This week’s features include: HIROBA, Sakamoto Maaya, 江口亮 (Eguchi Ryo),
NOMELON NOLEMON, POLKADOT STINGRAY,
Shiggy Jr., and キタニタツヤ (Tatsuya Kitani)
At ease, soldier! Welcome back to the bi-weekly sortie that is the Spotify J-Music Playlist Draft, the Internet’s one and only live-action Japanese music rogue-like playlist builder. If you’ve been here before, you already know the drill—head on down and let’s get into it. But if this is your first time answering the call, allow me to direct your attention to the following mission briefing:
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 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.
Check out the Week 1 post for Season 3 to know the rationale behind the following artists being exempted from the Draft: Yorushika, ZUTOMAYO, YOASOBI, みゆな (miyuna), Hakubi, POP ART TOWN, whaledontsleep
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 is Week 13 of the Draft, and with it we dive headfirst into the summer season. If you’ve been following along, though, you’ll know things have already been heating up around here for quite some time now.
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Let’s see what we got going on:
I see some big names up on there. I don’t think that bodes well for us.
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♥ 南極に咲く花へ/nankyoku ni saku hana e feat. Sakamoto Maaya and 江口亮 (eguchi ryo)
by HIROBA
HIROBA is a music project spearheaded by Yoshiki Mizuno of Ikimonogakari fame, where he collaborates with a variety of artists from across the Japanese pop music scene. A great example of that is this track, Nankyoku ni saku hana e, which features the renowned voice actress and singer Sakamoto Maaya alongside school food punishment composer Eguchi Ryo. What I really enjoy about this song is how it offers a kind of “what if” scenario—almost like imagining what it would sound like if Sakamoto Maaya were one of those “faceless artists” who typically work with producers behind the scenes. At the same time, this might be one of the most overtuned examples of the singer–producer pairing we’ve seen, given the sheer name recognition and talent everyone involved is bringing to the table.
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♥ イエロウ/yellow by NOMELON NOLEMON
NOMELON NOLEMON is no stranger around these parts, with their brand of high-energy pop rock making regular appearances in the Monthly Recommendation Roundups. What’s especially interesting about Yellow though is just how much more subdued it is compared to their usual fare. I think it’s a really nice change of pace, honestly. Overall, the track strikes what I’d call a near-perfect balance between an organic, band-driven pop rock sound and a more polished, synthesized production. Feels like you’re getting the best of both worlds here, at least in my opinion.
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♥ バケノカワ/bake no kawa by POLKADOT STINGRAY
For those of you keeping track of POLKADOT STINGRAY’s appearances on the Draft this season, this marks the second time we’re dipping into their Nanimono album, this time with Bakenokawa, which, let’s be honest, is pretty much pushing them into exemption territory. Not that they weren’t headed there already, given how they’ve quietly put together a spotless 5/5 record across three seasons of the Draft so far. Make that 6 now, since we’re definitely picking this one up too. Much like NOMELON NOLEMON’s Yellow, this track feels a lot more subdued than your typical PDSR affair, which really lets vo. Shizuku’s vocals shine even brighter than they usually do.
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♥ baby I love you by Shiggy Jr.
I first came across Shiggy Jr. back when I didn’t have nearly as much appreciation for Japanese pop rock as I do now, so I’ll admit they’re one of those bands I just never really gave a proper listen to. baby I love you is such a solid reminder that I really need to change that, something that tends to happen pretty often when the Draft tosses me a deep cut like this. Honestly, I’m genuinely excited to start digging into their discography sooner rather than later. The chorus on this one is just so adorable, and if the rest of their music is anything like what I’m hearing here, that’s all the more reason to do so.
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♥ 冷たい渦/tsumetai uzu by キタニタツヤ (kitani tatsuya)
Kitani Tatsuya is back in the Draft after a pretty quick turnaround—his last appearance was just in Week 10, where I talked about how much of a proven commodity he is in the Japanese music scene with the quality of music he consistently puts out. What’s great is, as you’ll hear in Tsumetai Uzu here too, he’s able to do so across all sorts of sounds and styles. This track in particular really stands out to me for its lighter, more youth-pop kind of vibe, something quite different from the darker tones we typically hear from him.
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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 Playlist Draft picks 😊
No new changes or additions have been made to the Wait List.
We are absolutely getting smoked. Another 5 ♥ week. I’ll do a proper tally at the end of the year, but I’m pretty sure Spotify might have just set a new record for most 5 ♥ weeks in a single season (if it hasn’t already, I’ll have to check). And we’re only halfway through 2025! I dunno, maybe this series just always catches me on good days when anything and everything sounds great to me (lol). But if that’s not the case, then it’s honestly just further proof of how dialed-in my algorithm has become, and will presumably continue to be. A frightening reality, but hey, it’s literally the monster I created, so it’s my duty to confront it head on every single time 😤
Lemme know what you guys thought of this week’s Draft! Likewise, tell me which ones were your favorites from this week!
If you didn’t catch it yet, there was a Draft “special dungeon” in this month’s J-Music Exchange/Rate, where I went full Draft-mode on Al’s specially curated playlist to mark the series’ 5th anniversary. Check it out here if you’re curious!
Lastly, don’t forget, the Monthly Recommendation Roundup drops June 30, 2025, just a few days from now! Hope to see you there!