Tegomass will be releasing their single “Tanabata Matsuri” (Star Festival) on July 8th. The following week, they will be releasing their debut album “Tegomasu no Uta” (Tegomass’ Song) on July 15th. These releases will accompany their first around-Japan summer tour. Both the album and single have limited editions that contain DVDs.
NEWS will be the hosts of this year’s 24 Hour Television, NTV’s yearly fundraiser that takes donations while broadcasting – you guessed it – 24 hours straight of related television. (It’s pretty much the Japanese form of PBS Telethons for charity.) Pretty much every JE group, including most recently Arashi, have been hosts before; this will be NEWS’ first time. The program will start August 29th. It’s the 32nd time, and the theme this year is “START!~Ippo wo Fumidasou~” (START! Taking One Step Out).
Filed under: Arashi, Hey!Say!JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, Jpop, KAT-TUN, Kanjani8, KinKi Kids, NEWS, SMAP, TOKIO, Tackey & Tsubasa, V6
I think Johnny’s always have the best debut songs and everyone else needs to take a note with their new artists. A Johnny’s group’s discography might not always be good as a whole, but their debut songs are generally epic – cheesy, exciting, infective, which, when all put together, mean totally awesome.Unlike many other artists, who try to gain momentum with their later releases, JE debut songs always have a strong impact and often stay as one of the group’s most popular songs throughout their career.
Here’s a ranking of the best 10!… or, since I’m only considering the still active groups (aka nothing BS: Before SMAP) the best and worst. (…what, my title isn’t that deceiving.)
NEWS’ next single “Koi no ABO” will be released April 29. The song is currently being used in NEWS’ new promotions for the RUSS-K brand. The limited edition of the single will have a 12-page booklet and a DVD with concert clips, while the regular edition will have two additional songs – including a live concert recording.
When I first heard a 30-second clip of the song, I wasn’t particularly impressed. It was really catchy right on the spot, but the music itself sounded a little dated. Besides, aren’t they singing about blood types?
Filed under: Arashi, Hey!Say!JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN, Kanjani8, NEWS, Tackey & Tsubasa
It’s that time of year again! For those who are new to this: Johnny’s releases calendars for their artists every year, but according to the school year: that is, from April of this year to March of the next. All calendars are around 2000 yen and go on sale late February or early March. (Only Arashi and groups that debuted afterwards have calendars – so for big fans of V6, Kinki, or SMAP, sorry.)
Filed under: Arashi, Hey!Say!JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN, Kanjani8, KinKi Kids, NEWS, Tackey & Tsubasa, Television, V6
Because this is the new years countdown I really care about. 
Arashi were the hosts again this year, and the Tokyo Dome stage used NEWS’ layout since they had dome concerts at the same time. Different was this this year the broadcast was split – KinKi Kids were broadcast from Osaka Dome, and Tackey and Kazukiyo Nishikiori (of Shounentai) were broadcast from the stage of the upcoming Tackey stage show.
Uchi Hiroki – the current Johnny’s trainee who was suspended from NEWS and Kanjani8 for underage drinking – will have his own solo live show.
There will be two shows at Yokohama Arena on December 20th and 21st, and three shows at Osaka-jo Hall on January 3rd and 4th. 75,000 tickets will be available. His backing band will be Johnny’s Jr. band Question? (the guys who released “Mezamero Yasei” with Matchy).
NEWS will be releasing their third album “color” on November 19th! Like their sophomore album “pacific,” there will be two editions, where the limited edition will come with a photo booklet, and the regular edition will have an extra track.
Filed under: Johnny's Entertainment, NEWS | Tags: Yamashita Tomohisa, Yampi
Yamashita Tomohisa of NEWS, or who we all fondly know as Yamapi, has graduated from Meiji University with a degree in marketing! At the last graduating period, he was a few credits short – but he has made it up and is now a graduate.
NEWS’ next single “Happy Birthday” will be released on October 1st; the PV is now out.
The full song rip has already been out, so my thoughts on the song are still not that changed. After a few more – well, a lot more – listening, the song has grown on me considerably, but I still don’t think it’s that great a song. I do like some of the solo parts considerably, but parts of the song, whether it’s the melody or the beat or the mix of everything, irk me a little.
