Yesterday the EBiSSH x Satori Shonen Dan project group ONE N' ONLY released a music video for their new singles b-side track "POP! POP!". Guys I am so in love with the song I like it so much better then their a-side track "Dark Knight". This is such a smooth and nice song. Tetta's and Eiku's vocals are so freaking nice. Especially Eiku is killing me with his vocals. The rap parts however are so extremly nice and smooth too. The video is pretty much giving me the rest. The boys looking so good and cute and the whole video has such nice and soft colors. It's a simple but lovely video that suites to this song so much. Definitly check it out.
I first posted this on JPop Amino but decided to post it here as well, also I did change the text a little and added some more info.
On the March 19th 2019 I went to an mini live of Takahashi Fu. For everyone who doesn’t know him, he was a Johnny’s Jr. and after he left, a part of the group ANTIME (which is on hiatus at the moment).
On March 20th, so one day later, was the release of his 2nd mini album “Step”. Like many artists in Japan he hold many free mini lives around Japan to promote the cd.
Like I wrote before one of these were on the 19.03.2019 at the Tower Records in Shinjuku.
As you can see above the stage is always pretty small but since he is a solo artist it’s not too bad. However I want to talk about what you had to do first because it’s often similar and might help some people if they want to go to such an event and like me do only speak a little bit Japanese.
The event was scheduled to start at 19:00, however you needed to get a ticket first. To get a ticket you had to buy his new cd and depending on which version you got, you also received an extra ticket for a photo or for a high-touch and talk.
The awesome thing is that you could buy the cd before the actual release day and of course these extra tickets are awesome as well.
I bought both versions so I got a ticket for both, on the following picture is only the ticket for the priority entrance. I will show you what the other tickets looked like on another picture.
To be honest I first didn't found his cd in the store... thought it was actueally right in front of the cashier but because I didn't saw it I asked a girl standing in line and she showed me.
We started to talk a little. She was a huge fan of Takahashi Fu and even bought him some kind of leisure suit as a present. She was really lovely and stayed with me a lot.
Starting around 18:00 you could wait in line to get a numbered priority ticket, with the ticket you can see on the picture above. After we bought the cd's we looked up where the line is going to be but both of us were pretty confussed because we weren't sure where exactly it's going to be.
However we finally found the spot and therefor were one of the firsts in line, thought there haven't been too many people who went to this event. Around 18:30 we went to draw a random numbered ticket, that showed the order in which we can enter the venue.
As you can see I got really lucky and drew number 9. So I was right at the front of the stage. We were allowed to enter the event space at 19:00. Before the event started I went around the Tower Records and looked up if I can find the EBiDAN corner and yay I found it. I bought the new DISH// live dvd as well a magazine called "MONOTONE CLASSY BOYS" (it's a special issue of BOYS FILE).
When the live started Takahashi Fu directly started to sing one of his songs. In total he performed 6 songs. In between and at the end he talked a little but not much. His performance was cute.
His voice is really pretty but sometimes he pushed his voice a little too hard. Also the music system wasn’t the best but I personally still really enjoyed his performance.
He was so cute and tried to have eye contact with all his fans. That made him even more lovable.
At the end he said thank you for supporting him, he even had some tears in his eyes.
Right after the live the photo part started. If you got a ticket you could take a picture of him. I think it’s weird that you could only take a picture of him and not with him. That’s what usually happens at events like these.
However it’s still a cute picture.
After this ended there was the talk and high-Touch event.
These feel so awkward to me all the time... but I guess that’s just me. I never know what to talk about and then my Japanese is pretty bad too...
However it was ok to talk in English, and basically I just told him that I like his voice and that he did well with performing. Then we did the high-touch and I left. Thought the high-touch was more like holding hands, which got me blushing and that made the situation even more akward.
I actually had to leave in a hurry because I had to drive back to Narita to get the last shuttle bus of my hotel.
At least I want to say that this was a great experience. I love these small events because the fans are usually much more open. Quite a few people tried talking to me. It was lovely.
(Side Note: I have to study more Japanese...)
