Few words before going going in to list. I have mild idol burnout. I have seen too many generic idol group’s videos and too many video’s where group’s only idea is to make young girls act sexy. Those make you question why you even bother checking new groups and in some cases if you should stop following the whole idol thing because of all the problems of the genre. But then you give change to other group and find something amazing which couldn’t exist outside idol culture. This is list of those groups.
I will be cheating here little bit. Not every entry here is album or released this year. I found groups this year and want to mention them here. Also this doesn’t contain Babymetal’s Metal Galaxy because I can’t put them into idol category even though they probably are than. Broken by the Scream and other groups will release albums this year which I expect to be among my favorite albums but because those are not released yet they are not here. I am not sure if there will be second idol edition or if I add rest among other favorite albums. Now to the list.
Minna No Kodomochan: Kabe no nai Sekai
Kabe no nai Sekai was released 2018. I found Minna No Kodomochan after I wrote 2018 favorite idol albums list. Soon after learning about the group I found out other member had to leave the group due injury. I am not sure what happens to the group now. They released some singles this year and had good thing going before the injury. Turn subtitles on if you want to know what they sing about.
Okinawa Electric Girl Saya: 黒の天使
Okinawa Electric Girl Saya has very little to do with whole idol thing but she seem to be popular on Facebook group where I find new idol groups. 黒の天使 is quite uneven album. Dropping few low point songs would have made it really good normal length album. Okinawa Electric Girl Saya is one of most interesting artists at the moment. Looking forward what she will release in future and hope she find some focus. Then all her music could be what high points of 黒の天使 are.
Melon Batake a Go Go: IKASUZE IDOL 1, 2, 3!!
Time to get into this year and real idol groups. Melon Batake a Go Go is what idol culture can produce when everything works. They are fun. They have interesting idea an they make good music. Often idol groups tend to be idol versions of a genre but you rather listen genre band than genre idol group. This is not the case with Melon Batake a Go Go. They are among best bands of the genre.
Bish: Carrots and Sticks
This song is big reason why I felt into idol rabbit hole. It feel quite generic now. But then it blew my mind. I knew Babymetal and Necronomidol before this. But this had something which made me interested of whole genre. Album has few good songs but it is hard to listen as whole album because it has brick wall mastering. Meaning everything is at full volume all the time. Even though this got me deeper into idol world this wasn’t best album coming from members of Bish.
Pedro: Thumb Sucker
Pedro is Bish’s Ayuni D’s solo project. At least it is sold as such. I don’t know how much drummer and guitarist have input. The guitarist is the reason why this whole thing works so well. Pedro released one EP before this. It had few good songs but everything falls in correct place in this album. It is interesting this album was released quite soon after Bish’s album. I don’t know how she had time to promote both at same time.
Bis: Are you ready?
Where should I start with this one. This is my favorite song of 2019 this far. It is only released as a single. Group named Bis has released full length album this year. But it doesn’t contain this song because none of the girls in the group which released this are part of the group which released the album. To make everything more confusing current Bis is not exactly the same as group which released the full length album. Other words whole Bis thing is a complete mess but it gets good music released.
All this is possible because idol groups are often put together by people behind the scenes. They own the group. They get someone to make songs and get group of girls to perform those songs. Bis is notorious for group changes. Group that released this song is know as second incarnation of Bis. Group that released the whole album is third incarnation of Bis. Girls performing the songs have got so fed up with management that everyone left same time. Addition to this members change all the time. Latest member stayed in group for couple weeks.
Gang Parade: Last Gang Parade
Gang Parade is weird. I bought their Last Gang Parade even though I didn’t find that so interesting. Actually I am not why I bought it. But when I hear interesting song when listening my music library on random it is quite often from this album. Favorite song is Heretic but because there is no official video of it this has to do. Gang Parade has released second album this year but I haven’t checked it yet. Maybe it will appear to later list.
Will-O’: 感情線染ヒカリエモーション
This is one of the most generic groups in this list. As far as I know they have only released one EP which contains this song. Don’t know much about the group but I like their music.
I.D.And Fly LooM: I.D.Fly
My latest finding from idol world. This is EP. I don’t know if they have released anything else than this. I hope they release more. I like how they sound more like metal band than idol group which has metal element in their music. In my opinion they should be as popular as Babymetal or Broken by the Scream which also have more metal band than idol group feeling.