I tend to pick up music whenever I travel and they end up as a “soundtrack” to the trip. It can be a song I heard in a cafe or the mall, and in this Super Japonism Tour, they were songs I watched being performed on TV while I was in Japan.

SUN/Hoshino Gen

SOS/Sekai No Owari

“Don’t you let your heart grow numb to everyone
Oh child, listen to the sound of silence
Saving someone else means saving yourself
It’s true, and I’m sure you know it too”

The lyrics of SOS are really so haunting, matching the way Fukase sang the song. When they performed it on NTV Best Artist 2015, the musical instruments played softly so it almost sounded like a capella and it was beautiful.

KUROI SHIZUKU/Superfly

Is it just me, but Superfly’s new single (which was used as theme for the Fuji drama Mutsu Mieru Me) sounds like a Western song. I’m sure I’ve heard the beat somewhere.

ハピネス (Happiness)/AI

This song is being used as this year’s theme for Coca Cola’s Christmas campaign in Japan (the song is a collaboration with the company in 2011). I was so curious about the song I used my little Nihongo to ask the staff in Tsutaya Shibuya what the title was when it played in the store while I was there. It’s part of AI’s The Best album that was released last month to mark her 15th anniversary in the industry.

It’s always refreshing to pick up music from other artists because it widens one’s playlist. I may be a fangirl of specific artists but it’s nice to have variety every now and then.

Since I heard these songs in music year-end specials, obviously, they were among the top hits of 2015.

What songs defined your 2015?

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