I realized today that while I’ve featured a lot of different artists and groups on this list, I haven’t focused much on AKB48 and other 48 groups – just SKE48’s Aishiteraburu. I suspect a lot of that is because of how my fan level for AKB48 and its assorted groups has changed over the years. While, in my opinion, the main singles and songs for AKB48 haven’t been quite as good as of late, one of the biggest disappointments is just how little attention is paid to AKB48’s theater. One of the biggest things that drew me to AKB48 as a fan was the concept of the AKB48 theater, where members perform regularly. It’s just so unheard of for Western pop acts, which made AKB feel unique. While there are still regular stage performances, new stages are really rare. It’s understandable – the most expensive tickets at these stage shows are 3100 yen, so it’s not really the most economically viable experience. It’s just a bit disappointing.

The thing is, most of my favorite AKB48 songs originated in the theater. Since you have 15-16 songs, I find that they can be a lot more interesting than what gets performed as singles. While Pioneer isn’t one of the weirder songs performed in the AKB theater, but it has a lot of style and is one of the more fun AKB songs. I’m planning on writing an article about this, but a lot is made about AKB’s slow start – while they’re the most popular idol group in Japan now, at their first performance they only performed for seven people. So even though Pioneer was written and performed when AKB was at its peak, it still has the energy and lyrics of a group trying to prove itself.

This is a pretty perfect dance song – the chorus is so incredibly strong. While I have a lot of affection for Nogizaka46’s earlier, classic idol sound (especially the French pop sound of Hashire Bicycle) it’s impossible to ignore that Seifuku no Mannequin is a great song. My favorite group, Team Syachihoko, covered this song in concert – they don’t often cover other idol groups (preferring to cover bands or other pop acts) so its kind of huge. I remember watching a big idol special on TV, and every fan kind went wild for Seifuku no Mannequin, regardless of which act they supported. It’s impossible to deny how catchy and how wonderful Seifuku no Mannequin is.

It’s hard to really describe how great Seifuku no Mannequin is – it has a great beat, an incredibly catchy melody. It’s so well written, that I don’t know if I have any criticisms about it.

When I wrote about The Cut I mentioned that it would be on my top 25 list if it wasn’t a cover. Boy Friend is the first song I’m pretty sure will be on that top 25 list in general. It’s Wakita Monari’s second single (who I featured early on with her first single, In The City), and man is it good. Monari was a member of Especia, and Boy Friend feels like a continuation of that, a take on 80s pop music. That all being said, Boy Friend feels less intentionally dated – instead of focusing on the gaudy, dated city pop that Especia focused on when Monari was a member, intentionallhy being both nostalgic and kind of tacky, Boy Friend is what’s good about the 80s pop music. It reminds me of Carly Rae Jepson’s fantastic album Emotion, which has that same kind of feel.

The melody is incredibly catchy and Monari sells it completely.

Wakatteiru no ni Gomen Ne is a transitional single. Country Girls’ first single songs, Itooshikute Gomen ne and Koi Dorobou, were both very cutesy, sweet pop songs. Then the group’s most popular member, Uta, left after that single. Country Girls would then go on to reinvent themselves and do more rockabilly, 50s style pop music with their 3rd single, Boogie Woogie Love, but with the new members of the group. Therefore, there are two styles of song, and Wakatteiru no ni Gomen Ne was stuck in the middle.

That being said, it’s probably my favorite Country Girls song, at least if you count Country Girls separately from Country Musume. Wakatteiru no ni Gomen ne is one of the catchiest and possibly best written idol pop songs of the past couple of years. It has a great energy to it – it’s not frantic, but it’s fast-paced. It doesn’t feel too energetic, but it’s nowhere near laid-back. Because of this it’s a song that I almost always feel like listening to. The arrangement is beautiful as well – the upbeat keys sound particularly good. While I love the Rockabilly feel of current Country Girls, part of me yearns for more songs like Wakatteiru no ni Gomen ne.

First off, I have to say I’m kind of thrilled I’ve kept this whole daily blogging thing up for 30 days – usually when I set out to do some blogging projects I forget or get distracted by other things, so it’s nice that I’ve actually stuck with this.

Osaka Shunkashuto recently put out the PV for New Me, their newest single. This song is really great and is potentially one I’ll feature in the future. However, Chameleon Shoujo is still my favorite Osaka Shunkashuto track. It works on many levels – the song has a catchy melody, which certainly helps. It also has a great beat, a rock sound, and incorporates some electronic music without that sound being overbearing with the rock sound. However, what really sets Osaka Shunkashuto apart (especially now that they aren’t produced by one guy, Soezimax, which is what made it unique in the past) is the lead vocalist’s vocals. Maina, the lead vocalist, has a real power to her voice and vocal skills that are rare from idol groups. Her voice isn’t just good, which it is, but it’s pure power. She’s able to belt, hit high notes, and pull off songs that other vocalists wouldn’t dream of – I don’t think I can imagine many other idol vocalists being able to pull off the songs that Osaka Shunkashuto does. While I love a lot of idol groups, the sad truth is that a lot of groups have replaceable members or could be performed by just about anyone. Osaka Shunkashuto can only be pulled off by Maina.

