J-pop Recommendations

[Kaikou]

I've been a fan of anime pop music for years, but have rarely delved into the world of J-pop and was wondering what are some seminal artists that I should listen to?

Basically just assume I've heard zero J-pop artists.

[Skywise]

I was going to list some of the more popular artists, but then figured this would be more useful:

Well if you want the full range, you should have a look at the oricon charts. That has videos you can check out as well. In addition you have, I'm not sure I should call it sub-genres, but there's also stuff like Visual Kei which is aimed at certain groups of people. Anime fans are also a separate group in that respect, and in addition to anime and game soundtracks, they're usually fans of idol groups like AKB48 and Idoling. It's just important to realize that jpop isn't one genre, but instead a common name for pop music sold in Japan. Some of it has a more unique sound to it, but you can say that for some popular western bands as well.

Western fans of jpop tend to get rather skewed in their tastes as well, because we get exposed to a very limited selection of music. I think the one artist that has the number one appeal to pretty much most groups, is Ayumi Hamasaki though. She's the number selling jpop artist of all time, and even though her popularity's gone down a bit in later years, she's still managing to stay up there. It's not just the music though, but her stage presence - her live performances can be amazing. Even if you don't enjoy her original tracks that much, there's official remixes that IMO sometimes are much better.

[Draneor]

I usually stick to anisongs and whatnot, so I don't listen to much J-Pop. That said, I really like the song "Sakuranbo" by Otsuka Ai.

[tenton]

If you've heard (and liked) some anime theme songs that have been done by more mainstream artists, you could give those artists a more in-depth listen (i.e. try some of their other stuff).

Otherwise, as Sky mentioned, the genre is really, really wide. Much like pop music in the west can be anywhere from hip hop to rock, R&B Soul to Hannah Montana, J-pop can cover a lot of ground you don't really want to listen to.

If you could give us an idea of some of the songs you like listening to (doesn't have to be anime specific, could be stuff non anime/non Japanese that you like), that could help focus the suggestions things down a bit. Heck, go to Oricon's site like Sky also mentioned and see if any of those artists/songs catch your fancy.

Another name just to throw out there is Utada Hikaru.

[Kaikou]

Originally Posted by tenton

Another name just to throw out there is Utada Hikaru.

I tried listening to some of her songs, from I believe her latest album, and just didn't click for me.

If I had to name someone that I like in Japanese that does songs outside of anime, it would be Maaya Sakamoto.

I'm not a huge pop person, outside of anime songs.

As far as US artists in general, my tastes vary and I like too many to list them all.

However I'll just list off some off the top of my head:
Evanescence
Flyleaf
Within Temptation
BoA (of Serial Experients Lain fame, no the Korean singer)
Vienna Teng
Pink Floyd
Men Without Hats

What a varied list that turned out to be.

[Betenoire]

Yoko Kanno's Song To Fly is described as a pop thing. It is a fairly interesting work from what I remember...though I haven't pulled it off the shelf for a while now.

[tenton]

Originally Posted by Smashingblue

I tried listening to some of her songs, from I believe her latest album, and just didn't click for me.

If it's from This Is the One (her latest), it is different than her normal stuff, primarily because that one's intended to be an international album. You might want to see if you can listen to some tracks from her Singles Collection and see if those click any better.

(actually, I'm not really a big fan of Hikki, but she's one of the bigger J-pop artists, so she has to be mentioned).

I'm not a huge pop person, outside of anime songs.

Feel free to list any anime songs that come to mind as well.

What a varied list that turned out to be.

Indeed. Sky's suggestion of sampling the Oricon charts is looking like a great idea for you.

Also, if you can catch a general music show like CDTV or Japan Countdown, that might prove useful. Well, they show clips from stuff on the Oricon charts, mainly, but they have live performances and flashback lists, too.

I actually have a very short list of J-pop artists that I really like (Oreskaband, YUI, The Brilliant Green/Tommy February6, Tommy Heavenly6), so I could prove to be somewhat useless.

[populuxe]

My two favorite J-pop artists are the Indigo and Chara. I just can't get enough of them. I'm also very fond of Hitomi Yaida, Aiko, YUI, hitomi and Maki Yano. I try to keep up with all of them.

Here are some Youtube videos:
the Indigo: Kokoroni, Under the Blue Sky
Chara: Milk, Cherry Cherry
Hitomi Yaida: B'coz I Love You, Buzzstyle
Aiko: Boyfriend, Nageki no Kiss
YUI: Never Say Die
hitomi: Samurai Drive, SPEED☆STAR
Maki Yano: Honne to wa Ai yo, Sayonara Iro wa Blue

[Skywise]

I don't know why, but The Brilliant Green seems to click with anime fans quite a lot. Personally I'm a fan too. BTW I found this list:

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?showtopic=5099

That might be a bit more indicative of who the icons are in the Japanese music industry over time.

[Skywise]

Puffy might actually fit the more rock-like style you seem to be going for. L'arc en Ciel probably fits that as well. For female ballads and the like I recommend Alan and Ayaka. Otsuka Ai and Aiko are a different kind of female vocals - they kind of go more for a unique wheeze to their voice.