Johnny’s group Hey! Say! JUMP has announced the release of their 8th studio album titled “Fab! -Music speaks-“. The album features their hit singles such as “Last Mermaid…”, “Muah Muah”, and “I am” and the new tracks “Fab-ism” and “Jazzy Cut” for 16 songs in total.

Fans will be able to purchase three different versions of the album, two limited edition CD+DVDs and a CD only. Version A will include an MV and making-of for the track “Fab-ism”, while version B will include MVs for “Okami Seinen” and “Senya Ichiya”. Type A comes with a 32 page “large” photobook, while Type B comes with a 40 page standard photobook. Both will be housed in a slipcase package.

Girl group Sakurazaka46 has released their highly anticipated MV for their debut single “Nobody’s fault“! Sakurazaka46 is the “rebirth” of the group Keyakizaka46. The MV was directed by Takuhei Goto, who is known for work with various CMs.

The dramatic MV shows the girls dancing at a harbor, clad in a culty all white dress, and school uniforms. The center of the single is Hikaru Morita, who originally joined the Sakamichi Series in December 2018 as a 2nd generation member of Keyakizaka46. Check out the MV below!

Back in March 2020 former AKB48 member Mariko Shinoda announced that she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, just a month earlier she married her non-celebrity husband who works in the entertainment industry. Like many Japanese celebrities, Shinoda censors the face or eyes of her child when uploading photos to social media.

However, Shinoda gave her fans a treat when she uploaded an unedited photo of her baby girl Mei with a big smile on her face!

Singer Kaela Kimura is back on the scene with a brand new MV for her song “ZIG ZAG“, a track from her mini-album of the same name released back in March, 2020. The song features support from the rapper BIM.

The MV originally made it’s debut in September for fans who watched the special live concert KAELA presents on-line LIVE 2020 “NEVERLAND”. The MV was made in collaboration with the wireless earbud TE-D01m, by AVIOT.

Kimura commented that she envisioned for the MV to have a bit of a disjointed feel, due to the songs name “ZIG ZAG”. She also wanted to express “zigzagging” with an awkward dance. Kimura closed by saying she thought the director did an amazing job helping her create her vision.

Check out the full MV for “ZIG ZAG” below!

Rumors have started to float around that Takuya Kimura will be one of the performers at the annual NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. It’s been almost four years since Kimura’s former group SMAP stopped activities in December, 2016. At the beginning of 2020, he finally returned to the music scene releasing his debut solo album “Go With The Flow” where it debuted at #1 on Oricon.

Despite his solo success, there has been a mixed reaction from netizens including fans of SMAP. Naysayers claim that they haven’t heard any of Kimura’s solo songs, and most people won’t even know them. Other complains claim that he should give the slot to one of the Johnny’s groups who debuted recently, or the fear that he would perform a SMAP song.

Johnny‘s official website Johnny’s net has reported that Tomohisa Yamashita is no longer with the company, revealing that his final day as a Johnny’s talent was on October 31st 2020.

In the statement they thanked fans for their continued support over the years and deeply apologize for the sudden announcement. In the statement they went on to say that Yamapi has a desire to continue to build his career in oversea markets, and currently his plans to focus his attention on other markets besides Japan.

On December 2, Koda Kumi will release her 20th anniversary mini albums, “angeL [MY NAME IS…]” and “monsteR [MY NAME IS…].” Late last month, Kumi released a video teaser for the ballad “RUN”, one of the songs from “angeL [MY NAME IS…].”

Today, the KPop company SM Entertainment uploaded a video for their soon to debut girl group æspa, which features a song that sounds quite similar to “RUN”, but with a faster tempo. The video features one of the group members, NINGNING, along with her virtual avatar. The four members of æspa all have virtual avatars, which brings to mind something like the group Aqours.

So what is going on here? Is this NINGNING covering Koda Kumi? Or have both Avex and SM bought the same track for their respective acts? Are we living in 2008 when Dong Bang Shin Ki and Sarah Connor released the same song within weeks of each other? Decide below!

This week’s guests were LiSA, SixTONES, Daichi Miura, Masaharu Fukuyama, NiziU, and Macaroni Enpitsu.

LiSA – Gurenge / Homura

SixTONES – NEW ERA

Daichi Miura – Antelope

Masaharu Fukuyama – Shinon

NiziU – Make you happy

Daichi Miura – Happiness (AI cover)

Macaroni Enpitsu – mother