This week’s features include: MOSHIMO, EDOGA-SULLIVAN,
sympathy, 秋山黄色 (akiyama kiro), 空白ごっこ (kuhakugokko)

Hey there, friends! Welcome back to a fresh season of the Spotify J-Music Playlist Draft! That’s right—the holidays are behind us, and what better way to kick off a new year of posts from yours truly than with everyone’s favorite Japanese music rogue-like playlist builder making its return for another run 😉

For those of you who’ve been along for the ride the past two seasons, you’re probably already familiar with how this all works. But if this is your first time here and you’re still figuring things out, no worries—take a moment to check out this quick primer:

The Draft, inspired by player drafts in traditional sports and the draft formats of popular trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, is a bi-weekly series where I tackle a simple question—

How good is Spotify at recommending songs to me ?

In this series, I put Spotify to the test by seeing how well it can recommend songs I’d enjoy based on the ones I already do. I do this by leveraging Spotify’s built-in suggestion feature for user-created playlists, using my ongoing Recommendation Roundup Playlist as the starting point, coupled with the final Draft playlists from the previous seasons.

This curated pool of over 800+ songs will serve as the basis for Spotify’s recommendations, fine-tuning its algorithm to better predict the songs it thinks I’ll enjoy.

I’ll let Spotify generate 5 (five) recommendations for me to check out every two weeks. Songs that make it onto a Draft playlist and will count as successful picks. Tracks that didn’t make the cut last season get a second chance if Spotify suggests them again. The ultimate goal? To see just how big this playlist can grow by the end of the year.

In Season 2, I added two mechanics to spice things up. The first was the Score to Beat, which sets the season’s target. Last season’s score was 101, so this year, Spotify needs to hit at least 102 successful picks to “win”.

The second change we implemented was the Wait List, a smaller, separate playlist (with a cap of three songs) which allows me to save tracks for later reevaluation.

Now, for this season, I’m shaking things up again by introducing a new mechanic: the Exempt List.

Think of this as a “hall of fame” of sorts: any bands or artists placed on the Exempt List will have their songs automatically ruled out for drafting this season (and possibly in future seasons as well). The idea for this came up while prepping for this year’s Draft. I noticed a pattern—Spotify kept recommending a lot of songs from the same handful of artists. While they’re all great, I felt like the series might start to feel repetitive if the same five or six names kept popping up every other week.

The Exempt List, then, is my way of (ideally) ensuring we keep Spotify’s recommendations fresh and different each week.

I added the “Yakousei” big three—Yorushika, ZUTOMAYO, and YOASOBI—to the Exempt List because, in my experience, their music tends to blend together the most and heavily “color” the Draft pool. Including them felt like a necessary step to diversify the recommendations.

I also put the standout artists (as declared in the Roundup Awards) from previous Draft seasons on the list: Miyuna for Season 1 and whaledontsleep for Season 2. The more of their songs I draft, the greater the risk of Spotify feeding me the rest of their discography one track at a time, which isn’t exactly what I’m aiming for here.

Similarly, I added bands and artists who had multiple songs from the same album drafted in past seasons, like Hakubi and POP ART TOWN. Keeping them in the mix would just encourage Spotify to keep suggesting tracks from the same album, and that doesn’t really add much variety to the Draft either.

Bands and artists can be removed from the Exempt List over time, though naturally, more names can—and likely will—be added as the season progresses, depending on how things shape up. Something to keep in mind.

This marks Week 1 of the new-and-(hopefully)-improved Draft format, and I’ve got to say, I’m pretty excited to see how things will shape up this time around with the changes we’ve made.

ーー

For the first time this year—send it!

Already a promising start looks like. 