I also love to see how dedicated some of these fans are. The girl I met there was so excited about meeting Takahashi Fua and it's awesome she even bought him clothes as a present. She really was a cute person. All in one I am happy I went to this event, even thought it was kinde stressful for me because my hotel was so far away from Shinjuku but it was still worth it.
Also please support him if you can. His new mini album is available on iTunes as well.
It's the time of the year again and I am super excited! Today they announced the EBiDAN The Live 2019 ~Summer Party~ event. It will be hold on the 28th and 29th August. As you can see on the picture above DISH//, Chotokkyu, PRIZMAX, M!LK, Super Dragon, Sakura Shimeji, One N' Only and Battle Street will be performing in this event.
Before this main event there will an event called "Challange Stage ~Kabe no Mukou he~". On the first day there will be the Battle Boys member featured in the event and the winner of this event will be the opening act for EBiDAN The Live 2019, pretty much like last year. However on the second day there will be the other smaller groups of EBiDAN performing. That includes AMEZARI -Red Stars-, Starmen KiDS and EDAMAME BEANS, as well as the the co-ed group "DAN⇄JYO".
I am super excited for both events and I am trying to get tickets to both events for both days. Wish me luck. It's my dream to go to an EBiDAN The Live since more than 5 years now and it would be awesome if it would come true this year. However if it does not work out, I hope that they will stream, the live again and I will make sure to definitly watch it this time.
Today I wanna share my top 10 list of japanese male solo artists with you. There is a good amount of solo male artists I listen to and if your favorite one is not on this list, I might still like to listen to him. I hope you will like these artists too and have fun checking out this list.
#10 Yamashita Tomohisa
Favorite Songs: Dreamer, Reason, You Make Me, I Texas, Your Step, Love Chase
Example:
Back when YamaP was still in NEWS I already liked him and always liked his voice, thought no one could ever beat Masu. After leaving NEWS I started to like YamaP even more. Sounds weird right!? The thing is that I really like his solo music and I got more interessted in him when he started to really go solo. I like nearly his whole discography a lot. I do like him as an actore as well. I know many people think he is way too overrated and maybe he is overrated. His acting is decent but I enjoy it and for his singing it actually is good and the music he releases is good. I also think dispite being so popular he is quite down to earth. This was kinde messy... at least I just want to say that I really like his music and enjoy listening to him.
#09 Daichi Miura
Favorite Songs: The Answer, Cry & Fight, U, Perfect Day Off, Garasubin
Example:
Back in August 2010 Daichi Miura released his single "The Answer" and that was the time I deeply fell in love with his music. This song is still one of my absolute favorites of him. Thought over the years he proofed again and again how talanted of an singer he is. I love so many of his songs a lot and enjoy his music videos so much because besides being an amazing vocal talent he is an extremly good dancer too. He is pretty popular already and I hope he can gain more and more popularity couse he deserves it.
#08 Akanishi Jin
Favorite Songs: Mi Amor, Miss California, All About You, Shine, Fill Me Up
Example:
The first time I actuelly liked one of his solo songs was when he released Mi Amor at the end of 2014. Up until today I haven't really listend to any of his songs before that time. My favorite albums of him are "Me" and "Blessed" and I still listen to these two on a daily basis. Most of the time his music is nothing deep, it's simply music you enjoy without thinking much. I do like this because the lyrics are simple and so are the beats. Most of the time I love the rythem of the songs. Most of his music feels like summer to me, fresh, simple, with a relaxing flow and his undeniable beautiful voice. Of course there are exceptions but there are rather less of them. Besides I am not a fan of him as a person, because of KAT-TUN I got to know him a little but never really liked him and until this day I still don't really like him BUT his music is awesome so whatever.
#07 ReN
Favorite Songs: Shake Your Body, Aurora, Live Safer, Sonzai Shoumei, Umbrella, What I'm Feeling
Example:
Whenever I listen to ReN I have Ed Sheeran in my head. They have a similar style of music and I personally love this style SO much. (I am a huge fan of Ed Sheerans music as well!) ReN has an very beautiful voice and besides his first album, that I am not so much into, I love pretty much all his releases up until today. He is still way to underrated and I hope he can gain much more popularity. It's hopefully a good start that he changed to Warner Music Japan just recently.
