Another day, another rate!

 

We've done the big pop girls of today, the classical women of jazz, the indie starlets of old...

What say we turn our sights eastwards this time, ladies?

 

Picture this: Early '90s Japan.

A new emperor has brought in a new cultural era. The time of the idols and enka has ended. The economic miracle is truly over and gone. Now, taking inspiration from the Madonna-inspired pop-girl revolution in the west, a new archetype of female artists makes themselves known. This is the 'Diva' era of J-pop. A most fruitful period of Japan's musical history in which a whole host of women opted to take the reins on their careers like they never had been able to before. It was an explosion of great pop music that defined the next two decades of the country's listening habits.

 

This is...

The ULTIMATE Diva Rate.

 

So, how's it work? Glad, you asked! I've narrowed down the peak of the 'Diva' era to roughly 1994 - 2008. I then selected some of the most popular and interesting artists that debuted during this era and, from within this time frame, I selected a handful of their biggest and best hits to represent them in a little friendly competition between queens.

 

14 Artists. 65 Songs.

 

The women who will be competing in this rate are:

Spoiler

Namie Amuro

 

Body Feels EXIT

CAN YOU CELEBRATE?

NEVER END

ALARM

Baby Don't Cry

WHAT A FEELING

 

hitomi

 

CANDY GIRL

In the future

LOVE 2000

SAMURAI DRIVE

 

Tomomi Kahara

 

I'm proud

Hate tell a lie

as A person

あなたがいれば (Anata ga Ireba)

 

Double

 

Shake

Handle

Driving All Night

BLACK DIAMOND

 

Ayumi Hamasaki

 

Boys & Girls

SEASONS

M

Moments

BLUE BIRD

Mirrorcle World

 

Ami Suzuki

 

love the island

BE TOGETHER

Delightful

ONE

 

Mika Nakashima

 

STARS

雪の華 (Yuki no Hana)

GLAMOROUS SKY

LIFE

 

Hikaru Utada

 

First Love

Can You Keep A Secret?

traveling

COLORS

Passion

Flavor Of Life

 

Mai Kuraki

 

Love, Day After Tomorrow

always

Feel fine!

PUZZLE

 

Crystal Kay

 

Ex-Boyfriend

Boyfriend -Part II-

恋におちたら (Koi ni Ochitara)

Kirakuni

 

BoA

 

Amazing Kiss

VALENTI

メリクリ (Meri Kuri)

DO THE MOTION

Eat You Up

 

Koda Kumi

 

real emotion

キューティーハニー (Cutie Honey)

you

JUICY

愛のうた (Ai no Uta)

TABOO

 

Ai Otsuka

 

さくらんぼ (Sakuranbo)

黒毛和牛上塩タン焼680円 (Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tanyaki 680-en)

プラネタリウム (Planetarium)

ユメクイ (Yumekui)

 

Miliyah

 

Dear Lonely Girl (ディア ロンリーガール)

Last Summer

LALALA

恋シテル (Koishiteru)

SAYONARA Baby

 

Now let's get into the rules for this game.

 

1. You must copy and paste the final tracklist and assign a score between 1 and 10 to each song on it.

2. You can add comments beside your scores if you wish. These are totally optional, but may be included in the reveals.

3. You may assign your favorite song in the entire rate with a single score of 11. Only one, so use it well!

4. You also have the option to give two 10.5 scores to your second and third favorite tracks. To fill out the podium.

5. Scores of 0 are not permitted, and neither is trolling. I will toss ballots if I think you are trying to sabotage one particular artist.

6. After the scoring is done, simply send your completed list to me via PM before the deadline. Then stay tuned for the results!

 

Deadline: 4 October 2025.

 

...

 

Got all that? Well there's one more thing!

 

As an optional bonus game, you can send me one "honorable mention" for each of the women included in the rate.

You don't have to include every woman, it can just be however many you want. You can pick any song that isn't included in the rate, but only one per artist!

We will unveil and talk about the choices throughout the rate.

 

If you have any other questions, feel free to tag me or PM me and I'll happily help you out.

 

...

 

PLAYLISTS

Spotify | YouTube

 

Missing Songs:

Most of the greyed-out unavailable songs on the Spotify playlist can be found on the YouTube playlist.

 

For the ones that cannot be found on either:

 

Spoiler

Namie Amuro - Body Feels EXIT

Namie Amuro - CAN YOU CELEBRATE?

Namie Amuro - NEVER END

Namie Amuro - ALARM

Namie Amuro - Baby Don't Cry

Namie Amuro - WHAT A FEELING

♡

Edited October 24, 2025Oct 24 by Graves

Spoiler

1. @Graves

2. @Suilen

3. @Ghibli

4. @illia

5. @Album Leak

6. @ChooseyLover

7. @SupremeGoddess

8. @conatus

9. @fantafantanocoke

10. @CityPop

11. @Nightingale

12. @Curaga

13. @Hyune

14. @sanzo

15. @ikiru

16. @D.D.D.

17. @HarajukuPrincess

18. @confide in me

19. @Kyle-x

20. @romiskes

21. @Black Sunflower

22. @Britneyfan09

23. @mellenthin

24. @Heirloom

25. @godmess

26. @Sheegs

27. @Eeveelution

28. @Ivory.

