Continuing from Ken’s lead, we at Ongaku to You would like our readers to know what was filling our ears for the past month. Each track is available across all digital music streaming platforms with Apple Music being featured on this site.

“XXKK” by Koda Kumi

With Koda Kumi celebrating her 20th Anniversary this year, she does not disappoint. “XXKK” showcases who Koda Kumi is today and that this is her style. The queen is here to stay and is not slowing down anytime soon. “XXKK” is a hot dance track that brings in elements from Koda Kumi’s music throughout her career with a new sound that she will be utilizing in the future. The chorus is catchy, especially when you hear “Crown on top”. The composition and music makes you want to dance and celebrate her milestone career.

Check out “XXKK” here along with the music video below!

“Beautiful” by BENI

Earlier this month BENI released her mini-album Y/our song and last month she put out a slew of new digital singles. “Beautiful” was among both those releases and caught my ear immediately. It’s a powerful mid-tempo track that gave me empowerment and touched my heart. BENI’s vocals are on point and her voice matches perfectly with this song. Every time I hear her sing “You are so Beautiful”, it lights up my spirit. This song touched my soul with her lyrics, vocals, and composition. Everything about it speaks to me.

Check out “Beautiful” here along with the music video below!

“Love Story” by AISHA

“Love Story” is the newest digital single by AISHA and followes up her single “My Home” that released back in July. “Love Story” is exactly what the title sounds like and is also the perfect wedding song. The melody is beautiful and makes you melt when you listen closely to AISHA’s lyrics. The track is filled with love and makes me swoon. AISHA’s vocals are perfect as you can hear throughout the track and hits every note perfectly. The mixture of Japanese and English also adds a nice touch to it as well. When I hear “Will you marry me”, butterflies fill my stomach.

Check out “Love Story” here along with the music video below!

“Paralyzed” by Kat McDowell & MiChi

Earlier this year Kat McDowell & MiChi released a digital collaboration single and I immediately fell in love with the lyrics. The words used in this track brought me back to “Paralyzed” this month as they are very relatable and it helps you deal with hard times. The track is all in English, for those of you who don’t know Japanese. It’s about people struggling to get through difficulties in life and that’s something we all can relate to. This track gave me so much inspiration to get up and try and to never give up. Kat McDowell and MiChi make the perfect team with their harmonies matching perfectly and the composition is flawless. This is a great track to help get you through problems we all face.

Check out “Paralyzed” here along with the music video below!

“#Slapanese” by BananaLemon

As we recently revisited our past Music Corner, BananaLemon popped back up on my list. This time around “#Slapanese” caught my ear with its hip hop beat and fantastic rap skills. All the members get to showcase their skills at rapping with a hot bass that keeps your booty shaking. It does have some explicit lyrics, but don’t let that turn you off. Although this is a very western influcenced track, BananaLemon does a great job of adding in the Japanese music flavor and fusing both together. Not to mention, the lyrics are extremely catchy and it’s hard to get this one out of your head.

Check out “#Slapanese” here along with the music video below!