On March 7, Daichi Miura will release his first best album, simply titled “BEST.” The album will span Daichi’s career, from his debut solo single, 2005’s “Keep It Goin’ On”, up to his most recent single, last August’s “U.” It will also feature the song “Futsuu no Konya no Koto wo -let tonight be forever remembered-“, which was written and composed by DREAMS COME TRUE, and a new song, “DIVE!”
The album will come in four editions. All of the editions will contain two CDs spanning Daichi’s discography. Two of the editions will feature either a Blu-ray or DVD containing Daichi’s music videos. One of the editions is a fanclub edition, which will feature a third CD containing non-single songs that fanclub members chose as their faves.
Daichi recently released the music video for “DIVE!” The video features choreography from Daichi’s earlier music videos. The opening shot of the video starts in the clouds and pans down to the ground. This is the same shot that opened the music video for Michael Jackson’s 1991 hit “Black or White”, a video which amazed Daichi as a child. Check out the video below, along with more information on Daichi’s first best album!
This week, Hey! Say! JUMP topped the Oricon single chart with their new single “Mae wo Muke”, selling 244,765 copies in its first week.
Sexy Zone topped the Oricon album chart with their new album “XYZ=repainting”, selling 134,139 copies in its first week.
Yonezu Kenshi topped the Oricon digital single chart with his new single “Lemon”, selling 235,571 copies in its first week.
The “Greatest Showman” soundtrack topped the Oricon digital album chart, selling 7,539 copies in its 11th week.
Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw EXILE defeat STU48 and DAOKO x Yonezu Kenshi. This week, we have a newcomer facing off against a blast from the past. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the singles charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!
Talent Becky has been appointed as the new spokeswoman for the headphone brand Beats by Dr. Dre. The CM began airing nationwide in Japan today, and features a brand new song by Suiyoubi no Campanella.
The CM is being used to promote the Beatsx headphones. The wireless headphones were created using Apple’s W1 chip and apparently boasts a “surprisingly long” battery life of 8 hours of continuous play. Furthermore, the headphones allows 2 hours of playback with 5 minutes of charging using their “Fast Fuel” function.
Just like any other standard headphone you’ll be able to use “RemoteTalk” to answer and make calls, along with access Siri.
Boy band MATSURI nine are still newcomers to the music scene. Last year in August they made their major label debut with the single Aa, Yume Mikoshi . The boys are back for their very first release of 2018, their 2nd single Hare Hare Carnival.
MATSURI nine has seven members in total with each of them having their own official color. They were created by the agency FORTUNE ENTERTAINMENT, who is most known for their boy band BOYS AND MEN. The groups major selling point is their energetic live performances which showcase their aggressive vocals and choreography which regularly incorporates acrobatics.
Hare Hare Carnival is an upbeat song, an ode to Japan’s numerous Summer festivals. The MV itself takes inspiration from that too, the set is adorned with food stands and paper lanterns. Throughout the video, the scenes suddenly change to the boys in ancient Japan where they’re all sporting traditional garb with a classicchonmage hairstyle.
The single will be released in four versions, one CD+DVD and three CD only versions. While tracklist and covers aren’t confirmed yet, each version is expected to have their own new b-side. The DVD content will feature the full video along with making-of footage.
Watch the short version of Hare Hare Carnival below!
The latest batch of Queens have been announced for the 10th season of the hit reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, among them is Yuhua Hamasaki.
As the name suggests her name was indeed inspired by Japan’s very own party queen Ayumi Hamasaki. Yuhua is a New York city native who quickly made a name for herself in the vast N.Y drag scene. She has a plethora of drag awards under her belt including Miss Fire Island (2012), Get Out magazine’s “Queen of NYC” (2012), Miss Gay South Pacific (2013), and Miss Asia NYC (2014). Self-described as blunt, sexy, and beautiful Yuhua will no doubt make an impact on the show.
Over the years Hamasaki herself has become very popular in the Japanese drag scene, with it being extremely common for clubs to have “Ayumi Hamasaki nights”. Furthermore, Hamasaki has been vocal about her support for the LGBT numerous times throughout her career.
RuPaul’s Drag Race originally made it’s debut 9 years ago, and has since become a bit of a cultural phenomenon. It has produced 9 successful seasons, as well as three spin-off “All Star” seasons where past contestants return for another chance at the crown. Season 3 of All Star’s is currently airing, the finale will happen on March 15th, 2018.
Season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race will begin airing on March 22nd, 2018. Do you think Yuhua bring any of Hamasaki’s signature looks to the show? Watch her introduction video below!
This week, TWICE topped the Hot 100 chart with their single “Candy Pop.”
Morning Musume. 20th topped the Hot Albums chart with their new mini album “Hatachi no Morning Musume.”
TWICE also topped the Streaming Songs chart with their “Candy Pop.”
Mr.Children retook the top spot on the Download Songs chart with their single “here comes my love”, topping the chart for the third non-consecutive week.
Yasutaka Nakata topped the Download Albums chart with his debut solo album “Digital Native.”
Earlier this month we reported that electronic rock band Sakanaction would be releasing their first best album, “Sakanazukan“, on March 28th. The group have now revealed all of the details about this release, including both its track list and the contents of its Limited Edition DVD/Blu-ray disc.
The compilation has been organized into a series of 3 different discs: “Asase (‘Shallows’)”, “Chuusou (‘Medium Depth’)”, and “Shinkai (‘Deep Sea’)”. The Shinkai disc, which will only be included with the Limited Production Premium Box, will include those tracks which the band members find to be most emblematic of their sonic identity, as well as a special binaural field recording of their song “Good-Bye” as a bonus track.
Read on below to find not only the complete track list for “Sakanazukan”, but also a preview of the group’s new song “Kagerou”, which will be used as the theme song for the upcoming film “Donten ni Warau”.