#06 Shimizu Shota
Favorite Songs: Dream, Home, Snow Smile, ByexBye, Kimi ga Suki
Example:
Who knows me an this blog since a while now, might know that Shimizu Shota has been my favorite solo artist for a long time. He still takes an important place in my heart but I am fed up with all the auto-tune he uses, not only on cds but even at his concerts. He has a beautiful voice and I love so many of his songs and while I still love him a lot I can't deny that others took over his place because I enjoy their music so much more now. It's not that I don't like his recent music but I prefer his old music and wish he would try making music without auto-tune again. However I will keep suporting him forever and for now I mostly listen to his good old song and there are many.
#05 Hirai Dai
Favorite Songs: Hajimari no Uta, Story of Our Life, Life is Beautiful, Sounds Like A Love Song, Song For Two, Slow & Easy, Beautiful Lane
Example:
I am so much in love with his extremly beautiful voice. He is one of the rare singer I know that are able to transfere emotions within a recorded song. For example when I listend to "Hajirmari no Uta" for the first time I started to cry. That's so not me but this song delivers so many feelings and that paired with his stunning voice got me tear up. Nowadays I am not crying anymore listening to the song but I still get the chills. Besides this song he released so many more extremly good songs and I get excited whenever he releases something new. Something else I love a lot is that he is writing the lyrics and music of pretty much all of his songs on his own. That always makes me like an artist so much more.
#04 Mhiro (former known as Mihiro)
Favorite Songs: Baby I Love U, Kimi ga Ireba feat. Ms OOJA, Tsunami, Kimi Iro Omoi, Zutto... dear Mama & Papa, I Want A Better Me, Sayonara no Mae ni, Makes Me Right, Crushed, Ai no Kotoba ~True Story~, Saiai, Wireless, Change For You
Example:
To be honest I can't even remember anymore when I started to listening to him, I just now it's been MANY years ago. Even though he has been active for so long, he is still isn't that well known and that makes me incredible sad because he is so talanted and it's a pleasure listening to his voice. Also because of not being so well known he isn't releasing new stuff a lot. That makes me even more sad. Please check out his music!
#03 Mukai Taichi
Favorite Songs: Konomama, Ego, SlowDown, Can't Wait Anymore, Reset, Fly, Malibu, Hero, Break Up, Agony, Answer feat. KREVA, Pure, Crazy, Kimi no Kiss Shite, Furusato, Thinking About You
Example:
I am so glad I found him around the time he released the Slow Down music video because that's the song that made me fell for him. I played this song so many times back then and until today still love to play it. After falling in love with his 2nd mini album I had to get the first one too, which is amazing as well and all the following releases never disapointed me. Thought it took me a little to absolutly love his album "Blue". His music is awesome and his music videos are freaking good nowadays as well. Definitly check him out if you haven't so far.
SIRUP is one of the artists I got to know through JPop Amino back when he was still called KYOtaro. I am super happy I found him through the app because I love his music so much. He has this special sound and flow to him that I absolutly love. I am so much looking forward to the new songs on his album that will be released at the end of May.
Another reason he got the second spot in this list is that I saw him live this year and kinde fell for him. XD He is such a lovely, funny and cute person on stage and his singing is so much more beautiful live than on cd. He did so well with the whole audience, the performance got me love him so much more and I wish to see him live again. His vocals are so stunning and I hope he will gain more and more popularity over time.
Another thing I like a lot is that he is collaborating with a lot of artists. You will find a good amount of songs feat. him and the best is that all the time he still wrote the lyrics on his own or together with the other artist. That's pretty awesome.
