Welcome to City Pop Saturdays!

Pop Culture & Media Music
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Yeah! I’m super excited!!

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For the first time in my life I don’t hesitate when people ask what my favorite song is. I came across Bay City in a remix and from there I’ve totally fallen in love with the whole genre. I play this at least four times a week.

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!! This thread. Awesome. Been on a city pop (such a good name for a genre) kick as of late all starting with wanting more that sound like Taeko Ohnuki:

Will check out the the stuff posted here!

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This track kicks off with such an unresolved moody edge–and that low, cool bassline! I think this one’s going to be going into rotation for me, too :slight_smile:

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I google translated the lyrics and they’re all about smoking cigarettes by the water and watching seagulls fly away as the sun sets. I don’t want a more accurate translation, just the SENSE is perfect.

Also, Junko looks like she’s taking me to prom on the cover and I am onboard with that.

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This track from 間宮貴子(Takako Mamiya) is just :heart_eyes_cat:.

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Coughs

From BREAD & BUTTER - GOLDEN ☆ BEST (2005)

Coughs

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Anybody know about current artists who you’d classify as City Pop or doing something in that vein? I want to get my hands on some media but my best bet at the moment are remixes.

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Hitomitoi is pretty modern and often comes up in city pop discussions. This song came out in like 2015.

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Oh man I totally missed this thread! Very excited to see City Pops/80’s Japan balearic pop talk happening on the Waypoint Forums!
Great posts so far! Tats, Hiroshi Satoh, Kodomatsu. Here’s some of my faves although I’ll probably be sharing more later!



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Hands down favorite Yamashita Tatsuro song, BLOW, used for the America’s Cup racing promo …in the early 90s maybe?

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Oh whoops, I forgot it wasn’t Saturday. :blush:
Setting my alarm now.

Edit: Whoops, I was able to wait a whole 7 hours. It is still only 1pm on a Thursday.

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ahhh I love that song, it’s one of the first few that really got me into the genre!

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I’ve heard them described more as vaporwave and don’t have a ton of exposure to them, but some of Especia’s songs have struck me as trending pretty heavily towards city pop.

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Yeah, I just came across them recently. Still sorting out my feelings, but I’d class them as a strain of City Pop. I feel like modern J-Pops evolved for the most part in directions I’m not fond of, but I can feel some of that old flair in their sound.

Regardless, this is probably my second favorite girl group video ever:

(Number 1 is TLC’s No Scrubs but that’s R&B)

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Thanks to this post, this song has been my jam for the past few days now. Thanks for that.

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I mean, if you were gonna pick a top 2 in “girl group videos”, you could do a hell of a lot worse than No Scrubs & No1 Sweeper.

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I am going to ban myself from this website for being too sleep to post this thread myself. My entire heart and soul is in here rn, I love you all to death.

I’m glad Ride on Time was the first song posted. I’m… what you could say, a Pretty Big… Fa n of that One…

No.1 Sweeper is probably my favorite music video? Especia definitely classifies itself within the recent city pop “revival”, as much as their branding has been rooted in vaporwave, visually.

For real though, city pop changed my life. It found me at one of the most depressive phases of my life and I owe it a lot in the inspiration it’s given me not only in my own music, but just in life in general - guiding a style and optimism and appreciation of nature in the ocean and sky and the spirit of long distance drives up coasts, through mountains and forests and across deserts. I love all of my wizard moms and dads. Shit guides my heart, as much as it is true that A LOT of city pop is a product of excess and somewhat-superficiality linked to a very specific era of Japanese culture and economics, which I ain’t tryinna appropriate or claim as my own.

ty christa for posting Casiopea. it ain’t quite city pop, but j-fusion is so spiritually similar and any excuse for people to hear them is a valid one. Casiopea probably brings me the most evocative comfort and joy music has ever given me. This one is my favorite, and calls to mind very specifically the streets of my hometown in Virginia Beach.

(i also sampled this song in my own music, whoops)

Y’all are hitting all the essentials, so I’m gonna post a perfect dad that I love, Kazuhito Murata.

For albums, if y’all are looking to dive in and find some stuff, I’d recommend wholeheartedly:

* CBS/SONY Sound Image Series - PACIFIC (an amazing instrumental record, worked on by a bunch of artists including Tatsuro Yamashita, Harumi Hosono, and Shigeru Suzuki)

EDIT: hold on i forgot to fuck y’all’s entire day up

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I really do feel that positivity and energy you mention here! All these recommendations are going to get me through the day tomorrow.

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@cloversealife

Ah, Asayake is also one of my favourite Casiopea songs.

For real though, one of the great things about j-fusion is that like most of the artists are still really prolific and releasing things to this day?

e.g.

Also, some of the lives are just phenomenal here’s one featuring Matsubara-san

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