NEO CITY POP CYCLE vol.97
Oops! All R&B
PLAYLIST UPDATE
Arche - addicted
Note: I made one change post-publishing in light of this Spincoaster interview. There are other important details from that interview I missed (like how demos of all but one track were previously released on TikTok - a platform I don’t engage with because I am over 30), but I won’t bother shoehorning them in now.
A natural first reaction to the singer-songwriter Arche’s first album, “sublimated”, is “Wow, looks like Japan has a new queen of R&B!”. Immediate comparisons will be made to Lauryn Hill, thanks to the cheeky sample from the hit single, “you are”, the effortless switching between rapping and singing, the brilliant Neo Soul compositions wholly produced by SPENSR, and evidently evocative lyrics. It’s this last part that I’ve tried the best to understand over her short career - a frequent comment on her songs goes something like, “My feelings have been captured perfectly, finally, I have been waiting for this.” For me, the music is great, it’s very ‘accessible’, so I’ve always tried to dig into the lyrics… and honestly, yes!
I’ve made my love for another singer, iri, well-known, but also made known that I really don’t understand her lyrics1… they always seem to be some vague mess of feelings, not entirely bolstered by helpful imagery (as with say, maco marets), and just never anything from like a Grades 1-3 textbook. I feel as though Arche’s lyrics are comparatively straightforward, and contain many brilliant and relatable stories woven throughout. Take the lead single, “addicted”, which is about not just the lingering, but powerful feelings you can have for someone after a break up, and, like so many similar songs, convincing yourself that it’s not the end of the world. There’s a bit started in the first verse about, “You don’t look at me even if I wear your favorite color”, continued at the end with, “What is my favorite color, even?” - though at separate ends of the song, this conveys how much of herself she gave up for this guy (followed shortly by a painful, “if I could love me like I love you”). Clever, but not impossible to understand… or so I think?
When a new album is released, it’s common for different music stores to post their celebratory displays on social media - ‘come get the new album!’. The best I saw - even better than big stores like HMV or Tower Records - was from VILLAGE VANGUARD in Shibuya. Even better was their tweet - 3 [singles including] “you are” are joined by 5 new songs for a total of 8. ‘Watch out for lyrics which plunge the depths of the human heart using ambiguous expressions unique to the Japanese language’?
I am somewhat familiar with vagueness and ambiguity in the Japanese language, but I feel like that permeates the work of someone like Kaho Nakamura, or even iri, more than it ever did Arche. A second interpretation would be that they are trying to provide an explanation for why someone who is absolutely nailing a ‘Western artform’ is primarily using Japanese and not English, like so many of her contemporaries2. Whatever the case is, if there’s something even deeper than I look forward to learning what it is. Duolingo, lead the way…
“sublimated” is the full package; As referenced in the social media post, the album boasts 5 brand new songs - leaving four previous SPENSR-produced singles and a number of ‘type-beats’ tracks in the past (maybe we’ll get a ‘hits you missed’ compilation some day?). Each of those new tracks is just as good as the singles, a non-stop ride through Neo Soul history, topped off with the heavily gospel-inspired “your words”, a heartfelt adieu to yet another lost love (or maybe it’s the same one throughout?) her grandmother, sung completely in… English.
Calli Stephus + maco marets + TOSHIKI HAYASHI(%C) - ASTRO
In this new world of unlimited music, it never hurts to follow an artist (whether on social media or on a streaming platform), even if they’ve only released one song, or if they haven’t released something in years. At some point I started following CCS records singer Calli Stephus, and it paid off with her excellent recent remix of m-flo’s “come again”. The hits keep coming this week with, “ASTRO”, produced by the brilliant TOSHIKI HAYASHI (%C) of Pistachio Studio and featuring poet and rapper maco marets of Woodlands Circle; ever the fantastic combination. It’s catchy, it’s got that bounce, there’s a pan-flute (?) melody, marets kills his verse, as usual. Listen above.
reina + Bonbero - Risk Your
Ohh you know Little Simz can’t release a new album without the international smooth R&B community trying to bust their own fresh rhymes. I kid, but we know all alternative artists are heavily influenced by UK acts like Simz and SAULT, so it’s not surprising if reina’s rap cadence on this new track feels a bit familiar. She is joined by nominal rapper Bonbero for another w.a.u banger in, “Risk Your”, one of an avalanche of recent releases from the music collective.
