Your Own "15 Awesome Albums for Beginners to J-Pop"

[Kacku]

This article and the discussion around it in the Ayu Celebrity News forum inspired me to think a little: what would my 15 picks be, because I certainly cannot agree with the article about all the choices?

Now I'd like to ask everyone on the forums: what 15 albums would you pick to represent Japanese pop for someone unfamiliar with everything about it? Post your lists here and feel free to explain your picks!

(I'm still figuring mine out. )

[Surreal17]

Hmmmm...
in no particular order
1.Ayumi Hamasaki - Rainbow
2.Aqua Timez - Carpe Diem (my first japanese album back in 2011 and I still love it )
3.Aimer - Sleepless Nights
4.fumika - POP SISTER
5.Ikimono Gakari - Sakura Saku Machi Monogatari
6.Ikimono Gakari - Life Album
7.Rie Fu - Rose Album
8.YUI - Can't Buy My Love
9.YUI - I Loved Yesterday
10.Stereopony - Hidragena
11.KOKIA - Real World (amazing album!)
12.Lil'B - Ima Kimi e...
13.Ayumi Hamasaki - Secret
14.Kumi Koda - Japonesque
15.Namie Amuro - Play
+ Utada Hikaru - Ultra Blue

[KarenPang]

1) BREAKERZ - FIGHTERZ
2) DAIGO☆STARDUST - HELLO CRAZY GENTLEMAN
3) AKIHIDE - Amber {most flawless album of 2013 , like seriously}
4) DAIGO - DAIGOLD
5) KAT-TUN - KAT-TUN III -QUEEN OF PIRATES-
6) ARASHI - Time
7) NEWS - pacific
8) Hilcrhyme - Recital
9) GIRL NEXT DOOR / girl next door - Destination
10) Shimizu Shota - COLOURS
11) Koda Kumi - JAPONESQUE
12) Matsushita Yuya - 2U
13) BENI - Bitter & Sweet
14) SPYAIR - Rockin' the World
15) Amuro Namie - PLAY

I purposedly did not list down any albums from ayumi as I will have a hard time to decide which one/s to recommend x)

[brener]

Guys, you are listing J-Rock albums too, please, it's only J-Pop. Anyway, here's my top 15 for J-Pop albums, also in no particular order =)

1. I am... by ayumi hamasaki
2. ULTRA BLUE by Utada Hikaru
3. AROUND by AAA
4. (miss)understood by ayumi hamasaki
5. LIFE ALBUM by Ikimonogakari
6. Kimitsunagi Five M by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
7. Deep River by Utada Hikaru
8. PAST < FUTURE by Namie Amuro
9. DOLCE by Ami Suzuki
10. Ring by Miliyah Kato
11. BEST～second session～ by Koda Kumi
12. Perfume Global Compilation ''LOVE THE WORLD'' by Perfume
13. LØVE by Mika Nakashima
14. Uncontrolled by Namie Amuro
15. DEEP FOREST by Do As Infinity

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by brener

Guys, you are listing J-Rock albums too, please, it's only J-Pop. Anyway, here's my top 15 for J-Pop albums, also in no particular order =)

if you put it that way

1) KAT-TUN - KAT-TUN III -QUEEN OF PIRATES-
2) ARASHI - Time
3) NEWS - pacific
4) Hilcrhyme - Recital
5) GIRL NEXT DOOR / girl next door - Destination
6) Shimizu Shota - COLOURS
7) Koda Kumi - JAPONESQUE
8) Matsushita Yuya - 2U
9) BENI - Bitter & Sweet
10) Amuro Namie - PLAY
11) Aoyama Thelma - Emotions
12) KAT-TUN - Break the Records -by you & for you-
13) ARASHI - ARASHIC
14) Kuroki Meisa - MAGAZINE
15) Hirai Ken - SENTIMENTALovers

[chikocchi]

In no order:

1. alan - Vocie of EARTH
2. BUMP OF CHICKEN - RAY
3. Do As Infinity - DEEP FOREST
4. KOKIA - REAL WORLD
5. Perfume - JPN
6. Riya - Love Song
7. SEKAI NO OWARI - ENTERTAINMENT
8. Kana Nishino - Thank you, Love
9. Koda Kumi - JAPONESQUE
10. Utada Hikaru - ULTRA BLUE
11. Namie Amuro - PAST<FUTURE
12. Leo Ieiri - LEO
13. Ayumi Hamasaki - I am...
14. Hitomi Shimatani - Heart & Symphony
15. Nana Mizuki - ULTIMATE DIAMOND

