Idol Watch #27: Top 100 Idol Songs of 2020-2025
We look back at this decade in idol so far through songs by iLiFE, FRUIT ZIPPER, RAY and many more
Hi! Welcome to a special issue of Idol Watch, a bi-monthly companion newsletter to This Side of Japan that’s all about Japanese idols! You can check out past editions here.
Everyone seemed to find their oshi, their chosen favorite to support, this decade. And an oshi was no longer bound to idols with the term extended to refer to celebrities like athletes, actors and streamers, or inanimate personalities like anime characters and mascots, who- or whatever you want to be a fan of. This part of idol culture spread far and wide into the mainstream with people applying the lexicon, philosophies and practices once reserved for idol fans expressing their support for their one and only.
As the 2020s became the decade of oshikatsu, its practices soon crystallized into recognizable tropes: the calls, the worship, the parasocialism. Only from such a time could we observe an act like iLiFE come into fruition, a group whose concept centers on oshikatsu—an idea that seems redundant in any other era. Idol songs soon turned meta, self-referencing the codes of idol culture or directly singing to the audience as idols talking to a fan. The new commercial paradigms began to change the vocabulary of idol lyrics: liking became “Liking,” gaining attention grew into “bazuru,” “going viral.” As acts doubled down on idol-ness, it’s perhaps natural to see things swing back to traditionalism from the color-coded looks to the bubbly sounds.
That said, the alternative styles have not been lost. While the experimentation with outside genres has not gone away since the last decade and its wave of innovations, it has settled more into a norm: if you’ve been here long enough, a group adopting, say, shoegaze is no longer the freshest thing. At the end of the day, what sets apart groups from both the mainstream and underground is the quality of songs. After the novelty wears out, no matter what the concept, that’s all there is left.
Here are our favorite 100 idol songs from 2020-2025. You can check out the songs in a playlist below, and you can check out a simple text list version of it here.
100) “Idol Life Starter Pack” by iLiFE! (2022)
Oshikatsu as an idol group concept would seem redundant — an idol group based on the idea of supporting idols? — if it hadn’t grown into a full-on cultural activity this decade with parts of it crystallized into well-worn tropes. It’s the kind of development specific to this decade that lets a group like iLiFE! and their anthem “Idol Life Starter Pack” to flourish. iLiFE! go all meta with this as they sing about the typical experience of the show-goer like a play-by-play, listing all of the scenes they’re bound to see before it technically happens. They imagine an idol song where the call-and-response is the song, where the fan engagement doesn’t so much complete the music than become the music itself.
99) “Kimi To xxxx Shitaidake” by Phantom Siita (2023)
Wielding a wild range of vocal inflections similar to their producer Ado, Phantom Shiita step out to the sound of shadowy new wave to sing of an intense yearning inseparable from their fervor taste for blood.
98) “Shoko” by FOKALITE (2025)
FOKALITE rock a sleek, jazz-flecked funk that’s more subdued than their rave-influenced debut. A change into rosier scenery is not lost on the idols who channel the sultry mood in their seductive chorus.
97) “Z” by Kimi To Boku No Kakumei (2020)
A thrashing 50-second punk piece introducing a rather short-lived group. Still not too many groups are playing straight-up fastcore despite the compatibility explored here.
96) “Koihajimari Diary” by courtesea (2024)
Slick break beats send a jolt to this dreamy MOR breeze, like a pinch to the cheek that snaps back courtesea, who’s head over heels, to the present moment.
95) “Blue Jeans” by HANA (2025)
HANA borrow the swaggering sounds from hip-hop but isn’t so concerned of replicating its bulletproof confidence. The group instead show off their vulnerabilities when at their best, and “Blue Jeans” rewards the idols who pridefully wear their insecurities with a touching gift: another person who loves them for who they are, scuffs and all. Chanmina sums up their sigh of relief from finding their match with a simple hook, run in an infectious rug-a-tug melody, wrapped up in a tender guitar R&B. It’s not so glamorous yet wholly satisfying.
94) “Kaizoku QUEEN AMAZONES” by MELON BATAKE A GO GO (2020)
A gothic folk tale of a pirate queen brought to you by rockabilly idols from outer space: it’s exactly as fantastical and groovy as that idea sounds.
93) “Underground” by onefive (2021)
Now’s the only time to laugh, the four-piece declare in this creative rehaul where they made themselves over with edgy cool to the tune of busy dance-pop, ready to prove their new selves worthy.
92) “Saiko Kessaku” by MELLOW MELLOW (2020)
The now-defunct trio is ready to start a masterpiece of a relationship to the back of sleek disco-funk. They sing briefly of worry, but it hardly registers along the golden groove.
91) “IDOL FIRE” by HO6LA (2022)
These six had only a few songs under their name before they went bust, but what a splashy debut: a screeching EDM track armed with a megaton-bomb of a drop and equally loud hook: we are the fucking idols / no time to die.
90) “Kuzu Idol” by BLUEGOATS (2024)
“Trash, sometimes scum,” BLUEGOATS introduce themselves as in “Kuzu Idol,” an un-glamorous title that’s practically a rank just above “idol shit.” These self-proclaimed low-lives can claim nothing to their name except ambition — a nonrenewable resource that fuels this go-for-broke punk anthem. While they’re upfront as possible about how there’s nothing to romanticize about them, their rock-bottom desperation inspires a kind of underdog story that can’t helped but be rooted for.
89) “Hoshikuzu No Yume” by Sukiiro Drop (2023)
Late-night yearning turns enchanting through the sighs of Sukiiro Drop. Their wishes for closeness aim for the cosmic — “if only I could ride the shooting stars to fly to you” — and so does their tender pop arrangement of pianos and plucked strings.
