CD
CD + DVD & CD + Blu-ray
1) WAVE
2) Crushing On You
3) POMPEII
4) TALK to ME
5) 36 Do 5 Bun
6) Yurayura
7) Passion Overdose
8) Sayonara no Kawarini
9) Chemistry
10) 'O sole mio
11) Koko ni Inakute mo
12) Diamond
13) Love it!! (CD Only Track)
Before WAVE was released physically , 3 songs were released digitally prior :
WAVE ; lead album promo track & has a video made ; released digitally on 24th June
'O sole mio ; released digitally on 3rd July ; used to promote NTV's DRAMATIC BASEBALL 2026 + Going! Sports & News sports programmes
Diamond ; released digitally in April ; used to promote the drama Stove League which Kamenashi starred in as the lead role
Last Aug's digital released song The truth is not included in WAVE .
Kamenashi Kazuya's 1st solo album is titled WAVE to represent the waves of the heart , the breadth & gradation of the album's songs. Kamenashi focused on creating songs that deeply moved him .
After KAT-TUN disbanded last year in addition to Kamenashi leaving the agency he was in for many years , he began the next chapter of his solo music career by 1st releasing The truth followed by his debut solo album WAVE .
After being in the business for so long , for Kamenashi to finally release his debut solo album it frankly feels very surreal .
Over the years Kamenashi has released numerous solo songs but never a full length album until now . Before WAVE was released I was curious to see how well he would hold up on this aspect .
WAVE contains a wide variety of different music genres which work to Kamenashi's vocal advantage . This in return makes WAVE entertaining instead of sticking to 1 specific music style .
Personally the standout album tracks in WAVE are the upbeat songs . I felt Passion Overdose should have had a video made as it was the 1st album track that I really like on 1st listen and I also like the CD bonus track Love it!! as well .
To me Kamenashi's past solo ballads are usually on the miss side (aside from Kizuna) but the ballads included in WAVE are pretty good .
Also I inititally was a bit disappointed that Kamenashi excluded The truth from WAVE . However after hearing WAVE I felt Kamenashi made the right decision as The truth would sound out of place .
Overall WAVE is a very solid release that I enjoy considerably . I'll be probably be biased but out of the new albums that have been released this year , without question I'll putting WAVE on top of my favourite album release of 2026 (for now) .
I just hope that Kamenashi will not take this long to release a follow up album and no doubt I look forward to future new music releases of his .
Since June , BENI has released 3 songs digitally back to back of each other ie. snow willow , JILI JILI and now Daydream .
Personally all 3 songs I only find them ok for my liking even though I must admit the more I listen to the 3 respective songs the more each of them grow on me slowly over time .
Also in a way it helps that each song sounds different from each other instead of sounding like 3 separate songs that you can combine into 1 single track .
BENI will release her 8th album Dreamin' on 28th Oct & Daydream will be included in her new album .
This year marks Kis-My-Ft2's 15th anniversary .
The images used for both FIRE BEAT (15th ver.) & Inori (15th ver.) digital covers were taken back in 2010 .
Although I have stopped supporting Kis-My-Ft2 after their former member/leader Kitayama Hiromitsu left , upon finding out they've chosen to celebrate their landmark 15th anniversary milestone with newly recorded takes of both FIRE BEAT & Inori , this's something I could not miss out on .
To longtime Kis-My-Ft2 fans this's definitely a treat especially since FIRE BEAT & Inori are 2 of many songs the group have performed even before making their official music debut .
Hearing the newly recorded takes of both FIRE BEAT & Inori personally brought back a lot of great memories when I used to support Kis-My-Ft2 and who knows maybe in their next milestone anniversary they might decide to re-record even more old songs . If so this's something I would definitely welcome .
For now belated happy 15th anniversary to Kis-My-Ft2 !
A video was made for Mermaid but Shota is not featured in it .
Mermaid is Shota's 1st new music release after he released his 11th album Pulsatilla cernua last June . It's no secret I prefer Shota's music to have less if not no autotune at all . His new song still has autotune but at least this's something I still can accept to a certain extent .
I would have like Mermaid a lot more if Shota removed the autotune aspect entirely or perhaps make it a ballad as ballads is something Shota has been good in for a long time .
It reminds to be seen if Mermaid will be the only new music release Shota come up with but I think it will not be long before he could release something else before 2026 concludes .
CD Regular
CD Limited
Tracklist for both versions
1) Awake
2) Awake - Live at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA 2026.05.14
3) Awake (Anime Size)
4) Awake (Instrumental)
Promo wise Awake was chosen to be used as the opening theme song for the anime Tsuihou Sareta Tensei Juukishi wa Game Chishiki de Musou Suru .
Before its physical CD release , Awake was 1st released digitally on 3rd July .
A video was made for Awake but it's not included in the physical release of the single .
SPYAIR begins their next musical chapter after they released their 7th album RE-BIRTH (their 1st under their new vocalist YOSUKE) & Awake most certainly did not disappoint .
On 1st listen I was taken in by just how different Awake is but in a good way as it left me quite a big immediate impression which usually does not happen .
Awake is another solid song added to SPYAIR's music discography & I do hope for their next new music release it will be a ballad . And if it's on par if not just as awesome on how Orange is that's something I do not mind at all .
Cover for both CD & CD + Blu-ray versions
1) Kasumi Biyori
2) Starry Smile Story
3) Message Card
4) Kasumi Biyori (Instrumental)
5) Starry Smile Story (Instrumental)
6) Message Card (Instrumental)
Kobukuro's last double A-side single release was 2013's One Song From Two Hearts / Diamond while their last physical CD single release was 2023's Envelope .
Both A-sides were each released digitally prior to their latest single release :
Kasumi Biyori ; released digitally on 10th July
Starry Smile Story ; released digitally in March ; was used in the ads of JR West group's Ugoke, Kokishin.
Despite being a double A-side single , only a video was made for Starry Smile Story .
This year marks 25 years since Kobukuro made their music debut & Kasumi Biyori / Starry Smile Story is testatment to what they do best .
Both A-sides are equally good & compliment each other extremely well while the B-side Message Card ain't bad either . To me I wish that Kobukuro would have made a video for Kasumi Biyori as it highly deserves it , not that Starry Smile Story does not .
Many artistes have come & go but Kobukuro is still here which says a lot on how timeless their music is . Here's to the next musical chapter of the duo .
CD
CD + Blu-ray
1) STAR EXTRA
2) Ring
3) Twist & Shout
4) Snow Ghost (Special ver.)
4 songs are included in Kokokara no Uta EP , inclusive of a special version of Snow Ghost .
Kokokara no Uta EP expresses the will to sound out from where flumpool stands now & move forward from there while carrying hesitation , dreams & a sense of incompleteness .
STAR EXTRA which's 1 of the 3 new songs included in Kokokara no Uta EP was 1st released digitally on 3rd June before Kokokara no Uta EP physical release .
Videos were made for both STAR EXTRA and Twist & Shout but they're not included in the physical release of Kokokara no Uta EP .
I enjoyed flumpool's 6th album Shape the water & Kokokara no Uta EP felt like a nice musical follow up from it . Despite the mini album having only 4 songs , each of them compliment each other .
Also I thought it's nice for flumpool to include a different take on Snow Ghost in Kokokara no Uta EP as the new version doesn't sound as emo depressing as compared to what was released last year .
It reminds to be seen what will flumpool released next . I don't think they will release anymore new music this year but if they could release a new song before year end I of course will not say no to that .
