Songs that rocked hard and weren’t on any albums from my Top 15.
That’s just a rule so I won’t gush about X all the time >_<
This won’t be a top list because I just can’t bring myself to think about how something is better than the other thing again this year.
An important song would be Berryz Koubou’s Dakishimete Dakishimete. Even though I got into idols thanks to Buono! I found my favorite H!P girl in Berryz Koubou and Dakishimete² is responsible for that, too. It’s such a great song that I learned the dance for it. Yeee~es. I did it! I’m very proud of myself.
If you’ve read Part 0 of this series, you might’ve realized that I’m going into the more rockish direction in the western music world. So MY BOY was a real pleasure to my ears. I never thought I would hear something like that from any H!P act. But you should never underestimate the girls from Buono!. Though, I think they aren’t really the ones responsible for it but what the hell~
H!Ps flagship (still) Morning Musume. were a guarantee when it came to at least listenable singles. They didn’t invent the wheel anew but I enjoyed all of them. But through the contest with the PV for the B-side 3, 2, 1 BREAKIN’ OUT I learned to love that song. That’s one of the songs that make me instantly happy. And I make all those typical Japanese poses and gestures while singing along. Just sad that there 
were a lot good videos out there for the song that weren’t even nominated…
There’s nothing mentionworthy from the H!P world so let’s look at some other idols. No doubt, AKB48 was successfull this year. All their singles sold well and they took even my money… But the best single was RIVER, hands down. Let alone that chant at the beginning. I hope they do this at Kouhaku this year. That would be awesome and no one would forget them. I tried getting into Idoling!!! and the such but that’s right now all from me about idol songs.
But there’s a lot more in the Jpop world! Kaela Kimura’s BANZAI was great because it was pure fun and made me happy =) Ayaka Hirahara, an artist I listen to because a friend of mine loves her, surprised me with the rock influenced Romeo & Juliet from her newest concept album. She could more often try out new styles. Too many ballads aren’t that good. Chihiro spiced things up a bit and succeeded and alan did the same and… failed. But Romeo & Juliet is a step in the right direction! Oh, and while I’m talking about rock a bit I’ll also mention that I loved the Koda collaboration this year. It’s all Love! was great because they worked really great together and the song was a bit different with how the lines were given and placed. Good idea and misono’s voice 
was at least decent. I tried her solo stuff. Never again…
Now let’s talk about some B-Side material. Ha, material! Sowelu’s MATERIAL WORLD was one goddamn good song and perfect if you are an Audiosurf player like me. But I talked about B-Sides so I better tell you that I liked the -WTF Edit- even more. E-guitars and stuff. Damn, I’m as simple minded as a man. The other B-Side I’d like to mention is BENNIE BECCA’s Dreamer (80kidz Remix). At this point I really pity people who don’t listen to singles. I was one of them not long ago. So glad I changed my mind. The last B-Side on my list is Shining Butterfly from the we-never-change-the-style-of-our-covers girlgroup BRIGHT. Sad thing I don’t like the other songs from them that much…
The only songs from female artists that I want you to know they are great, before I start with some male artists, are first off Thelma Aoyama’s I’m Sorry from her album Emotions. I don’t think it was released as single beforehand but I’m not sure. Was it? I want to recommend Thelma Aoyama to all the Jyongri fans that think Jyongri got a bit boring in the last months. Their voices are kind of similar. And after all there’s Aya Kamiki. I listened to one album by her and had her in mind as some kind of Japanese Avril Lavigne copy but those times are over. She seems so… womanly now o.o And her W-B-X ~W-Boiled Extreme~ single was great. Not just the song but there’s also a second Instrumental on it that I listen to almost more than to the A-Side xD Can’t 
wait for the new album!
I told you so and now they’re here. The male artists! In my half-year review I already talked about SEEDA’s selftitled album, but not only do I want to recommend the full album but if you don’t have the time to listen to a full album just do a quick YouTube search for his songs DEAR JAPAN and SO HIGH. At least the first one should be found easily. It’s great hip hop~ After almost 850 words I now want to mention a Johnny’s group. I liked one song from them. A B-Side. But I think I would be hated by many fangirls if there was no JE in none of my Best of 2009s. Arashi’s Tokei Jikake no Umbrella. It’s not like Arashi needs me to recommend them to someone anyway…
That’s it with the Japanese men and let’s go to my last paragraph for this post before I go to my grandparents to welcome the new year. The Korean Invasion! BoA’s English album was a good first attempt but what I really liked was that her Japanese releases also got better. The best song till now definitely the collaboration with Crystal Kay and VERBAL: UNIVERSE. It’s kind of sad that it’s already on the Best&USA album. Of course I cannot not mention SNSD/So Nyeo Shi Dae/Girls’ Generation when I’m talking about KPop. But I have to say that I thought Genie was 10 times better than Gee. Gee got annoying too fast. And it was too poppy for my taste. And no, the dance is no reason that I liked it better. But the dance to Brown Eyed Girls‘ Abracadabra made me watch the performances of that song so often that I really liked it in the end. Sign, not so much… I think my Korean taste has its period sometimes.
I liked the whole girl group thing that was going on but on my paper with my notes there are now only male Korean artists left, so let’s beginn with the most obvious one. 
I think GDragon’s voice is a bit annoying in BigBang because you can hear it above all the others. But solo it works. My favorite song from his album is She’s Gone (feat. Kush) and I can’t even tell you why. The repetitivness of it should be a reason why I don’t like it but somehow it isn’t. It’s the same with Super Junior’s Sorry Sorry but I managed to listen to it over 40 times. Another boygroup I liked was SHINee with Ring Ding Dong but mostly because of this parody. What I liked from the start was F.T Island’s I Hope but my sister watched their MV on YouTube (she becomes more and more a little version of me. First my western taste in music and now I got her to like the east, too!) and that made me like it even more. Very cute <3
The last song I will recommend is Zin/Jin Tae Hwa’s Fallen Angel (feat. Jed) but you may know that already since I made a whole post on that song and its MV. Where’s the (mini) album, Tae Hwa. Where?!
1. Mada
acoustic songs with this album. Tsugou no Ii Onna and Mou Hitotsu no MY BABY are really beautiful ballads with strong choruses and I like them a lot. Especially because they sound like live versions. I first listened to the album on my portable mp3-player and thought it jumped to the end of the album and there’s a live bonus track or something. Salaryman no Uta also got this live-feeling feature but it goes into a very lively direction because it sounds a bit like she’s just playing for fun. It’s a nice ending for the album.
