The upcoming edition of the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN is set to be the country’s largest international music awards program, organised by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA), a groundbreaking collaboration amongst Japan's five music industry bodies.
Recently, the prestigious awards announced the high-profile nominees for their inaugral edition. Selected from approximately 3,000 submissions, the nominated works and artists will be honoured at the awards ceremonies taking place on 21 and 22 May at ROHM Theatre Kyoto.
In the six major award categories, the nominations were selected from a broad pool of entries, including:
- 256 songs for Best Song
- 167 artists for Best Artist
- 171 albums for Best Album
- 61 artists for Best New Artist
- 100 tracks for Top Global Hit from Japan
- 24 songs for Best Asian Song
From each of these categories, five nominees were selected. Final voting has now commenced, with winners to be chosen by a panel of music professionals including nominated artists and creators.
Shortlisted artists include Japanese stars like YOASOBI, Creepy Nuts , XG, Fujii Kaze and Hikaru Utada; alongside international standouts such as Thailand's Jeff Satur, BLACKPINK's ROSÉ, South Korea's aespa and Indonesia's Bernadya, among many others.
Notably, Singaporean pop princess Regina Song has also been recognised in the hotly contested Best Asian Song category for her viral 2024 hit 'the cutest pair'. The track, which was part of her wonderful debut album fangirl, led her to surpass two million monthly listeners on Spotify, and garner over 20 million views on TikTok.
The nominees for Best Asian Song include:
- 'Satu Bulan' – Bernadya (Indonesia)
- 'the cutest pair' – Regina Song (Singapore)
- 'Supernova' – aespa (Korea)
- 'WAY 4 LUV' – PLAVE (Korea)
- 'Ghost (ซ่อน(ไม่)หา)' – Jeff Satur (Thailand)
When asked about her international breakthrough in an interview with Hear65 last year, Regina shared," From late night studio sessions to brainstorming video ideas on the bus, learning to navigate the industry from scratch was a long and confusing journey. I remember being too focused on the results, but I reminded myself that putting my music out there and enjoying the process of it mattered more."
"It was hard to learn and do so many new things at once, like becoming a recording artist and understanding the social media algorithms. Looking back, I’m really glad I pushed through it all because it’s been so worth it."
