MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN has built the stage. Now it needs to make the Ruby matter
MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026 opened on a girl and a cassette marked “PLAY ME”, her escape whenever the...
Feature
What the Grammys’ new Asian pop award means for J-pop
A new Grammy category explicitly names J-pop alongside K-pop and C-pop, the first time the genre has been...
How HALCALI’s 2003 album cut ‘Otsukare SUMMER’ became a MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN contender
In April 2025, daily Spotify plays of a 22-year-old Japanese album track started climbing. The song was ‘Otsukare...
WACK’s final audition camp ends with no winners. Welcome to Chapter 2
Today, I woke up to a post from WACK’s official X account stating: “There are no successful candidates...
The 10 best visual kei songs of 2025
In 2025, more eyes were on visual kei than at any point in the 2020s so far. Between...
The 10 best J-pop songs of 2025
In 2025, no single trend dominated Japan’s pop charts. Polished pop sat comfortably alongside darker, more confrontational cuts,...
The 11 best Japanese metal songs of 2025
Across metalcore, deathcore, extreme metal, and whatever you want to call what Paledusk are doing, Japanese heavy bands...
Top 10 best anime songs of 2025
Anime music covered a wide range in 2025. Arena-scale themes backed major films, left-field opening choices sent viewers...
Inside Zipangu 2026: The biggest Japanese music event ever to arrive in Los Angeles
Tokyo music production hub Cloud Nine is set to stage what it bills as a historic moment for...
London debut shows why Britain’s alt-rock crowd should care about Hitsujibungaku
Tokyo alt-rock unit Hitsujibungaku made their UK debut at Hyper Japan on Saturday, July 19th, performing to a...
