhaku”, the album goes from her usual beautiful piano ballads (Kokoro no Tenkyohou) to Jazz numbers (Monster) and Hawaiian ukulele flavoured tunes (You and I). That’s how it’s done, Angela. The album ranked #14 on Oricon charts and has sold over 14.000 copies.

Rating: 7/10

Stand-out tracks: Kokuhaku, You and I, Kokoro no Tenkyohou, BLUE

08. Galileo Galilei- PORTAL

Japan’s best indie rock band released their second full-length album, PORTAL, in 2012. Preceded by the solid singles “Asu e”, “Sayonara Frontier” and “Aoi Shiori”; the album balances band’s signature rock sound (in songs like Kite) and more experimental melodies (in songs like “An Old Man and the Sea”). The production is really amazing, and the band seems to be starting a journey to a more elaborated and experimental kind of music. The album managed to rank #10 on Oricon charts

Rating: 7,5/10

Stand-out tracks: Asu e, Good Shoes, Flower Wolf

07. NEWTRAL- Ikimono gakari

Japan’s most beloved pop-rock band released their fifth studio album on February and hey! It was great! After horrible singles like “Arigatou” or “Kimi ga Iru”, the band seems to have found their place again. NEWTRAL has everything a fan would like to listen from them: funny pop (KISS KISS BANG BANG or Itsudatte Bokura Wa), cute pop tunes (Sentimental Boyfriend or Oyasumi) , big ballads (Shiroi Diary or Ai Kotoba) and even some experimentation (Renshi or the amazing NEW WORLD MUSIC). Its good to see them back.

Rating: 8/10

Stand-out tracks: NEW WORLD MUSIC, Shiroi Diary, Warattetainda

06. AKB48- 1830m

If you still haven’t heard about AKB48… in which cave have you been living the last three years? The 48 girls, after breaking every single record that an artist can break, released their album 1830m in August 2012. No one is really surprised it reached #1 on Oricon charts and sold over a million copies right? I’m not. Their most ambitious album, which features 34 tracks, doesn’t intend to attract new fans. It is basically a mixture of everything that made the girls famous: cute sugar pop, cheesy ballads about becoming an adult, and catchy tunes. If you hate them you’d better stay away from it. If you love them, enjoy it. Will this album be the end of an era? Or does the future keep more AKB48 in store for us?

Rating: 7/10

Stand out-tracks: First Rabbit, Hate, GIVE ME FIVE!, Kaze wa Fuiteiru

05. Ieiri Leo- LEO

Just wow!! Last year I didn’t even know her name and now I find myself stanning hard for this cutie!! She follows YUI´s style, but she actually HAS her own personality… and tons of talent. In her wonderful debut album LEO you will find anime-ish rock (Bless You, Last Stage or Second Dream) , pure rock (Sabrina or Fake Love), happy pop tunes (Hello, Shine, Linda or Mister), beautiful ballads (Say Goodbye, Kimi Dake, Ashita Mata Haremasu You Ni or Lady Mary).A really great surprise. It reached #2 and sold over 70.000 copies.

Rating: 8,5/10

Stand-out tracks: Bless You, Shine, Ashita Mata Haremasu You Ni

04. Kana Nishino- Love Place

Our very own J-Pop Princess released her fourth studio album on September, after four singles which failed to achieve big success. Her typical R&B/Pop ballads are still very present all over the album, but we were already expecting that, right? So let’s focus on the gorgeous upbeat numbers: the epic FANTASY, the super cute Honey, the electropop is this love? and the uplifting Day 7. It’s really nice to see Kana deliver this kind of songs, and to see that she is REALLY good at it. But we shouldn’t  hate on ballads, especially if they are amazing like Be Strong or Tatoe Donna ni… The album ranked #2 on oricon and has sold over 310.000 copies.

Rating: 8,5/10

Stand-out tarcks: Be Strong, FANTASY, SAKURA I love You?

03. Ayumi Hamasaki- Party Queen

J-Pop empress turned herself into the Party (or Lonely?) Queen to deliver her 13^th studio album. Far from her artistic masterpieces like RAINBOW or Duty, Party Queen is a huge carnival. Ayu rocks electropop in Shake It, NaNaNa and Party Queen; tries some rock in call and reminds me; goes to the cabaret in the next LOVE and Eyes, Smoke, Magic and delivers her usual touching ballad in “how beautiful you are”. She even finds time to provide an amazing, epic, wonderful song like Return Road. Just what you expect from The Queen. But is it really that good? Unfortunately it isn’t. The main problem with Ayu is that sometimes you wonder “Why would be dancing to NaNaNa if I could listen to Sparkle? Why would I listen to how beautiful you are when I could be crying with HEAVEN?”. An enjoyable album, but very far from her greatest works. It reached #2 on Oricon and sold 150.000 copies.

Rating: 8/10

Stand-out tracks: Return Road, NaNaNa

 

02. Namie Amuro- Uncontrolled

The most successful J-pop icon celebrated her 20^th anniversary with her most ambitious album to date. Of course ambitious for Namie´s level of artistic ambition: she sang 5 songs in English. If you were expecting her to write a song or compose some track forget about it. But hey, you can still enjoy Uncontrolled! The album is full of previously released singles, which are amazing and were quite successful in Japan. Namie is not very innovative here: R&B/Pop (Get Myself Back, Love Story, ONLY YOU) meets Dance/Electropop (YEAH-OH, In The Spotlight (TOKYO), Let´s Go, Break It). The more experimental (if you could call them experimental) songs are Fight Together (a happy anime-ish pop song) and Tempest (an asian-influenced beautiful ballad). Uncontrolled is 100% Namie Amuro, a great album for the fans which will mean absolutely nothing to haters. It reached #1 on Oricon and has sold over 515.000 copies.

Rating: 8,5/10

Stand-out tracks: Get Myself Back, YEAH-OH, In The Spotlight (TOKYO)

01.  Koda Kumi- JAPONESQUE

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the day in which a Koda Kumi album is my favourite of the year has arrived. I´ve always liked Koda, but she has always been playing in a different league for me. The problem with her is that she releases a huge amount of material, and usually I only like 30% of what she makes. The singles preceding the album didn’t really work for me, so I was expecting nothing from the album. But Koda proved me wrong. Japonesque is an amazing combination of sexy (sometimes sexual) songs, rock-ish tunes and random ballads (this remains Koda´s weak point). I EVEN LIKED A CUTE KODA KUMI SONG!! Thank you, Love Technique. Of course it has its weak sides, especially when Koda goes really predictable (Everyday or Brave, for example) The album is ambitious, 17 music videos for 17 songs prove it. Every J-Pop fan should give Japonesque a try, at least do it for So Nice (which is purely orgasmic). Really GREAT job, Koda. It reached #1 on Oricon and sold over 150.000 copies.

Rating: 9/10

Stand-out tracks: So Nice, No Man´s Land, Love Technique