Random J Pop

Koda Kumi announces her second pregnancy. And the North remembers the Rotten Pussy Fluid Gate of 2008.

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:51:00 +0000

Koda Kumi has announced that she is with child. Well, Avex did. And a lot of the public responses online are bringing up Rotten Pussy Fluid Gate of 2008. If you know, you know. But in case you don’t, pull up a seat.

Charlie Puth and Hikaru Utada join forces for the 2026 realtors anthem, “Home”

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

When Charlie Puth dropped the tracklist for his fourth studio album and I saw that it featured Hikaru Utada, I gasped a little bit. Then a snippet of the song dropped, and I gasped a little bit more. Then a preview of the music video dropped, and I gasped quite a bit. Now the full song and music video have dropped and, y’all. I’m all gasped out.

Koda Kumi performs covers of Southern All Stars and Bubble Gum Brothers on the Korean variety show, Change Street

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Japanese pop star Koda Kumi made an appearance on Korean TV as a performing guest on the show Change Street — which fellow J-pop star Crystal Kay had also featured on. And just like Crystal, Kumi performed a couple of covers — the number 1 hit ballad “Tsunami” by Japanese rock band Southern All Stars to get the crowd swaying, and “Won’t Be Long” by the slightly problematic Bubble Gum Brothers to get the crowd bouncing their shoulders.

Hikaru Utada features in Burberry’s The Trench, Portraits of an Icon campaign. And fashion sites don’t care.

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Over the past couple of years Hikaru Utada has been popping up more and more at fashion week events. Before there was always some sort of connection. Around the time Hikaru first started popping up at fashion shows, it was for Sacai, which made sense given that Hikaru Utada featured as a brand ambassador for the 2022 Cartier collaboration with Chitose Abe — the founder and creative director of Sacai. And maybe this is when Hikaru got bitten by the fashion show bug. Because since then, every now and then Hikaru would show up to a fashion show.

Hikaru and fashion shows seems random…because it kinda is. But…it also kinda isn’t.

Crystal Kay covers Misora Hibari’s Enka classic “Kawa no Nagare no Yō ni”

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Crystal Kay covered The Queen of Enka, Misora Hibari’s 1989 enka hit “Kawa no Nagare no Yō ni”. A very different style of song than we’re used to hearing Crystal sing. But she sounded amazing, as she always does.

Ichiro Yamaguchi shimmies on down with Aoi Yamada in a house of neon for Sakanaction’s “Iranai”

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Sakanaction released a brand new single “Iranai” last week, complete with a video of frontman Ichirō Yamaguchi just singing the song in his home studio — which I honestly thought would’ve sufficed for a music video. But I should have known that the band had already gotten Yusuke Tanaka on the blower and shot a music video where Ichiro gets to shimmy and we see the full band.

Dis Cover: Jessie Ware - Superbloom

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Jessica is releasing her sixth album, Superbloom on April 10th and she has unveiled the album cover, which true to the album title features lots of flowers. Very seasonal. I like it. But I’m not sure if I like the album cover though.

Perfume release their AI looking-ass-but-actually-not-AI video for “Fumetsu no Anata”

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Perfume’s last single release before their hiatus was “Fumetsu no Anata”. And I do wonder whether this song was planned before or after Perfume made the choice to go on hiatus. I’m willing to bet that it’s after, because the timing of the release of the single and the music video feel so weird. But they only feel weird because Perfume are on hiatus. Otherwise we would have gotten a live performance of this song for Perfume’s Nebula Romance: Episode Tokyo Dome when it was just a celebratory return to Tokyo Dome and an album concert, and not a farewell concert. And we would have gotten live performances too. The music video probably still would have been this though.

Flashback Friday: Crystal Kay - Eternal Memories | Young and grown

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 23:59:00 +0000

Thursday February 26 was Crystal Kay’s 40th birthday. So this Friday, we’re gonna flashback to her debut single “Eternal Memories”, which was released in July 1991 — when Crystal was just 13 years old.

The Lambs continue to seek justice for Mariah Carey’s Glitter, as the album is removed from streaming

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:00:00 +0000

It seems that the life of Mariah Carey’s Glitter will be one of perpetual mess and eternally seeking justice. Because nothing ever seems to end nor lay to rest with this album.

After a few quick ‘n’ short years of Mariah Carey’s 11th studio album appearing on streaming platforms, much to the delight of the Lambs — the album has now been yanked from all DSPs globally.

Toma Ikuta reprises a bunch of his acting roles in the music video for his debut single “Super Romance”

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Back in January, Japanese actor Toma Ikuta released his debut single “Super Romance”. And when I read that it was his debut single, I thought ‘That can’t be right’. Because I had just assumed that Toma was releasing music alongside his acting. But, nope. “Super Romance” is for real his debut single — which is a tie-in for the drama he stars in, Panda yori koi ga nigatena watachitachi.

Dis Cover: Angela Aki - Shadow Work

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 03:00:00 +0000

Angela Aki has returned with her first studio album in 14 years — which is absolute insanity. Angela’s last studio album was Blue in 2012. Blue is an Angela Aki album I will always remember, because I associate it with the day I missed my flight to Japan — as the song “Aiueo” was the only song I listened to for the entire journey to the airport.