#01 AKLO
Favorite Songs: RGTO, Super Chingon, Outside The Frame, Beast Mode, Chaser, Under The Cliff feat. Jay'ed, We Go On feat. SALU & H.teflon, MF Problem
Example:
If you know AKLO you know he is an Rapper. It's quite a change to all the other artists on this list but I honestly love japanese rap or hip hop a lot and AKLO happens to be my absolutly favorite. I started to like him back when he released RGTO. I came accross the video on youtube, I thought it looked like the Crows Zero movie and therfore wanted to check it out and loved the song right away. Fun fact is that at this time I didn't like the part of SALU, who now is one of my favorite japanese rapper. Up until today RGTO is still my favorite song of him and I see myself as a granny still listening to this song. XD
Of course I had to check out all his other songs too and what should I say I love pretty much all songs of him. Especially his album "The Package" is played by me many times. I love his voice and his sence for music is so extremly good. He writes all of his songs on his own and since he is half mexican, he also includes english and spanish in his songs, which gives them a special touch. I especially love him rapping in spanish, that sounds freakin nice. I am always looking forward to new releases of him.
Was your favorite in this list? If not who is your favorite?
I first posted this on JPopAmino but decided to post it here as well.
Today I will do my personal ranking of all the active EBiDAN groups right now. I did that like two or three years ago and thought it’s time for a new one. I will not include Battle Boys because they are not an actual group and I won’t include Hongyo.jp because they will be disbanded soon. So let’s start!
12. ZeBRA☆STAR
Favorite Member: /
Favorite Song: Dancing! Dancing!
To be honest after Aruki left the group I stopped caring about them much. Since then there have been so much changes again. Three new members have been added, Knight is now a member of both ZeBRA☆STAR Black and Red, Kousei is now a Z☆S Black member and Kaito changed his name to only Kai. So much is going on.
I should really get on track with them again because I want to support all the EBiDAN groups and while I will always be sad over Aruki who left them I still want to give my best to support the remaining members.
11. Edamame Beans
Favorite Member: Keyon & Haruto
Favorite Song: Puzzle
They are so freakin cute and Keyon is such a brat being all loud and noisy but I love him for that. I like that they try to speak some English once in a while, like doing English introduction videos. That’s awesome.
As for their music I do like their songs but they still have to improve their singing skills a lot. However their dancing is pretty good already. I will enjoy watching them get better and grow up.
10. Sakura Shimeji
Favorite Member: Hyouga
Favorite Song: Ikujinashi
As for Sakura Shimeji I love both Gaku and Hyouga, they are so cute and I bet really nice and lovely too. However when it comes to their music, sometimes I feel like their voices are just to high for my taste. I do love some of their songs and I usually enjoy their concerts but out of EBiDAN they are probably the group I like the least songs of. Nevertheless I will keep supporting them because I love the members and there are songs I love.
These little boys always surprise me with their music because I always expect childish songs that I am not much into but many of their songs turn out to be really addicting.
Also some of the members have been with EBiDAN for so long already, it’s crazy. Taisei, Rui and Taishi are in EBiDAN for around 6 years already, that’s nearly half their lives, since all three of them turn 13 years old this year. So crazy.
They still need more training but in these years they improved a lot and I am very much looking forward to watch them grow up into talented, handsome man.
8. EBiSSH
Favorite Member: Tetta
Favorite Song: Koi no Timing
It took really long until I started to like EBiSSH. I first checked them out when the “EBiDAN The Street” Groups have been featured in the EBiDAN magazine for the first time. They all looked so handsome but when I checked some fan recordings of some of their in-store lives, I felt like they lack too much vocal skills. I really didn’t enjoy their music at all. It took as long as their cd debut to get me interested in them again. I love “Koi no Timing” which is their debut song and when checking out their live again, I felt that they already improved. Until today they still have to improve their vocal skills but nowadays I do enjoy listening to Tettas voice a lot and Rei sounds so much better now too. I can really say that EBiSSH is a group that grew on me.
7. Satori Shonen Dan
Favorite Member: Eiku
Favorite Song: I wanna say...
They were the first “EBiDAN The Street” group I loved. Right from the start you got the feeling that these three boys are really talented. Eiku has a very beautiful voice and Hayato and Kenshin have always been amazing dancer. I still enjoy watching their old street lives on YouTube. Also because my favorite song of them still hasn’t been released on cd. I am seeing a bright future for Satori Shonen Dan.