88) “Yume No Youna Hibi” by Gekkan Pam (2025)
From the warm chords of cobwebbed organs awakens a blasting, scuzzy guitar riff that evokes the spirit of adventure, if not the scrappy vibe of summer-minded indie-rock bands from the early 2010s. “I know this is just a dream / that I’m going to wake up,” the duo sing but it doesn’t stop them from living up the here-and-now.it as soon as the guitars hit.
87) “Boom Boom Bee” by .BPM (2024)
After being dancing chickens, .BPM don the form of killer bees in their bigger and badder Eurobeat sequel. All the tough talk about their venomous stings and how they never miss their target, though, doesn’t stand a chance against the insistent way the titular hook drills into your memory.
86) “double” by TOKYO TEFUTEFU (2021)
A brighter brand of metalcore backs the Codomomental group and their extensive internal monologue of self-searching. The drum beats remain relentless, pianos jamming with jagged chords, yet the idols reach a more optimistic conclusion on their future.
85) “Ne Mo Ha Mo Rumor” by AKB48 (2021)
A renewed focus on dance by AKB was immediately felt at the time of release of “Ne Mo Ha Mo Rumor,” and this pointed shift befitted a slyly self-referential record about a boy so in shock at another girl’s drastic change in personality: “But back then, you still had on a ponytail and a chouchou,” the idols quip to the hard funk tune as if they’re doing a second take to this new, unrecognizable version of themselves. Five years on, the song marks a generational divide within AKB that was no more legible than in the performance at the group’s 20th anniversary concert, whose demanding choreography left the OGs heavily deprived of oxygen while the current members stood unscathed.
84) “Kogetsu” by fishbowl (2022)
Yamamoto Sho may be best known this decade so far for handing the bubbly funk sound and lyrical grammar that defines FRUITS ZIPPER, yet his work as producer for local Shizuoka group fishbowl deserves equal attention. “Kogetsu” draws a stark divide from his known funk sound with pensive dance-pop full of yearning.
83) “Underground” by f5ve (2024)
F5ve perform their para para choreo over a hollow-out production that resembles a scrap heap where a Eurobeat disco used to be. “A place where I can finally be who I want / let’s all go together,” the idols sing, though they sound so drained after a life-sucking 9-to-5, it’s unsure whether they actually make it out to the dance floor.
82) “Muzui” by 22/7 (2020)
No matter what form or concept leads a group produced by Yasushi Akimoto— this one promoted as a “digital voice-actress idol project” — the man is bound to hand it one killer single like “Muzui” that’s driven by existential angst, a moody string arrangement and a deeply forlorn melody.
81) “Majestic Baby” by Bellring Shojo Heart (2025)
“Majestic Baby” embodies the macabre of Bellring Shojo Heart’s original line-up but with a harder sound and a darker mood. The muddy blues-rock of the group’s initial years intensifies into shreds of nu-metal as they wallow in their heartbreak.
80) “Daiyuusei” by yumegiwa last girl (2020)
Yumegiwa last girl crash-landed onto my feed with “Daiyuusei” in 2020, and the song’s melancholy math-rock and oblique lyrics initially shrouded them with mystique, especially as it was overlaid on this inexplicable choice of a Superman episode. But the evocative rock sound here would turn out to be the representative style behind Southernmost Tracks, one of the best idol labels this decade, and an entry point into many of their peers like Yureru Landscape, The Candace and kikirayray.
79) “BACK TO THE UNIVERSE” by KOTO (2021)
KOTO goes out with a bang for her idol-retirement anthem. The flashy hi-NRG beat hit hard as a last hurrah should. She even gives us a mic drop of a rap, claiming to forever be the cutest in the universe even after she hangs it up. For her final show, she took off in a rocket to head back to outer space where she came from — what a way to go out.
78) “Furerarenai Kiseki” by Sayonara Ponytail (2024)
Sayonara Ponytail seem sequestered in their own universe from their talks of magic and planets. The starry MOR rock of “Furerarenai Kiseki” brings them back down to Earth as does this thought of impending separation between two friends. But when sung through vocals that sound as if they’re stuck in a perpetual daydream, all this splitting up ends up not sounding so bad.
77) “Boku No Koe, Hanekaeru” by LiVS (2025)
The screams by these WACK torchbearers bleed into an unwieldy mess of thrash metal-shredding and gabber madness expected from Ryosuke Shinoda of the band Top Secret Man. My voice bounces back, the idols say as they eagerly shout into the noise like children who’s just starting to figure out what their voices can really do.
76) “Azato Kawaii” by Hinatazaka46 (2020)
The group’s former leader Kumi Sasaki once said Hinatazaka46 songs are largely based on their protagonists being at a total loss of what to do with this sudden feeling of love. “Azato Kawaii” encapsulates this best from this decade, the music hitting you with that same knock-out rush you might get catching a glance at such a stunning look.
75) “Koe Dashite Ikoze!!!” by SKE48 Team E (2023)
In this new normal, “Koe Dashite Ikoze!!!” sings as a simple call to fully engage in the present moment — let’s go on and raise our voices! But when SKE48 Team E premiered their theater set of the same name in 2023, Japan had just started to lift mask-wearing and other COVID-19-related regulations. A call-and-response at idol shows suddenly became vital in a new way, especially as idols themselves have not heard a voice shout back to them in years. This title track remains a document of that excitement when shouting and screaming at lives were finally allowed, but also a reminder to not take using our voices for granted, that making ourselves known, to let others know we are here, can be easily taken away.
