On December 17, Kaela Kimura will release her 8th studio album “MIETA.” The album will have 11 tracks, including the singles “OLE!OH!” and “TODAY IS A NEW DAY.” The album will also include the song “sonic manic”, which was the CM song for Sony’s Hi-Res Ongen Taiou Walkman & Headphone. As indicated, “MIETA” will be a mixture of pop, rock, and electro. Collaborators on the album include AxSxE (NATSUMEN),  Shinobu Watanabe (ASPARAGUS), Pop Etc, Kensuke Ushio (agraph), Nomson, Aida Shigekazu, Morioka Yoshihiro (Gekitetsu), Koshi Miura (Kuchiroro), and Mito (clammbon). Check out the covers and tracklist after the jump as well as a clip of “sonic manic”!

Today TBS (the Tokyo Broadcasting System) have published all of this year’s winners for the 56th Japan Record Awards and the nominees for Song of the Year and Best New Artist.  The Japan Record Awards are a Japanese music awards’ show akin to the Grammies and it can be considered a great honor to be selected for any award on the following list.

Of particular note among this year’s Song of the Year Nominations are Yuzu’s “Ame Nochi Hallelujah”, Hikawa Kiyoshi’s “Choi to Kimageru Wataridori”, Southern All Stars’ “Tokyo VICTORY”, and Sandaime J Soul Brother’s “R.Y.U.S.E.I.”.  Also worth mentioning is the recipient of this year’s Album of the Year award, Takeuchi Mariya’s maginicent “TRAD”, her first full album release in over 7 years.

This year’s Japan Record Awards will air on December 30th (they will be hosted by actress Nakama Yukie and TBS announcer Azumi Shinichiro), which is also when we’ll find out who this year’s Best New Artist will be, as well as which of the song nominations will receive the coveted Grand Prix award.  Please take a look at the full list of winners and nominees below, and congratulations to each and every one of them.

The model, who is currently active with the magazine “Popteen,” announced her pregnancy on the 17th.

NEWS is off to start the new year with a new single “KAGUYA”, a single based on a theme of “Princess Kaguya” a.k.a. “Moon Princess” of Taketori Monogatari, it’s an epic love song that combines the “now” of NEWS with travel stories from ancient times. Ninagawa Mika is directing the music video for the song, which will reflect a bewitching colorful “modern version of Kaguya”.

This collaboration of NEWS × Kaguya × Ninagawa Mika will be released on January 7, 2015. Just a few hours ago, Ninagawa tweeted that the shooting for the PV has finished. Check out for more details below.

On January 14, Ling Tosite Sigure is set to simultaneously release their first best album and their fifth single. The best album is titled “Best of Tornado” while the new single is titled “Who What Who What.” “Best of Tornado” will be released in 3 editions while “Who What Who What” will be released in a CD+DVD version only. More information on the single is soon to be released but we do have more information on the best album.

The 3 editions of the best are the 2CD+DVD “Hyper Tornado Edition”, the 2CD+DVD “Tornado Edition”, and the CD only regular edition. The “Hyper Tornado Edition” and the “Tornado Edition” both come with a DVD of the band’s music videos as well as a second CD containing the tracks from “#3”, Ling Tosite Sigure’s 2004 mini album. “#3” was only previously available at the band’s live shows before their major label debut with the album “#4.” This second CD will also contain some recordings from a 2006 live show at Shinjuku LOFT.

The “Hyper Tornado Edition” will also come with a special 100 page booklet containing concert photos, off-shots, pictures frontman TK took in London, and a history of the band told by its members. All of this will be housed in a special box.

This Oricon Physical music charts for the past week has been released!

KinKi Kids snag the top spot of the singles chart with their new song “Kagi no Nai Hako” selling 152,412 copies while  “with LOVE“, the fifth studio album released by Kana Nishino, conquers the album charts with pushing 100,111 units.

Check out the top 10 of both the single and album chart below!

Recochoku:
1. Che’Nelle – Happiness
2. Namie Amuro – BRIGHTER DAY
3. AKB48 – Kibouteki Refrain
4. Nishino Kana – Darling
5. Flower – Akikaze no Answer
6. Nishino Kana – Suki
7. Kobukuro – Twilight
8. Ikimonogakari – GOLDEN GIRL
9. SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night
10. Hata Motohiro – Himawari no Yakusoku

iTunes:
1. Namie Amuro – BRIGHTER DAY
2. Che’Nelle – Happiness
3. Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
4. Flower – Akikaze no Answer
5. SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night
6. Kobukuro – Twilight
7. Nishino Kana – Darling
8. Ikimonogakari – GOLDEN GIRL
9. One Direction – Night Changes
10. Hata Motohiro – Himawari no Yakusoku

Hello AramaJapan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review!  Last week, Che’Nelle beat Dream5+Buri Taichou to come out on top. She’s looking to continue her reign this week against 2 new challengers! 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!