Sayumi Michishige leaves memorial for fan with new album!

Former leader of popular idol group Morning Musume Sayumi Michishige announced a brand new album, SAYUMINGLANDOLL～Memorial～, scheduled to drop July 24. Its announcement coming as a surprise to fans during the artist’s thirtieth birthday, the album will be a Best Of selection album. It will serve as a continuation of Michishige’s SAYUMINGLANDOLL series, dropping with two editions: a CD-only standard edition along with a CD + DVD limited editon. The DVD will include music videos for several tracks on the album along with clips from Michishige’s SAYUMINGLANDOLL tour from the past year. Dropping with seventeen tracks total, the album will include songwriter Saiko Omori’s written track “OK！生きまくっちゃえ” (“Ikimakucchae”)  and “白い羽根” (“Shiroi Hane”).

Pre-order SAYUMINGLANDOLL～Memorial～ in the links below.

Standard edition

Limited edition

Track listing:

Sayumi Michishige「SAYUMINGLANDOLL～Memorial～」

CD

01. OK！生きまくっちゃえ

02. 白い羽根

03. Fantasyが始まる（Michishige Ver.）

04. 彼と一緒にお店がしたい！（Michishige Ver.）

05. 再生～わたしはここにいるわ～

06. SAYUMINGLANDOLLオープニングテーマ～キラキラは1日にして成らず！～

07. ダーリン、寂しいな

08. EIGAをみてよ

09. Loneliness Tokyo

10. SHIBUYAのファビュラス

11. Stay with my heart（updated）

12. Let's go Yeah～会えたらいいな～

13. KILAi STAR LIGHT

14. It's You

15. 歩いてる（updated）

16. シャバダバドゥ～

17. ラララのピピピ

Limited Edition DVD

01. OK！生きまくっちゃえ（Music Video）

02. Loneliness Tokyo（Music Video別バージョン）

03. ジャケット、MV収録メイキング映像

04. 再生～わたしはここにいるわ～（SAYUMINGLANDOLL～再生～より）

05. SAYUMINGLANDOLLオープニングテーマ～キラキラは1日にして成らず！～（SAYUMINGLANDOLL～宿命～より）

06. SHIBUYAのファビュラス（SAYUMINGLANDOLL～東京～より）

AZKi says goodbye to her heroes in latest music video!

After her collaborations with other VTuber on Usagi Produciton’s VirtualREAL.00 album, popular virtual YouTuber AZKi was back at it again with a brand new song titled “さよならヒーロー” (“Sayonara Hero”) this past week. Not only was “Sayonara Hero” readily available, but a new music video dropped on her official YouTube to accompany its release.

As with several other releases from her this past year, “Sayonara Hero” was written and produced by music creative team SCRAMBLES, the group behind several tracks by popular idol groups such as BiSH, BiS, and Gang Parade. Satoshi Toyosumi of SCRAMBLES took writing duties for the track and recently produced several tracks off of both GANG PARADE’s and BiSH’s latest mini-albums.

Per the norm of SCRAMBLES’ produced tracks, “Sayonara Hero” has a fusion style pop melody via a fast tempo guitar riff mixed with a powerful and moving piano melody to deliver something nostalgic yet fresh at the same time.

Purchase “Sayonara Hero” here and check out its colorful music video below!

Johnny & Associates' Johnny Kitagawa passes away at 87

We regret to inform that Johnny Kitagawa, president of popular talent agency Johnny & Associates, passed away due to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm this past week on July 9. He was 87 years old.

The surprising passing of Kitagawa occurred weeks after he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital on June 18. While the cause of the incident is unclear, several entertainers he produced visited him during his hospitalization.

Spawning numerous groups through his agency, Kitagawa became a big player and held a foothold in the industry through the success of top male idol groups such as Arashi, SMAP, and Kinki Kids. One of Kitagawa’s final wishes was for the world to be peaceful and full of hope so that people could enjoy entertainment.

No successor to Kitagawa has been named as of now, but several speculators announced that current president of Johnny’s Island Inc. Hideaki Takizawa will be the forerunner for the position.

We at Ongaku to You send our thoughts and prayers to Kitagawa’s family and loved ones in this trying time.

Official HIGE DANdism announces new album

Four-member rock band Official HIGE DANdism announced they will be holding a brand new tour along with a brand new album, both coming this October. The full schedule for the upcoming tour was revealed; it will last from October 26 all the way to February 11 of 2020. At this time there have been no details released regarding the album.

Official HIGE DANdism has been on the rise as of late with their single “Pretender” which dropped May 15 and debuted at nine on the physical release chart for the Oricon. For the combined weekly chart on Oricon, “Pretender” has consistently placed around the sixth spot since its release. On top of all of this, Official HIGE DANdism has a new single coming July 31 titled “Shukumei”. It is only to be featured in a single edition which will be CD-only. Pre-orders are available here.

