My Top 10 Favorite Male Solo Artists

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.

#02 SIRUP (former known as KYOtaro)

Favorite Songs: Rain, Do Well, Loop, LMN, Isshun, Synapse, WILYWNKA x SIRUP - Stay, Yosa Taar - Fever feat. SIRUP, Shin Sakiura - Cruisin feat. SIRUP, SWIM, Last Dance, Dancer, Heart Beat, Tower feat. erie

Example: 

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?

My favorite JPop songs of 2018 Part 1

Today I want to share my favorite songs of this year. There will be no ranking/order because I love all of these a lot and I am not able to put them in a ranking/order. There have been so many amazing songs being released this year and so many songs I deeply love, therefor this list is going to be pretty long and I will sepperate it into two parts. I hope you listen to the ones you don't know and maybe you will fall in love with them as well.

Let's start of with not just a song but a whole group and that is INTERSECTION. I love all the songs they released this year so freakin' much and I had all their songs on repeat a lot. If you haven't checked them out jet please do so.

The solo song of KAZ is extremly awesome as well and also one of my favorites of this year. Sadly there is no video for it but you can listen to it for free on spotify.

Red Lights by KAZ on Spotify

Next up is a girl group I like a lot and with their "Who We Are" they gave me goosebumps. I am talking about Faky, who bearly disappoint with their releases. "Who We Are" has been on repeate on my Ipod for very long. I am not only stunned by their beautiful voices but also about these amazing lyrics that have been translated into dozens of languages by fans.  Here it is.

Next up is "Shake Your Body" by ReN. I came across his music this year and by now I am deeply in love with his beautiful voice. While I do like his song "Aurora"  too (which was released this year as well), it is "Shake Your Body" that got me press the repeat button the most.

Next up is the most talanted and awesome Rapper ever....... AKLO!! I love his music a lot and I am glad to know he is writing his song on his own. My favorite of his songs this year has been "Under The Cliff feat. JAY'ED". His collaborations are always lit. However there is more that I count to my absolute favorites of this year. One of them being "Super Chingon", gosh damn it it's so freakin' nice listening to him rapping in spanish. Here are all the songs he released this year that I couldn't stop on listening to again and again.

Next up is another Rapper but a female one. Chanmina is an rising star and I hope 2019 will be an awesome year for her. In 2018 she sadly didn't release much. The one new song of her I absolutly love is "Pain is Beauty". It's a beautiful and very emotional song and the video for it was done very well too.

Next up is a taiwanese group releasing music in Japan and Taiwan. They are called noovy. I didn't knew them until this year. However I am not to excited about most of their songs. They do have some nice songs but I honestly prefer their taiwanese music more. However there is one japanese song of them I just can't stop listening to and that's "Singin' For You". Such an addicting, cute and beautiful song!!!!

Next is Mukai Taichi, who already got his place in my heart with releasing so many good songs and his unique voice that get's me melting. I love his music style a lot and 2018 was a great year for him. He released an mini album, as well as a full-lenght album and a few digital singles. Here are my personal favorites of his 2018 releases.

Malibu on Spotify

Furusato on Spotify

Agony on Spotify

When Color Creation released Canvas, I once again fell in love with their stunning voices. It's my favorite song of them so far.  The solo parts of Rioske still gets my heart flutter, whenever I listen to the song.

Another song I had on repeat countless times is "Yo Quiero Vivir" by WASUTA x Adexe y Nau. This song is extremly addicting!

As for the next group, I can't believe that they are still so underrated. I am talking about Doberman Infinity who deserve so much attention, especially outside of Japan. Their music is very good, the old and the new stuff. When it comes to 2018 I love their Off Road album and the singles they released this year are gorgeous too. My favorite song of them and the one I had on repeat the most is definitly SUPER BALL.

The only co-ed group on this list is lol. I am not too excited about their releases this year but there is two songs I absolutely love. So here are my two favorite songs of them in 2018.

Playback on Spotify

CRAZYBOY's "Loco" was definitly one of my most played song this year. I always get a good mood listing to this but also his "U.N.I" is pure love. I am already looking forward to his releases next year.

U.N.I. on Spotify

The next group is HONG¥O.JP. I like their releases quite a lot, especially "Just Do It", it's always stucking in my head after listening to it. Another song I call my favorite is "One Road". 