HENNYWAY.

Crystal Kay performs on the Korean variety show Change Street. (I swear, she’s performing everywhere but in Japan).

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 02:20:00 +0000

Crystal Kay made an appearance on the Korea variety show Change Street, which is a variety show which brings together Korean and Japanese artists to compete in teams by performing songs. Think of it as a mini Kōhaku Uta Gassen, but instead of a red team and a white team, there’s a South Korean team and a Japanese team. A bit messy, but…okay. The performances are categorised as ‘busking’, but it’s more like luxury busking, if you can even call it that. Because these folk are performing in controlled environments with lights, top notch sound equipment and a live band — it’s a full performance production as it would be if it took place in a studio. It is absolutely not somebody with a bluetooth microphone, a karaoke machine and a jacket on the floor. Ain’t a damn thing about these performance busking. But, because they take place ‘outside’, I guess… [Shrugs]

HENNYWAY.

Hikaru Utada to feature on Charlie Puth’s fourth studio album, Whatever’s Clever!

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 06:29:00 +0000

Charlie Puth revealed the tracklist for his third studio album Whatever’s Clever! and it boasts a bunch of features — Kenny G, Ravyn Lenae, Hikaru Utada, Coco Jones, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins and Jeff Goldblum. All of whom are really unexpected, but a bunch of whom also make sense. Based on the songs released from the album so far, Whatever’s Clever! is gonna be an ode to the sounds of the 80s. So, a song with a Kenny G sax solo? Check. A song with The Doobie Brothers’ member Michael McDonald? Check. And a song with Kenny Loggins — the writer, producer and singer of the song “Footloose”? Check. And Charlie Puth likes him a Black woman with a good voice. So, Coco Jones? Check. And then somehow there’s Hikaru Utada in the mix. A wild card alongside Ravyn Lenae.

Perfume Closet pimps the Perfume classic “Chocolate Disco” for its Valentine’s Day collection

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Perfume may be in cold sleep, but that doesn’t mean Perfume Closet is closing its doors. No bitch. Because Perfume Closet is pushing some new shit for Valentine’s Day — the Chocolate Disco collection.

Dis Cover: Janet Jackson - Control

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 02:30:00 +0000

Control turned 40 last week on February 4th, so I really wanted to talk about its album cover. Because it’s quite the album cover. Janet Jackson is an artist with a couple of great album covers. But I think Control is one of her best. And I know this word I’m about to use gets thrown around a lot, but I do think it applies here — Control’s album cover is truly iconic. There have been riffs and homages paid to this over the years, by comic book illustrator Cliff Chiang and the problematic homosexual Todrick Hall — and as soon as you see them, you know the reference is Control. It’s THAT distinct of an album cover.

Janet Jackson - Control | A&M Records

🎨📷 Creative director & photographer: Tony Viramontes

The album cover for Control was shot and designed by illustrator and photographer Tony Viramontes. Born in the 50s and prominent in fashion publications throughout the 70s and 80s — Tony was well known. And the Control album cover was done in his signature style — a subject on a solid colour backdrop, drawn over with a marker. And he would use this style again for an album cover a year later for Donna Summer’s All Systems Go — although it was nowhere near as striking as Control.

The fusion of fashion and music was in the fullest of swings in the 80s. Many fashion photographers were called to shoot album covers. And there was an abundance of really cool, striking album covers which incorporated mixed media techniques. So as bold as Control looks in isolation, it probably didn’t stand out too much at the time of its release. But maybe it did. I’d really like to know if there was a huge reaction or response to the Control album cover and the shift in image for Janet.

Janet Jackson seeking out Tony Viramontes makes so much sense in the context of what Janet sought out to do with Control. She wanted to make a statement. To reintroduce herself. To shift the image of her last 2 albums, which were based on images everybody identified her with via her stint on the TV show, Diff'rent Strokes. And what better way to do that than to relinquish creative [turns and looks into the camera] control to a fashion photographer who had shot for Vogue, Tatler and I-D Magazine.

Janet’s first two albums featured covers which were very girly, coy, kinda whatever and said absolutely nothing about Janet herself. They felt like cheap attempts to cash in on her acting career, her acting career of which was Janet’s primary career and her focus at the time. The music and Janet’s image were not being taken seriously. But then there’s Control. Hyper feminine, but also masculine — something we’d see Janet play around with a lot for her next album Rhythm Nation 1814 and further down the line with The Velvet Rope. An album cover which actually made a statement and said something about Janet. She wasn’t that girl who acted any more. She was Janet the pop star.

