medorē #29 – Favorites of 2024
omunibasu's end-of-the-year j-song roundup!
What’s good and welcome to another installment of the medorē! This is a thing I occasionally do where—and it’s simple—I gather up a bunch of great songs within the Japanese music scene and share my thoughts & appreciation for all of them. That’s the whole idea of what this is.
While I don’t do these medorē posts all that often, I still have an absolute blast writing them since it gives me the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing music I tend to listen to, which I’d say most of it is worth checking out. It would be even cooler if, by chance, I helped you find a new and great artist to look into through these roundups.
The way I do these medorēs is that I usually pick an overarching theme to base my song choices on, and this month is no different. It’s especially fitting since today, as you may have already caught on, I will be talking about my favorite songs from 2024. It’s funny because my 2024, music listening-wise, was a tad bit inconsistent compared to previous years. Had a K-Pop phase here, a 90s hip-hop phase there, took a short break from streaming music in May due to my trip to Japan, and I even extensively dabbled in a few random, non-Japanese artists like Pink Sweat$ and moon tang (both of which are phenomenal). Regardless of the fact, I still managed to discover so many cool Japanese songs these past twelve months and I’d like to share some of the ones I enjoyed the most.
But first, allow me to reiterate some of the rules, stipulations and miscellaneous guidelines that I usually put on myself when it comes to organizing my year-end roundup:
all songs must be released in the year 2024 – very self-explanatory; as much as I discovered some cool songs that weren’t released this year, I wanted to primarily talk about music that came out within the previous twelve months
no songs from the Exchange/Rate – while I truly do appreciate all of the album/song suggestions that my buddy Leap gave me for the E/R this past year, I wanted to only feature the stuff that I personally discovered. Although surprisingly enough, this rule doesn’t really apply to this year since the only 2024 release he gave me was the muque album (although I wouldn’t have minded putting “jabber” on this list). However, if you’d like to see what my favorite song was from each of the albums he gave me, feel free to check out this thread I posted on Twitter / X!
no specific order (kinda) – similar to my other year-end roundups, this list shouldn’t really be seen as some sort of ‘ranking’ except for the last featured song, which I usually consider my ‘song of the year’. But if you’d like to see an actual thought-out order of these ten songs, I did so on the This Side of Japan newsletter! Feel free to check it out and big thanks to Ryo Miyauchi for letting me showcase my favorites for the year on their site!
Alright, enough yapping. Let’s jump right in!
♫ 「Kasabuta」 Kamishiraishi Mone
Released: 2024.11.05
Surprisingly enough, a first timer on the yearly roundups! And as I usually do, I like to start off these posts with something light, and I think this song is a perfect choice for that.
Admittedly enough, I never ended up checking out well-known actor & singer Kamishiraishi Mone’s previous full-length release (titled name), and while I did enjoy her album from 2020 (note), I will admit now that it does have its flaws, especially in regards to its uniformity. However when I went through this new release of hers (kibi, from November), I honestly think it does a solid job going back to her musical roots, as it more focuses on the really light-hearted, low-key and feel-good pop tracks that have effortlessly and historically worked well with Mone's beautiful vocals. Not implying that what she tried on note was bad or anything, but for my personal tastes, I’d say kibi was more up my alley.
And out of all the tracks on this album, I found myself liking “Kasabuta” the most (which is a bit of surprise, considering Ohashi Trio returns as a composer for one of the songs on here, and I think you all know how much I like OT’s stuff). I just love the simplicity of it, from the relaxing-yet-slightly bouncy melodies to the easygoing nature of its instruments. And the way it ups tone a bit in the chorus and gives the song a slight jolt of energy/brightness; it didn’t do too much, it didn’t do too little, it was just right. Add on Mone’s pleasant vocals and I think this is a very good song that checks all the right boxes, in terms of feel-good music and the kind of stuff Kamishiraishi excels at performing (in my opinion).