29. @supaspaz

Spoiler

66. LALALA - 5.041

65. BE TOGETHER - 5.224 
64. Hate tell a lie - 5.472

63. あなたがいれば - 5.624

62. I'm proud - 5.779

61. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? - 5.948

60. 黒毛和牛上塩タン焼680円 - 6.021

59. STARS - 6.045

58. さくらんぼ - 6.103

57. 愛のうた - 6.224

56. love the island - 6.234

55. as A person - 6.266

54. Feel fine! - 6.583

53. メリクリ - 6.621

52. LIFE - 6.621

51. プラネタリウム - 6.752

50. PUZZLE - 6.766
49. 恋シテル - 6.776
48. LOVE 2000 - 6.803
47. ユメクイ - 6.807
46. Dear Lonely Girl - 6.852
45. NEVER END - 6.887
44. you - 6.889
43. 雪の華 - 6.899
42. First Love - 6.931
41. Delightful - 6.931

40. Love, Day After Tomorrow - 6.938
39. In the future - 6.938

38. CANDY GIRL - 6.979
37. always - 7.089
36. Flavor Of Life - 7.2
35. DO THE MOTION - 7.203
34. SEASONS - 7.241
33. Last Summer - 7.248
32. Shake - 7.348
31. ALARM - 7.479

30. SAMURAI DRIVE - 7.5
29. GLAMOROUS SKY - 7.51
28. BLUE BIRD - 7.655
27. Boyfriend -Part II- - 7.666
26. Body Feels EXIT - 7.689
25. Ex-Boyfriend - 7.717
24. Moments - 7.734
23. BLACK DIAMOND - 7.821
22. 恋におちたら - 7.828

21. Eat You Up - 7.839

20. M - 7.845
19. ONE - 7.886
18. Handle - 7.955
17. Amazing Kiss - 7.983
16. Boys & Girls - 8.017
15. SAYONARAベイベー - 8.033
14. VALENTI - 8.069
13. real Emotion - 8.138
12. Can You Keep A Secret? - 8.148
11. Baby Don't Cry - 8.152

10. Driving All Night - 8.186
9. キューティーハニー - 8.414
8. COLORS - 8.438
7. TABOO - 8.462
6. JUICY - 8.517
5. Passion - 8.662
4. Mirrorcle World - 8.672
3. Kirakuni - 8.724
2. WHAT A FEELING - 8.741
1. traveling - 9.103

 

Edited October 24, 2025Oct 24 by Graves

Namie is the blueprint btw

 

 

2 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

Namie is the blueprint btw

 

 

That's mother  So we expect you to be in here supporting her, of course.

oh not using that google doc thing

 

omg this is going to eat

So excited!

 

A little insight into how this is going to shake down:

 

There's no deadline as of yet. I'm going to spend the next couple of days revealing the songs representing each diva. We can talk about them, y'all can drag me for my selections. We'll laugh. We'll cry.

 

Then, in probably a week, scoring can kick off properly.

Hikki, Crystal and DOUBLE are my GIRLS.

 

I am a 90's-00's J-R&B stan so I will be highly critical on these selections, particularly for the latter two.

dddddd; don't be expecting too much from the selections now  I'm primarily picking from the hits. This is an entry-level J-pop rate! 

Namie, Mika, Ami, Hitomi, Crystal, Hikki, Ayumi 

Can't wait for this!! I'll never get tired of a good KUNA rate, but it is nice to finally have a more comprehensive Heisei rate that includes even more of the important divas of the time like Ami, Mika, Mai, BoA, etc. Excited!

1 minute ago, Britneyfan09 said:

Can't wait for this!! I'll never get tired of a good KUNA rate, but it is nice to finally have a more comprehensive Heisei rate that includes even more of the important divas of the time like Ami, Mika, Mai, BoA, etc. Excited!

Your big four rates were huge inspiration! 

I'm seated

 

Will reveal the first songs in a bit. We're starting with the queen mother herself, of course

So ready to rate these legendary girls that have their songs available for streaming! 

 

3 minutes ago, AMIT said:

So ready to rate these legendary girls that have their songs available for streaming! 

 

Not too much on Miss Crystal Kay now... 

We need to open an exception STAT because the smash hit that got away That Ain't Cool was released in 2009  

 

 

Just now, SupremeGoddess said:

We need to open an exception STAT because the smash hit that got away That Ain't Cool was released in 2009  

 

 

If enough of you hoes votes, Ace might approve a part two for the post-2009 bops.

 

4 minutes ago, Graves said:

If enough of you hoes votes, Ace might approve a part two for the post-2009 bops.

 

We need too. We can't just ignore Namies second best album (Uncontrolled) like this 

 

we might be tuning in... only fully listened to "I was dancing with a dirty blond Texan" chanteuse.

 

11 minutes ago, SupremeGoddess said:

We need to open an exception STAT because the smash hit that got away That Ain't Cool was released in 2009  

 

 

That Ain't Cool was actually released in June 2008 as part of the MOON single, so it could be included if Graves chooses to

Just now, Britneyfan09 said:

That Ain't Cool was actually released in June 2008 as part of the MOON single, so it could be included if Graves chooses to

...we'll see.

 

I've been meaning to get into some of them so count me in, tentatively

oh iktr

 

3 minutes ago, conatus said:

oh iktr

 

Glad to have you, sister.