Despite Janet being only 19 years old at the time, Janet doesn’t look it. She’s in a sharp Mugler suit. Looking like a grown woman who owns the majority share of a company and has a big ass office with a mirrored ceiling, a wall of windows and a mahogany desk which was shipped from Japan and was so big that they had to use a crane and put it into the office through the window. And I also think there’s something really cool about the album being titled Control, but Janet’s hair being kinda out of control — which is in stark contrast to her first two album covers, where Janet just had her natural hair slicked back and had a cute perm. And retrospectively it’s really interesting that Janet’s hair would be out, curly and a big focus on the album cover for The Velvet Rope — where Janet’s emotional state was all over the place, but she was trying to exercise control in compartmentalising them. At a time when silk presses and perms were all the rage for Black girls, Janet saying ‘FUCK IT’ and having her hair be big out and curly was such a power move.

And Janet’s name and the album title above and below that rectangular shape which looks kinda like an exclamation point?

Yes bitch. Zero notes for this album cover.

Flashback Friday: Janet Jackson - Nasty | Ate that nasty food and left no crumbs

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:59:00 +0000

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026. This day marked the 40th anniversary of Janet Jackson’s third studio album, Control — which is crazy to say.

This album truly changed the landscape of pop for young girls. And I could pick any video for any of the singles from Control and cite its impact. But the particular video I’m going to flashback to this Friday is “Nasty”.

Birštonas Mineral Water finally cough up some budget for Crystal Kay

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000

When it was announced that Crystal was going to be the face of Birštonas Mineral Water, I cussed it out. Because the announcement came with a shot which was not new and was raggedly photoshopped. So now, 6 months later, here we are with a really nice shot which was produced specifically for a Birštonas Mineral Water campaign. ‘Yay’ for progress.

Flashback Friday: Koda Kumi featuring Tohoshinki (TVXQ) - Last Angel | KK-Pop

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 23:59:00 +0000

Today is the anniversary of Koda Kumi’s sixth studio album, Kingdom. So we’re gonna flashback to “Last Angel” — the only song that I remember Kingdom for. Because it was from this point in Kumi’s career where I really struggled to remember which single belonged to which album, because Kumi was just releasing so much stuff in a constant stream. So which song belonged to which album just became a big blur.

Rewind: Koda Kumi - Trick

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 19:00:00 +0000

I first reviewed Trick back in 2009 and I wasn’t a huge fan of it. Spoiler. I’m still not a fan of it. But time has given me a slightly different perspective on the album. So, I want use this installment of Rewind on the 17th anniversary of the Trick to talk more about it — expanding on things which I only touched on in my initial review, or didn’t talk about at all, in addition to where I think Trick sits now that we have more albums and more of Kumi’s career to glean over.

Y’all. Kashiyuka of Perfume has cut her hair.

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I can’t believe I am writing a post about somebody cutting their hair. But here I am, writing a post about somebody cutting their hair.

BoA parts ways with SM Entertainment

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 03:00:00 +0000

So, in news which was both surprising, but not that surprising — the Queen of K-pop that is BoA, has chosen not to renew her contract at SM Entertainment.

Album Review: Perfume - Nebula Romance: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:59:00 +0000

I was concerned about this album. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Moon”. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Shein Factory”. The snippets of “Solar Wind” had me thinking that Nakata had lazily just re-imagined “Ima Ima Ima”. “Mega Man Poo Poo” wasn’t doing much for me. “Nebula Romance” was the only song that I wholeheartedly liked. Then the album preview dropped and I thought ‘Here we go again’. But then the album actually dropped and I was kinda ‘gagged’ as the kids say.

Whilst going into an album with low expectations leaves more room to be pleasantly surprised, it’s always nicer if you’re in a state of excitement at a release. But the rollouts for Nebula Romance: Part 1 and 2 have been such a mess, that it was hard for me to get excited about either of them. And then there is the baggage of how I’ve felt about Perfume’s albums for the past few years — leaving my expectations low. But that’s a whole other post. The rollout is also a whole other post, but let’s touch on it a little bit here anyway.

Random J Pop monthly: December 2025 | A year in reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:59:00 +0000

💿 Japanese releases

💿 Korean release

Sumin & Slom - Miniseries 2

💿 Western / English language releases

I was looking at this list like ‘Damn. You barely reviewed ANYTHING in 2025.’

My lack of reviews was not by choice. It’s just…the way things ended up.

Despite 2025 being a year of very few reviews from me, it was also a year where I had the most amount of people reach out to ask me to review certain albums, to tell me that you’re waiting on reviews of certain albums and to tell me how much you enjoy reading my reviews. And I want you to know that I truly appreciate every single one of you that reads my reviews, shares my reviews and hits me up asking about reviews. It means a lot.

📖 Previous years in reviews: 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024

Album Review: Sumin & Slom - Miniseries 2

noreply@blogger.com (Random J) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:00:00 +0000

When I reviewed Sumin & Slom’s debut album Miniseries back in 2023, my verdict / score was ‘Gimme Season 2’. And bitch, by golly, they went and did just that — releasing Miniseries 2 a couple of years after what I guess is now Miniseries 1.

Chances are that if you’re reading this, you know who Sumin & Slom are and were a fan of their first album, just as I was. But over the past couple of years I have had several people reach out to me and tell me that they were introduced to Sumin & Slom through my album review. So, let’s rewind a lil’ bit for those who have somehow ended up here and have no idea who Sumin & Slom are.