Have you ever lost interest in J-pop?

[elepop]

So, have you ever lost interest in J-pop?

I'm asking this, because this is the way I feel toward J-Pop music right now. I believe Austin did a post like this a while ago? I think that I've been gradually losing interest for a year or 2, maybe 3? Probably because my top idols haven't really released anything that interesting. Also, I've been listening to a lot of Korean music lately and I realized how much more talented Korean singers are compared to Japanese artists vocal-wise, IMO. I've been in love with artists from the Korean label Pastel Music. Awesome indie pop and rock music. But now back to J-Pop...

Losing interest in:
- Ayu's music has been going downhill since MY STORY. It's been getting quite boring and NEXT LEVEL is a horrible album. I think I only listened to Secret, GUILTY and NEXT LEVEL once or twice.
- Koda is getting mediocre all over again. More TABOO, less ballads please!
- Ami Suzuki... I liked the direction she took with CONNETTA. Dolce wasn't that bad either! But Supreme Show was a major disappointment. And then she goes and release something like Reincarnation... Oh God...
- Ai Otsuka, to be honest, I don't remember the last time I listened to her music...
- Hello! Project... Morning Musume, Aya Matsuura, Abe Natsumi, GAM, Miki Fujimoto, Ongaku Gatas, Berryz, C-ute, all shuffles and sub-groups... I don't care for them anymore. I passed that H!P phase. XD
- ZONE, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, REMIOROMEN, Kou Shibasaki, Tommy heavenly6, the brilliant green, RYTHEM... They are all fading away too.

To be honest, hot "new" artists like GReeeeN, Stereopony, SCANDAL, Ikimonogakari, Kobukuro, Perfume don't interest me as much as I thought I would be.


Reasons I'm still following the J-Pop scene:
- BoA. Korean, Japanese, English. She still has it.
- ayaka is the only exciting "new" artist. She's going on hiatus though.
- hitomi & aiko. Their music will always be timeless.
- Namie Amuro's music is getting better and better over the years IMO.
- Shoko Nakagawa. Her music is so versatile.
- Maki Goto. Everything she has done so far with avex has been awesome.
- ERIKA, there might be hope she comes back? XD

So yes, there might be hope! LOL. There's still 8 artists out of 20-30 something J-Pop artists I used to listen to that I still like!

How about you, ever felt sick of the J-Pop scene?

[prussian blue]

not that serious, but i totally lost interest with ai otsuka's music. what she's doing now is just so different compared to her first 2 album.

and koda kumi, i totally have no idea, i just dont want to care her new music anymore

[aqua_crystal]

Well... I first started liking Jpop in 2003- but I only liked 1 or atists. I never cared for it at that time and I just started loving Jpop again in mid- 2007. So im still good.

Originally Posted by prussian blue

not that serious, but i totally lost interest with ai otsuka's music. what she's doing now is just so different compared to

Originally Posted by Maemi

@asongforXX
I agree with Ai Otsuka - i still have hopes she'll do smth like Cherish/Planetarium again.

I totally agree with your opinions on Ai Otsuka- her music just isn't as good anymore.

[Lee^ChaN]

J-POP is part of my life
i never heard any other songs than J-POP now

[KarenPang]

for me

guess it helps that if you support a range of artistes , in that will keep your mind occupied from losing interest in jpop

[Meat Pao]

Originally Posted by KarenPang

for me

guess it helps that if you support a range of artistes , in that will keep your mind occupied from losing interest in jpop

Same for me

[Maemi]

@asongforXX
I understand what you're saying. The Jpop music isn't what it used to be. Even though i'm just a fan since '06/'07 i can say that some artists are loosing their touch. I agree with Ai Otsuka - i still have hopes she'll do smth like Cherish/Planetarium again.
MM has become boring, their last album couldn't reack 40k if i remember correctly.
Koda Kumi disappointed me the most - TRICK is just awful, it's nothing compared to Kingdom and Black Cherry.
Ayu, Utada and Namie are still my fav, and they don't disappoint me, but the others... I've become very picky. And of course some Jrock bands like Dir en grey never let me down.

BTW can you tell me what are your fav groups/artists?

[sweetgirl]

no I have not, I listen to Japanese, local, western and little bit Korean that why I don't lose interest. maybe u lost interest coz u limit yourself to few artist and genre.

