City pop is booming all over the world.
For example, Miki Matsubara’s “Mayonaka no Door ~ stay with me” has been played 194 million times on Spotify.
From the end of 2020, it rapidly gained popularity and topped Spotify’s viral charts in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany , France, Sweden, Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. In the Apple Music J-POP ranking, it won first place in 83 countries and regions around the world. After being introduced by a famous Korean DJ, it caught fire on YouTube with Rainych’s cute singing voice from Indonesia, and Miki Matsubara’s original became a worldwide hit.
The genre of music that was popular in Japan in the 1980s is called city pop, and as Kyubei, who spent his youth at that time, it feels very nostalgic and aching.
It seems that the pioneer was the sampling of Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love (1984)” in the video that became world-famous as Future Funk in 2016. Future funk is music that samples anime and idol songs from the 80’s and uses modulation effects with Analog synthesizers that were popular in the 90’s.
And there is a phenomenon that the popularity of Japanese originals is gathering.
In any case, I am happy that the nostalgic sounds of Tatsuro Yamashita, Eiichi Otaki, Mariya Takeuchi, Yumi Matsutoya, Taeko Onuki, Anri, and Miki Matsubara are a big hit all over the world.
City pop is so popular, but the key word is relaxation. For example, 80s japanese City PoP Playlist/ Best Relaxing Music.
According to one study, city pop uses a wide range of sounds found in nature, such as the sound of the wind, the babbling of a river, and the rustling of leaves.
This is similar to ZEN-CHSA-JUTSU (Zen-Tea-Art) advocated by ZENJIRO, which maintains the mind and body of Zen by Japanese tea. Why not listen to your favorite city pop and relax?
