Pori

~ a blog ~

Following the same format as last years post (and somewhat more timely!)…

2025 top tracks

My top 5 listened to tracks in 2025 according to last.fm:

  1. pinponpanpon – SO COOL

  2. HANA – ROSE

  3. Ava Max – Wet, Hot American Dream

  4. Ava Max – World’s Smallest Violin

  5. Ava Max – Lovin Myself

(unashamed cringe pop enjoyer 😂)

…tbh I think this sums up the year well enough.

Best Song 2025

Not in my top 5 most played (my 35th apparently), but I think song of the year really has to go to:

HUNTR/X – Golden

I mean it was everywhere, and pretty catchy. I also wanted to dislike KPop Demon Hunters, but after actually watching it… honestly surprisingly enjoyable.

No honorable mentions this year since they’re all in their own categories below.

JPop 2025

Absolutely no question on this, it has to be HANA – ROSE. Massive debut year for them, glad Momoka from PD101JP got her debut in a group that suits her style (and is already doing better than the actual group from the show… not to mention healthier management company by all accounts). A well deserved best new artist award too for them at the end of the year. They could easily have had 2 or even 3 songs at the top of this list in 2025 (Blue Jeans being the close 2nd of their songs).

pinponpanpon

My personal favourite song of the year I’ve got to go with pinponpanpon – SO COOL.❄️ Like a lot of their songs lean heavily into the “bad/cringe but funny” category, but I think SO COOL transcends that into a legitimately decent track that can be enjoyed in total isolation (same with Midnight Ravers on last years list). I’m also thoroughly enjoying their youtube antics.

They even completed a European tour in 2025, including London. Not going to post a whole report on that or anything, the venue was awful, 4am is too late for me these days, but fantastic to see them and their energy in person. Obligatory cheki (as far as cheki locations go, this is pretty awesome tbh!)…

Honorable mentions

Too many others to choose from, could have gone on, but let’s go with these:

KPop 2025

I don’t think I actually listened to much other than ILLIT or KPop Demon Hunters. So I’ll go with the only one I listened to on repeat for a while:

  1. ILLIT – jellyous

Best Album

Two clear contenders, and both very different!

  • .BPM – The .BPM Wonder This entire album is like a greatest hits, all their best songs, plus some new songs. It really is a masterpiece from start to finish. Based on what their producer has been saying online, it really seems like it’s been a labour of love to produce the whole thing over the years (and impressive from a single producer!). I can’t praise it enough. I hope they get the recognition they deserve. Definitely want to see them live some day! 🙏

  • Ava Max – Don’t Click Play Pure pop. The amount of mess that preceded this album, cancelled how many times, quitting management agency, cancelling an entire world tour, omg, felt like it was never going to happen. Clearly not as iconic as previous Ava Max albums, but this really has some good fun songs, and her lyrical writing is as poetic pop as ever. Was looking forward to the tour before it got cancelled, hopefully it gets re-announced for sometime this year. ❤️

Other Stuff

I think the main other interesting thing that happened last year was seeing the Japanese cast for the SIX musical performing in London (including Suzuki Airi!). I’m not really a musical person, but this felt more like a concert (plot thin at best, lol), super awesome to see Airi still performing on stage and enjoying herself. Far too many people at the stage exit to get any decent photos though, though she took photos of everyone else…

Finally… 😭😭

Can’t end the post without mentioning Perfume going into cryosleep. Still producing amazing albums until the end. Seems like there will be a documentary movie released sometime next summer, then who knows when we’ll hear from them again, though they’re not ending, just sleeping! From my last post in 2023 😭😭😭😭…

“I couldn’t help but wonder, would this be the last time I see Perfume live?”

Music is everything

遥かなユニバース

It truly is.

#music #jpop #concerts #perfume

Discuss...

New Momoi music for the first time in forever. 🎉🎉

  1. NewGame+

  2. Nanika

  3. 転売ヤーをぶっとばせ！

  4. LOVE.EXE -TENSEI Ver.-

Since this blog is kinda not really in-use, I wasn’t originally going to write about this, but after crying through FUWAMOCO’s Momoi karaoke stream, I couldn’t not (they feature on Nanika along with many other people). It’s been so long, the songs are all good. ❤️ ❤️

So this is really written with a heart filled with nostalgia. All of the old communities are gone, paranda’s blog, the English Momoi fansite and forums. I imagine everyone is still around somewhere, but a combination of life, and the changing face of the internet has really broken apart a lot of old communities.