♫ 「PEAK TIME」 Raisan
Released: 2024.02.27
I’ll just say it: “PEAK TIME” is, in fact, peak.
In case you’re not familiar with this band/group, Raisan is- yes, yet another musical endeavor created by the icon himself, Kawatani Enon. As you might know, I am pretty familiar with, and am a fan of a lot of Kawatani’s work; whether it’s the stuff from indigo la End, Genie High, DADARAY, songs he’s composed for other artists, and hell, I did suggest a Gesu no Kiwami Otome album for one of the Exchange/Rate months this past year. Raisan in particular has been on my radar for sometime—I thought their debut song in “TRUMAN” was great when it first came out—but I never really followed their stuff/activities on a consistent basis, even to this day.
However, I cannot deny the fact that “PEAK TIME” became a song that I couldn’t put down at one point. There’s so much I like about this track from a music perspective, such as how Kinoshita Satoshi’s guitar work doesn’t have too big of a presence yet still feels so integral to the whole composition, we get another great example of Kacho’s funky bass skills here, and the addition/usage of those sharp trumpets and slick sax playing just make the chorus even cooler to vibe with.
But I will say that the vocal performance from frontwoman CLR was my favorite part of this song. Not only does this further prove how good of an eye Kawatani has for vocal talent, but I think CLR presents herself in a fantastic fashion throughout “PEAK TIME”. Her vocals are super clear, she has the ability to smoothly change octaves/pitches whenever it needs changing, we see that she can rap a bit, and I dunno- something about her performance within the chorus in particular made for an insanely catchy and memorable song to listen to.
This one’s totally a banger; although I guess that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, since we *are* talking about Kawatani Enon here. (I also wanna point out that the beginning shot of the MV where Raisan’s walking in slow motion might be the most badass thing I’ve seen all year)
♫ 「Zenhoukou Bishoujo」 noa
Released: 2024.01.04
While my screen time on TikTok took a significant drop compared to last year (which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong), I still kept up with a lot of the trendy songs from 2024. Among the cutesy idol tracks, older songs that saw a resurgence of popularity, and of course, the infectious nature of Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born”, I do believe that noa’s “Zenhoukou Bishoujo” was one of my favorites out of the bunch.
As many have pointed out about noa’s music, she seems to have a really good understanding of what makes a song go ‘viral’ on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and thus, she has continuously utilized those SNS apps for distributing her music and gaining exposure. To the point where she now is considered a ‘social media trendsetter’, which I don’t disagree with. It’s obvious, considering how many viral hits she’s put out in the past couple years such as “Senpai” and this year’s “Hatsukoi Killer” and how much these songs have resonated with Gen Z in particular (as well as the fact that these are songs that are easy to create a short choreography/dance sequence for, as intended/expected by noa herself)… it’s pretty amazing to see noa’s massive, and almost calculated, success within the social media & music space.
“Zenhoukou Bishoujo” is yet another great hit from noa. Other than the fact that it *did* spawn the whole trend of people showing off their beauty from various angles (and blessed me with a TikTok of my kamioshi winning said trend ☺️), this track honestly hits all the right buttons when it comes to a ‘TikTok-worthy’ song. The chorus has become so recognizable, it’s catchy, the pop/rock/punk style is really nice to listen to, all while noa displays her super mesmerizing vocals (especially during her performance of this song on THE FIRST TAKE). But it is worth noting that the lyrics are quite intriguing to look into, as noa emphasizes a strong & confident sense of femininity here. Whether it’s from the front, the side, or from a lower point of view, women should be seen as beautiful from any angle, and I’d say she presents a pretty neat message that I’m sure has resonated with a lot of younger people.
♫ 「BABY I LOVED」 FRUITS ZIPPER
Released: 2024.04.09
I’ve noticed that there’s an intriguing trend when it comes to my own idol fandom, as I tend to become invested in a new set of groups every year. 2022 saw me become a massive fan of BATTEN GIRLS and rirunede; and 2023 with TAKANE NO NADESHIKO, as well as the Sashihara Rino-produced units in =LOVE and ≠ME.
