Sakanaction being the saving grace

@Kyle-x @Britneyfan09

The final day, waiting for you (and for whoever else can manage). I can stretch the deadline just a little if necessary.

Starting now

@Ghibli @Curaga @AMIT @mathekr @romiskes @Graves @illia @conatus @California @Kyle-x

Happy New Year! Thank you for submitting your ballots and making this happen. The results are coming in about 12 hours as promised, GMT 6PM.

Perched

The entries are ready, but I think that I'm going to stick to the original time just in case and play some Rebirth in the meantime. What do we think is getting the first chop?

I hope it's Kana

Should be the AI song. Not even just because it's AI, but because it's boring as ****.

All I can say about Kana is that she's tied with another artist, and a certain someone isn't going to be happy about that.

The Kana song kind of bopped I'm sorry to say.

Ugh I meant to get to this yesterday. Sorry about that @Suilen

Will be perched for the results!

9 minutes ago, Graves said:

The Kana song kind of bopped I'm sorry to say.

Yeah, she was kind of cute in a Mabel sort of way, you know?

Well, let's see what you all (and I) have cooked up.

@Ghibli @Curaga @AMIT @mathekr @romiskes @Graves @illia @conatus @California @Kyle-x

@Britneyfan09

20. CHANMINA - I hate this love song

Average: 5.00

Highest score: AMIT (9)

Lowest score: conatus (1)

In 2025, Chanmina was busy with her children aka HANA. They exploded in the way she never did herself, so her prioritizing them was a smart decision. Still, she dropped three songs: an experimental one (WORK HARD) and two slower tunes, one of which is I hate this love song. They did well for her standards, and even she had time to promote them. I hate this love song turned out to be the most successful affair, hence its inclusion in the rate. The audience... wasn't amused.

conatus: Let me go out on a limb and say this Chanmina person is not for me.

illia: Boring yawning sloppy lazy.gif

Kyle-x: I love a cute acoustic ballada.

Yeah that one was a little corny...

19. Kumi Koda - ChaO!

Average: 5.36

Highest score: AMIT, romiskes (8)

Lowest score: California (2)

Miss Kumiko used to be the queen of summer with her renowned summer singles, and she decided to renew the tradition in 2025. ChaO! served both as the lead single from her EP De-CODE and the theme song for the anime film of the same title. Some consider it her best song in years. I consider it a chop like most of her cutesy stuff. Imagine being in the same rate with Kana NishiNO and her annihilating you. I'd rather listen to RE(CORD) three times over than to this again.

Curaga: ChaOP! Those fake horns sound so dated

mathekr: kumi needs a hiatus but at least this time the music is listenable.

illia: Ok I'm moving a bit but this is so 2015 coded (derogatory)

conatus: Well there have definitely been worse late-career pop girl tracks.

Kyle-x: Her laying those adult hairs down in this cover is frying me. Never change, diva.

Edited January 1Jan 1 by Suilen

Deserved to be a bit higher

2 minutes ago, Suilen said:

I'd rather listen to RE(CORD) three times over than to this again.

ChaO! isn't as bad as I remembered it, but it's not good nnn

18. Elle Teresa - Love Deluxe

Average: 5.45

Highest score: Kyle-x (9.5)

Lowest score: illia, California (1)

Elle Teresa is one of Chanmina's sons, and she's been slowly gaining popularity, with her swetty collab I JUST from 2025 being her biggest track yet, but that one features a man, so I decided to go with one of her solo offerings that made some noise (and I was kinda curious about what people here would make of her since my previous posts promoting her went unnoticed). Possibly a Sade reference, the song deals with the rollercoaster that is modern dating. Again, the audience wasn't amused, though it did manage to grow on some.

Curaga: Cute beat, but that rapping...

illia: Would've been higher but omg these "vocals" combined with that autotune are literally earbleed-inducing. She did NOT try whatsoever

conatus: You're not gonna get the song the first time you hear it.

Kyle-x: Ooou now she's cute!

Edited January 1Jan 1 by Suilen

Love Deluxe wayyyyy too low

just awful

Finally

"vocals"

17. Yumi Matsutoya - DARK MOON

Average: 5.87

Highest score: California (9)

Lowest score: mathekr, conatus (1)

Yumi Matsutoya is definitely one of the titans of j-pop, and I thought it'd be cute to give you all a taste of her music before that second Showa rate. For better or worse, Yuming has always been an innovator, so once she heard about GenAI, she obviously wanted to be on top of it. The concept of the record is to combine the vocals from her Yumi Arai days with her current ones. On paper, it's not the worst idea. Her current vocals aren't that bad, though some artists cough Mariah cough could use that to assist them. The issue is that GenAI has a lot of baggage, and nobody wants to address it on the legislative level. Japan's fascination with it strikes me as particularly hypocritical: all those anti-piracy laws yet AI fueled by stolen copyrighted content is OK. That said, Yuming's use of it seems ethical to me, but it can still be controversial. I thought the song was more than fine before learning all the details of the process. After that... I suppose it's fine regardless. Some of you were more critical.

Curaga: Putting this right in the middle because I do like the way it sounds...

mathekr: AI slop, and grandma didn't even bother to make it interesting. Yikes.

illia: In her Bjork era. Added some points for experimentation but I didn't get it

conatus: No, sorry, absolutely not.

Kyle-x: I mean... honestly... it's pretty damn good lol