74) “Vanilla” by FRUN FRIN FRIENDS (2021)
Usabeni and nonamera got together as FRUN FRIN FRIENDS to embrace an anything-goes spirit once also found in their old group Avandoned. While the two introduced their new project with a new-wave punk sound familiar to their past, they soon ventured into the art-pop of a song like “Vanilla” to bring something wholly their own.
73) “JIBUNGOTO” by TEAM SHACHI (2020)
Five years ago in the thick of pandemic, TEAM SHACHI integrating buzzwords like “six-feet distance” and “the New Normal” felt novel as a quick, pop response to what was going on. Those lyrics still work today, if emphasizing the core sentiment behind this brassy anthem: that we’re all in this together.
72) “Motomeyo… Unmei No Tabibitozan” by BEYOOOOONDS (2023)
A idol-funk number based on the theme of… math? Even the songwriter herself seems to openly say here me out. But just let the puns come, follow the meta-commentary : “When am I going to use this anyway,” the idols quip about plugging in the Xs and Ys but also the risk-taking it takes to unite the two variables . It’ll lead to a classic Hello! Project message about asking for more from life.
71) “Click” by ME:I (2024)
You’d be forgiven if you were distracted from all of the pop dazzle — the mesmerizing repetition of the hook, the zigzagging electro-pop, the TikTok-ready dance — to realize “Click” is indeed a call to action: “let’s click / we’re going to tear it open,” these Produce 101 Japan winners declare, bringing their trusted fans with them as they write their future.
70) “Zenryoku Silhouette” by kaiju by me (2021)
Kaiju by me capture in “Zenryoku Silhouette” the nervousness from working with a blank slate, that rising pressure behind your very first time at what you want to do. Pop-punk delivered with choked-up vocals might paint the picture of another pack of self-loathing idols crawling from the bottom in the school of WACK. Despite the familiar anxieties rising out of the noise, kaiju by me sound eager to embrace the possibilities even if they don’t have a clear idea on what to expect.
69) “Oshi Koi” by ukka (2023)
The rise of TikTok saw ukka pivot from effervescent lite-funk to the bubbly rococo pop heard in “Oshi Koi.” As they update their vocabulary in tune to the social media-centric times, the group adopt a new charming personality that’s bashful as they are love-obsessed.
68) “Altanate” by Payrin’s (2024)
As they sing a breathless internal monologue of a verse, Payrin’s crowd themselves in with math rock that’s equally frantic as their running thoughts. They seek better for their own being, but they paint themselves too tightly into a corner to really self-examine with care.
67) “Double Standard” by Philosophy No Dance (2021)
A sultry disco exploring matters of the head and heart—just like what their name promises. Philosophy No Dance untangles these heady issues about love as material for the smoothest groove. In the end, they yearn for a simple wish: tell me that you love me.
66) “Yhwh” by Cinder_ella (2021)
While Cinder_ella stir up intense, blackened post-hardcore in their excellent album sins, the group summons an ethereal brand of math in this highlight from the record. Perhaps in these shoegaze times, the tremolo riffs and the idols’ murmured vocals can slide this with the other introverted, fuzzed-up rockers.
65) “Twintail Wa 20 Sai Made” by Kyururintte Shitemite (2023)
Kiyoshi Ryujin’s rococo flourishes add more than a touch of whimsy to “Twintail Wa 20-Sai Made.” Concerns of Kyururintte Shitemite, too, seem to matter exclusively to those residing in the group’s own pigtails-obsessed universe. Yet while the song seems to belong outside of our immediate reality, it reveals a familiar stubbornness underneath the glitter: this unwillingness to compromise an important part of their identity for the sake of conformity. Take me as I am, Kyuru Shite profess, perhaps not exactly in those words, and instead with a non-sequitur about a wonderful dream where everyone was wearing pigtails, but the intent is just the same.
64) “VISITOR” by PIGGS (2021)
PIGGS got adventurous expanding their synth-punk, incorporating industrial music for more power, but the tried-and-true, made-for-lives approach of “VISITOR” wins out. “Oh how can we quit / oh without giving it a shot,” they declare over a riling whoa-oh-oh chant, and their lived-in perseverance is contagious.
63) “Kamisama No Artifact” by Kimitowa (2022)
The skipping pop rock evokes the infectious head-over-heels feeling that ensnares Kimitowa. But instead of celebrating in elation, the idols want out, pleading to God to undo it all, overwhelmed from feeling too much.
62) “Pulse” by Ringwanderung (2022)
As if the glitched-out pianos don’t leave enough dizziness in “Pulse,” Ringwanderung cast a series of long-winded spells made up of nothing-words and vowels that the idols themselves can’t even decipher. But all the exasperation captures a mind desperately in love, restless in their attempts to draw another close.
61) “LASE” by DAI DAI DAI (2021)
From a catalog full of stark, pounding beats, this psychedelic electro from DAI DAI DAI sticks to my mind most. It’s almost cult-ish the way the idols sigh abstracted lyrics about nothingness and finding a new place of belonging as if in a trance, meditating upon the mysterious title.
60) “Watashi No Prism” by Isshunshikanai (2022)
From the group’s given name to their swan song, capturing the ephemeral was always the crux of Isshunshikanai. As the idols strives to do just that in this breezy pop from their lone full-length, they let it be known that the beauty of the present moment in front of their eyes is all theirs for the taking. A rather selfish declaration coming from idols of such poise, perhaps, yet their eagerness to embrace it all makes the efforts all deserving.
