Karakui

We’ve been seeing a lot of amazing music releases this year so here are our favorite songs of 2022 (so far). The criteria is that the song is a new release for 2022 (not a remake or re-release) and we’re only covering pop music this time around. Oh, and they’re not in any particular order and some of the videos may be blocked (by the major record labels *cough*) from viewing outside of YouTube 😢. Be sure to add the songs to your playlist to show our support.

It’s definitely Awich’s year. She’s been featured on several high profile projects and has been amazing in rock festival appearances. “TSUBASA feat. Yomi Jah” is a love letter to Okinawa and features her daughter Yomi Jah. The video was released on 3/15/22.

Anly is an artist who keeps bringing an amazing variety of songs to us. From Iejima, the singer-songwriter released the video for “Alive” on 7/27/22 and the song features the sanshin talents of Nakasone Hajime. It’s one of many releases she’s made for 2022 so there’s a good chance that we’ll see a full album released soon.

HoRookies is the *now* generation band with next generation musicians that easily fuses shimauta pops with amazing pop songs. We had a difficult time between this song and “Yui no Uta” (shimauta pops) but the “ah”. We always find ourselves singing along harmonizing to that section. The video for “Album” (not to be confused with a music album) was released on 7/6/22.

Miura Daichi – “Sansan”

No list of 2022 can be without Daichi Miura’s “Sansan”. Even without the tie-up to the NHK morning serial drama “Chimudondon”, the song stands on its own as one of the most meaningful pop songs ever created. Period. The video was released on 5/9/22.

This has been an interesting year for Rude-α (he’s now an indie artist) and it’s put him on fire. We see his song “Umui” as representing who he is (and where he’s from) and his freedom from past obligations. He’s backed by a couple of members from HoRookies as well as Shimabukuro Masaru from BEGIN. The video was released on 6/8/22.

Like HoRookies, we had a difficult time choosing between “Melody” and “Evergreen” (from the superb film “Miracle City Koza”) but “Melody” won out as it’s so cool seeing Yamato on his peg sanshin. The video was released on 4/14/22.

The funnest song on the list? Who can resist a tie-up with Pikachu which is where we find HY’s “Sorairo”. The video was released on 5/5/22.

It’s their first new song since they went on hiatus! And maybe it beats out HY as the funnest song on the list. Nah, there’s always room for more than one. 😙 The video was released on 4/15/22.

What respectable list wouldn’t be complete without a V-tuber? If you follow Nema Ui’s Twitter, they tweet a lot of fish so it’s no wonder that they released a song about Okinawa’s official 🐠. The video was released on 8/16/22.

Following our ocean theme 🐳 is MATSURI’s “52Hz no Kujira” which is her 5th digital single release making her one of the most recorded newcomers on our list. She’s definitely one to keep an eye (ear?) on. The video was released on 6/23/22.

If MATSURI is our new hope for indie artists, YU-KA is our new hope for the next major label breakthrough artist. “Lullaby” is her major debut single, it’s produced by Toru of ONE OK ROCK (she helped pen the lyrics), she’s backed by Amuse, she’s signed to Universal Music, the song has a tie-up to a movie, and it has over 1 million views. The video was released on 6/10/22.

From newcomers to a veteran who leaves her heart and soul out for all of us to share her pain and happiness with. 2022 saw the release of her album “Prom” which is not only her 12th album but comes on her 25th anniversary! The entire album is amazing. The video premiered on 3/20/22.