This Side of Japan's 100 Favorite Songs of 2020 (Part 2: 51-100)
Continuing our look back with songs from CHAI, Lucky Kilimanjaro, Awich and many more
This is part 2 of This Side of Japan’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2020. You can return to part 1 here. You can listen to all of the songs on this Spotify playlist. You can check out previous issues of the newsletter here.
51) Lucie,Too: “Hamming”
The indie-rock trio holds close a precious tune, and though the breezy melody and guitars strums may suggest otherwise, they’re anxious that it all may just slip away.
52) CHAI: “No More Cake”
Staying consistent with what the band has been known for, CHAI hone in on a specific corner of the femme experience in “No More Cake,” this time on the needling pressure to apply the perfect make-up. Not only do they sing about it, they make you physically feel the fire underneath too through the heaving post-punk beat with a body as dense as the layers of foundation smeared on their faces. The most evil sound, though, is the twisted laugh by Mana, who’s humored by a poorly painted face as though she’s seen the world’s biggest clown.
53) Haruru Inu Love Dog Tenshi: “Disappear”
The rapper questions her place in the big city over dusky boom bap — exactly the mood you’d expect from a song called “Disappear” from an EP titled Lonely.
54) Asunojokei: “Stardust”
Asunojokei delivers a crushing yet cathartic piece of black metal to sit with the smallness of existence relative to grand cosmos.
55) Kami-sama, I Have Noticed: “Namae No Nai Ao”
The masked alt-rock band unleash another moody single filled with furiously scrawled riffs, urgent to leave behind something of worth on their metaphorical canvas.
56) Chelmico: “Easy Breezy”
“Let’s do this and go out with a blow,” Chelmico rap, dramatizing the creative process into something so fun and full of life.
57) Lil’ Leise but Gold: “Aenaiya”
The drowsy, downcast R&B beat already sets one gloomy mood, so the singer knows she can just jot down lyrics about her loneliness in the simplest of words: “I can’t see you / I want to see you.”
58) Honokarin: “Omajinai”
A late-night bar-side pop-rock that’s tipsy on heartbreak — fitting a vibe for a TV drama title track but also a moping Honokarin, who wishes to be bewitched so she can sober up from love.
59) Liyuu: “Magic Words”
The cosplayer-turned-singer sighs lyrics of inexplicable sensations, bewilderment, and a takeoff to another world — are you sure she’s just not singing about Taku Inoue’s fizzy, hopscotching electro-pop beat?
60) ASOBOiSM: “Pride”
While she usually likes to lay back on the chillest of beats, the R&B singer kicks off her debut album, OOTD, all gassed up on confidence in “Pride.” The sharp rap cadence already projects ASOBOiSM with one steely, resilient persona, but what sets the true IDGAF mood is the blunt kiss-off lyric: “It’s all fine now: I’m so done with you.” She bids bye-bye in the chorus, turning his downfall — “you’re pride is too high, too high” — into a taunting earworm of a hook.
61) RANASOL (ft. Stereo Magic): “My Heart Sensitivity”
RANASOL colors Stereo Magic’s dreamy electro-pop beat with feelings of first love, and the chorus — “song and its sound/ my heart sensitivity,” she sings — finds her closing her eyes and letting the music take over.
62) Ako: “Hot in the Night”
Ako indulges in late-night yearning as she sinks deeper into a blurry blend of skittering trip-hop and moody alt-rock.
63) Leosteez (ft. Week Dudus): “Jet Set”
Week Dudus’s deep mumbles hang low on the brassy beat, setting a nice contrast to Leosteez’s rapid-fire yelp.
64) Normcore Boyz & SOCKS: “Tomei”
The thick, bouncy bass as well as the camaraderie of Normcore Boyz calls to mind the mid-2010s posse raps by the great Heartbreak Gang of the Bay Area.
65) kZm (ft. Tohji): “Teenage Vibe”
kZm’s album, Distortion, provides a neat cross section of what’s hot in today’s Japanese rap production. Though, even as it hops around a diverse mix of house, R&B and boom bap, “Teenage Vibe” sorely sticks out through a guitar loop that bears an eerie resemblance to Bloc Party’s “Helicopter.” The rock music sounds like a wild card for kZm, but he adapts to it seamlessly. And who else to call for this rock-rap cut but Tohji, who growls and stomps about like a punk song.
66) SAWA: “Tenshoku Katsudo”
Anything works as an inspiration to a bubbly electro-pop tune for SAWA — even the stresses of work life and the wish to find a more satisfying career.
