Sheena Ringo has a collaborations album out, Houjoya (which translates to ‘Carnival’). And with it, came a bunch of music videos. ‘That’s cute’ I said to myself. And I didn’t think much of it until I saw two of them in particular. One with Ai, featuring a horrendous choice of hairstyle. Japanese women with the driest dreadlock wig in 2024 was truly a creative choice. And one with Nocchi. Yes. THAT Nocchi. Nocchi of Perfume. Featuring on a song with Sheena Ringo. By herself. In a music video. By herself. On a song, not produced nor written by Nakata Yasutaka. The lake that Hikaru Utada was d ..read more

? Single review BoA’s comeback single “Emptiness” ⏪ Rewind Revisiting Ayumi Hamasaki’s ‘Next Level’ Revisiting Perfume’s first studio album, ‘Game’ ?️ Mashup BoA x BoA - Black Emptiness ? Flashback Friday Natsume Mito’s “8 Bit Boy”. The blip-bit-bop that flew under the radar. ?️ Other BoA might be retiring in 2025. Maybe. Possibly. Oh, it was typo? Okay. But, what if...? Crystal Kay is back on her Broadway shit, as she’s set to star in ‘Rent’ in Japan Hikaru Utada’s body is Ayataka green tea, in a commercial featuring a re-recorded version of their 2001 hit single “Traveling” Hik ..read more

? Music reviews Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey team up for “Yes, And?” Hikaru Utada’s pre First Love album, Precious Jennifer Lopez’s ninth studio album, This Is Me...Now ? Random J Playlist Black Country ?️ Mashup Miki Matsubara x Ariana Grande ?️ Other Hikaru Utada to release 4K versions of their earlier music videos on UTube throughout March ..read more

Perfume said ‘SURPRISE BITCH. NEW SONG DROPPING NEXT WEEK.’My, how the times have changed. Do you remember the days when news would break that Perfume would be releasing a song and the release date would be three months away?Not anymore.Ever since the debut of “Mawaru Kagami” at Perfume Live [Polygon Wave], Perfume have been like ‘Fuck it’ with the debuting and releasing of these new songs, and I ..read more

One thing about Chlöe, she’s always been eclectic. From the days of singing covers on YouTube, to the Chloe x Halle’s EPs, mixtapes and albums—Chlöe’s never been one to be put in a box. So to see do just that and box herself with her debut was unfortunate and disheartening. Especially as somebody who knew what Chlöe was capable of and after how good Ungodly Hour was, but we’ll get to the Ungodly ..read more

I'mma break you off, let me be your motivation. To  stay and give it tonight in 5 years time.Random J(unk) Mail is a roundup of whatever the fuck. A collection of things that I was too lazy to make individual posts on. Or just small things that I didn’t think warranted a post, but I still wanted to share thoughts on. I’m gonna try to do this weekly. But those of you who have been here for a ..read more

Teruzane ain’t about leaving shit exclusively to YouTube and rolling dice on some algorthim. So he stayed on his old school shit and booked his child on TV. So Hikaru Utada had a whole music special on NHK, Utada Hikaru ~Oshiete! Hikaru-san~. Hikaru sat and talked about their career with an audience consisting of selected fans, who also got to ask Hikaru questions and then proceed to try not to ..read more

So, Tiny Desk Japan is now a thing. And Kaze Fujii was the first artist to [turns and looks into the camera] grace the Tiny Desk Japan with its first ever performance.With Tiny Desk Japan airing on NHK’s streaming service, I wondered if it would ever see the light of day on YouTube in full. Because, Japan. But the full performance eventually did make its way to YouTube and on the official NPR ..read more

I thought I posted this back in December, when all of this shit happened—but it turns out that I did not. But maybe this is one of those ‘the right time’ instances, given that everything here feels even more relevant for now in light of the ‘is she / or isn’t she retiring’ discourse on BoA, and the part that being aged out of K-pop has played in all of it.HENNYWAY.Korean music legends Insooni ..read more

Everything I Thought It Was is a really weird album. Not in a cool way. Not in a quirky way. But in an oddly confusing, yet understandable way.This makes no sense, but it will eventually. Just keep walking with me.Justin Timberlake is in this limbo-like period of his career where he seems as sure of who he is as he seems unsure. He gets where his place is in music, but he also doesn’t. And he is ..read more