J-pop Acts

I've done quite a few posts on Japanese and Korean singers and groups, so to fit in with September's J-pop and K-pop theme I thought I'd do a round-up of my favourite acts. I was going to do both Japanese and Korean acts but it was turning into a mega post, so I'll start with the J-pop ones and do K-pop next time!


Koda Kumi

Koda Kumi is my favourite Japanese singer. She's very popular in Japan and this year is her 15th anniversary of being in the music business. Here are some Koda related links:

Video for one of my favourite songs, Trust You: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-music-video_21.html

My absolute favourite song, feel: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/03/weekly-music-video_27.html

Top 10 Koda Kumi Songs


Namie Amuro

Namie Amuro is my second favourite Japanese singer. She is also very popular in Japan, with a long running career of 23 years! Check out these Namie links:

Video for Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/04/weekly-music-video_17.html


60 70s 80s (triple-A side single): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/12/namie-amuro-60s-70s-80s.html

Do Me More video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/11/weeklt-music-video.html

And here is a post on both Kumi and Namie: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/04/new-koda-kumi-and-namie-amuro-songs.html



Utada Hikaru

I also like Japanese American singer Utada Hikaru. I tend to prefer her English music to Japanese but like some J-pop songs as well.


Easy Breezy video (English): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/08/weekly-music-video_21.html

My favourite Utada song: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/10/weekly-music-video.html



Ayumu Hamasaki and Gackt

Ayumi Hamasaki is another top J-pop female star and GACKT (full name Gackt Camui) is a successful male star. I featured them both in a Girls vs Boys post in 2013: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/08/girls-vs-boys-j-pop.html


Hiromi 

Hiromi (full name Hiromi Miyake) is a Japanese R'n'B singer who I discovered in 2011. I have her mini album True Colors. I also really liked the songs on her Christmas  mini album Hot Chocolate and wanted it one Christmas but found it hard to get hold of at the time. I haven't heard any new music of hers for ages but see on her Jpop Asia page that she has a new song called Tequila Sunrise, so I'll check that out.


Visit Hiromi's official site here (Japanese/English language: http://rainbow-voice.com/index.php

Post on my fave Hiromi song, One Night Stand: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/10/random-music-video_28.html

Video for YES, another song: I like: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/11/another-hiromi-video.html


Jasmine 

Jasmine was another singer who I discovered in 2011. Her music is also more on the R'n'B side. There is more info available on her in English now, she has a Wikipedia entry which she didn't before. I really liked songs off her debut album GOLD but that was also hard to get hold of. She has another album called Complexx now.

Jealous video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-music-video.html


J-Soul Brothers

I only recently was introduced to Japanese boyband J Soul Brothers. Read more about them and watch the video for J.S.B. DREAM here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/09/j-soul-brothers-japanese-boyband.html


EXILE TRIBE

J Soul Brothers are part of supergroup EXILE TRIBE, along with groups including EXILE and GENERATIONS. For more on them visit this post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/09/weekly-music-video_16.html


That's it for now. Stay tuned for the follow up K-pop post! :)