This year was, by no surprise, no different. While I have dabbled in some of their music in the past, 2024 was the year I truly fell in love with those ladies hailing from Harajuku, the one-and-only FRUITS ZIPPER. Both of the albums they put out a few months ago, titled NEW KAWAII and NEW KAWAII / FRUITS BASKET respectively, were some of my favorite idol-related releases from the past year; especially the latter, given that they finally gave fans a taste of some solo/subunit-focused songs from the ladies (Chinzei Suzuka’s “Perstmayme”, in particular, is such a beautiful track). And if it weren’t for an EP that I’ll be talking about later on in this post, their NEW KAWAII album from April would’ve been my favorite release from 2024. It was that close.
That said, and like I mentioned back in July within my actual review of NEW KAWAII, I did (and still do) consider “BABY I LOVED” to be my favorite *newly released* song off that album. It was quite a surprise to hear, amongst the louder & bubbly stuff they usually perform, a mellower city pop-inspired song from these seven idols. And I do think they emulate that retro vibe really well, as the guitar riffs and synths are very reminiscent of that era of music (or, at least, the modern representation/interpretation of Japanese city pop music) and this really does feel like something that would be perfect to listen to while on a nighttime drive.
But also, the vocal performances from the Furuppa ladies sound so damn nice in this. They’re a lot more lax here and sing at a much slower pace which results in us hearing an intriguing, emotional & slightly melancholic side from them (similar to what was heard on “Kimikoi”). And like I said earlier, given that most folks are probably more familiar with them performing alongside upbeat pop songs, I think people may be taken aback (and possibly, impressed) with how FRUITS ZIPPER can put on a more innocent/vulnerable face with their vocals/music, of which & in my opinion, they absolutely nail here.
♫ 「CITY feat. Yanagi Miyu」 GEKKAN IDOL
Released: 2024.05.07
One of the coolest music projects I discovered this past year happens to be ‘GEKKAN IDOL’. Every month, the project takes an idol from a variety of groups and composes a completely original song for them to sing, and even adds in some illustrations from different artists for its accompanying music videos and CD jackets. I think this is totally a great idea for a new musical endeavor, especially for idol fans like myself. Not only because this is just more content for the existing fans of these idols to indulge in, but I do believe it allows for these ladies to show a much different side to them, vocally, compared to what most people are used to in their primary groups. GEKKAN IDOL has already featured a solid ensemble of various idols, such as Hinata Haru (Philosophy no Dance) and Sakurai Emma (Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku), and I’m genuinely interested to see who else they can nab for this fascinating project.
My favorite feature so far has to be the one with Yanagi Miyu from the Fukuoka-rooted, Stardust Promotion unit BATTEN GIRLS, titled “CITY”. Like I briefly mentioned earlier, Bassho was one of my favorite idol discoveries back in 2022, going as far as to believing that their full-length release at the time (CUE-SAI) was my definite album of the year. Still love them to this day—their new album from last month was really fun and Seta Sakura’s recent graduation from the group still feels very bittersweet—and it really was neat, in particular, to see Miyuyu partake in some music outside of Bassho’s activities. I think she sounds fantastic here, especially over a low-key and super vibey city pop song, and I do feel like we were able to get a new perspective of her vocal abilities here. Considering that she primarily sings alongside five other people, it can be a bit difficult to get a specific glimpse of her individual vocal talent (same can be said about everyone else, too). But with this, I can tell that she’s got a really solid grasp with singing and I loved hearing her voice within a sweet, retro-type song like this one.
In fact, I loved it so much that I bought a physical copy of this release when I was in Japan a few months ago. Glad to support!