Perhaps it’s early to start thinking of my Top 25 list for 2017, but if this wasn’t a cover this would 100% be on that list. As it stands it’s most likely going to be a honorable mention. The Cut is easily one of my favorite recent idol songs and I’ve been listening to it pretty frequently for the past few weeks.

A cover of the Base Ball Bear original (featuring the hip hop group Rhymester), this is a collaboration between the hip hop unit Lyrical School and the group Idol Renaissance, that performs covers and generally has a classic idol feel to them. It’s not a collaboration that I would have expected but it works incredibly well – the sung vocals are lovely, and Lyrical School is on point. All the MCs in Lyrical School have fantastic flow and totally elevate the material.

I didn’t listen to the Base Ball Bear original until today, and while it’s different and great, I think I have to prefer the Lyricalnaissance cover – this cover has a darker feel to it, a darker beat to it. It’s kind of interesting, I don’t know if I’d expect the idol cover of anything to have a darker feel, but the background instrumentation has a dark, minor beat behind most of the song that works well.

The Cut is absolutely fantastic and it’s great to hear more interesting music coming from interesting groups. I hope Lyricalnaissance will keep up this collaboration in the future, because The Cut is fantastic.

I think this will be my last Valentine’s Day track of the year, and it’s a bit of an unconventional one.

While the other songs I’ve profiled this week have been cute and sweet, gentle, and romantic in one way or another. Senjou no St. Valentine is rough, has a dark feel to it, it’s more rock-inspired with electric guitar being the the base of the background instrumentation. It’s not a traditional Valentine’s song, which is part of what I find fascinating about it.

If you asked me to recommend an up and coming group you should be following, I’d potentially say Niji no Conquistador, and it’s this kind of disconnect that makes me like them so much. It’s a Valentine’s Day song, but it’s not in any way sweet or romantic. Instead of lyrics focused on a romantic love, it references battles, rivals, and is much more of a less romantic view of love and relationships than something like Valentine Kiss.

All the members of Niji no Conquistador are excellent and pull off this theme well, and the entire song has a great melody and is produced well. But more than anything this is such an unexpected, unusual look at Valentine’s Day that I can’t help but love it.

Every few months I do nothing but listen to Matsuura Aya’s music for a few days – even though it’s been years since she’s put out any music, she’s still one of my favorite performers. Her music was consistently great and Aya is incredibly talented.

Chocolate Damashii was the last major single Matsuura Aya released and it’s a bit of a weird one. At the tail end of Aya’s career she was performing a lot of ballads, a lot of jazzy music, things that would show off her vocal prowess more than her earlier pop hits. So a cheerful, fast, almost classic pop song like Chocolate Damashii feels like a departure from Aya’s singles around that time like Egao or Kizuna.

That’s not to say Aya doesn’t sound great in Chocolate Damashii – far from it. In this song she sounds almost effortlessly good. It’s not a song where she shows off, but instead one where she just sounds great. The song is also a nice, easy to listen to mid-tempo song. It’s not quite as fun and poppy as Aya’s early work, it’s not quite as interesting as her later albums, but it’s somewhere in between – mature but sweet. I think because of that the title of the song works really well, and it works well for its intended purpose – a Valentine’s Day gift to Aya’s fans.

OK, if you know Japanese music you had to know what was coming. Valentine Kiss is the most popular Valentine’s Day song in Japan, one that has been covered many times, and is just a classic. While I tend to listen to the Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 cover more than anything else (it modernized the song well and the new arrangement is a little more upbeat), the classic version is what I’m recommending today.

It’s hard to judge something that’s become a major classic, but Valentine Kiss has an addictive melody and lyrics – even though my Japanese skills are pretty mediocre, this is a song I know by heart. Also, given the success of covers like Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 and its continued popularity, Valentine Kiss holds up.

It’s the week of Valentine’s Day, so this week is all about Valentine’s songs or songs that are generally about love. While GEM’s most recent single Sugar Baby isn’t explicitly about Valentine’s Day (at least they don’t mention it in the song), it’s pretty undeniably Valentine’s day themed – the title and repeated phrase in the chorus about sugar, the whole theme of love, and the fact it’s being released as close to Valentine’s Day as possible (February 15).

Sugar Baby’s PV was released right on December 31 last year, and ever since I’ve been listening to it very regularly. It’s upbeat and peppy, and the title fully explains just how cutesy it all is. It’s the epitome of bubblegum pop. And yet, it is one of the catchiest songs of the year so far, and I’ve been listening to it almost nonstop since its release. If you like peppy, upbeat pop and are in a happy Valentine’s mood, Sugar Baby by GEM is definitely a good option.