Sagiri Sol + Ryohu - lover boy
We haven’t heard from Sagiri Sol since her ‘debut’ EP, “heat shock” back in December, but it’s been even longer - nearly two years - since we’ve heard from the rapper Ryohu, known for megahits like “One Way” featuring Suchmos vocalist Yonce and More Life with Shin Sakiura, and as a member of the storied rap group KANDYTOWN. Sol delivers another earworm, aided by yet another new collaborator - rapper and beatmaker AWSM, who provides the guitar-forward melody.
Sala Kurokawa - On My Way
Sala Kurokawa has released a new EP, complete with 4 brand new songs and the previously released, “Bestie!!”, which I featured in my (apologies) poorly written Japanese 2-step round-up from a few weeks ago. The whole EP is produced by MANABOON3, and features three piano ballads, which stands to reason as Kurokawa’s piano playing has always been one of her draws. That said, this isn’t a piano ballad blog (if it was, you’d be hearing even more about Kan Sano!), so this week I’m only talking about, “On My Way”. While it’s not a 2-Step song, it definitely has that 2000s J-Pop sound, which was already heavily borrowing from 80s soul and post-disco sounds. I love the vocal call and response with the synth melody on the chorus; It reminds me a bit of the sound eill capitalized on with her 2019 single “SPOTLIGHT”, though she was not doing a call-and-response with the whistling - now we know what that would have sounded like.
dawgss + SORANE - Quest
Following the trend of “artists that have been quiet since their big release in the previous year”, bassist and vocalist dawgss is back with a new song, “Quest”, featuring yet another nominal rapper SORANE. I’m more than happy to recount some of SORANE’s amazing features from years past - “Easy Going” from SUKISHA’s landmark chill rap-pop masterpiece “Kiss the Knowledge Knives”, “Getsu hitotsu”, a collaboration with Kai Takahashi from BASI’s final album, and uhhhh, Yaffle’s rap version of the Pokémon battle theme featuring yama, from an EP commissioned by Nintendo for the videogame’s 25th anniversary. The rapper remains in top form here, with a bass-heavy track that also has some touches of hard bebop saxophone, courtesy of - you know it - Kohei Ando (AKA MELRAW).
KAHOH - end love
New tune from R&B singer KAHOH, produced once again by RYUJA of 7co, perfect for the wind-down portion of this exciting version of the weekly City Music roundup.
Full Of Harmony + Sam is Ohm - my rules
This song must have been a treat for now-producer Sam is Ohm, who would have been a dancer around the time 2000’s R&B act Full Of Harmony (formerly F.O.H, before kids had to go and ruin that acronym) were prominent. Ohm serves up a classic 90s slow-jam tune about a seemingly incompatible relationship (‘Donny (Hathaway) and Stevie (Wonder) are nobodies to you’, ‘we don’t like the same food or movies’) that the guy is nonetheless crazy about. The trio - think a 3-piece CHEMISTRY - hasn’t gotten rusty at all in the past 25 years!
