These few new acts that I came across this year prove to me that they're probably here to stay in many more years to come in the Japan's music scene .
1) BREAKERZ
Well it's no surprises that this JRock trio is officially my fave new act that I have came across this year & frankly it's by a stroke of luck that I came across their music while sitting like a couch potato in front of the TV watching MTV Taiwan way back in Aug , because you will either know or don't know about this trio who debuted & formed last April .
But in anycase , the trio has been relatively successful this year releasing 3 singles & their 3rd full length album , all propelling them to the top10 positions in the album & singles chart & they frankly have come a long way especially in the case of the frontman DAIGO who used to have a solo career by the name of DAIGO☆STARDUST .
2) GReeeeN
2008 has been a great year for the talented pop/rock quartet with scoring their biggest hit/best selling/1st no.1 hit single Kiseki in which it became the 1st single this year to stay on top of the #1 spot for more than 2 weeks . In fact just after a mere 2 weeks , Kiseki has outsold the total sales of their then highest selling single Ai Uta which was incidentally the band's breakthrough hit .
Kiseki became the 4th most sold single in Japan while their the 2nd album A , Domo. Ohisashiburi Desu. became the 10th most sold album in 2008 & this's the album which kept ayaka's Sing to the Sky from the top spot & also this's their 1st album to reach the top spot as well .
Some might say that the way the band present & market themselves is a smart marketing plot , seeing that none of the members have ever shown their faces to the public whether in the public sphere as a part of GReeeeN , whether in their promotional videos , CDs , television performances , or the Internet .
In their only performance on TV-U Fukushima's music show Music Bar Palo Palo (broadcast on January 19 , 2007) , the group even went as far as censoring their faces during the performance.
GReeeeN cites keeping their professional lives in dentistry compatible with their musical ventures as the reason , but lead singer HIDE has hinted that after all of the members pass the state examination in dentistry and receive permission from the directors of the hospitals they work for , the group may consider a public appearance since all but 3 of them have graduated from Dental school with the exception of Soh .
Well regardless whether do they plan to show their faces to the public eye in due time or not , it doesn't matter to me that much as long as they continue to deliver the goods . I enjoyed all of the singles that they have put out so far since their debut single Michi & here's to more great material coming from the guys .
3) alan
Ah yes , the Tibetan singer who became the 1st Chinese act to sign a contract with avex trax & she made her Japanese debut last year with debut single Ashita e no Sanka & this year she has released an impressive 6 singles in which 5 of them from her 3rd single Natsukashii Mirai ~longing future~ onwards centres with a traditional Buddhist element from the Japanese Godai or Tibetan Bön in which in order of the element/single that she released are Earth , Sky , Wind , Fire & Water .
I think she's 1 really talented lady & for her to make her mark in the Japan music scene it's a bold & tricky move on avex's part especially since her Japanese's still not fluent as of now but I think she can go pretty far & she's the one who's responsible for singing the theme song for the John Woo movie RED CLIFF & she will also be singing the theme song for the sequel to the movie titled Chi Bi (赤壁 ; RED CLIFF) ~Da Jiang Dong Qu~ (~大江东去~ ; ~The Great River Surges East~) .
It's already pretty much long overdue on alan's part to put out her debut Japanese album & I hope to see it finally materialised in the brand new year .
4) GIRL NEXT DOOR
Label mates with alan , it's the trio GIRL NEXT DOOR who debuted in Sept as part of the Avex Group's 20th anniversary celebration . The band consists of vocalist Chisa , guitarist Yuji Inoue & Daisuke Suzuki on keyboard in which Daisuke used to be a member in the band Day After Tomorrow .
Chisa tends to be the centre of attention in GND since the other 2 guys usually takes a backseat in the promotion aspect of the group .
I like their sound as they mash up pop/rock/dance/trance & creating pretty much an unique sound of their own & of course the single which caught my attention of the guys's their debut single Guzen no Kakuritsu & since Sept , they have released 3 singles , 1 per month in which all 3 of them debuted & placed in the same position in the Oricon singles chart , ie. at #3 .
The trio will be releasing their self titled debut album on Christmas eve & I cannot wait for that to happen .
5) Hey ! Say ! JUMP
The only Johnny & Associates band on the list , it's the 10 piece group HSJ which's practically the biggest group ever formed in the Johnny's Entertainment talent agency .
The group's considered an expansion of the original Hey ! Say ! 7 . The name Hey ! Say ! refers to the fact that all the members were born in the Heisei period and JUMP is an acronym for Johnny's Ultra Music Power .
Within HSJ , you have 2 sub divisions groups namely the former Hey ! Say ! 7 & Hey ! Say ! BEST (Boys Excellent Select Team) which consists of older members in HSJ .
Frankly they're 1 group I was reluctant to give their music a listen especially since they're so young to begin with but I was very surprised when I gave their 3rd single Your Seed / Bouken Rider a shot & that they sounded pretty mature for their age & of course the follow up single to that Mayonaka no Shadow Boy is just a great music stepping stone for the guys too .
Just like alan , they're pretty much long overdue to release their debut album seeing that they already have released 4 singles as HSJ & 1 single Hey ! Say ! as Hey ! Say ! 7 .
6) Aoyama Thelma
No 1 expected Aoyama's 2nd single Soba ni Iru ne Feat SoulJa to become a sleeper hit when it was released on 23rd Jan & that it became her 1st no.1 single & eventually becoming the highest selling female solo single of the year .
So much so that in Sept , the Guinness World Records certified the song as the best-selling digital download single in Japan with over two million "full-track" downloads . Including non full-track downloads , it sold over 8.7 million downloads by November .
The 1/4 Trinidadian & 3/4 Japanese singer began releasing material since last Sept with debut single ONE WAY & since then she has followed it up with her debut album DIARY & 5 more single releases this year .
7) Hidemi Uematsu
Not much is known about this 22 year old singer/songwriter . All I know's that she released her debut single Dear My Friends / Trauma this year & that she's under Pony Canon in which former ex label mates GLAY & ARASHI were under Pony Canon before transiting to Toshiba EMI & J Storm / Johnny's Entertainment respectively .
I like that Hidemi's voice's really unique & that it's 1 of the most distinct voices I have heard in recent times .
So far after releasing Dear My Friends / Trauma , she has been quiet on the music front . I hope to see her releasing somemore material & probably a debut album in 2009 .
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