6. M!LK
Favorite Member: Sano Hayato
Favorite Song: milky snow, Coffee ga Nomimasen
M!LK went through some major member changes last year and I think you can’t really compare the old M!LK with the new one. I do like both a lot though. I feel like even though the new members are younger, their music is much more mature now. However I do like the cute music they did before too. Listening to my favorite songs of them you will know for sure that I a really like their cute songs!
Despite their music I really like the members too. I know all of them since they were still trainees. Mizuki, Jinto and Daichi have already been a part of the trainees when I got really hard into EBiDAN. That makes them very special to me. However Sano is still my bias. He is so freakin adorable. And the new members are great too, Ryubi e.g. has always been a trainee I really liked, so I was happy he joined M!LK.
5. AMEZARI -RED STARS-
Favorite Member: Hibiki
Favorite Song: With My Step
I liked them a lot even before I met them this year but after meeting them I started to love them SO much more. Before I mostly liked Hibiki but now I like all the members so much. They are so cute, nice and awesome and I hope they will get more and more popular and can reach their goals. What stands out most when it comes to them is their incredible dancing skills. I mean they are still pretty young but so freakin good dancer. As for their singing they still have to improve but there definitely is potential. I mean they don’t sound bad, especially Yori has such a nice voice, I was so supprised when I saw them live. The others have nice voices too but I think Yori has the most talent and the others just need more vocal training. However I do enjoy their music, not everything but a lot of their songs.
4. Super★Dragon
Favorite Member: Tsuyoshi
Favorite Song: Paya Paya
I saw them live three times already. Once in 2016 and twice this year. They are great dancer and I love the voices of Tsuyoshi and Hyoma a lot. Especially Tsuyoshi has such an extremely beautiful voice. But I also love the rap of Jean a lot and Koki and Tomoya doing pretty good with rapping too. Besides their performance I like the members a lot too. They are cute when interacting with each other. I absolutely recommend watching “Super Dragon TV” on YouTube, if you want to get more into them. Another thing I love about them is of course their music. I love their mix of rock, pop, EDM and rap music. They have so many freakin awesome songs!!
3. PRIZMAX
Favorite Member: Tsubasa
Favorite Song: Never, Three Things, Without You, Lonely Summer Days, Up > Up Beat, Fantasista, Mysterious Eyes, Orange Moon, Truth, HUG & KISS
I still remember when they were only three members and you could find so many fan recordings of them on YouTube. When they announced to debut in 2013, I got so excited and happy and I was also happy about Yuuki and Tsubasa joining the group. Since then they have released so many good songs. I love listening to their whole discography. There is not a single song of them I don’t like.
Something I like about their songs a lot is that they have a lot of English in their songs, this way it’s much easier for me to sing along with the songs and I absolutely love this.
2. Chotokkyu
Favorite Member: Takuya
Favorite Song: Gr8test Journey
Chotokkyu is probably the most well known group of EBiDAN and it’s no wonder. They are great dancer, their songs are freakin good and the members are lovely. Also their concerts are really fun to watch all the time. Besides all these reasons I like them for their great humor. One scene I can’t get over is Yusuke dressed as a girl saying „muri desu“ in the music video for „Tsundere Chibi Ouji“.
Thought this whole video is just so freakin hilarious!! I really love these guys a lot.
1. DISH//
Favorite Member: Daichi
Favorite Song: Honestly I cant choose one... but here is a few songs I would recommend listening to. Hareru YA!, Yume Tabi, Starting Over, Yay Natsuyasumi, Flame and The Phantom.
Still and probably always my favorite group is DISH//. Why you might think? The answer is easy, when it comes to DISH// I like everything. I am hugely addicted to their music, the members can be super weird but are freakin lovely and adorable too, their live performances are perfect (I actually saw them live twice, so I can tell for sure) and I love them deeply from the bottom of my heart!!
That was my ranking of the EBiDAN groups. I would love to get to know your ranking too!!