Be sure to check out the outstanding “Pretender” and the full tour schedule below.

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Official Werewolf [dism one-man tour 19/20]

October 26, 2019 (Sat) Chiba Prefecture Ichikawa City Cultural Hall

October 30, 2019 (Wed) Nara Prefecture 100 Years Hall 100 Hall Large Hall

November 1, 2019 (Fri) Osaka Prefecture Grand Cube Osaka (Osaka Prefecture International Conference Hall)

November 2, 2019 (Sat) Osaka Grand Cube Osaka (Osaka Prefecture International Conference Hall)

November 7, 2019 (Thu) Saitama Prefecture Omiya Sonic City Large Hall

November 10, 2019 (Sun) Ishikawa HONAMI no Mori Hall

November 15, 2019 (Fri) Hokkaido Otaru Citizens Hall

November 17, 2019 (Sun) Sapporo Cultural Arts Theater hitaru

November 23, 2019 (Sat) Kagawa Prefecture Sunport Hall Takamatsu

November 20, 2019 Kobe International Hall Kobe Kokusai Hall

November 29, 2019 (Fri) Aichi Aichi Arts Theater Grand Hall

November 30 2019 (Sat) Tokyo Metropolitan Office Olympus Hall Hachioji

December 7, 2019 (Sat) Gifu Prefecture Nagara River International Convention Center Main Hall

December 8, 2019 (Sun) Aichi Prefecture Japan Special Ceramics City Hall Forest Hall

December 13, 2019 (Fri) Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima Culture Academy HBG Hall

December 15, 2019 (Sun) Shimane Prefecture Shimane Prefecture Public Hall Large Hall

December 20, 2019 (Fri) Miyagi Prefecture Sendai Sun Plaza Hall

December 22, 2019 (Sun) Fukushima Prefecture Iwaki Art and Culture Exchange Center Arios

January 4, 2020 (Sat) Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka Sun Palace

January 5, 2020 (Sun) Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka Sun Palace

January 12, 2020 (Sun) Kanagawa Prefecture Pacifico Yokohama National Grand Hall

January 13, 2020 (Mon, Congratulation) Kanagawa Prefecture Pacifico Yokohama National Grand Hall

January 19, 2020 (Sun) Tottori Prefecture Yonago City Public Hall

January 21, 2020 (Tue) Okayama Prefecture Kurashiki Citizens Hall

January 26, 2020 (Sun) Niigata Prefecture Terasa Niigata

January 31, 2020 (Fri) Kagoshima Takayama Hall

February 2, 2020 (Sun) Kumamoto Kumamoto Prefectural theater Theater hall

February 10, 2020 (Mon) Kanagawa Prefecture Pacifico Yokohama National Grand Hall

February 11, 2020 (Tue) Kanagawa Prefecture Pacifico Yokohama National Grand Hall

Music Corner Week 14: The Charm Park

The Charm Park is the brainchild of talented, Los Angeles-raised vocalist Charm, who started the project in 2015. Charm’s solo project is becoming the missing link that lies among western and eastern styles of pop music, and it’s even making big waves with the rise of the fusion pop genre in Japan as of late. Dubbing himself the next generation pop maestro, Charm is true to his word, having organic and dynamic compositions accompanying his melodic vocals. He hopes that his arrangements can be enjoyed by fans all around the world. 

While the majority of his songs are in Japanese, Charm’s time in the U.S. has not gone to waste, as several tracks have him weaving back and forth between English and Japanese in perfect ease—so much so that listeners might not even know when the switch will happen. Some tracks are even sung almost entirely in English, such as “Still in Love”—which might puzzle some, as it seems like a song that could appear on the radio in the U.S. However, Charm keeps these English-only songs as special events. “Stars Colliding”, for example, is a very emotional and thought-provoking track which might have domestic fans of his feeling somewhat left out in his work, but entirely fulfilling for English fans of his which makes Charm’s solo project the catalyst in introducing Western fans to the Japanese music genre.

Under his The Charm Park motif, Charm has garnered major levels of success and signed with Avex in June of last year. He released two mini-albums during his indie days with A LETTER (2015) and A REPLY (2016) with Avex’s mini-album Standing Tall in 2019. He has also released four singles during that time—and two under Avex—along with two full albums, THE CHARM PARK (2017) and Timeless Imperfections (2018).

Check out The Charm Park’s official site along with his Twitter and watch the music video for “花が咲く道” (“Hana ga Sakumichi”) along with the link for Standing Tall here!