ーー

♥ 電光石火ジェラシー/denkousekka jealousy by MOSHIMO

Kicking off this year’s Draft is Denkousekka Jealousy by MOSHIMO (and can we take a moment to appreciate how rad that song title is?). MOSHIMO is something of a blast from the past for me—one of those bands that used to pop up on my feed pretty often when I was first diving into Japanese music. I’ve said this more than a few times in this series, but I’m always grateful to the Draft for giving me a chance to revisit artists I might’ve overlooked. As for the track itself, I really dig the energy here. Just when I felt it was starting to run the risk of feeling repetitive, it hits you with a refreshing instrumental break that keeps things interesting. All in all, a solid and satisfying listen.

ーー

♥ 今夜ステキになって/konya suteki ni natte by EDOGA-SULLIVAN

Similarly, EDOGA-SULLIVAN (gotta say, interesting name choice, lol) isn’t entirely new to me—I’ve seen the name around before. However, unlike MOSHIMO, where I’ve at least heard a track or two, I can’t say I’ve listened to any of their songs until this week’s Draft. Honestly, that feels like a missed opportunity because Konya Suteki ni Natte really won me over. The instrumentation gave me school food punishment vibes with its electronic touches, but blended with a more Pop Rock edge, which I thought was super cool. It definitely made me curious about how the rest of their music sounds. Plus, I instantly became a fan of Sasaki Moe’s vocals—such an expressive and captivating voice.

ーー

♥ SNS by sympathy

sympathy is an interesting addition to the Draft, especially since they’re currently in the midst of a resurgence after being largely inactive—understandably so—during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. What stands out to me about their sound, as showcased in SNS, is how it feels somewhat removed from the current Girls Rock trends we’re seeing with newer bands today. Instead, their music carries a nostalgic air, reminiscent of Soutaiseiriron, with a similar swaying quality and vocalist Shibata Yuu’s floaty, ethereal delivery evoking shades of Etsuko Yakushimaru. Honestly, they wouldn’t have been on my radar if not for the Draft, so kudos for the discovery.

ーー

♥ Bottoms call by 秋山黄色 (akiyama kiro)

Akiyama Kiro makes his return to the Draft after a respectable 1-1 debut to the series last season, aiming to turn that net neutral into a net positive for Season 3, starting strong with Bottoms Call. I touched on this during the latter half of Season 2 when talking about bands like WOMCADOLE and Halo at Yojohan who also made their on to the Draft, but somewhere along the way last year, I found myself warming up to energetic, male-fronted Pop Rock—and this track checks all the boxes. It doesn’t hurt that the chorus and main hook are irresistibly catchy, making it a standout pick right out of the gate.

ーー

♥ 19 by 空白ごっこ (kuhakugokko)

Kuhakugokko was a band I seriously considered adding to the Exempt List, given how often they popped up in the Draft last season—a total of four times. For now, though, I’ve decided to hold off, though I might revisit that decision if they end up appearing just as frequently this season. As for 19, it’s a cool change of pace—quieter and more laid-back than what you’d usually expect from Kuhakugokko, which makes it stand out even more to the rest of the tracks on their mini-album. Both the arrangement and Setsuko’s delivery are notably more subdued here, which gives the song a unique charm that really makes it memorable in my book.

ーー

This Week’s Total Likes:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

ーー

The Draft playlist on Spotify has been updated with this week’s Draft picks 😊
No new changes or additions have been made to the Wait List.

Spotify kicks off Season 3 with a bang, delivering a solid 5 ♥ week right out of the gate! How impressive is that? Could this be the result of the changes we made to the Draft already paying off? What are your thoughts on the Exempt List? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Before I let you go, just a quick reminder—I also run a series on my Substack newsletter called the J-Music Advance Party, where I dive into new and upcoming album releases each month. I officially launched it at the start of last year, though I realize I haven’t done the best job promoting it here on the blog. So, if you’re not already subscribed, do consider checking it out! It’s completely free, and I post every month. In fact, the next issue is dropping tomorrow (lol), January 12, 2025! Feel free to swing by if that sounds like your kind of thing 😌

Happy Listening!