It is the end of 2022! Thank god, some may say (myself included). While this year provided plenty of ups and downs in… literally every sphere of life, one thing that remained a constant was the incredible quality of idol releases this year. We were truly spoiled for choice. I have done my level best to distil this into a list, and I definitely cheat, but I hope you enjoy reading. Let me know what you think @wondervogell.
20. Nocturnal by Tokyo Girls’ Style (August 3, 2022)
I used to be quite a big Tokyo Girls’ Style/東京女子流 fan back in the day, and had completely forgotten about their attempted rebranding as ‘post-idols’ until I started looking for information on them again. I never quite understood this distinction, as one of the reasons I enjoyed TGS’ music so much is that they had carved out a genuinely unique sound for themselves: percussion-heavy, sophisticated vocals and bass-oriented arrangements. Limited Addiction is one of my favourite idol songs of all time. Their tracks were clearly heavily influenced by jazz, lounge, but their producers also really knew their way around a decent four on the floor. It was a shame that Avex tried to pad out their earlier releases with SweetS covers, but that soon petered out. Nocturnal is an endearingly solid album. Easing us in with a gentle intro, I’m going to take a lot of liberties with this review and say that the album sounds like the cover: warm, inviting, dark around the edges but ultimately cosy and safe. It’s been genuinely pleasing to listen to and with each spin I find a little something new. Girls’ Talk is deceptively simple at first but there’s a lot of intricacy beneath the surface, while Yume no Naka ni Tsuretette builds on their more grown up sound with a gentle, city pop-influenced rhythm. Sentimental Dear mama should be a sap-fest but it’s hard not to be drawn into the authenticity of their voices, which sound as though the whole thing is being sung with a genuine smile, and that’s what really makes these girls a cut above.
Standouts? Girls’ Talk, Dear mama, Corner Cut Memories
19. Chouquette by Chou Chou Cream (May 17, 2022)
Look at the cover. The cover! If there was ever a cover made for me… and that’s exactly what prompted me to listen to this EP in the first place. Chou Chou Cream (‘Shushukuri’) is a duo comprised of Koishio Ringo and Mochizuki Miyu from the group Band Janai Mon! MAXX NAKAYOSHI. I can’t describe how much groups/music like this is genuinely sustaining for me. It literally makes me feel at peace with the world: the endearing cuteness, the assault of keyboard chaos, helium-vibe voices. Inject it into my veins. If Twinkle Twins doesn’t start to feel sickly sweet after a while, I don’t want it. Cotton Candy, a more subdued number, still has sparkling moments of magic. The EP also features a ‘Reiwa’ rerecording of Ice Cream ni Naritai (originally featured on BanMon’s Natsu no Oh! Vibes single in 2016). All in, supremely well-produced. More, please.
Standouts? Twinkle Twins, Cotton Candy
18. PerFuMe -Perceptual Fumigate Me- by TokyoTrilogy (August 1, 2022)
TokyoTrilogy exploded on to the scene looking straight out of a Bubbles display window. While they are, for all intents and purposes, an emerging group, their merch is quite extravagant (check out member Kirame Kirara’s birthday goods, for example), which to me suggests less of the DIY-idol element, and more of a ‘curated-from-above’ vibe. If so, please release new music! Two tracks on this EP, with and Tsunderella Story, are composed by Sugihara Ryo of Idio’t-FACTORY who has credits with rock stalwarts Sid and L’arc~en~ciel (!). For their polished appearance, songs like snowdrop elicit that very wholesome “new idol group finding their way” vibe, which, because I’m a sucker, made me feel incredibly endeared toward them. Their website describes their concept as “I will be born with you”, looking to the past, present and future as a group that enjoys change, “just like perfume.” They have an active live presence and I can’t wait to see how they develop their image. This is an EP with great potential.