Yo-Sea - Shanana
Yo-Sea is another singer who - you guessed it - hasn’t released anything new this year until now. His first release of 2025 sees him together with GooDee - one of his strongest collaborators as of late - for a calm acoustic ballad. Sidebar, both Apple and Spotify have made moves on Japan, opening podcasting studios in the city of City Pop. While Spotify captured hip talents like chelmico (unfortunately on hold for the time being while Mamiko is taking a health-related hiatus), Apple brought Ebro, historically of the mainstream NYC rap radio station “Hot 97”, to interview, among other artists, Yo-Sea:
AKIRA + TOSHIKI HAYASHI(%C)
We end once again with another chill entry in the songbook of R&B artist AKIRA, produced by TOSHIKI HAYASHI(%C). AKIRA recently announced his second full solo album - a quick turnaround from his first, which released last November. Make no mistake, AKIRA has been in the game forever, dropping numerous singles and EPs as both a solo artist and with 906/Nine-O-Six; It’s only recently that he’s started releasing larger groups of songs and naming it an album. Look forward to the album, “Usual” later in July, but for now take a close listen to the new track, “Fallin”. Notice the background singer? Any guesses? That’s right, it’s Som, a perfect pairing for the breathy and understated vocalist!
THE WASH
MÖSHI and Gimgigam have combined to create… möshigigam!
Tempalay has released the audio from their Budokan concert last year.
FRESH VIEWS
A new m-flo song, featuring eill. I was hoping they’d do another interesting arrangement of one of their classics, but active artists tend to do their one big hit and then some promo for their new project (it’s the same on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series).
The original legend of Japanese R&B has officially uploaded most (all?) of his music videos to celebrate his 40th anniversary in the business. If you are under 30, be sure to check out his mega hit LA LA LA LOVE SONG above, featuring Naomi Campbell (yes, that Naomi Campbell).
Vaundy - pained
When it comes to contemporary J-Pop, Vaundy is the leader when it comes to a ratio of raw talent-to-popularity. Sure, Fujii Kaze (who also, unfairly, has the looks and charisma to play the part) is in that conversation as well, but Vaundy is allegedly writing, composing, and arranging all of these songs himself. As such, there were high hopes for his second album, “replica”, which was completely new: Only one song was streamed ahead of its release, and it could hardly have been called a single. Reception to the album was lukewarm due to the artist’s pivot to classic rock, an oddball departure for someone quickly gaining fame through emotional stadium pop hits and high-energy anime theme songs4. Worse, many critics missed the fact that this was a brand new album due to a bonus disk that came with the album (and is listed along with the album on streaming services) which was packed with years worth of Vaundy singles. Complaints included “the album is too long!” and “it’s disjointed!”, which are factual, if ignorant, comments about a chronologically-sequenced collection of singles.
What critics (at least the armchair variety) also likely missed was that the album proper had a hidden track. If you don’t know what a hidden track is, you’ve probably never bought a CD. In short, compact discs could ‘hold’ around 75 minutes of music total, broken into however many tracks you wanted. With most albums running under the allotted time, artists would often extend the final track to be say, 15 minutes long. The final song would play out, then the music would stop. After 4 or 5 minutes, bam!, a whole new song not listed on the CD case would start playing! Even within the past decade I remember playing Frank Ocean’s “channel ORANGE” in the car, not bothering to switch the CD once it ended, and being delighted at hearing something I’d never heard the first 10 times I’d listened. That song is also not officially on streaming!
Well, this week Vaundy has officially released the hidden track, titled “pained”, and perhaps the biggest irony is that it is better than most of the rest of the album while still fitting the rock theme that he was going for the whole time. It must have been like a secret wink to the fans that actually bought the album - ‘I’m still here guys, wait until you see what I’ve got next!’ In retrospect, Vaundy has never left the basic rock themes he played with on “replica”, he just did what he always does - made them singles.
Outside of “brother” and “aitaiwa”, which are each about something very specific.
reina comes to mind, who had criticized Japanese as not having rhythm or flow
Now is not the time for a deep dive, but the literal credit is programmed by MANABOON. I believe programming is what we understand as producing (like compiling the different tracks using production software), while Kurokawa herself gets the writing, composition, and production credits. I’m sure I’ll come back to this at some point.
Ironically the ‘single’ for the album, “ZERO” was recorded to sound like he was playing it at a stadium. I checked a number of his live set lists and the only song he plays from this album is “jonetsu”.