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I mentioned at the beginning of this KKP broadcasting day on the tribute to Sugar Babe's "Downtown" that the auspicious anniversary for the band's one album "SONGS" wasn't the only target of a special anniversary for a Japanese music piece.
April 25th 2025 also happens to be the 41st anniversary of the release of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）single "Plastic Love", a song whose original YouTube video not only launched 7 million views in a few months but helped start along with a few other songs from Japan, the City Pop boom beginning in the late 2010s.
I first wrote about "Plastic Love" and the rest of the album "Variety" back in 2012, some years before that one corner of YouTube exploded with joy and discovery of this particular song. I was no Nostradamus so there was no way that I could have predicted how incredibly popular it would become, but even back then, I wrote down how cool and urban "Plastic Love" was and how it compared to Steely Dan's material and even the more adult contemporary songs that the Manhattan Transfer sang in the late 70s going into the early 1980s. Before then, I knew her primarily for her very early stuff bringing together 50s/60s girl pop along with country music and her much later pop balladry.
It was just that one short paragraph for "Plastic Love" in the article for "Variety", so I had always wanted to write something fuller since the song's fortunes dramatically changed from the late 2010s forwards. For a song that has become one of my favourites when it comes to Takeuchi's huge discography, it's ironic that I wouldn't even know of the song's existence until 2008, almost a quarter-century after its release, and I had been a Mariya fan since I first heard her sing "September" in 1982 on the local radio program "Sounds of Japan". 2008 was the year of my discovery of "Plastic Love" through her hit BEST compilation "Expressions" which was released to much fanfare in October of that year. I had bought her previous BEST album "Impressions" back in 1994 but "Plastic Love" hadn't been included in that one.
During my years in Japan, I'd wondered from time to time if there would ever be a Japanese pop song that could be the second coming of Kyu Sakamoto's（坂本九）"Sukiyaki" song (1961) in terms of surprising out-of-the-blue worldwide popularity. Names including Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）, Dreams Come True and Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）came to mind but none of them really hit the global big time. But then came along "Plastic Love" via YouTube as "Sukiyaki" did through radio DJ booths in the UK and the US, and suddenly an unlikely hit was born. Mind you, "Plastic Love" hit the ceiling outside of Japan over three decades after its initial release, but my long-awaiting question was finally answered.
I've heard a few secondhand reports but my new question is still out there. How has Ms. Takeuchi felt about this second wind to "Plastic Love"?
Happy anniversary to this classic! Unlike her husband, I can stream this on Spotify.
ReplyDeleteMariya and Tats must have had some interesting conversations at the dinner table about streaming. :)
DeleteYeah, "Plastic Love" has had amazing Second Wind of success and has been a door for those who have never heard Japanese city pop and J-pop to be initiated. 'Plastic love' and it's run-up (or distance 2nd) , "Mayonaka no Door / Stay With Me" by Miki Matsubara are maybe two most famous city-pop songs outside of Japan. However, I would say that the band, One OK Rock, is the currently most globally known and successful Japanese group.
ReplyDeleteHi, Brian. To be honest, outside of the name, I don't know anything about One OK Rock. Can you elucidate?
DeleteOkay,
DeleteLesson one: while you might not know the leader singer of One Ok Rick, Takahiro Moriuchi I am sure that you know his parents Shinichi Mori and Masako Mori.
Lesson two: one of their most famous songs is “wasted Nights” theme song for the live-action version of kingdom. had heard this song back in 2019 but had no idea that it was song by a Japanese band! 「renegades」 used for 2021 movie, 'Rurouni Kenshin: The Final' is also bit famous. I found more out about them after watching the 2025 winter drama 「御上先生」 and hearing the ending theme song 「Puppets Can't Control You」 originally I thought they were a North American rock band.
Lesson three: the lead singer Takahiro Moriuchi learned English by listening and mimicking North American and British bands. Because he sing and conduct interviews in English I think he connects with audiences aboard in a more personal way than some of the Japanese bands can. Although I know for a fact that “Man with a Mission” and the famous daughter of Fuji Keiko, the great Utada Hikaru can do so too.
Lesson Four: People here tend to pronounce One Okay Rock as One O’clock.
Lesson five:
if a good introduction to their music might be:
(1) (Wasted Nights) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4YLo74OWfY
(2) (Wherever you are) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoQAnGx4Pss
(2) (stand out Fit in) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGInsosP0Ac
Thanks for the information, Brian. I certainly do know the parents. Didn't know the son had his own band.
DeleteNot more popular than Babymetal surely?
ReplyDeleteHello, Robert. Babymetal did make their way over to my neck of the woods a few years ago. Happy to hear that they are doing well out in the world. And don't call me Shirley. :)
DeleteSorry, my reply was misplaced. I was responding to Brian ("One OK Rock, is the currently most globally known and successful Japanese group").
DeleteNo problems here, Robert. :)
Delete