67) Valknee: “Diary”
Valknee quickly lays down the rules over a sputtering bass beat about her tightly locked diary, though it only makes you want to take a peek even more.
68) Mom: “Cultboi”
The pop boy wonder is messing up the ideas of genres again, spitting raps over a scratchy beat one minute and diverting into a hippie-rock escape on another.
69) ZUTOMAYO: “Milabo”
ZUTOMAYO previously struck me as a bit too intense compared to their other YouTube-dwelling, Vocaloid-adjacent pop cohorts. With “Milabo,” the group loosens up considerably befitting the song’s central theme of letting go, feeling the beat and just moving to the rhythm. They bend and smooth out the once-jagged pianos into one bouncy riff that suits the titular mirror-ball occasion. ACAne also reaches for something other than her usual screams for her voice, realizing the music calls for a different, more pop approach.
70) Metome: “Gravel”
The producer blessed us with a few lulling deep-house singles to help drift away; the 7-minute run of “Gravel” was my record of choice.
71) Eir Aoi: “Unreal Trip”
The A-side is business as usual for Eir Aoi — a well-arranged drama-pop she has been dishing for anime shows. But this B-side teases a whole different kind of lane and a fine step for the singer into pop proper with her skyward vocals now treated as the main hook of an EDM anthem. If the trance synths, rave pianos and the big blast of brass didn’t already make it clear, the vocal chops wrapped around the wobbling bass drop highlight the touches of producer Kenmochi Hidefumi. “Unreal Tripes” makes Eir Aoi’s bid as an EDM diva an obvious hit, and it’s a surprise that I didn’t come across it sooner.
72) Shiraha: “Post Kinkou”
Shiraha sighs in a surreal dream-pop soundscape, made up of glitching bass lines and upside-down pianos.
73) Kamome Sano (ft. Kabosnikki): “Parallel World”
Kamome Sano arranges an electro-house world that echoes early Perfume while Kabosnikki reminisces about a better past in its center.
74) Lucky Kilimanjaro: “Emome No Natsu”
A “Lucky Kilimanjaro summer song” rings so perfect, and it’s as eager to dance as you imagined while being a full commitment to fun.
75) Marukido: “Paradox Immoral Lonely”
Maudlin raps over a drowsy trap beat — a spiritual opposite and a fitting B-side to a silly track titled “Munchies.”
76) Kaneyorimasaru: “Ima Wo Tsumekonde”
Though the three-piece band’s power pop rings loud and clear, their actual pop-song love letter reads charmingly bashful.
77) Shiina Natsukawa: “Antithese”
Each of the voice actresses of the trio TrySail brought worthy releases this year, but the opening few seconds of Shiina Natsukawa’s entry ensures it sticks out of the batch by a big margin. “Anithese” begins blazing hot with a neon-bright synth riff that restlessly runs up and down the scales; the guitars short-circuit in the verses as the pianos slip and crash. While the jagged fragments manage to cohere into a messy rhythm, Natsukawa sings unfazed, swinging power vocals as a trained ani-son vocalist does.
78) Yama: “Masshiro”
Internet pop singer-songwriter dedicates a piece of wistful, late-night synth-pop to all the time and relationships that has faded away.
79) FINLANDS: “Madoka”
“While crying and holding you, let me hope this has been it all along,” Fuyuko Shioiri desperately cries out in the chorus over one bruised indie-rock riff.
80) Pasocom Music Club: “Murmur”
The synth-wiz duo programs elegant techno — the synths glide leisurely like muzak but still bangs.
81) Awich: “Shook Shook”
“You are shook, shook,” Awich sings the titular hook like a playground taunt, and her performance in the three-minute braggadocio rap earns her the right to boast and tease as much as she likes.
82) Namida Ai: “Aoi Zanzou”
Howling to the moon in the chorus, the singer-songwriter won’t let this doomed love fail; the torrential rush of a guitar riff communicates the size of her feelings.
83) Polkadot Stingray: “Togemeku Spica”
Polkadot Stingray loosen up their guitar-playing, smoothing out the angular lines and abrupt riffs to instead cool down on a more laid-back pop rock. The nonchalance is only an act, it turns out, with Shizuku trying her best to not let her still-harboring obsession to show in front of the one who she admires. The frontwoman is presented with the cruel scenario of consoling him on other matters when really she wishes the attention was all on her.
