How Japanese City Pop Took Over the World, Twice!
This is the story of how 40-year-old Japanese songs captivated the hearts of Gen Z and Millennials
You've probably jammed out to the catchy beats of Miki Matsubara's "Midnight Door ~ Stay With Me" or found yourself humming along to Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" without realizing you're part of a global phenomenon.
These Japanese city pop hits from the 1970s and '80s are enjoying an unexpected revival, resonating with Gen-Z & Millennial listeners worldwide, and riding high on music charts and streaming services decades after they first charmed listeners in Japan.
YouTube's algorithm has played a role in reviving these classics, with Matsubara's song amassing over 10 million plays and the combined videos of Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" hitting a staggering 70 million views.
The latter's late surge in popularity even led to a new music video in 2019, highlighting the enduring appeal of city pop.
But what exactly is City Pop?
To understand the economic and cultural resurgence at hand, one must first delve into the essence of city pop.
Originating in Japan during the economic upturn of the late 1970s and '80s, city pop is more than a mere genre — it's a reflection from an era of optimism of economic and cultural upswing that would last forever, an era where Japan was the world’s center:
Infused with elements of soul, funk, R&B, disco, and AOR (Adult Oriented Rock), city pop evokes the cosmopolitan vibes of urban Japan. It represents a time of affluence and optimism, with its breezy melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and a polished production quality that captured the glossy, modern life in burgeoning Japanese cities.
This renaissance goes beyond mere nostalgia. It reflects a deeper, borderless engagement with pop culture that transcends national origins and time periods.
The unexpected guardians of City Pop's second coming
Today’s trendsetters aren't the original fans, but rather 15-to-30-year-olds scattered across the globe.
Their tools? Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok:
The internet, with its bottomless appetite for retro aesthetics, has created the perfect stage for city pop's second act. Genres like Vaporwave and Future Funk have played their part, sampling and remixing these older tunes into something new, often paired with visuals from classic anime and commercials.
Takeuchi's "Plastic Love," for example, gained a following when it was paired with "Sailor Moon" imagery on YouTube, despite—or perhaps because of—the lack of official sanction:
This wave of interest isn't accidental. Japanese products and technology from the 80s and 90s are linked to a global middle-class lifestyle that's now viewed through a lens of irony and nostalgia. For many millennials and Gen Zers, these cultural products evoke a fondness for a past they've only experienced through screens.
Copyright strikes back
It's important to note that Japanese anime and games have been widely accessible outside Japan since the 90s, thanks to international broadcasting and gaming consoles. As these mediums gained traction, internet forums and image-sharing services like Tumblr and Pinterest amplified their reach, diluting the lines between otaku subculture and mainstream pop culture.
However, this has not been without controversy. For years, the unofficial reproduction and uploading of Japanese content were the primary means for non-Japanese audiences to access these cultural products, raising significant copyright issues. The situation began to improve in the mid-2010s with the rise of subscription-based streaming services like Netflix or Crunchyroll provided a legal and global platform for Japanese content.
Yet, despite the progress in legal streaming, not all stakeholders in Japan's music industry have embraced the digital shift. Japanese people still buy millions of CDs every year, which has some record labels and artists staunchly defending their traditional distribution methods.
A notable example is City Pop legend Tatsuro Yamashita, who remains a holdout, keeping his music off popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and even YouTube. This resistance underscores a broader tension within the industry, as content creators face persistent copyright strikes for merely incorporating his music as a backdrop in their videos.
How Gen Z defies copyright clamps
Nevertheless, efforts by certain record labels and artists to restrict the digital dissemination of their work have done little to quell the voracious appetite of Millennials and Generation Z.
These digital natives, unbound by traditional confines, have continued to embrace, remix, and reinterpret City Pop, aligning it with their cosmopolitan ethos. This cross-generational zeal manifests in what's termed "Y2K" culture—a blend of early millennium aesthetics with contemporary sensibilities, showcasing a generation for whom cultural frontiers are non-existent.
The rapid pace of technological development only fuels this phenomenon, as the content consumption cycle hurtles forward, rendering even the recent past as a newfound vintage.
In the eyes of Gen Z, the cultural timeline is a malleable stream, a pastiche of disparate eras and genres ripe for continuous innovation. Despite the challenges posed by copyright restrictions, the resonance of yesteryear's City Pop, meshed with the diverse strands of global pop culture, remains a dynamic force in their collective identity and creative expression.
I just want to end this article by saying that it’s so thrilling to see these 70s and 80s hits come alive again thanks to millions of people’s combined effort! It's a personal joy to witness a genre I love gaining a new generation of fans. Every beat and melody feels like a shared heartbeat, a timeless connection across time and cultures. This revival isn't just music to my ears; it's a celebration of a legacy that I'm proud to be a part of…