[elepop]

Originally Posted by Maemi

@asongforXX
I understand what you're saying. The Jpop music isn't what it used to be. Even though i'm just a fan since '06/'07 i can say that some artists are loosing their touch. I agree with Ai Otsuka - i still have hopes she'll do smth like Cherish/Planetarium again.
MM has become boring, their last album couldn't reack 40k if i remember correctly.
Koda Kumi disappointed me the most - TRICK is just awful, it's nothing compared to Kingdom and Black Cherry.
Ayu, Utada and Namie are still my fav, and they don't disappoint me, but the others... I've become very picky. And of course some Jrock bands like Dir en grey never let me down.

BTW can you tell me what are your fav groups/artists?

I completely agree about Ai. More Cherish/Planetarium!
MM is blah since Yossie and Miki left. Addition of LL and JJ doesn't do anything.
Koda for me was best in the "secret" days.

As for my favorite artists, except those I listed in the first post, are only Korean artists: Girls' Generation, Donawhale, Taru, Yozoh, Epik High, KARA, Wonder Girls, Brown Eyed Girls, Clazziquai Project, Misty Blue, Belle Epoque, Nell, Davichi, Loveholic, Son Dam Bi, SHINee, Humming Urban Stereo...

Originally Posted by sweetgirl

no I have not, I listen to Japanese, local, western and little bit Korean that why I don't lose interest. maybe u lost interest coz u limit yourself to few artist and genre.

I used to listen to 40 something Japanese artists. Now it has come down to 20 and currently about 10. My Korean discography has almost 50 artists!

The thing about Japanese music is that it doesn't offer that much variety. For Korean music, I listen to anything from pop, dance, hip-hop, jazz, electronica, indie pop, indie rock, alternative, rock to R&B. When it comes to Japanese music, it's between pop (Ayu, Koda, Namie, BoA...), rock (HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION...) and in the middle (ayaka, Kaela, aiko, the brilliant green...). I don't really like urban/hip-hop Japanese music somehow.

[Ayumi27]

Back in 2006, when I only listened to Ayumi & Utada (I didn't know anyone else) I started to get bored and lost interest for some months... Ever since, I have lost interest in particular singers or bands, but not J-pop itself

[Sakura_Genki]

I've never lost full interest but sometimes I can feel my interest wavering time to time when it comes to J-pop. I suppose the only artists that keep me interested are artists like Shoko Nakagawa, Ayu and BoA, but I'm always checking out new artists and new releases that come out to see if my interest gets restored or boosted. I'm very similar to you asongforXX, my Korean discography is starting to surpass my Japanese quite a bit. I'm way more into Korean music right now (especially Big Bang, Lee Hyori and Son Dam Bi ), I love the diversity I can find in the Korean music scene.

[Mirai Noah]

I'll admit that some of the acts that I've following for years don't interest me as much as they used to. I'm still into J-Pop, but there are artists that I'm not into as much as I used to.

[stickyrice]

I remember back in 2002 until 2005, J-pop was like... my life.

Ayumi, no matter how much I love her, has been really mediocre as of lately. I initially liked "NEXT LEVEL" but the album just got boring so fast (except for "Days" I can still listen to it and not get bored!). There's that part of me though that believes she CAN pick herself up again.

I stopped having high hopes for Kumi as soon as "Black Cherry" was released. That album was just a mess with the exception of 2 songs. "Kingdom" was nice but it was no "secret" or "BEST~second session~". When she released "TABOO" I thought there still was hope, but then "TRICK" came out and all hope was lost. Followed by "It's all love!!" and "faraway" - I basically just gave up on her. I still follow her career, but I'm not expecting anything out of her anymore.

As for Ai Otsuka. "LOVE LETTER" wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the Ai Otsuka I fell in love with. "LOVE COOK" was just an amazing album. How she went from that to "LOVE LETTER" I dunno. I hope she can go back and start creating quirky, fun, addictive songs as well as her amazing ballads.

My BoA fandom died when "MADE IN TWENTY" was released but it was slowly coming back with "THE FACE". "Vivid" dropped her back down again but then "eien" was released and that just saved her. Hopefully when she returns to Japan, she'll follow that path.

hitomi, Mika Nakashima, Do As Infinity, Eri Nobuchika, Namie Amuro, ayaka, Shoko Nakagawa (I should thank you asongforXX, since you were always talking about her, I decided to check her out lol) and a few others are the only reason I still follow J-pop.

[Rock Steady]

Koda Kumi, Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, Nami Tamaki, Gackt, and Utada Hikaru are the only Japanese artists I follow and support anymore. I mainly only support Kpop and Mpop/Cantopop artists now, really.

