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
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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 13th
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
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The most
successful J-pop icon celebrated her 20th 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
