Ongaku to You 2022 Songs, Artist and New Artist of the Year!
/2022 was a very interesting year for the Japanese music industry and we at Ongaku to You would like to praise the songs and artists that helped us traverse this amazing year. Each member broke down the year in three categories; Song of the Year, New Artist We Discovered in 2022, and lastly our Artist of the Year. We hope that 2023 will bring many surprises to the Japanese music industry like we received in 2022!
Luna’s Song of the Year
“Itsumademo” by Thelma Aoyama Feat. SoulJa
The melody, Thelma's vocals, SoulJa's rap, the lyrics - everything is perfect and it’s a callback to Koko ni Iru yo/Soba ni Iru ne. Just the idea of Thelma and SoulJa doing a collaboration and a call back to the tracks they did together on Thelma's debut is just fantastic and I fell in love upon first listen.
Luna’s New Artist of the Year
Grace Ami
Grace Aimi released her debut studio album near the end of 2021 and I discovered her music in early 2022 after my best friend introduced me to her song "Karaoke Queen". Grace Aimi's music took me by surprise in a good way. I love that her music was all English based (as I wasn't expecting that at all) and that it reminded me of a mixture of 00s pop at times creating a funky fresh vibe. Tracks such as Friend Zone had a more western feel, especially lyrically and composite wise. Tracks like "if" and "Karaoke Queen" give off some mixed vibes which I love. She's an artist I have been anticipating releases as I'm curious to see what she will do next.
Luna’s New Artist of the Year
Koda Kumi
Koda Kumi has had a fantastic year, especially coming off of her 20th anniversary and going into her 21st anniversary. She's released 'heart' in March of this year, which is a fantastic album and has a new digital track titled "WINGS". Her music has matured so much and I love that with each release; she does something different and showcases her talent as an artist. Her versatility in the industry is always needed.
Gray’s Song of the Year
“Last Dance ni Bye Bye” by Ballistik Boyz From Exile Tribe
“Last Dance ni Bye Bye” is a song that I come back to time and time again. This release just oozes the coolness factor and I love every second of it. The Ballistik Boyz have really grown since they released their first album and they have proven how insanely talented they are. This is a song that I play at work all the time when I want to brighten my day. Such a fun dance number with really great vocals. This was easily my song of the year, and I think the Ballistik Boyz has earned it.
Gray’s New Artist of the Year
Octpath
Octpath has had a really good year, and I wanted to make them my New Artist of the Year because when we first started coving them I wasn't a huge fan of them. They then released their "Perfect"-EP and that was the real turning point for me. I've enjoyed every release they have had since. I look forward to every release this group puts out and can't wait to see what they do next.
Gray’s New Artist of the Year
BiSH
So I was thinking about my Artist of the Year and I feel like BiSH has really earned this spot even though they don't have a song in my top 5 songs of the year. But week after week on the show we cover groups that are way past their prime and how sad in many ways it has become. So for a group like BiSH to say hey we are going out on our terms and to finish with such a strong year of releases. This has been some of my favorite music BiSH has done and it's created a bittersweet moment, on one hand I don't want to see them go next June, but I respect them leaving on their terms and I wish everyone in BiSH the best of luck on their future endeavors.
Ken’s Song of the Year
“Shock!” by Sakanaction
This is a track that upon first listen I had already known was going to be on my list, being top or not would be the only problem. I have loved what Sakanaction has been doing recently by delivering a modern city pop style of music and “Shock” is the bread and butter of that. It’s composition alone would be something to talk about as it just jazzercises a lot that 80’s feels and while the lyrics might not be anything too meaningful, it just adds to that style that Sakanaction has been trying to perfect. The bongos throughout the track had really won me over for my overall enjoyment of this song. I had enjoyed their concept, album Adapt, that was released back in March. I am much looking forward to a more traditional original album in the future.
Ken’s New Artist of the Year
Nishina
Not to beat a dead horse by having two unique female vocalists as my New artist of the Year back to back, but this year it would have to be Nishina. She has that “it” factor that I look for in a female vocalist. Her music is calm, yet has a hint of mysterious madness hidden throughout which attracts all listeners. One of the things that I absolutely love about Nishina is that she has this really soft but show addictive vocals that just capture anyone which was one of the reasons that I fell for her in the first place. Like I had said in my Music Corner write up about her, she can really mix it up and just take listeners on a ride that never has been heard before. Her latest release (as of this write up) “Hot Milk” was something that I didn’t picture her doing after her album 1999, but it just works cause of her vocal range that she puts into all of her tracks. It was things like this which really had made me thinking there was no one else that I could pick as my new artist aside of Nishina.
Ken’s Artist of the Year
back number
There isn’t an artist that had filled my ears throughout the year that was 2022 like back number. While it is true their actually 2022 was fairly light in actual releases, it was their whole backlog of releases that really got me. Like I had said with Yellow on my top 5 in 2021, they have this way just to grip the listener into their lyrics about love, unrequited or otherwise. I was even a huge backer of Suiheisen this past year, in which I didn’t see the big appeal of it back in its initial release. Songs like “Happy End”, “Takaneno Hanakosan”, “Shiawase” were constantly in my rotation and it had killed me because they weren’t modern enough that I couldn’t really talk about them in my Ongaku Go’s throughout 2022. These songs and its lyrics had really helped me in this really difficult year. I’m looking forward to HUMOR which will release in January of the 2023 and hope that these boys will keep on having an amazing year.
