This week’s features include: cadode, ずっと真夜中でいいのに。(“ZUTOMAYO”),
空白ごっこ (Kuhakugokko), 大森靖子 (omori seiko), and EOW 

This is it—we have now officially reached the final week of Season 2 of Spotify J-Music Playlist Draft! To those of you who have been tuning in to this series, whether regularly as they come, or on and off on your own time, I would like to express my sincere gratitude. Thank you all for following the Draft in whichever capacity that you do 😊

IF, however, you just so happened to have come across this post without prior knowledge of this series and what it’s about, here’s a quick little primer—

The Draft, inspired by player drafts in traditional sports and draft formats from popular trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, is a bi-weekly series where we try to answer the question;

How good is Spotify at recommending songs to me ?

In this series I will test Spotify’s ability to recommend to me songs that I would like based on songs that I already do like in the form of my own ongoing Recommendation Roundup Playlist on Spotify.

Making use of Spotify’s built-in suggestion feature on user-created playlists, we will have it gather a total of 5 (five) songs for me to check out and listen to. In addition to my own playlist however, for this season we will ALSO be including the 100 Draft picks from the previous season into the mix, thus (in theory) refining Spotify’s recommendations even further while also ensuring that we don’t get any repeats (songs that weren’t picked from last season though will get another shot if they get recommended to me again). Songs that I like will get drafted on a *new* Draft playlist, where the goal is to see just how big it gets by the end of the year.

What else new in Season 2 of Draft, you might ask? Well, we will actually be introducing a couple more things that weren’t present in the previous season. The first, is what we will be calling the Score To Beat. Last time Spotify only needed to reach a 100 songs for it to get the W at the end of the year. We will treat that 100 as the *current* score to beat for the series, so for this season Spotify now needs to get 101 or higher before the end of the year in order for it to win.

To keep things fair however, seeing as Spotify juuuust barely reached its goal last year, we’ll be incorporating the Wait List; a separate playlist of songs (max 3) that I think I might reconsider drafting should it come down to it.

This is Week 26 of Draft, which, as I said at the start is the final week of this season. Once again, thank you guys all so much.

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For the last time this year—run it!

I see we’re pulling out all the stops at the very last minute.

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♥ ライムライト/limelight by cadode

If you were around for Season 1 of Playlist Draft, you’d probably recall cadode as one of those acts Spotify kept relentlessly nudging my way—which, credit where it’s due, landed them two picks that year. Fast forward to this season, and they’re sitting at 1/1 leading into the week, which honestly isn’t the worst spot to be. As I touched on last week with bands like WOMCADOLE and Halo at Yojohan, I’m in a bit of a headspace right now where male-fronted pop like this really clicks. That said, cadode was already starting to grow on me, but I’d say I’m more open to their style now than ever before.

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♥ 蹴っ飛ばした毛布/kettobashita moufu by ずっと真夜中でいいのに。 (“ZUTOMAYO”)

While I still consider myself a fan of their more recent work, there’s something undeniably special about their earlier material. Maybe it’s the hipster in me talking, but when I listen to Kettobashita Moufu, I hear a simpler, more stripped-down ZUTOMAYO—and honestly, I think they shine the most when they keep things straightforward, avoiding the chaos and erratic tendencies they’re often known for. Take, for example, the incorporation of jazz elements here and the way the tempo shifts midway. It’s not overly flashy or complex, but the execution is just so on point.

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♥ サンクチュアリ/sacntuary by 空白ごっこ (Kuhakugokko)

I’ll be the first to admit—I fell off following Kuhakugokko the moment they got picked up by PONY CANYON. Don’t get me wrong, I’m genuinely thrilled for the band; getting signed to a major label is a huge milestone, especially when so many bands never even get that chance and some call it quits long before the opportunity comes. That said, I’ve noticed I tend to drift away from bands I follow once they hit the big leagues. Maybe it’s the inevitable shift in their sound that comes with it, as it so often does. Either way, that’s probably why I completely missed out on their first full album debut—and missed out I did, especially on tracks like “Sanctuary,” which is a real gem.

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♥ stolen worID by 大森靖子 (omori seiko)

Much like Season 1, when yourness made a surprise appearance in the final Draft week, Spotify pulled out the big guns this time by dropping none other than Oomori Seiko into the mix with her song stolen worID. While I’ve yet to feature one of her tracks on the Monthly Recommendation Roundup, I’m well aware of her reputation as one of Japan’s iconic “anti-idols.” Admittedly, I haven’t delved as deeply into her discography as I probably should, but I’m not one to pass up Seiko at her most eclectic. The way this track sustains tension and builds up throughout is nothing short of captivating—I really enjoyed how it all came together.

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♥ U by EOW

I used to think EOW was a bit underappreciated as a band, but the more I’ve thought about it—especially with vocalist Laco coming into her own through her work in Sawano Hiroyuki’s [nZk] project—I’ve started to see it differently. It feels like Laco’s presence played a huge role in elevating the band’s sound, to the point where her contribution might have carried them more than I initially realized. That’s not to downplay the rest of the band—they’re solid in their own right—but when you listen to a track like U, you can hear how everything comes together in a way that feels so “complete.” It’s the kind of sound that deserves far more attention than it’s currently getting.

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This Week’s Total Likes:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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The Draft playlist on Spotify has been updated with this week’s Draft picks 😌
After some careful deliberation, we’ve officially bumped up Kamin by ZUTOMAYO and Hanabie Ressha by Sangatsu no Phantasia from the Wait List into this season’s picks!

It’s a 5 ♥ week to close out Season 2, and Spotify definitely brought the heat. But… will it be enough? Surely the inclusion of those two Wait List tracks will help tip the scales, right?

No updated list today—hold tight for the final tally at the Recommendation Roundup Awards on December 29, 2024, where we’ll see if Spotify truly did enough to clinch the win.

See you there!