Idol Rewind | My Top 5 Jpop Boy Group Releases of 2019

So yeah, I did this for 2018 so I thought it would be fun to do it for 2019 as well. Admittedly I was a bit AWOL for the latter half of 2019... I had my debut idol performance in August and around that time I moved into my own place as well. Plus the fact that September would mark the beginning of my first year of no longer being a college student so having to start properly looking into finding work and figuring out what I actually want to do has been...interesting to say the least but anyway, even if I wasn't posting I was always there, always lurking. Certain idols I like to stalk online can probably attest to this. So anyway, without further ado, here is my slightly biased top 5 list of Jpop boy group releases from 2019!

1. SUPER★DRAGON - 2nd Emotion

SUPER★DRAGON takes the first spot on this list for the second year in a row! I stand by everything I've said about them in the past; they're just a group that knows no boundaries and is always surprising us with the interesting concepts they come out with and this year they of course didn't disappoint. "2nd Emotion" was their second album and not only did we get two tracks with music videos from it but also a dance version of the main track, not to mention the abundance of extras you got if you bought the disk. There wasn't a single song on this album that I didn't like and it's just good, man. So good.

2. BUZZ-ER. - #BFF

A group of new faces takes the second place spot, and this is also a group that has managed to creep their way into my top 5 male idol groups list this year too. Welcome BUZZ-ER.! BUZZ-ER. actually released 2 albums and a single this year but I chose this particular album because it contains all of the songs from all their other releases as well. Most of BUZZ-ER.'s releases this year have had such a fun dasa-kakkoi (goofy-cool) vibe to them that I absolutely love and all the songs have been so catchy I've been looping them on Spotify for months. 

3. SUPER★DRAGON - 3rd Identity

SUPER★DRAGON are dominating the list again this year. Yes, "3rd Identity" is in third place. No, that wasn't intentional. Guys. GUYS. If I thought SUPER★DRAGON were spoiling us with "2nd Emotion" then I really wasn't prepared for "3rd Identity". Two albums in one year? Yes please! The only reason this one isn't higher on the list is because I wasn't as fond of the songs on this album as I was of the ones on "2nd Emotion" but they were all of course still insanely good. What I did absolutely love about this album was the kind of "get to know the individual members" campaign they had going on alongside of it, where each member of the group got their own music video that focused on them and they all began to gradually open up their own social media accounts for fans to follow them on leading up to the album's release.

4. MAG!C☆PRINCE - Try Again

A twinge of sadness attached this one as it was the first single the group released after my favourite member, Kengo graduated. Still though, I think this is my favourite MAG!C☆PRINCE song in a while and it shows promise for their future releases without Kengo. I also really like the coupling song "No One Way".

5. SONAR POCKET with Gfriend - Oh difficult

I...just really like this song. There isn't much else I have to say about it. It's just hella catchy and another one I've had on repeat for months. It's also interesting to see a boy group do a collab with a girl group and something I'd love to see more of in the future.


What were your favourite Jpop releases in 2019? Let me know in the comments!