59) “BAI BAI FIGHT!” by CANDY TUNE (2024)
Get up, stand up, sings CANDY TUNE in “BAIBAI FIGHT!”, the B-side that refused to give up. From the absurd yet infectious titular hook on, it’s a rally cry to go for it against all odds with its gleeful dempa sound striking a mood that getting back up from failure is the given.
58) “Kimi To tea for two” by Wasuta (2024)
Time was in Wasuta’s favor as the new kawaii wave hit for the group had been doing this rosy, twinkling pop all along since the last decade. And so this tea-time record fits right in from its rococo pop to its sweet lyrical gestures. The only curiosity is why it was left as the B-side.
57) “Hitorigoto De Kataru Kurai Nara” by STU48 (2021)
A moodier offering than STU48’s usual, “Hitorigoto De Kataru Kurai Nara” houses one of the best choruses this decade to come from the 48 groups. Driven by a nautical melody—perfect for this once-shipbound group from Setoguchi—the idols strives to give that extra needed push to start anew.
56) “Love Me Better” by iScream (2023)
After some ups and downs, iScream reach a sweet epiphany: “Now that I’m with you, I love me better.” The dusky R&B beat, too, seems ready to be finally free of the weight on its shoulders as the trio preps to start a new.
55) “Kodou” by femme fatale (2021)
Sisters Kanano Senritsu and Sakina Tonkichi have appeared more showy as femme fatale, their music more colorful with sounds flinging all over the place. While “Kodou” is not totally quiet — is a Kenmochi Hidefumi production ever without its EDM fireworks? — the duo crush on rather bashfully with their heartbeats rendered in a soft-spoken series of onomatopoeia. Yet it is precisely the coyness that makes this an early highlight as they sheepishly hope the other can sense their pounding heart.
54) “Akuryo Taisan” by XUDAN (2025)
While XUDAN live up to their title of “grindcore idols” in “Akuryo Taisan” with their guitars becoming levels faster and nastier in feel, they indulge in silliness in ways only idols can, spending the full song fending off evil spirits. Never mind the touch of irony of them possibly conjuring those very demons by playing this evil music in the first place.
53) “Iceblink” by Kanano Senritsu (2023)
The world-building of the solo idol reigning in some sub-zero universe is all fine and good, but it’s ultimately additional texture to the stage in which unleashes that brazen beat cobbled together with the metallic clanging of pots and pans. After the beat drops, it doesn’t really matter what iceblink means.
52) “The Same Old Sun” by SIPPS (2021)
Without even knowing the words, the jubilant pop punk backing SIPPS seems to remind to live up the present while you still can: “I want to keep singing with you every day,” they sing. “There’s not a thing that’s guaranteed.” Those words resonate on their own, but even more poignant after the group’s untimely demise,
51) “Flowline” by ponderosa may bloom (2025)
Shoegaze guitars telegraphs the emotional intensity behind ponderosa may bloom’s lyrics as much as the inconsolable distance between the idols and their loved one, like they are standing an ocean away from whomever they’re addressing. This is how it is to feel so much but with a little pop sweetness for the wound.
50) “Kawaii Dake Ja Damedesuka?” by CUTIE STREET (2024)
Can’t we just be cute? It’s certainly an instigating question, and CUTIE STREET don’t help to dispel the vapid feel of it all from the airy tone toward everything they mention to the twinkling synth-pop littered with cartoon sound effects. But make no mistake that the idols take their appearance very seriously for that’s the best thing they got during these warring times when “being cute” is more than half the battle these days in this attention economy. CUTIE STREET don’t bother to hide the desperation to stand out, rather writing the hunger for attention out in huge, bold bubble letters, and it’s what makes their anthem so provocative.
49) “Yume No Naka Ni Tsuretette” by Tokyo Girls’ Style (2022)
As their electro-funk ripened into sweet jazz-funk this decade, TGS also welcomed more grown-up romance in their songs. They chase not excitement but stability in “Yume No Naka Ni Tsurete,” wishing to escape into their daydreams to the tune of equally dreamy MOR.
48) “Escape!!” by Finger Runs (2023)
How did it take this long for us to see a big-beat idol group in the scene? Before Finger Runs officially showed off their rock-and-breakbeats themes fit for a grand escape scene, they previewed their sound with a bubbling electro tune that slowly simmered to its boiling point.
47) “diamond” by Planet after the rain (2022)
Out of this earnest shoegazing math-rock emerges an anthem for the losers and those who couldn’t fulfill their potential. “Don’t underestimate my possibilities” goes a lyric from this otherwise shining music. Though pretty on the surface, “Diamond” is anything but calm.
46) “Yowasa Ja Naiyo, Koi Wa” by Tsubaki Factory (2022)
After being so theatric in their yearning for the one they want, Tsubaki Factory hand in an earnest break-up tune with one bittersweet chorus. Full of wisdom and experience, they appear grown up as they embrace the relationship in its entirety, but they can’t quite hide the tears.
45) “My Long Prologue” by tipToe. (2024)
The furiously scrawling emo-rock of “My Long Prologue” hardly leaves breathing room for tipToe. to stand and think much about the foreseeable future. But the lack of time given to spare only moves the idols to forego their worries in order to live out the here-and-now, making the best of it for themselves and for a kindred spirit on other side. Time ultimately got the best of them in reality as the group disbanded about a year after this songs release, but tipToe. seem to outrun the dread of looming separation on record.
