Utada Hikaru is back on the music scene after a 5 year hiatus. As part of her comeback, she has a special feature on Twitter where fans can ask her questions. On Friday, a fan asked the singer how she felt when she made her debut in 1998 at the age of 15. Utada was honest in her answer: regret.

“Sure I was happy that the product I worked so hard on was being accepted, but all of a sudden the freedom I had so taken for granted until that point was gone,” Utada said. “That frustrating feeling of ‘I can’t go back now’ was huge.”

This week’s guest was Nagase Tomoya.

Nagase Tomoya x Kanjani8 –  Ittajanaika

Nagase Tomoya – Tengoku

Nine songs from 2016 was certified Gold this month for selling 100,000 copies: aiko’s “Motto”, Utada Hikaru’s “Hanataba wo Kimi ni” and “Manatsu no Tooriame”, Ketsumeishi’s “Tomo yo ~ Kono Saki mo Zutto…”, Keyakizaka46’s “Silent Majority”, Sandaime J Soul Brothers’ “Feel So Alive”, Nishino Kana’s “Anata no Suki na Tokoro”, Perfume’s “FLASH, and Big Bang’s “BANG BANG BANG.”

One song was certified Million this month for selling 1,000,000 copies: Angela Aki’s “Tegami ~Haikei Juugo no Kimi e~.”

Today, my review of the best selling album of May, Nogizaka46’s “Sorezore no Isu”, was released by The Japan Times. Nogizaka46 has steadily rose in the world of female idols since they were created as the official rivals of AKB48. Last year, they overcame an adultery scandal to debut on Kohaku Uta Gassen, knocking AKB48’s sister groups, SKE48 and HKT48, off the show’s roster in the process. Nogizaka46 now has the flagship group of the 48 family in its sights.

Suiyoubi no Campanella will make their major label debut with the EP “UMA” on June 22 (it’s now being called an EP instead of an album). The group has finally released the full tracklist for “UMA”, along with the music video for its second track, “Tsuchinoko.”

The music video for “Tsuchinoko” finds frontwoman Koumai inhabiting an unknown world in the sewer of Tokyo. She then leaves this world and has a one woman party in the city streets.

Check out the video below, along with the tracklist for the EP!

We’re back with this week’s edition of Oricon Flashback. This is where we look back on what topped Oricon this week 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. Think of it as a way to reminisce and learn about the past of Japanese music.

This week’s guests were Kobukuro and miwa.

Kobukuro – hana

miwa – Princess

On Recochoku this week, Flower topped the chart for the second week in a row with “Yasashisa de Afureru You ni.”

On iTunes, Fujiwara Sakura topped the chart with “Soup.”