When using the term "J-Pop"or "Anison" to find new Japanese music online, more likely than not you will discover the top and mainstream singers of the genres. Artists such as Aimer, LiSA, Hikaru Utada, and King & Prince tend to be at top results for J-Pop music, while artists such as JAM Project, Masaaki Endo and Mami Kawada are considered the top results for Anison music. These famous artists are very talented and enjoyable to listen to, but it would be equally exciting if Youtube, Google or Bing displayed niche artists of these genres aside the top artists.
Stephanie Topalian is a half Japanese half Armenian J-Pop/Anison artist and she is an artist that I have known of for a long time. She sings the emotional second ending to Gundam 00, "Friends". "Friends"is a great song because not only does it apply to Gundam 00's situation, but it is a great song for making AMVs (anime music videos). That was how I discovered that song and its message: through listening to the song unintentionally while it was played as the background music of a Youtube video about an MMO that I used to enjoy as a kid (Stephanie, SME Records, 2008).
Her voice is very powerful and is very fitting for the tone of the song which is about the bond that the four main characters have throughout the series (Mizushima, Sunrise, 2007-2008). Topalian's song "Kimigairukagiri" is another song that demonstrates her high vocal range in contrast to her singing in "Friends" (Stephanie, SME Records, 2007).
Tsubasa Sakiyama was a singer that I discovered when watching a 2021 video that featured many J-Pop hits, and his song,"Sakebe", was one of those hits. It was my favorite song and music video of all the ones listed simply because of Sakiyama sang with a powerful voice throughout. The song also has a lot of build up and feels exciting all the way till the end and then some. It's quite surprising how it only has 47k views on Youtube, it should have more due to Sakiyama's vocal talent displayed in this song. Sakiyama has received some recognition through his being featured as a hit song, but I believe he deserves more recognition (avex, Youtube, 2021).
Lastly, we have Koeda, member of J-Pop group, Supercell. Compared to Stephanie, I am not as familiar with additional songs of hers, but I have heard one song of hers called "My Dearest" which is an opening for the anime, Guilty Crown. This song goes back a long way for me like Stephanie's "Friends" does as well (at least to about 2015 or 2016) due to the emotional feel of the lyrics and the video. It reminds me of when I was starting in community college and the emotional struggles that I was going through transforming into a responsible adult from being a young adolescent, and the heartfelt feel of the song relates to my personal struggles in a way. With that being said, the stories told in these songs not only through their lyrics, but through their presentation brought out great development in my fandom (spcl, YouTube, 2013).
Maybe it is better for fans if artists like these stay niche so that the fans can enjoy the fandom to themselves, but at the same time I think it would be nice if their Youtube videos had millions of views too. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. Feel free to agree or disagree.
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