Telepa Telepa - HITOMITOI
city pop/ dream pop • 2025
8.9
have you heard of city pop? if yes, check this album out.
if no, we have a write-up coming to you soon all about that. stay tuned. oh, and check this album out.
HITOMITOI has been in my periphery for a while now, if not just barely out of the spotlight. a self proclaimed modern city pop artist HITOMITOI has been on a handful of cult favorite albums, most prominent being in a tandem album release with RYUSENKEI on “Talio.” i’m ashamed to say, i’ve only just come into her discography as of recently. lucky for me she just released a new album this past year, giving me a chance to visit her most recent work.
Telepa Telepa is an album laser focused on delivering a blisteringly dreamy synth pop dance directly into your eardrums. uh-oh, i might be in trouble here…
let me start again, HITOMITOI is an artist driven to sound like a modern city pop album. she seemingly has no shame in what she wants to deliver, and i think it works in the exact time and climate it’s intended to. with one foot in the yesteryear and one foot in the present pop scene, a truly unique album is realized. sure it plays off a present zeitgeist surrounding Japanese 80s city pop, sure it uses beautiful Sailor Moon-esque pastel-adjacent trickles and chimes to charm your ears, but where’s the catch? there has to be one right?
if there was one, the catch would be for its short run time. coming in at just 7 songs its a dream that ends almost as soon as it begins. a date when the wine runs dry and the sun comes up too soon. the album also takes a short quirk in its middle run into some rather kitschy sounding ballads, that seem to be odd for the pure sake of it. even still, i feel its not as much for incompetences as much as it is for artistic intent. and i can’t really knock it for that. if anyhting, i could forsee the songs like “Before You Go” and “Hamon Baby Boy” adding some nice long term texture into the fold of the album. a kind of texture destined to be adored by fans for being exactly what it is.
“デジャブのブルー (Blue Déjà Vu)” in particular feels like a joyful dip in a chemical pool coalesced in some mix of Persona and Sonic Mania goo. theres a funky sort of casino drip that bounces and flares along that one can only feel a manufactured happiness hand delivered by beautiful hostess. i dig it. “Wave of You” feels appropriately lovey dovey with beachy jazzy verve to grace it along through its joyous conclusion. a total jam. “ロストシティ (Lost City)” rides in on a blustering bass accompanied by flighty sheens of HITOMITOI’s voice, a nice duality in tebles and bass. “あなたとContigo (With You and Contigo)” features a hilarious name (With You and With You?) and artist reads paper Juanpalitoschinos. my god, what is there not to love about this album? oddly, this is not my first or second run-in with a great japanese song featuring spanish lyricism. its a trend i did not anticipate, but one i’m really enjoying. great song, great name, great feature.
if anything Telepa Telepa is the reasonable reason to follow her works down the rabbit hole to more great works. even taking that detour off to RYUSENKEI is a path worth taking. HITOMITOI is sugar candy, but it doesn’t mean its any less valid for its efforts. i hear a confident delivery of a niche concept. like modern western pop stars finding success in 80s glam disco pop, such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Kylie Minogue, HITOMITOI captures that past in a fresh new lens. the album stands on its own as a delicious and fun time. i also seem to have a strange internal feeling that i’ll be finding a new fandom in this particular brand of niche when i next let my guard down.
i think i’m in love…
written by Marcus Landeros- highlights -
LIKE A FIRST KISS
デジャブのブルー (Blue Déjà Vu)
Wave of You
ロストシティ (Lost City)
あなたとContigo (With You and Contigo)
track list:
LIKE A FIRST KISS
デジャブのブルー (Blue Déjà Vu)
Wave of You
Before You Go
ロストシティ (Lost City)
Hamon Baby Boy
あなたとContigo (With You and Contigo)