♫ 「VOID」 TOGENASHI TOGEARI
Released: 2024.08.27
I’ll be honest: I was bit skeptical of the GIRLS BAND CRY franchise, and for a pretty dumb reason, may I add. I think when I first saw the animation for this project in a previous music video of theirs, I hesitated on whether or not I’d like- or even check out their eventual anime TV series (which is weird now that I think about it, given that I’ve enjoyed shows with, in my opinion, worse-quality 3D animation such as D4DJ and THE IDOLM@STER).
Well, long story short, GIRLS BAND CRY exceeded my expectations immensely and I really, really, really enjoyed following the story of TOGENASHI TOGEARI and their upbringings as a peculiar band. And obviously, it being a music-based series, I had a lot of fun listening to Togetoge’s various releases, to the point where I had some trouble deciding which song of theirs I’d feature on this roundup. It was a fierce internal battle with myself and between two amazing tracks: the anime’s opening theme “Wrong World” or the insert song from episode one “VOID”.
“Wrong World” (or “Zattou, Bokura no Machi” in Japanese) is very, very good. It really is. But some last minute convincing lead me to ultimately choose “VOID”.
Lemme explain in a brief and *mostly* spoiler-free manner. For one (and in my opinion), I do think “VOID” is a track that holds a great amount of weight when it comes to GBC’s narrative as a whole. I loved how there was so much history, so many connections and a couple of awkward situations that involve this singular song; with the most important aspect being how near-and-dear it is to our main character in the show, Iseri Nina. And the fact that this very song served as a massive catalyst for what was to come and the overall journey of TOGENASHI TOGEARI is pretty awesome, now looking back at it.
And to expand on that, what makes it even better is that there are technically multiple, significantly different versions of this song that are heard throughout the show. Whether it’s the very brief and raw-sounding iteration from Momoka, the one everyone knows with Nina’s strong vocals, or the more poppy/produced tone within DIAMOND DUST’s version… all of them have been incredibly enjoyable to listen to and it’s pretty cool that “VOID” happens to have a few various meanings and emotions behind it, thanks to the different perspectives and lenses we got to see throughout the anime’s story.
And if I didn’t make it obvious enough, you should definitely go watch GIRLS BAND CRY. I didn’t watch a ton of anime this year, but I can confidently say that this was my favorite show out of the minuscule bunch.
♫ 「Omakase」 ATARASHII GAKKO!
Released: 2024.06.06
I haven’t mentioned this on the blog, or even on my Twitter, but back in September, I actually got the opportunity to watch a music concert for the very first time in my life. And what’s even cooler is that it happened to be a live event from a Japanese artist, of which you can probably guess that it was the sailor uniformed quartet of ATARASHII GAKKO (during their second tour around the world).
I’m still working on a draft of my overall thoughts and review of said concert, and I do want to finish it soon since I genuinely believe it was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced. But as a bit of a preview, I wanted to go over one specific song from the concert that really resonated with me, “Omakase”.
Speaking of GIRLS BAND CRY, remember that scene in episode one when Nina was visually blown away as she heard Momoka sing “VOID” for the first time? That was, no joke, essentially my reaction when AG started performing “Omakase” for their second song of the night. While I did have chills/goosebumps for the majority of the live, listening to this track almost made me have some sort of out-of-body experience and legit left me speechless… okay, maybe I’m over-exaggerating a bit but listening to the LOUD bass on the venue’s speakers and just being in awe that the likes of SUZUKA, RIN, MIZYU and KANON were actually in front of me, performing these incredible songs, felt like pure insanity to me (in a good way).
As for “Omakase” itself, I like it a lot, despite the experience I just described having a lot of influence on why it’s my favorite off their recent album. One thing that stands out to me the most here are the vocals, from both SUZUKA and RIN. I think anyone who has listened to AG’s music knows how incredible of a frontwoman SUZUKA is, and how she presents herself in this song is no different. In fact, I have the same sentiment as some other people and believe that this is one of the best vocal performances we’ve heard from her, as she does a great job using her stronger/deeper register to go along with the song’s ‘traditional-mixed with-electronic beats’ type of atmosphere. But on the other hand, I was SO glad to see RIN get some of the spotlight on this track with her nimble rapping skills, and I’d say it was even more apparent/noticeable when I watched it live. She did an awesome job here.
