The City Pop Thread

What is city pop? City pop is a category of Japanese pop music that originated in the late 1970s and rose to prominence in the 1980s. It was heavily inspired by western pop music, containing of elements such as funk, soft rock, R&B, and boogie. Some notable artists are Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi, Junko Ohashi, and Anri. Many city pop songs have a summery, breezy feel that will put you in a relaxed state of mind.

You might be surprised to find out some modern K-pop songs are inspired by city pop. One example would be "Say Something" by Twice. Credit to Rainbowlicious for mentioning this.

Share your favorite city pop songs and discuss the genre here!

Quote from rainbowblink224

I think that Twice Say Something is a City Pop inspired song.

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It absolutely is! I knew there were some K-pop songs that were inspired by city pop, but I couldn't think of enough other than ones by Yubin, Yukika, and Wonder Girls.

I'll include this in the original post.

Quote from itiswhatitisss

Loving the Yukika love here.

Plastic Love seems to be a pretty popular example of Japanese city pop, I think the song went viral some time ago?

This song was also pretty popular esp on TikTok lol

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Oh yeah, they're definitely top hits in Japanese city pop. I keep hearing both when I listen to city pop playlists/compilations.

City pop is so ideal for this spring weather.

Quote from strawhatcrew

is there any current city pop artist in japan right now?

I'm not really sure, but I know there are artists all over the world who are still influenced by the genre.

Taeyeon's "Weekend" is very city pop!