44) “Resize” by CYNHN (2023)
Suisoh replaces the frantic guitars of CYNHN with droplets of synths for soft-spoken electro-funk. The group’s restlessness remains, the activity now happening at a more microscopic level in the production while idols string together a run-on stream of rhymes.
43) “Rock and Roll and Tiger Lily” by Shihatsu-machi Underground (2023)
A rumbling blues-rock anthem for when you want to throw all your worries away. “I don’t care / I really don’t care,” sings Shihatsu-machi Underground as they, too, itch to give up on everything and just escape. “Rock and Roll and Tiger Lily” can provide if for just a moment.
42) “Amida Fortune” by Qumali Depart (2022)
The amidakuji isn’t the most ridiculous concept to buoy Qumali Depart’s scrambled dempa-pop. Nor is MOSAIC.WAV’s the most reckless arrangement that the group has bounced around in. But combined with the Game Boy synths, the titular hook and brief operatic pre-chorus, “Amida Fortune” is surely the group’s most memorable.
41) “Aosugiru Sora, Owaranai Uta” by Solaris in the Rain (2024)
An unfortunate break-up opens up a well of old memories for Solaris in the Rain in their return to math rock. Faced with an impending separation, the group prioritizes what lie ahead. “I won’t hear the reason,” they shout in the chorus, “but please always be open going into the future.”
40) “PinPonDash” by pinponpanpon (2023)
Before they brought their hijinks at the rodeo, Isetan or out in France, pinponpanpon literally ding-dong-ditched into our lives with “PinPonDash.” It’s a perfect game to introduce these delinquents with the trio pushing our buttons over flex raps that’s half-intelligible due to heavy swaths of Auto-Tune or the fucked-up electrocrash beat bleeding into the red. They easily sound the trashiest in sound and attitude, and certainly the only idols here running from psychopathic old men for fun, wishing to quit their day jobs and waging wars with anonymous SoundCloud girls. You will never be this cool — they are most definitely right.
39) “Aisubeki Beki Human Life” by Angerme (2022)
For the ever-energetic Angerme, it’s not a surprise to hear giddy ska rock as the soundtrack to their attempts at introspection. They treat life’s hardships and its challenging questions in equal respect to the highs, as an inevitable but also what makes life truly loveable.
38) “BY MY SIDE” by B.O.L.T (2022)
One of the best pop-punk groups this decade, B.O.L.T. harness the genre’s shout-along choruses and heated riffs in “BY MY SIDE” not to channel excitement or the elation from love as the title might suggest. It instead fuels their deep resentment for an ex who has done them wrong—but hey, vengeance is pop punk, too.
37) “SYSTEMATIC” by SANDAL TELEPHONE (2021)
Funky as it grooves, this new jack swing serves as a vehicle for a rather unfulfilling romance. Systematic, SANDAL TELEPHONE label their relationship that’s seemingly filled with predictable routine. The group sits on the verge of reaching their limits, and they want out.
36) “BLUE WIND” by The Grateful a MogAAAz (2022)
The Grateful a MogAAAz polish the swampy rockabilly of their older siblings Melon Batake A Go Go into a vibrant, glam-inflected sound. The result is a sharp, glorious power pop that sings like a theme song, very much made for this teenage band of vigilantes.
35) “Koi No Crouching Start” by OCHA NORMA (2022)
Grasping for love suddenly turns vividly real in “Koi No Crouching Start” come the bridge. “I’ve been practicing / these cute gestures for today,” the freshly debuted OCHA NORMA sing about the opportunity they’ve fought hard to will into existence, and as the music video flashes back clips from the idols’ trainee days, lyrics about “life is showtime” and “put a spotlight on love” no longer ring as mere metaphors: this debut single signifies a victory lap for the Hello! Project group as much as their grand arrival on their dream stage.
34) “Tsuyogari Rai Rai Rai” by Up Up Girls (2) (2021)
The first few years of this decade observed an incredible run from Up Up Girls (2) as they dipped into one style after another in their quadruple A-sides, going from jagged pop-punk to shimmery new wave, sticky electro-funk to clanging EDM-trap. A favorite is this topsy-turvy kitchen-sink pop from Sakurai Kenta (of Qumali Depart fame) where they shout to get a hint and acknowledge them already.
33) “Hey boy hey girl” by BiS (2022)
The third wave of BiS thrived when they showed off their big grins to the tune of no-frills pop punk. Their fresh-faced exuberance, best displayed in “Hey boy hey girl,” strikes a chord with the group’s lust for life infectious and markedly different from the WACK generations before them.
32) “moon light” by CROSSNOESIS (2021)
The stark electro-pop beat bolsters Crossnoesis’s chorus that doubles as a promise. “I will fight for you,” they assure, “villains won’t stand a chance.” And their searing, steely aura props them up as the bold, heroic beings that they strive to be.
31) “Film Reel of Our Youth” by airattic (2022)
Airattic hope for better times ahead as they try their best to resist the pull of nostalgia. With the shoegaze music adding a rose-tinted filter to their flashbacks, can you blame the group for getting even a little wistful about what they once had?
30) “OK!” by lyrical school (2020)
Five different styles collide in this bouncy hip-hop record all to preach one simple, unified message: “Let’s enjoy the present moment.” And no one sounds more ecstatic to live it up than lyrical school when this song is on. Rap becomes the best form for the idols to deliver this insistence to embrace the here-and-now as it highlights a sense of spontaneity, every bar an honest reaction to whatever is happening before their eyes. Every verse goes by in a flash, just like the very thing they’re rapping about.