Jpop has become so boring lately, but Kpop and Mpop/Cantopop artists are always popping out something fresh and new.

[elepop]

Originally Posted by stickyrice

Ayumi, no matter how much I love her, has been really mediocre as of lately. I initially liked "NEXT LEVEL" but the album just got boring so fast (except for "Days" I can still listen to it and not get bored!). There's that part of me though that believes she CAN pick herself up again.

I always say this to myself also. Not just about Ayu, but for every other artists too. That's why I'm still visiting AHS a lot. When Ayu, Koda, Ai etc are releasing something new, I always hope I'll love it. It's often not the case, but we never know!

hitomi, Mika Nakashima, Do As Infinity, Eri Nobuchika, Namie Amuro, ayaka, Shoko Nakagawa (I should thank you asongforXX, since you were always talking about her, I decided to check her out lol) and a few others are the only reason I still follow J-pop.

I had no idea! Wow! Well, I'm glad you like Shokotan also.

[Andrenekoi]

I don't like "Jpop" itself, and only liked it for 1 year... I think (and hope I don't offend anyone) that jpop is (and ever were) a lot of talentless cute musicians with good producers playing recycled songs until they 2 or 3 years fame spam is over... There ARE very talented people in jpop, but most of it is IMO much more produced and fake than western pop

The only reason that I still keep folowing what's happening in jpop is that I think that Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada are two of the most talented pop acts in the world right now (Ayu as a producer and performer, Utada as a musician)

And I respect Ai Otsuka, Namie Amuro and some jpop and jrock bands also... Even If I'm not in love with their music

[PoetGirl]

you are right, i remember i was totally into jpop long ago. now im in cpop cuz i understand it and cuz its interesting.
jpop is getting boring, artists i still follow are: aoyama thelma, satomi takasugi, miliyah kato, JYONGRI, alan, ayu, namie amuro, and i discovered totally hot artist (thanks to this forum) HIDEMI UEMATSU. she's that amazing i cant wait for her debut album. she's A-M-AAAAAAAA-ZING.

and thats it :/

[Celaphorce]

The only person I've really wanted to quit on was Ayu and that was when (miss)understood had came out, I loved the singles, but a majority of the album tracks sucked imo except for Rainy Day and Criminal, those were my faves. But I still gave her a chance and Secret was prolly her best, Guilty was okay...my favorite track was an interlude(The Judgment Day), and then Next Level which I'm surprised I like...although I only like the single tracks, Curtain Call, Next Level, Love 'N' Hate, and Bridge To The Sky.

Namie I don't think I'll ever get tired of her, as she grows by age she finds the more mature sound for music that works for her.

Koda...well TRICK is blah imo only 3 new album tracks I really like, and Bling Bling Bling is a joke, can't even believe it made it to the album!

Ai Otsuka, I love her to death, and even though Love Letter wasn't as good as her other albums I still liked it cause I like her music.

BoA, another amazing artist I couldn't give her up even if I wanted to.

alan she truly is amazing and one of the best debuts I've heard, it's too bad her popularity isn't huge, but I'm sure she'll get there as time goes on., and

ayaka, I love her as well there's nothing from her that I've listened to that I haven't liked, she's good!

[emi♡]

I'm actually the opposite of you...All the artists you are losing interest in, are the one's I'm just discovering, like Ami Suzuki. I love Supreme Show, because I like that sound.

Furthermore, all the artists you find timeless, I find boring, like ayaka and hitomi.

I do agree with you about Ayu. I don't really listen to her at all anymore, and I also agree with you about the new artists, like GREEN and Perfume. I just can't get into Perfume...even though they sing in a style I like.

I don't think I'm losing interest in jpop...because to me, it's just music. I will say that a lot of people aren't doing anything fun at all.

So I'm currently spending more time looking up indie artists and artists I may have looked over. Like Emi Hinouchi. That girl needs way more love.

I've been happy with a lot of the singer/songwriter artists I've found. They seem to interest me more than any of the bigger acts.

For me, artists like hikki and kuu are timeless lol I could listen to the same kuu songs over and over, and I mostly do, and the same is true with hikki. Probably only because I love them though.

The only artist that is disappointing me atm, is Ayu...which really makes me sad.

[brand new love]

i kind of lost interest in the sense that i much prefer k-pop to j-pop now. i still like j-pop, but i just listen to the people i've always liked.. there aren't many new people that i'm interested in at all. i find k-pop idols much more fun in general so i don't keep up with j-pop except for a few people, but its been like this for a while.