As the year comes to a close, Spotify lets me know what I’ve been listening to this year, and to the surprise of no one, I’ve listened to a lot of music. However, this year was a bit different.

I started a new job earlier this year, and it allowed me the opportunity to listen to a lot of music. The job didn’t care if I had music playing through my headphones at work as long as I completed my dictated task on time. So I went about my day listening to music non-stop. The issue soon came up that I was running out of new music. I was getting tired of listening to the same Casey song for the Hundredth (dumb joke) time. The new Shrezzers and HUNG album had been released but those were getting boring as well. So I set myself out to discover new music. And what I discovered was a whole wealth of untapped music potential.

I had tapped in a wealth of what I’ll just call for clarity’s sake, underground Japanese pop. It has many names, but this is the most descriptive of what it is. And that unfortunately doesn’t even begin to cover the genre. It’s an umbrella which holds genres like punk, hardcore, metal, death metal, black metal, breakcore, and even rap. I had been aware of this genre for years. I had in passing heard some songs here and there, but never really fully committed myself to it. You know, I had listened to some of the more popular groups and a few others (BiS, PassCode and Guso Drop come to mind), but at the time I wasn’t really interested in pursuing their music past a few surface songs.

But because I was in a position to listen music at length while working, I let myself feel around the genre. What initially got me into the craze was following m!sa who used to be in a metalcore band Story of Hope. m!sa was featured on the now twice defunct Candye Syrup’s song Idol of Death. Which I could devote an entire article to the story of Candye Syrup, but that’s not the point of this article. After listening to Idol of Death, I was hooked into this genre and I couldn’t get enough of it. I rediscovered Guso Drop (偶想Drop) (who I had heard a few songs of way back in 2015, but skipped out of ignorance). And a few other groups.

It was a rabbit hole, and I dove straight in. This hole, however, seems to have no hard bottom. It just goes on, and on, and on… and on. The amount of groups I have discovered over this past year alone is tremendous. I have gone through a lot of hardship though with these groups. You see, this world of music is not simple. It’s not like a band. If I love X band and they replace the guitarist with someone else, it’s no big deal. Hell even if the singer gets replaced, so what. Their songs are great (hopefully) no matter what. But with these Jpop groups, well… it’s a completely different beast.

Groups generally consist of at least two girls, usually averaging around five (although there are plenty of solo idols, and plenty of massive groups as well, but those are the outliers). And more often than not you’ll start listening to the group and depending on when the song released that you’re listening to by them, at least one of the girls has left and been replaced. Or worse, they are set to leave soon. Or even worse, they blindside you with a total break up. It sucks because sometimes you’ll like a song for a specific person only to find out that specific person is gone. Such is the case with many groups, and this year alone has its fair share of break ups and graduations.

Despite all that, I still enjoyed listening to the songs I enjoyed. Discovering groups like NECRONOMIDOL, Not Secured, Loose Ends, BURST GIRL, Bury, Squall, or even solo artists like Hikari Shiina and Hanako-san have been wonderful experiences. Getting to know everyone involved the groups has been great. Interacting with key people and making new connections has been a fantastic experience. Despite there being an ocean between us and a language barrier, I feel extremely connected with these people. And I honestly can’t wait to see these people in person, performing on stage and hanging out after.

All that being said, this reflection in my music for this past year has been cathartic in a way. I am happy that I learned something new in a world of music where I thought I had known everything. I am happy that I’ve made connections with some of these groups and girls in said groups. I’m happy that some of the people can go on and live their life. But I’m sad all the same that some of these people just disappear forever. So much talent lost.

The scope of this post has gone way beyond my original intention. There might be a follow up later, but this post is going off the rails and I must stop it before it goes too far.

You can see my top songs of 2019 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6mmVu6XrO5jP3N9Os3zzke?si=_haY9K4WSoOckWH8VUUoWw

You can also follow me on Twitter for more updates about music related things: http://twitter.com/prichardclark