29) “Dai Jinsei Never Been Better!” by Morning Musume ‘22 (2022)
Carried by a breezy, classic funk tune, Morning Musume ‘22 allow themselves to be a little selfish for once after tirelessly working to be altruistic. While some pieces from their old mentality stubbornly remain—“the waves are proof that life is fair”—the group sound so self-assured as they freely stake out all of life as theirs to claim.
28) “AGAIN AND AGAIN” by meme tokyo. (2023)
The dial of the rave beat of “AGAIN AND AGAIN” is turned all the way to evil mode, adding a clobbering of gabber drums as well as an equally brain-numbing electro bass line to up the difficulty. But meme tokyo gleefully take on the challenge. They rapidly pass boastful bars to each other among the madness while they embrace a lust for life in the gushy-sweet chorus.
27) “Reversal” by RILISREVERSE (2021)
While “Reversal” carries remnants of the group’s past as HAMIDASYSTEM in the gothic synths and their icy vocal delivery, RILISREVERSE re-purpose those familiar materials to now spark a jolt to the system. “Let’s break through our limits / and fulfill the tomorrow of revolution,” they declare, ready to rise from their doldrums past and make a new name for themselves.
26) “Gomenne Fingers Crossed” by Nogizaka46 (2021)
An unstoppable momentum drives “Gomenne Fingers Crossed” as Nogizaka46 brace for the end. They can look back at the past all they like for the warning signs and potential alternate routes, but no matter what they do, it all leads them back into the driver’s seat as their world heads straight into its inevitable crash.
25) “Afterglow” by Yanakoto Sotto Mute (2020)
A leap into Universal only enriched the music of Yanakoto Sotto Mute, elevating their emotive math rock into cinematic post-rock in their major-label debut “Afterglow.” The group compacts the simmering genre into pop length while betting it all on the swelling of the guitars, and the music’s tidal release signal their committed decision to wake up from their dreams once and for all. Those parting words — “I learned of a goodbye where there’s no ‘again’” — ring bittersweet in retrospect as the group quietly disbanded after one more single. But what a beautiful farewell.
24) “Ningen” by CARRY LOOSE (2020)
After an extensive episodes spent dealing with doubt and self-loathing, you hope to reach the same conclusion CARRY LOOSE does in this symphonic pop-punk: this respect for the resilience of everyone around us, and that we the people, in the end, are actually alright.
23) “MAKE A MOVE” by ASP (2024)
ASP fight stasis like their lives depended on it. The hours would feel like a ticking time bomb, too, if it went on against a backdrop like this maddening fusion of sound where punk meets digital hardcore. Yet the group has a blast trying to beat the clock, running through the anxious seconds like a game of playground tag.
22) “KAIMAKU ZIBUN SENGEN” by kinopo. (2022)
Kinopo shout about love while they let their noise be the proof of their loud and proud existence. Rather than self-flaggellation, their punk-rock road to the top is purely driven by an ambition to prove their worth.
21) “Mou Watashi Wo Suki Ni Natteru Kimie” by rirunede (2020)
This was the blueprint for the next idol era that would soon be ushered in by KAWAII LAB, from the squeaky bubble-funk sound to its constant fourth-wall breaking, to its conceited lyrical spirit: to the you who is already in love with me.
20) “Tenshi Wa Dokoe” by Not Equal Me (2023)
“I’m not trying to trick you / but sorry for coming off strong,” Not Equal Me sing in “Tenshi Wa Dokoe?” But from the hard-edged EDM production on, the group hardly sound apologetic, and as they should be. If this sassy, unwavering single is the debut of “the real me” as they say, they should let no one stop them from following through.
19) “BLAZE” by ExWHYZ (2023)
Dance music factored even stronger in the work of ExWHYZ through their choice sounds pulled from house music but also as a platform for self-meditation and transcendence. “BLAZE” puts this in practice best as they work to burn their names into history to the tune of dirty electro. “Should we start the final chapter,” one of them says; they sound more than ready to start the fire.
18) “secr7arys” by situasion (2024)
After a great exploratory period in their initial years, situasion struck out their defining sound in this austere brand of industrial electro. As if the blistering metallic beats of a song like “Secre7ary” didn’t already shoo away the casual onlookers, the group dug their heads deep in inscrutable lyrics and an esoteric obsession with numerology. But it’s this very faith in their own concept, no matter how imposing and far away from the orthodox, that has made situasion one of the best groups working this decade.
17) “Ex/cla/ma/tion/!!” by SAKA-SAMA (2020)
SAKA-SAMA resembled, for me, the underground version of W, the duo made up of Hello! Project’s enfante terribles, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji. That devliish impression was cemented in “Ex/cla/ma/tion/!!,” which juiced up the idol-pop staple of Eurobeat into an evil level of speed and intensity. “Shining this bright, the stars in the sky / it’s like we are twin planets,” Suzuki Kokone and Mizuho sing right before the production resumes its gabber-powered beat assault. During their time together, the two let seemingly every genre under the sun float in its orbit, from new wave to shoegaze, post-punk to digital hardcore. This demented rave disco ranks among the duo’s best.
16) “Done” by NMB48 (2023)
Laying it heavy from the get go, the haunting production of “Done” lends NMB48 to sound hopelessly heartbroken. A bombastic string intro sets up a melodramatic theme filled with martial drums and one brooding bass line, and the deafening sonic excess match the scale of the deep fatalism harbored by the idols, who sing in complete defeat: “This love / is already finished / everything is now in the past.” NMB has already given up by the moment the song begins, and their call-outs to undo their mistakes ring even more futile when sang against music that’s so devoid of warmth.