First of all FUWAMOCO’s love for Momoi really shines through in that stream. I don’t think I ever met them when Momoi was performing at various overseas conventions, but definitely remember them from the Momoi forum. Their journey since then has been impressive in both their effort and what they’ve achieved. Truly brings a tear to the eye, both figuratively, and then literally while going through waves of nostalgia on their stream. OS No Yes in the next setlist? 🙏😅

Momoi really means a lot to me too, if not for UNDER17 (and same origin story, specifically the DearS OP: Love Slave), I would not have my love for JPop today, I would not have attended various events, met essentially most of my friends today. That initial curiosity of “what is this song style, it sounds so… intriguing”, into finding an UNDER17 concert online, seeing the passion of the fans, hearing all of the awesome and unique songs, and well everything is history. How could one not fall in love? It’s amazing how a single song can impact the entire trajectory of one’s life.

I really lament the loss of the old community (and the entire earlier internet tbh). If anyone finds this, can we have some kind of momoist reunion? Resurrect the forum? Create a discord or something? Group visit to a Momoi concert in Japan?

#music #momoi #桃井はるこ #jpop

Discuss...

(obviously I meant to do this some months back, alas time is relentless…^^)

2024

So according to my last.fm, my top 5 listened tracks last year were:

  1. ME:I – Our Story

  2. ME:I – Hi-Five

  3. ME:I – Click

  4. Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!

  5. .BPM – Boom Boom Bee

Now with hindsight, that might not be the way I would order the best songs of last year, so I’ll ramble here for a little bit…

Best song 2024

I don’t think there is any question on this, it is easily Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! I can’t realistically say any of the other songs this year are better, or even came close. Everything, from the lyrics/message, the singing ability, and the composition itself (lyric relevant tempo change ftw!), all top class.

Honorable Mentions

…both super catchy!

JPop 2024

So ME:I obviously took up a lot of my listen time. I’ve never really watched audition shows before (unless you count Popstars with Hear’Say back in the day), however Produce 101 Japan The Girls was actually quite entertaining! I think the group really got the right people in it, variety of personalities, and the best singers (Tzuzumi & Ayane) from the show both got in. However, I don’t think they’ve had the best songs since their debut, they feel a bit over-produced, with some at times terrible lyrics (“太陽と my sweat” 🤢). They’re not bad songs, quite catchy in-fact, but certainly not the best songs of the year. Of their songs, I liked Our Story the most because it sounded like it suited their vocal range the most, not as high-pitched as their other songs, more “real”.

My favourite JPop song of 2024 though was actually .BPM – Boom Boom Bee! It has a nostalgic 2000’s Hello-Project JPop sound even though it’s not Hello-Project. The producer Okamura Yosuke is a genius! I hope they continue making more music. Check out: their .. other .. songs.

Honorable Mentions

KPop 2024

I don’t really listen to much KPop, but ILLIT – Magnetic is far too catchy! As was Tick-Tack (including the collab version with Ava Max).

Honorable Mentions

  • Katseye – Touch …not really KPop, but putting it here anyway, again very catchy. Shame their recent single is total garbage.

…and an early view of 2025…

(in-case I don’t do another one of these)

Early contender for song of the year is HANA – ROSE, seems rare these days to see strong vocals! Others worth a listen:

  • pinponpanpon – SO COOL …more crazyness! 😃
  • cosmosy – Lucky=One …I have no idea what is going on in the video, battle royal style meets magical girls, and then the song sounds like it should be a Eurovision song (Finnish producer it seems). Absolutely bizarre mixture, but the song is actually really good.
  • ME:I – Million Stars …this might be their best song. Continuing the trend of the other tracks being better than the single.
  • IRyS – DIAMOND GIRLFRIEND feat.MOTSU …I find most vtuber songs a bit forced, but wow this song. Not only is the song a better Initial D song than some actual Initial D songs, it also features the real motsu from m.o.v.e, and holy shit the video production quality, absolutely top notch.

#music #jpop

Discuss...

After having spent quite some time reflecting on the previous post, and playing through both The Talos Principle and its sequel (which touches similar themes), there may be two potential solutions.

  1. We could go down the route of free will being an illusion, in which case everything is easy to view as simply a passenger experiencing reality as it passes us by. Why get upset or worried by the future when this is exactly how it was meant to happen, there was simply no other outcome that the universe could ever accommodate. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the ride before eternal darkness.

  2. The other solution (as argued by the aforementioned Talos Principle) is that we have a moral duty to fight back, even when it all seems totally futile, even when a single person has no chance against the entire system.

The reason we have this moral duty goes somewhat like this:

  • Premise 1: There is a possibility that we are the only conscious beings in the entirety of the universe (I think that is highly unlikely, but it is a possibility). Or at the least, we are unique in our own consciousness even if there are others out there.
  • Premise 2: There is a beauty in parts of the universe being conscious, being able to experience itself.
  • Con