[LONJJONG]

1. MY STORY - ayumi hamasaki
2. CAN'T BUY MY LOVE - YUI
3. LOVE COOK - Ai Otsuka
4. NEWS - NEWS
5. THE BEST of mihimaru GT - mihimaru GT
6. to LOVE - Kana Nishino
7. Voice of EARTH - alan
8. Kamikyokutachi - AKB48
9. Kono Hi no Chime wo Wasurenai - SKE48
10. NANA BEST - Anna Tsuchiya & OLIVIA
11. Girls' Generation II ~Girls & Peace~ - Girls' Generation
12. I am... - ayumi hamasaki
13. QUEENS ARE TRUMPS - SCANDAL
14. I LOVED YESTERDAY - YUI
15. Team B 3rd Stage Pajama Drive - AKB48

[brener]

After a while (500 posts?) we could rearrange the most voted albums in a list that compiles the 15 J-Pop Albums from AHS ^^ What do you guys think?

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by brener

Guys, you are listing J-Rock albums too, please, it's only J-Pop.

I don't see a problem here. I mean, a lot is also pop/rock music and I would consider most songs on "I am..." and "MY STORY" as well as YUI also pop/rock. It's not like someone was posting indie Visual Kei bands with a hardcore metal sound...


Edit:
And Hikki makes R&B music with a pop music influence, Namie's "Queen of Hip-Pop" and "Style" are also more urban and hip-hop influenced and not straight pop music. As much as I would say P!nk is a pop artist despite the fact she's making a lot of rock music artists like Tsuchiya Anna and Nakashima Mika are also pop artists. I don't think it's a problem to have BREAKERZ, Gackt or L'Arc~en~Ciel in one of the lists. When it comes to influencial and POPular artists in Japan you can't ignore L'Arc~en~Ciel for example.

Originally Posted by brener

After a while (500 posts?) we could rearrange the most voted albums in a list that compiles the 15 J-Pop Albums from AHS ^^ What do you guys think?

I think that's a nice idea.

[brener]

And after listing the 15 most voted albums we could make a poll to be possible to know them in order of preference

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by brener

And after listing the 15 most voted albums we could make a poll to be possible to know them in order of preference

Like that!


And what do you guys say about the pop and rock music thing? I stated my opinion above but we should agree on what we post here. I would say pop/rock as well as rock music is ok because it's not really possible to draw a line here. I mean, if music that is more rockish than pop music isn't ok is electronic music which is more electro than pop ok? I think we would have a hard time figuring that out and in the end even if someone would post a hardcore metal indie band chances aren't that high somebody else would make the same recommendation and the album would make it in the actual list.

[brener]

^ You're right, I think pop/rock it's ok, but people should have sense and not post things like hardcore rock bands ^^' anyway I just edited my post and added Ajikan <3

[~kashifaita~]

No particular order:

1. GAME - Perfume
2. I am... - Ayumi Hamasaki
3. DOLCE - Ami Suzuki
4. BEST OF SOUL - BoA
5. JAPONESQUE - Koda Kumi
6. Pamyu Pamyu Revolution - Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
7. MADEMOWORLD - MADEMOISELLE YULIA
8. BEST FLIGHT - MEG
9. Graduation ~singles~ - Nami Tamaki
10. PLAY - Namie Amuro
11. ULTRA BLUE - Utada Hikaru
12. LEVEL3 - Perfume
13. WORLD WILD 2010 - Saori@destiny
14. I'LL BE BACK - Aira Mitsuki
15. LOVE COOK - Ai Otsuka

[x-megumi-x]

01. Ayumi Hamasaki - (miss)understood
02. Miliyah Kato - HEAVEN
03. L'Arc~en~Ciel - True
04. Utada Hikaru - DEEP RIVER
05. Koda Kumi - secret
06. BoA - BEST OF SOUL
07. Crystal Kay - VIVID
08. Namie Amuro - BEST FICTION
09. Hitomi Shimatani - Heart & Symphony
10. alan - Voice of EARTH
11. Kana Nishino - to LOVE
12. Mika Nakashima - MUSIC
13. HYDE - ROENTGEN
14. YUI - CAN'T BUY MY LOVE
15. Nami Tamaki - Graduation ~Singles~