15) “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro” by FRUITS ZIPPER (2022)
For a song infamous from its gestures fishing for your attention, “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro” finds FRUITS ZIPPER acting rather shy about what they really want. They dance around the matter at hand, this need for validation, cushioning their attempts for it with silly jokes; when paired with Yamamoto Sho’s ditzy funk, their tongue-tied ways turn them into a charming klutz. But the real score of their sought-after compliment — and what of this song defines the KAWAII LAB ethos — is not so much the high from being told they’re cute but the warm reminder that the idols have been looking their best all along. Kawaii is a confidence thing, and FRUITS ZIPPER can always use more of it.
14) “Saijokyuu Ni Kawaiino!” by Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu (2024)
The princess-tale string-band arrangements and the cutesy impression of Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu are a Trojan horse in “Saijokyuu Ni Kawaiino!” to sneak in a deep-digging hook full of spite. Since you broke up with me, I’m the cutest I’ve ever been, the idols boast with a huge, not-so-innocent smile on the back of an airy pop production not unlike their previous sugar-sweet hits. They rub it all over his face of who came out the true victor from this nasty break-up. And with millions singing and dancing to this song, success really makes for the sweetest revenge.
13) “Love is love” by AMEFURASSHI (2022)
The blaring dubstep drops from AMEFURASSHI’s rookie days feels like a distant memory after hearing the group’s ‘90s-house homage in “Love is love.” The four-piece adopts the classy dance style not only in its Robin S.-esque sound but also its hooks that fashion disco’s body-work metaphors as expression of pride and confidence: “I’m gonna work hard”; “Be proud of yourself, love is free.” Embodying house music’s empowering glow, AMEFURASSHI live out their every word in their best song.
12) “POP-LA” by caeca (2020)
For their debut song, caeca sang of birth: “Where did we come from / and where are we going?” The group seemed to not only sing about themselves but also in behalf of the song itself, new to the world and still searching for what to eventually become. The naivete of it all is precious in its pureness, both of their lyrics and the brightly ringing arrangements made of plucked strings, brass and harpsichords. You almost hope they don’t get close to their answers, keeping their beautiful innocence forever intact.
11) “Gozen 0ji No Sympathy” by Negicco (2020)
“Gozen 0ji No Sympathy” arrived as if without precedent. Negicco surprised with this sultry, urbane R&B number rarely heard from their last decade spent spinning rich, soft jazz-inflected pop. The trio also sounded like another group entirely. They played coy as they escaped into the night to the tune of cut-up keys and plucked strings, leaving what they desired to more to the imagination in their suggestive lyrics. Perhaps it marked their last night out with the three winding down for the rest of the decade, tending to motherhood but not without sharing solo releases here and there.
10) “Princess Dempa Power! Shine On!” by Dempagumi.inc (2021)
So much about idol is about this narrative of finally becoming something after being nothing for so long, especially in these post-survival show times. Dempagumi.inc understand this story line well — look no further than the group’s “W.W.D.” series — and so they speak authoritatively on the matter in “Princess Dempa Power! Shine On!” when they preach of the actual reality: that becoming an idol is not the grand finish but the starting line of a long, long journey.
Sobering as the topic is, their reality check is full of levity. After the song dismantles the musical-esque dream sequence of a preamble, it indulges in almost a comical skit of the veteran members obnoxiously working the young recruits to the bone to drive home the point. When they reach the chorus, Dempagumi don’t deconstruct the narrative than they destroy it and rewrite a more ambitious one in its place: that they are the master of their own fates, no need for anyone to define their life for them.
9) “Ikutsu No Koro Ni Modoritainoka?” by Sakurazaka46 (2024)
Sakurazaka46 fully came into their own here, no longer bound by their past or their former name. The idols boldly take a step toward the future after being long hesitant about the idea of growing up and seeking out what could be in stores tomorrow. Their restless music — a jumbled rush of jagged guitars, moody strings and dagger-like pianos — that once telegraphed anxiety now communicate a sense of excitement, this thrilling take-off for flight. Nostalgia remains a setback, but here, they accept the memories for what they are, simply as reminders of the joys they can still experience—and to chase for something even better. “If I was to dream, I want it to be of the future ahead,” they winsomely sing in the chorus. I didn’t think a day would come where I’d hear them say such a thing out loud, so ready to embrace the infinite possibilities.
8) “Watashi, Koi Hajimetatteyo!” by Batten Shojotai (2021)
Batten Shojotai try their best to keep things casual in “Watashi, Koi Hajimetatteyo!” The idols yell out the titular line — “I’m starting to fall in love with you!” — like an unveiling of a hot new item on the market. Get it while it’s here! They can play it down all they like, but they ultimately can’t ignore their own heart, especially with the fluttering electropop being so conspicuous about their true, restless feelings. What hurts more than them going unnoticed is the idols’ resignation to spend the rest of their life with their undying love kept close to their chest. “And the days / will probably go on / without me telling that I love you,” they sigh the bittersweet refrain. For such a buzzing track, “Watashi, Koi Hajimetatteyo!” keeps hush of a devastating heartbreak.
7) “Jupiter” by Kaede (2020)
Nothing can disturb Kaede in this weightless arrangement of “Jupiter.” “It’s wonderful when I’m with you,” the Negicco member sings while the fluttering city-pop sends her into a blissful realm made exclusively for two. Space travel is what she calls this head-over-heels state of mind with her happily getting lost in her own feelings, and I couldn’t agree more: time seems to stop altogether when the music’s on, and all that matters is Kaede and the beautiful sight that lies in front of her.