One Road on Spotify

I listend to a lot of songs by DUAL MASK this year, sadly they released only one song this year. The song is called Always and is awesome. It breaks my heart that they are still so unknown. They are extremly talanted and their music is honestly so good. Please check them out if you have never heard of them.

Always on Spotify

Do you know these songs that are used in dramas and the more they are being played in the drama the more you love the song. "Sayonara Elegy" by Suda Masaki is one of these songs for me. Thought I did knew the song before I watched "Todome no Kiss", I fell much deeper in love with it because of the drama. His voice is beautiful and I LOVE the lyrics a lot. Definitly check it out and if you like dramas check out Todomo no Kiss as well.

The artists I listened to the most this year is by far Hirai Dai. His latest albums is really good and I love his old music too. His voice is very soothing to me, he transfers so many emotions with his songs. I became a huge fan of him this year and I am looking forward to more awesome songs of him next year. Here are my favorites of his 2018 releases.







Sounds Like A Love Song on Spotify

Beautiful Lane on Spotify

I will post the second part after christmas!

Songs I recently can't get enough of...

Today I wanna share some songs with you that I listen to a lot lately. I love each of these songs a lot and hope you like at least a few of them as well.

[Hirai Dai - Story of Our Live]

Gosh that song is so extremly beautiful and stucks in my head for hours. I know the singer for some years already but never really liked his music but gosh this song... honestly it's SO good and even the other song of his new album he released a video for is very good. I am seriously thinking of buying the new album. *0*


[Touyama Mirei - Negai ~ anogoro no kimi e ~]



Again I know the artists for quite a while but even thought I like her voice a lot and some of her older songs are good, I never stuck to her. However Negai is an extremly beautiful song about Love, how it comes and goes. She delivers the emotions of the song very well. Besides I also really like the music video, it's as beautiful as the song and each compliments the other.


[EBiSSH - Koi wa Timing]



To be honest I didn't expect to like this song so much but after I listend to it the first time I couldn't get this song out of head. A lot of times I randomly start to sing the "kimi ni mu chu" part. This is definitly not the best song I ever heard, also because I still think they have to improve a lot, but the song is addicting and I started to really love it.


[Starmen KiDS - STAR★MEN SUMMER DAYS!]



OMG this song is so damn addicting whenever I listen to it I have to repeat it at least once. I really badly want to have the single so I can listen to this endlessly... XD I love the rythem of the song. It has this amazing summer feeling and their voices, while quite untrained, are still extremly cute and kind of nice to listen too. I really love this song! ^0^


[Chotokkyu - Gr8est Journey]



Chotokkyu really have some of the best songs for their fans. I love the message of this song, it showes how important their fans are and how much they appreciate them being with them. They sing they are going to take you with them on their way to their dream. I love that. It's a super powerful song with an awesome uplifting feeling. Besides that the song is also encouraging thinking about yourself. It has the message that you can achieve what you dream of. I really really love it. Despite the lyrics I also love the vocals of Takashi and Koichi in this song alot and the rythem of this song so damn good too. Absolutly recommended song.


[PrizmaX - Orange Moon]



I love the mysterious feeling this song has, the english the use in it and the amazing refrain. This song is pure love and the video, even though really simple, is perfect for the song. I am addicted to this song and I can't wait for the b-side tracksof this single. On a side note there is one part in the sing I always have to cring at. It's the part where Tim sings "Sexy finger dance". I always think about "the spirit fingers" (from bring it on). XD


[Color Creation - Waiting for You]



If you follow this blog you might already know that I love this group a lot and their debut song is just so good. I listen to it really often and never get boring of it. Especially the vocals of Rioske make me melt. I like all their vocals but he has such a smooth and powerful voice and stands out for me a little. I wish I could see them live one day.


[White Jam - Millionaire]



I really love the music of this group, most of their songs are so perfect. Their music is pretty different to the typical jpop music. You can hear that Shirose (who writes and composes these songs) is very much influenced by western music. I like this because I think what he creats is awesome and always makes you wanna sing a long. Same goes for Millionaire. I love to dance and sing to this song. It's a song that always get's me in a good mood.


[Chotokkyu - My Buddy]



This song is super addicting as well. I didn't expect to like it so much but it's one of these songs that get stuck in my head and I randomly start to sing it no matter what I am doing or where I am. Also I really love the dance to this song. It's so cute.

What are your favorite songs at the moment and did you already know all the songs on this list? Are you addicted to them too?