♫ 「40°C」 Wez Atlas
Released: 2024.09.03
Speaking of artists that were previously featured on last year’s medorē roundup…
If you’ve been following the blog for the past couple years, you’ll probably recognize this dude. Wez Atlas, without-a-doubt, was my favorite discovery from 2023. Again, the way he effortlessly intertwines English and Japanese in his raps, as well as how much I’ve resonated with him and his lyrics on a more personal/deeper level compared to other Japanese artists, were all reasons to continue my fandom and appreciation for the guy in 2024.
And while “One Life” is a phenomenal song that feels like an encouraging ‘wake up call’ for both himself and those who feel anxious or frustrated with how life is going for them, I will have to give his other release, titled “40°C”, this spot on the roundup. To put it simply, this was ‘song of the summer’ for me. Hands down. This is an absolute banger.
One reason is most certainly because of the slick, groovy and energetic production from Mori Zentaro and Kota Matsukawa; the latter I’ve become a huge fan of through a couple of Wez’s previous releases, as well as his other projects/collaborations such as his work as voquote or what he’s done with R&B singer/songwriter reina. The bassy synths were deeeeeep, that catchy flute-like melody throughout was fire, the drum loops… on the composition side, it’s another fantastic one from a couple of cool and underrated producers.
But I think what shined the brightest in this song was Wez’s performance; more specifically, his delivery. While I’ve *always* enjoyed how Wez raps about life struggles in a more emotional manner (such as in the aforementioned “One Life” or “Daily Calm” off his 2021 EP), it feels quite refreshing to hear him go off on a livelier and more upbeat track. It sounds like he’s having a ton of fun, rapping about the summertime vibes, to the point where I personally believe this song has some of the smoothest bars & deliveries I’ve ever heard from the man. One of my favorite instances of this is within the first verse (around the 01:11 mark) where he goes, “never simmer down, si-sizzlin / patty on the grill, hanging out with the synonyms / the twinenem, shawty ain’t feelin’ him / but it’s all good, Saturday’s for the gentlemen”. Like, c’mon, that was straight HEAT.
All in all, I loved the stuff Wezzy put out this past year (would highly recommend his latest EP), and once again I’m looking forward to whatever he releases in the new year.
♫ 「Shigechan」 saba sister
Released: 2024.03.07
Alright… technically, this isn’t related to any Exchange/Rate review. However, I did discover this song, album and band through Leap (via the Advance Party segment he does here on Substack) so I have to give him credit & my thanks for that.
And as you’ll notice in the songs Leap featured in his post, as well as the rest of their Kakugo wo Kimero! release from this past year, saba sister gives off a loud and expressive energy with their music. No doubt do they wield a similar set of lovable traits that many other iconic, young female rock bands have had (such as SCANDAL and SHISHAMO), and they truly do convey them well on all fronts. One of my favorite examples is within the album’s title track, especially in the music video where you’re able to get a visual glimpse of their sense of humor and how much fun they have with performing cool rock music.
However, and I pointed this out to Leap, I actually gravitated towards a much different track from saba sister, it being “Shigechan”. Obviously, as you can tell, this song is far from the upbeat rock music they’re usually known for, but something about it just resonated with me a lot (to the point where it was heavily on repeat for sometime). It feels super sentimental, thanks to its slower pace, the awesome and well-placed guitar solos, and I think Nachi hit it out-of-the-park with her heartfelt-sounding vocal performance here. I’ll admit that this one’s an odd choice, especially since tracks like “Kakugo wo Kimero!” and “Time Sale Nogashitekure” do a much better job of overall showcasing who saba sister is as a band. But I adore “Shigechan” for what it is and it’s super cool that even for a hyper and silly band like them, they 100% know how to tone it down and it’s clear that have the additional ability to make a more emotional rock ballad.