6) “Hitoride Ikiraresotte Sorettene, Hometeiruno?” by Juice=Juice (2019)
While “Hitoride Ikiraresotte Sorettene, Hometeiruno?” was released in fanfare during the summer of 2019, the song’s reputation grew far bigger this decade within the Hello! Project catalog but also the idol canon at large. For Juice=Juice, it’s the group’s official business card as powerhouse vocalists; for the rest of the idols in the industry, it’s a type of show-stopper record that a group wishes to have under its sleeves but also be capable of delivering.
The more impression “Hito Sore” gains as this unstoppable force, however, it only ensnares Juice=Juice further into the bindings the idols so wish to be free from. They strike as an unfaltering presence through their fierce vocals and the song’s hard-edged electric-guitar lick, earning them this headstrong persona. But they see that impression as a crutch more than a perk: “Acting tough to hide my weakness, won’t someone see through it,” they plead in the chorus to be seen and understood of how they really feel. For all the toughness they exude, the idols want for their vulnerability to be recognized. Juice=Juice turn out to be human after all. And as their performance inspires awe, their true colors revealed here draws us in even closer.
5) “Zettai Idol Yamenaide” by =LOVE (2024)
During these oshikatsu times, =LOVE shine a light in “Zettai Idol Yamenaide” on the part of the idol-fan experience that us fans prefer to be oblivious about: that our favorites will one day graduate and leave behind everything for a new life. Yet the cruelness doesn’t come from the idols speaking aloud of this unspoken truth but from them making us imagine this hypothetical yet nevertheless devastating event. It’s basically a near-break-up song with it haunted by the what-ifs before the actual goodbye — try your best not to fill in the blanks of the lyrics with your chosen oshi. Every pleading of forever in the chorus hurts because =LOVE sing it with the underlining notion that we, the fans as well as the idols themselves, know that no such thing exists. The end is guaranteed in this social contract: “a never-fulfilling fairy tale,” they sum up the experience. But knowing acutely of how the story will end, as “Zettai Idol Yamenaide” reminds us, it only can move us to love our favorites wholeheartedly and cherish them while they’re here.
4) “Everything About My Precious You” by RAY (2020)
Shoegaze and idol songs, they’re not so different, or so states RAY and their purest distillation of the two styles to date, “Everything About My Precious You.” While the woolly fuzz is unmistakably the mark of the former rock genre, their admiration from the distance for an unnamed precious “you” taps into the tropes of both. What’s not at the core of either music than wanting someone who’s so out of our realm? The wallowing guitars only exaggerate the record’s idol-song yearning into immense proportions, as if an ocean separates the admirer from who they want. Yet despite the impossible distance, RAY sound in bliss to be just thinking of them, simply in satisfaction to bask in their desires.
3) “Road” by MIGMA SHELTER (2020)
MIGMA SHELTER was the best to come from the previous era of idol, where group’s concepts were based on genres and music scenes not so traditionally associated with idol. While others took on shoegaze or death metal, MigShel claimed psych-trance — and they crafted one of the decade’s best pop albums on the back of the style. That album, ALICE, peaks with “Road.” An epic in miniature, it wades through peaks and valleys of tense electro and thunderous brass, mapping the stormy mental landscape of our protagonist: “Please let me go home / anybody save me,” the idols cry out loud as they clutch their heads in the choreography. So much about MigShel — the studied focus of their chosen concept, their DJ-mix-like non-stop performances — remains inimitable, and “Road” is the prime example.
2) “ALIVE” by RYUTist (2020)
Reflecting upon the lyrics of “ALIVE,” Penguin Discs label head Kazumi Nanba once lamented about a “lost spring” of 2020; now with RYUTist disbanded, the lyrics seems to also speak for a time we no longer have at all. “ALIVE” certainly embodies the ephemeral as the idols captures the fleeting yet precious details of the present moment into song. But Shuta Hasunuma’s homely orchestral arrangement paints the ode into less an elegy than a celebration of the beauty that still remains in spoils. What they treasure together most in “ALIVE” are the sensations, of how it felt then but also how it will continue to feel. Once RYUTist start singing, the blooming record reawakens the senses like time never moved on.
1) “Uzira To Omedazu” by Iginari Tohokusan (2021)
What do you want to do when it’s all over?
It’s a question many of us, including myself, have probably been asked at the start of this decade. Suddenly, life no longer felt normal, and I realized I took many things as simple as seeing other people for granted. A return to normalcy, how it used to be, didn’t seem possible while this lockdown state closed off my ability to imagine about what’s ahead.
Iginari Tohokusan had other plans. The idols fantasized in “Uzira To Omedazu” about lots of them for us to eventually participate in, together—us and you or uzira to omedazu in their local parlance. Hop into a train car full of people. Dance with our masks off. Share a kiss, the kind “we can’t do on a virtual date.” The group sounded even more eager to indulge in these activities off the highs of the song’s jubilant ska rock, so sure that it was a matter of not if but when they could finally turn the hypotheticals into reality.
The number-one on Iginari Tohokusan’s to-do list were live shows. Like many, many idol groups this decade, Iginari yearned to not only attend them but also perform at them in front of a live audience. Online concerts helped to fill a void, but it couldn’t replace the real, physical thing, this togetherness, where an actual voice shouts back at them in response. “Let’s get wrapped up in a mosh pit and kiss,” the idols shout among other wishes to place them near death in order to feel alive. Nothing felt more fulfilling and so life-affirming during those times than a live show; Iginari Tohokuan’s “Uzira To Omedazu” was the decade’s best approximation of it to hold us over, to keep us excited to live again.
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