84) Amaiwana: “Shinseikatsu”
The Showa-obsessed singer-songwriter finds peace hanging out in her own jangling, nostalgia-steeped guitar-pop world.
85) So Shibano: “Ano Natsu No Shojo”
If simply screaming about it won’t help So Shibano rid of all this frustration from an unfulfilled summer, then a blast from the blown-out guitars should do the trick.
86) She Is Summer: “Donuts”
Mico spins the titular pastry into a cliche yet catchy metaphor — “like that gap in the middle / there’s something missing about you” — as well as an excuse to arrange a sweet piece of bouncy retro pop.
87) Nakanormal: “Because It’s Summer”
With the help of jangling, sentimental indie-rock, the singer-songwriter documents a summer love exactly in its thrilling, fleeting forms.
88) Naive Super: “Music Is Your Only Squire (Not Afraid to Keep Swinging)”
This C86-nostalgic synth-pop band didn’t miss at all with their monthly singles this year — take this dreamy ode to the healing powers of music as a sample.
89) Mone Kamishiraishi: “Shiroi Doro”
Mone Kamishiraishi has been stocking up on songs on the side of her acting career these past few years, getting on the expected series of ballads but also tackling more tasteful affairs like an n-buna production — with lyric credits to YUKI! Out of all the dabbling, simple seems to be best for Kamishiraishi as heard in “Shiroi Doro.” The lead track to her debut album, note, has a similar pull of an idol song in that it finds her eager to grab you by the hand and show you the world. The guitars, too, strum a power-pop riff brimming with sunniness, further drumming up her heartbeat.
90) Inner Journey: “Cream Soda”
The indie-rock band relax during a fine, if not mundane day until a thought of the titular drink reminds them about a long-forgotten relationship.
91) Ai Furihata: “Purple Eye Shadow”
The Aquors member indulged deep in Bubble-era nostalgia for her breakout as a solo singer this year, borrowing the lush strobe synths and the elaborate balladry filling the hit charts of that decade. Her later entry “Purple Eye Shadow” wears melancholy on its glittered sleeves, and the downcast, synth-driven power ballad dramatizes Furihata’s sorrows, Showa-pop style. “Let me just blame the rain,” she sings in the chorus, looking away like the main lead actress of a TV soap based on her heartbreak.
92) Kawaii Renchu: “Dainumaito”
The title is a pun, you see, to accompany a sweet punk-pop track dedicated to dogs, the irresistible partner always at your side.
93) Ibuki Takai: “Maboroshi No Youni”
Like her dreamy pop music, Ibuki Takai’s significant other keeps slipping away out of her reach — “like a mirage,” indeed.
94) Soko Ni Naru: “Kyokugen Wa Setsuna”
The restless math-y riffs, huge hooks, abrupt breakdowns — the essence of Soko Ni Naru compacted into a brisk, two-and-a-half pop minutes.
95) Sayohimebou: “Neo Ice Age”
The producer slaps together a drum ’n’ bass frenzy for your deep-fried lizard brain, served with a deliciously squelchy acid riff.
96) Sunsetinfall: “Autumn Leaves”
The emo band try to mend their broken hearts with a pair of jaunty pop-punk riffs while the reality of the other’s absence has them reaching for screamo to shake off the sadness.
97) Uru: “Break”
The dusky deep-house instrumental mixes up yet another stern song by the TV tie-up mainstay.
98) Kenshi Yonezu: “Kanden”
Kenshi Yonezu’s genre-blurring pop previously inspired many, many descriptions, though “Kanden” is one of the rare ones I’ve come across where I can pin the music as fun or even funky.
99) DAOKO: “Ocharaketayo”
Gloomy, depressive whisper-pop with a dash of hip hop—DAOKO’s classic sound that she finds herself most at home with in her new album, anima.
100) Akai Koen: “Orange”
An Akai Koen song about goodbyes and unfulfilled promises hit a lot different than intended with the passing of the band’s leader Maisa Tsuno this year in mind. The Park from this April found the rock act on a hot streak even after replacing the band’s original vocalist, and while “Orange” touches on a fresh break-up, Tsuno can be seen nonchalantly flexing her chops in the single’s music video. “I don’t care if you forget about the promises from the past / just let me look good this one last time,” goes the chorus. It looks like she got her last wish.
You can listen to all of the songs on this Spotify playlist.
You can return to part 1 of This Side of Japan’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2020 here. You can check out previous issues of the newsletter here. You can also check out This Side of Japan’s 100 favorite idol songs of 2020 here.
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