And funnily enough, saba sister and the aforementioned FRUITS ZIPPER ended up crossing paths this year, which I thought was great (lol).
♫ 「A Million More」 reina
Released: 2024.02.20
FINALLY, I get the opportunity to talk about reina on a medorē. 😭
Last year, I had the pleasure of listening to and reviewing You Were Wrong from a little known R&B artist named reina. Legitimately became one of my favorite albums from 2023, which I illustrated and explained in my post from November of last year, and reina became an artist that- not only did I quickly become a fan of, but one I’d 100% be looking out for in the new year.
Fast forward to February of 2024, reina releases a brand new & shorter EP, titled A Million More. While it mostly featured songs that she already put out in the prior year, I still believed that this was it. I impressively stood pat for the next ten months, thinking that this was genuinely my favorite album/release from 2024, and I truly continued to believe that until it was official, when I gave it to Leap for our annual E/R reviews for December (you can read it here, I highly suggest checking out his thoughts!)
And like I mentioned in my blurb for that EP, I really do think that “A Million More”, both the song and the EP itself, further showcased the near-perfect tandem of reina and producer Kota Matsukawa. It is clear, at least to me, that these two are on the same exact page when it comes to creating music and in a way, I feel like they both took it to a different level with this new release. As mentioned in her interview with Tokyo ON, reina actually wanted to perform a more uplifting break-up song, similar to the nature of Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next”.
For one, this further proves that reina has a crystal clear vision of the type of music she wants to perform, and it helps that Matsukawa has done a tremendous job with executing that vision; especially in this case where he complements reina’s vocals with some classical piano playing, sleek guitar riffs and cool drum loops. Secondly, I think we’re starting to see the on-going evolution and development of reina as a lyricist. One of my favorite things about her previous album was how she was able to really concoct a sentimental narrative within her lyricism, and “A Million More” absolutely continues that in a bit of a different light than what we’re used to. While reina reflects on a relationship that has now passed and even expresses beliefs of insecurity & regret (thinking that she was ‘self-doubting’, ‘too trusting’, and ultimately felt like her now-former partner shouldn’t ‘waste their time on her’), there’s a great feeling of peace from moving on from it and you can tell that she’s learned a lot from this specific experience with romance.
I am not surprised that this ended up being my most played song from 2024. This was an EXCELLENT release from reina and Matsukawa, and it makes me so excited to see what else they have in store for us in the new year.
Honorable Mentions
Every year I include an additional list which has a few songs that juuuuuust missed the cut, since I always feel terrible that these ones couldn’t fit in the top ten. All of these are 1000% still worthy of checking out, so please do:
「Knock You Out!」 Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku
「25」 eill
「green tea」 Natsudaidai, n0suke
「Hello Surreal」 Hata Motohiro & sumika
「III」 Houshou Marine & Kobo Kanaeru
「DAISUKI FULL POWER」 Liella
Aaaaand that’s all I got for you today!
As always, I’ve compiled a dedicated Spotify playlist with ALL of the songs that were mentioned today, so feel free to check it out if you’re interested:
But yeah! That concludes 2024 for the omunibasu newsletter.
I had a lot of fun this year, I’m not gonna lie. On top of finding some really great music, there were so many new things I got to experience and new memories I was able to make; ranging from watching & talking about some cool shows/movies, adding to my diverse idol fandom, getting to see a Japanese artist perform live for the first time, and obviously taking a long-awaited and eye-opening trip to Japan… I truly don’t think it’s an exaggeration when I say that this was one of the best years of my life and I just love that I was able to discuss these things on this blog. That said, I’m forever appreciative to those who decided to check out my writings in 2024; it means a lot to me and hopefully you can continue to follow my random stuff in the new year. I already got a ton of good post ideas that I’m starting to work on now so do stay tuned!!
Once again, thanks for all the fun this year and I hope everyone has a happy new year! 🎉
Thanks for reading!! :D
-al