Standouts? TokyoTrilogy, Snowdrop, with
17. SPECIAL CHEESE MENU’s entire run of top class releases (various, 2022)
SPECIAL CHEESE MENU aka Spechii are fairly new to Tapestok Inc’s roster, debuting in October 2021 and releasing a ton over the past year. Tapestok gave us several iterations of genre game-changers Koutei Camera Girl, as well Cametre and Los an Jewels, and I’m yet to find a label that has such a knack for knocking together random words and making us all repeat them with completely straight faces (I still have a soft spot for Lovin Flash da Bagdad). Songs like POKE belt along against a Gatecrasher-esque beat, while ALPACA opts for hypnotic repetition. CELEBRITY IMAGE successfully conjures the classic claustrophobic dance sound of their predecessors, while with just a little tightening up I feel tracks like IND SAI and TSUKI NO WAGUMA could be knockouts. The promise of that elusive, yet irresistible Tapestok-standard earworm, the one that implores you to listen to it over and over is growing with each release. A near-constant run of singles and two EPs is impressive, but I hold out hope that the best is yet to come.
Standouts? SLICE EP, ALPACA
16. Ano Ko Complex by =LOVE (May 25, 2022)
This song had a truly unexpected renaissance! =LOVE members Sasaki Maika, Morohashi Sana and Noguchi Iori performed Ano Ko Complex on the popular YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE. I love the dramatics of this song; it is unabashedly made for forlorn-looking idols holding umbrellas, looking wistfully at the camera with slightly pouted lips. The lyrics, the arrangement, the vocals, the instrumentals… sometimes you just need an idol song like this to come and slap you in the face every so often. And releasing this FIRST TAKE version in the winter with these three powerhouses singing their hearts out (and don’t forget the laboured breathing at the end for maximum effect), has finally put Ano Ko Complex in the spotlight where it belongs. For me also, the b-sides represent the strongest cohesive =LOVE single this year. Boku no Heroine is a Takamatsu Hitomi solo, which captures her style perfectly. And I had to include Shirankedo, if only for its reference to a vape running out of charge in the lyrics.
15. Senritsu Kanano’s two singles, Distance and Iceblink, released before she embarks upon her cosmetics empire (August 26 and June 10 (respectively), 2022)
I am in Senritsu Kanano’s web and I am stuck. In the pocket of Big Kanano, you could say. She totally did a number on me though and her group femme fatale released a single in December before I could publish this and thought we would lose her to cosmetics forever. I have come to expect Kanano’s songs to qualify for the title of Absolute Bangers, even if I’m not the biggest fan on first listen. For example, Iceblink, the first time I heard it, felt as about inviting as the broken sound coming from busted headphones. But, like magic, it creeps up on you, and suddenly it’s all you want to listen to. “Fuondo, choshindo, chodendo, iceblink!” Kanano’s chilly delivery with a threatening hypnotic bass in the background humming away, all I can say is thank god for Kenmochi Hidefumi. Distance, on the other hand, is a more subdued affair, but again brings the usual quietly euphoric build up. There is an addictive substance laced into these songs and we as a music community are all the better for it. For now, I wish Kanano the best of luck with Fab Fig, her new make-up line. I watched the website launch with the fervour of a Japanese cosmetics YouTuber, but in actuality I found watching the progress bar go up with the correlating number of likes on the tweet to be immensely satisfying. Will I ever be free from the pocket of Big Kanano?
14. Maiwai by SAKA-SAMA (June 17, 2022)
Maiwai is billed on SAKA-SAMA’s website as the ‘culmination of SAKA-SAMA that Suzuki Kokone and Asakura Mizuho have built up’, as a release to commemorate the current group’s formation dissolution. Maiwai can roughly be be translated to “10,000 congratulations” — what a fitting name. SAKA-SAMA are, for me, the ‘chika idol’s idol group.’ An ever-changing roster of members, each bringing something from the canon — BellHa’s Mizuho and Kouteca/Gu-Gu LULU’s Runo — or moving on to equally respected projects, like the groups avandoned and APOKALIPPPS. Their music is a treasure trove of elusive CD-Rs, the odd song on Soundcloud, an out of print event-only release, as well as their move available work. Their producers and collaborators operate in a weblike fashion, a veritable who’s-who of the chika idol world that takes some digging to find the gems. In short, you need to really work to love a group like SAKA-SAMA, and it’s well worth it. Maiwai is pure pleasure. It runs the gamut from ecstatic chaos (Maiwai) to twee-pop influences (Watashi Sekai to Jitsuzuki desu). Kakumei Zen’ya, produced by teoremaa/Sasaki Jiro is a highlight, bounces along to a catchy electronic beat, with some lo-fi quirks around the edges. E.S.P. is a wonderful showcase of the girls’ voices blending together, a delightful kayokyoku pastiche.
