UNISON SQUARE GARDEN topped Recochoku this week with “Sugar Song and Bitter Step.”
Meanwhile on iTunes, Superfly topped the chart with “Beautiful.” It sold 44,828 copies.
Since May just ended, we also have the monthly Recochoku chart. Nishino Kana topped that with “Moshimo Unmei no Hito ga Iru no Nara.”
Hello Arama Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Nishino Kana win over Hey! Say! JUMP. She’s back again this week along with a new challenger. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!
TAKAHIRO joined EXILE on September 22, 2006, as the replacement for original vocalist SHUN (Shunsuke Kiyokiba). On September 23 of this year, TAKAHIRO will release his debut album solo, “the VISIONALUX”. This release marks the beginning of his 10 year anniversary as a member of EXILE. The title has a meaning behind it. “Vision” comes from what TAKAHIRO has seen, “Visionary” comes from his dreams and feelings, “Lux” comes from the light, “Luxe” comes from luxury, and “X” comes from the number 10.
This album will come in 3 editions: a CD only Regular Edition, a CD+DVD Regular Edition, and 3CD+3DVD+3 Photobook Limited Edition. The Limited Edition weighs in at over 3 kilograms (6.5 pounds). All 3 editions will include TAKAHIRO’s album. The DVD from the CD+DVD Regular Edition and first DVD from the Limited Edition will have the album’s music videos and their making clips. The second CD from the Limited Edition will contain songs that TAKAHIRO sang solo or wrote within EXILE. The third CD from this edition will include his work with the supergroup ACE OF SPADES. The second DVD in the Limited Edition will document his time within EXILE, while the third DVD will be dedicated to ACE OF SPADES. The 3 photobooks in this edition each cover one of the segments of his career mentioned above. They are the work of 6 photographers and do not exceed more than 100 pages each.
Pictures of the Limited Edition can be seen after the jump along with the album’s tracklist!
Oricon has recently released their half year ranking chart for 2015 for manga and light novel series and volume. Coming in for first place for manga series is, surprisingly, ‘Nanatsu no Taizai‘ which has received a gigantic boost in sales from its anime. What we need to see now is whether it can hold on to that spot for the rest of the year against the titan that is ‘One Piece’. For manga volumes, One Piece takes the top with 3,079,249 sales as expected.
Crystal Kay is releasing her first Japanese single in 3 years of June 3. It is titled “Kimi ga Ita Kara.” It is the theme song for Nippon TV’s drama “Wild Heroes”, starring EXILE’s TAKAHIRO. Crystal has now released the full music video for the song. The music video is a mixture of Crystal singing and a mini-drama. Check it out after the jump!
This week’s guests were Tomomi Kahala, back number, and SOLIDEMO.
Tomomi Kahala – Hajimari no Uta ga Kikoeru
back number – SISTER
SOLIDEMO – Girlfriend
In early May, Itano Tomomi announced that she would be releasing her 7th single. Gimme Gimme Luv will be released on July 1st and will be her first release for the year, since the end of year release COME PARTY! The music video and jacket photos were released to the public earlier today and they’ve already drummed up interest online for their sexy theme.
The title track is a passionate party track that incorporates a Latin flavor, giving it that extra spark. Tomomi also displays five different outfits throughout the music video and beckons the viewer seductively with her ‘gimme gimme’ dance. She shows off a more cool and sensual side of herself as she bares her midriff and a skin-tight latex outfit. The song also incorporates EDM and some dubstep during the dance break at the end of the music video. Not one to leave you short, Tomomi also matches her cool and sexy music video with an equally sexy jacket cover. The jacket covers which have people talking features the singer in a bright red bikini, along with a red pistol.
According to Tomomi she tried to incorporate the sexiness of a woman and the coolness of a guy in her coreography for the song. This is definitely a release to check for fans and non-fans alike! Looking at the other tracks of this single, with names like Queen Bee and Belly Dancer, this may be her hottest single yet!
Please check out the music video and details below!
On July 8, JUJU is set to release her new single, “PLAYBACK.” “PLAYBACK” is a summer dance song which sees JUJU teaming up with producer UTA. UTA has worked with many people in the industry, including Arashi, Koda Kumi, Daichi Miura, and AI. The single’s B-side, “Eternally”, is tied in with the 10th anniversary of Konica Minolta Planetarium “Manten.” The other B-side is a cover of the Frankie Valli classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You.” The limited edition of the single comes with a DVD which contains footage from JUJU’s tour from last year. JUJU released a video teaser for “PLAYBACK” today. An interesting thing about the teaser is that it is creatively subbed in English. It can be seen after the jump along with the single’s cover and tracklist!