J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop. It refers to Western-influenced Japanese popular music. The term J-pop was coined by J-Wave, an FM radio station, to denote what was once called "New Music." The term is widely used in Japan to describe many different musical genres including pop, rock, dance, hip hop, and soul. Singers of J-pop include both popular musicians and seiyū.

Japanese stores typically divide their music into 4 sections: J-pop, Enka (a traditional form of ballad), classical, and English/International. Some songs, such as those by Miyuki Nakajima and Anzen Chitai, represent a fusion of Enka with J-pop.

 

PUFFY - NICE

Released: 1/22/03

This is PUFFY's album that was completely made in America, produced by Andy Sturmer. It was released in Japan first, but apparently a special version will be made available in North America later in the year. PUFFY was performing some of these songs on their North American tour, even though most of them had not been released on a CD until now.

Unique and upbeat songs like "akai BURANKO", "Tokyo NIGHTS", "sayounara", "invisible tomorrow", and "atarashii hibi" (which is the only single featured on this album) give this album a real stylistic kick that easily capture's any listener's attention. Seriously, these are all excellent songs that make this album well-worth hearing. The slower tracks like "Angel of Love" and "shiawase" just don't hit the mark quite as well, though still decent.

"LONG BEACH NIGHTMARE" is a attractive little rockabilly style song.

"Your love is a drug" is a great upbeat song with all English lyrics that they performed on their North American tour. Andy Sturmer wrote some very clever humorous English lyrics for this song that liken love to drugs. Like, "It's something more than chemistry, I'm trippin' everytime you're next to me." That's great stuff.

Track 9, "K2G ~kimi ni GO!~", is a ska style song with fast staccato singing from PUFFY. It is cool.

The final song, "tomodachi", is an energetic upbeat retro-style rock song. It is the B-side from the "atarashii hibi" single. It makes a nice good bye for the end of the album, just as it did during the ending credits for their North American tour video.

Andy Sturmer wrote some really nice new songs for this album, even though they don't really go outside what you would expect from this group. The songs can seem overly-simplistic and short, but with the variety and energy you get on this album, it is still very satisfying. Plus most of these songs haven't been released before, so most of the album is brand new. I also think that Andy Sturmer has done a great job of training their voices to actually sound decent for once. Of course the girls always sound a lot better on their CDs than they do live. (They sound AWFUL live. They sing OUT of TUNE.) Their tone qualty when they sing in unison is probably better on this album than on any of their previous albums. It is really a drastic improvement. Give this album a chance, especially if you're looking for music that hasn't been released on any previous CDs.

Overall Rating: 8 - Pretty good.

Track list:
01. akai BURANKO
02. Tokyo NIGHTS
03. Angel of Love
04. sayounara
05. invisible tomorrow
06. THANKYOU
07. LONG BEACH NIGHTMARE
08. Your love is a drug
09. K2G ~kimi ni GO!~
10. shiawase
11. atarashii hibi
12. tomodachi

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