[monochrome99]

1 - Ayumi Hamasaki - I am...
2 - Perfume - JPN
3 - Utada Hikaru - Deep River
4 - EXILE - Ai Subeki Mirai e/EXILE LOVE
6 - Yumi Arai (Yumi Matsutoya) - COBALT HOUR/The Dancing Sun
7 - GReeeeN - Shio, Koshō
8 - Koda Kumi - Best: first things
9 - ZARD - ZARD Best The Single Collection ~Kiseki~
10 - Mika Nakashima - Best
11 - Morning Musume - 3rd: Love Paradise
12 - Judy and Mary - The Power Source
13 - Namie Amuro - BEST FICTION
14 - Kato Miliyah - Tokyo Star
*thinks of male singer* *thinks of male singer*
15 - Ken Hirai - SENTIMENTALovers/ Life is...

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by brener

^ You're right, I think pop/rock it's ok, but people should have sense and not post things like hardcore rock bands ^^' anyway I just edited my post and added Ajikan <3

I will start my list with DIR EN GREY. jk


Ok, so here is my list. But it's in no particular order.

01. (miss)understood - Hamasaki Ayumi
02. 「2012」 - Acid Black Cherry
03. I am... - Hamasaki Ayumi
04. BubbleMan Engine - MAA
05. PAST<FUTURE - Amuro Namie
06. Many Pieces - Every Little Thing
07. Morning Musume ALL SINGLES COMPLETE ～10th ANNIVERSARY～ - Morning Musume
08. Ai am BEST - Otsuka Ai
09. Butterfly - L'Arc～en～Ciel
10. ALL MY BEST - Kuraki Mai
11. Love & I. ～Ren'ai Henreki～ - Sowelu
12. NUDY SHOW! - Tsuchiya Anna
13. The Lost Lolli - OLIVIA
14. Another World - winds.
15. ULTRA BLUE - Utada Hikaru

For Morning Musume, Otsuka Ai and Kuraki Mai I chose best of albums because there isn't this one album I REALLY love, but in general I love those three and can't do without them.

[brener]

^ I did the same for Perfume and there's some people who did the same for Namie chosing BEST FICTION =)

[Ashen Twilight]

This isn't in any particular order. This was actually really hard... I decided to put only one Ayu album (her most diverse) in the list. I could have easily put a majority of them, but that wouldn't be fun haha.

01. Miliyah Kato - HEAVEN
02. YUI - CAN'T BUY MY LOVE
03. Akina Nakamori - BEST II
04. Momoe Yamaguchi - Phoenix Densetsu
05. Ai Otsuka - LOVE COOK
06. alan - Voice of EARTH
07. Chihiro Onitsuka - Sugar High
08. Namie Amuro - Past<Future
09. Hitomi Shimatani - Heart & Symphony
10. Kana Nishino - to LOVE
11. Utada Hikaru - DEEP RIVER
12. Nana Mizuki - ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS
13. hitomi - LOVE CONCENT
14. Ayaka Hirahara - 4tsu no L
15. Ayumi Hamasaki - (miss)understood

[Chibi-Chan]

Guys, come on, we need more posts!

[Miku]

My list for jpop beginners

1. Ayumi Hamasaki - Rainbow
2. KOTOKO - Glass no Kaze
3. Eiko Shimamiya - Hikari Nadeshiko
4. Okui Masami - Dragonfly
5. NEWS - Color
6. Mikuni Shimokawa - 392 ~Mikuni Shimokawa Best Selection~
7. Hitomi Shimatani - Heart & Symphony
8. Aya Matsuura - Two
9. w-inds. - Ageha
10. TWO-MIX - TWO-MIX Perfect Best
11. V6 - "LUCKY" 20th Century,Coming Century to be continued...
12. Yamashita Tomohisa - Ero
13. Mika Nakashima - Music
14. Megumi Hayashibara - Feel Well
15. Kusumi Koharu - Mitsuboshi

:3