Welcome to The Avocado’s weekly discussion of Japanese pop culture! This week I want to talk about some music that I think you might enjoy: city pop and Shibuya-kei. I’m not even close to being a music expert, and I don’t plan on filling these headers with super lengthy descriptions, but I do want to quickly give you a sense of what these related genres of Japanese music are, why I think you might want to give them a listen today, and who you can seek out. I’ve put most of the videos in clickable boxes, so you don’t have to scroll though all the videos if you don’t want to.
City pop is, in a way, exactly what it sounds like. It’s pop for the city! Popularized in the 80s and embodying a strong sense of optimism during a time of prosperity, the genre is probably best described by someone who is better with words than I am: “[It sounds] like the feeling you get when leaving the train at Shibuya station around midnight. The city, and the night, are yours.” 1 I don’t think there’s a better way to put it, really. Here’s a popular example of the city pop of the 80s:
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Shibuya-kei is a microgenre (a word I learned today) inspired by the style of city pop but not the culture. What does this mean? To me it means that it sounds kind of like city pop, but with a twist. My husband says, “Shibuya-kei calls more attention to itself as constructed. While city pop gives itself over to the genre and let’s you get lost in it, Shibuya-kei calls attention to it.” I understand what he means on an abstract level, but it’s hard for me to articulate it myself. Probably the most famous example is of Shibuya-kei is the group Pizzicato Five. I love everything about this:
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I just get a feeling when I listen to these songs. And it’s a good feeling. A feeling of comfort and pure joy. I feel a little pep in my step, and I hope you will too. I think this is the perfect time to explore this music. And you might be hearing some familiar sounds as you listen to these songs, and there’s a reason for that! If you watch, for example, Carole & Tuesday, play Persona 5 or Animal Crossing, you’ve been listening to this music already. One of the best-known Shibuya-kei artists and the artist featured in today’s header image, Cornelius, produced one of the opening themes for Carole & Tuesday:
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Benny Sings, not Japanese but a very, very good example of city pop, produced another opening theme:
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If you liked those songs, I highly recommend that you check out more from Cornelius and Benny Sings. Both artists create what I call perfect “comfort music”. Great for working, relaxing, taking a walk, falling asleep, chilling. Here are a couple my favorite songs, and I’m more than happy to recommend others if you enjoy these:
I hope you enjoyed reading about city pop and Shibuya-kei! If you’re familiar with these genres, I’d love to hear your thoughts too. I’m clearly no expert, just an enthusiastic fan! I plan to come back to Cornelius in the future because he’s pretty fantastic, but I’ll leave it here for now.
And, as always…
What have you been watching/reading/playing/eating/listening to lately?
Happy Wednesday! 🙂