Standouts? Kakumei Zen’ya, Maiwai, Koi wa Ai no Higasa
Bonus: the amazing artwork is by Gakiya Isamu. See more of his work here.
13. Animore by Meme tokyo (April 13, 2022)
There’s always a nice flurry of activity when Meme tokyo release something new. Raised as a sister group to Dear Stage darlings Dempagumi inc., the group have bounded into their major label releases with aplomb. Animore is their second such effort and is a hyperpop delight. There’s a slight punk lilt to it, which adds a touch of aggression to the increasingly frenzied delivery of the chorus: “I watched anime until the end of the night / The sunrise dyed between apartments / I’m tasting it on my tongue that protrudes with delusion / And I’m sure I’m not here.” B-side Overnight managed to crawl into my Top 10 most played tracks of the year without my even realising it. I almost wish this had been a double a-side, as Overnight provides the perfect balm to the chaos of Animore, grooving along with composition from their very own NENE. This is a song that sounds totally at home in Philosophy no Dance’s discography. A rhtyhmic beat, rapping and a celebratory chorus achieve’s NENE’s vision: “I was imagining a scene like in a romantic comedy, where the girls are hanging out a bar when suddenly a guy has a fight with them. In the end, I went for the “Go to Las Vegas!” vibe with friends.” The keen-eared will also catch the “Don’t forget your mobile battery” lyric, which of course is essential for a girls’ night when you intend to party all night long.
12. Everything is Wonder! aka everything that EVERYTHING HAS WONDER has released this year is WONDERful… or something like that (various, 2022)
Yes, I realise that including the entire year-long output of a group is kind of cheating, but also I don’t care, and in that case please don’t look too quickly at number 4 in this countdown (or equally, back up at number 17). EVERYTHING IS WONDER, or Eviwon, are relatively new, having debuted in June 2021 and describe themselves as ‘New 80’ Sound iDOL.’ I have to hand it to them — they’re really thrown the kitchen sink at it in their newer releases. It’s polished, drum-machine heaven. They haven’t quite lost the cute idol motif, which sets them apart from acts like Especia (you will always be missed), but at the same time this leaves ample space for them to carve out their own sound. Poirot (which I pray is named after that Poirot) is a filling slice of borderline Hi-NRG pie. Carefree SUN sounds like an offcut from Sonic the Hedgehog’s 1991 Green Hill Zone, while Time Machine builds to something more sophisticated and mature than it has any right to, really. I’ve also found their members have the cutest interactions on Twitter, which doesn’t hurt. Their music this year has been genuinely exciting for me, and I hope they only grow in popularity over 2023.
Standouts? Time Machine, Tomorrow, Poirot
11. Actually… by Nogizaka46 (March 16, 2022)
I feel guilty that it was the furore around the Nakanishi Aruno scandal that caused me to listen to this single upon its actual release — I usually save up 46/48 releases and then listen all in one go. But I’m glad I gave this attention firs time round. Actually… is arresting for a Nogizaka release. The detached delivery of “My anxiety will be a spineless excuse” as the song bluntly finishes, having paced through a coolly electronic beat was an interesting angle for this budding new Nogizaka to take. Nakanishi stepped back from single activities, with Saito Asuka and Yamashita Mizuki taking the reins. I was also incredibly pleasantly surprised by the b-sides, especially Fukayomi (which I wouldn’t be surprised if this was originally a Keyakizaka46 song somewhere in the library of 46 songs) and the 5th gen song, Zetsubou no Ichibyou Mae, which is lovely. In fact, all of the songs are distinctly memorable which made this the perfect jumping off point for me to revisit Nogi. Just perfect idol tunes!
Standouts? Actually…, Fukayomi
