Hey! Say! JUMP: A Beginner’s Guide to Their Pop Worlds

Sometimes the easiest way into a pop group is through an idea.

A list of members gives you names to remember. An album gives you a world to explore. With Hey! Say! JUMP, three releases make especially useful starting points: Fab! -Music speaks.-, FILMUSIC! and PULL UP!.

Each offers a different invitation. You can follow stories, think in scenes, or pay attention to the people writing the songs. For a newcomer listening from outside Japan, those are approachable ways to begin before learning every release and television appearance.

First, put a few names to the music

The group’s current official profiles list seven members: Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, Daiki Arioka, Yuya Takaki, Kei Inoo, Hikaru Yaotome and Kota Yabu. The albums below are selected earlier releases, rather than a guide to the latest lineup’s recordings.

Keep the artist name exactly as written—Hey! Say! JUMP—when searching. The official profiles and label pages provide a reliable route to the group’s own channels.

Fab! — begin with a storybook

Released in 2020, Fab! -Music speaks.- brings together music and fairy tales. Its collaborators include Avu-chan of Queen Bee, Ayase, Shota Shimizu and Mafumafu.

Two credits offer a clear first route. “Ookami Seinen” (狼青年) has lyrics and music by Avu-chan, credited as 薔薇園アヴ; “Senya Ichiya” (千夜一夜) is written, composed and arranged by Ayase. Try those two tracks, then follow whichever creative voice makes you curious.

The storybook premise also gives you a question to bring to the listening: what makes a song feel like a tale? It might be the atmosphere, a shift in intensity, or the way a voice seems to inhabit a character. You do not have to identify a particular fairy tale to explore that question.

Think of this as a first visit to the album’s world, with room to return to the lyrics and credits later.

FILMUSIC! — think in scenes

The 2022 album FILMUSIC! turns toward cinema. The label describes a music-and-movies concept that draws on genres including romance, action and human drama.

One useful starting song is “Sandersonia” (サンダーソニア), written and composed by Kenta Kataoka of sumika. It was also a theme for the second part of the anime Love All Play. That connection gives anime viewers another way to encounter the group.

For a listening exercise, imagine where a song might sit in a film: an opening sequence, a quiet conversation, a turning point. This is our suggested way to explore the concept, rather than an official scene-by-scene interpretation.

An album can work like a programme of contrasting short films. You may find that the change between two songs interests you as much as either song on its own. Let those changes guide the next track you choose.

PULL UP! — follow a different creator

Released in 2023, PULL UP! uses its title to suggest lifting the mood, moving forward and calling for another play. The label presents an album that moves across styles.

Start with “Ready to Jump,” for which SO-SO receives the writing, composition and arrangement credits. Then try “Tokimeku Anata” (ときめくあなた), written and composed by Enon Kawatani, with arrangement credited to Kawatani and A.G.O.

Following those credits gives your listening a different focus. Keep the performers constant and ask what changes around them: the space between phrases, the instrumental texture, or the shape of a chorus.

This is a useful route if you already enjoy a songwriter’s work elsewhere. Begin with a familiar name in the credits and see where the group takes you next.

Choose an entrance, then keep listening

Use the official Hey! Say! JUMP YouTube channel linked by Storm Labels, alongside the album pages above. Those pages are also useful when checking track spellings and comparing editions.

There is no need to turn a first listen into homework. Choose one track, replay the part that catches your attention, and let that lead you to another. The names and connections become easier to remember once they belong to music you want to hear again.