City Pop: Why is Gen Z Obsessed with 40-Year-Old Japanese Songs?

It ain't just Gen Z that's obsessed with this music. Old X'ers who were alive, but not exposed to it when it came out can enjoy it as well. Japanese pop culture (toys, games, anime) was fairly prominent even back in the 70's when we grew up, so the ground is fertile indeed for new fans of this fantastic musical movement.

Japanese City Pop gives you a nostalgic feeling of something you missed a long time ago, in a time you were not born yet. This is the most intriguing sensation I have experienced.

not only gen z I am a millenial. I've been into this music since 2014. It is amazing.

My mom was stationed in Okinawa in the mid '80s. I played her some of the CityPop playlists that I'd found online, and while she didn't recognize any specific song, she recognized the style and remembered that it was popular back then. While my mother and I have a great relationship, we don't have all that many common interests, so CityPop was a really unexpected but welcomed way for us to connect. I can say that Millennials were drawn to CityPop because that style of music was used in or had an influence on classic anime openings (see: "A Cruel Angel's Thesis"), so it's very nostalgic for those of us who grew up watching those shows.

Millenial here. Main reason why I'm into citypop is how the Japanese tend to be much more creative with their chord progressions than most mainstream western artists. You can hear the western jazz of the 50s and 60s play a major role in the sound as triads are seldom used as 7ths and extended chords are the norm in citypop.

I was one of the first to publish city pop videos in English with an account that was deleted a while ago (DanaWhite0). Back then people talked more about "japanese funk" than "city pop". And I've been obsessed with it since 2006, which is logical because I was raised with Japanese anime from the 80/90s which had a lot of that kind of music in the background or OP/ED (kimagure orange road, city hunter, yu yu hakusho, DBZ,...). But before you had to search a lot to find those obscure tracks (on forums, peer-to-peer softwares, blogs,...). It's not just nostalgic, it's very groovy and seems at the same time generic and unique. It's also very romantic...

My introduction to Japanese City Pop was from City Hunter . The opening and ending songs are masterpieces.

Everything sucks nowadays, but when I hear music like this it takes me to a place filled with hope and optimism. Like things are going in the right direction. Nostalgia for a time I never lived through.

I'm honestly glad Tatsuro Yamashita was mentioned, his music is legendary and can be hard to find especially in a digital space. Which is why having an album of his is always handy

As a Gen Z, I stumbled upon this through searching for obscure Japanese music in early 2017. I was undergoing depression, so anime and Japanese culture was great escapism for me. I value city pop songs for not only nostalgia factor, but how powerful yet chill the sound can be.

I'm 57yo right now. I fell in love with this genre of music since early 80s and still listen to it every day. Thanks to internet, I can find all the songs I once liked and discover other artists I never heard before.

Look, here me out. City Pop literally saved my life. I'm not joking. When I was in college I had a pretty bad 2015-2017. I started off 2015 strong but I started experiencing early signs of depression in Summer that year. It got so bad by Fall that I failed two classes, and the quarter after, I failed Chemistry. Around 2016 was when I started listening to Future Funk. I had a few great college quarters but by Winter 2017 that depression happened again and I just couldn't... but it was 2017 where I listened to City Pop more as I felt I had become exhausted of good Future Funk songs. See, Future Funk and City Pop had this nostalgic feeling that kept my mood high. After I started going to another college (it was in a city)...you can guess what happened next. The next two years of my life were THE BEST. Gone were the days of me driving and studying in a depressing, unfulfilling environment. The highs I felt driving through Seattle listening to Tatsuro Yamashita or Junko Yagami were the peak of my mid 20s. I got my first job in Redmond after and it was also the same feeling too...the route going to Redmond from South Seattle College, and then Sparkle by Tatsuro Yamashita plays around 7 in the morning as you drive up towards a view of Seattle going up West Seattle Bridge Columbian Way during a dark blue morning...I can't make any of this up! I would also be tired all the in the morning so I often sang City Pop in my car. I'm 29 now. But when I look back at those years, it was truly magical.

Japanese City Pop just has a groove that not many other genres have. It’s fun and pleasant to listen to.

All of us are obsessed with great music. No matter how old your age is, good music is good music.

It's not a Gen Z thing. I was born in the early early 80s and I've heard bits and pieces of this music all my life. From listening to early works of guys like Joe Hisaishi/Hoshi Katsu, hearing some played in Chinatown and sometimes stumbling upon a western 80s song that takes influence from YMO or Yamashita without realizing it. It was always this type of music I knew existed, but never had a genre name to search for. Until about 7 years ago I stumbled upon a random mix on youtube. And the floodgates opened. The reason I like it so much is partially because I grew up in the 80s and 90s and it's similar to the 70s and 80s music I was hearing as a kid. But the bigger reason is, it's just more upbeat and features better compositions than most modern pop music. American pop music for the last 30 years has been downright depressing. And even most Japanese music post 2000 has a grunge/synth pop feel. And while the Japanese stuff is better than the American stuff it's imitating, it doesn't compare at all to the so called City Pop, which used every genre and style under the sun. One song will sound like bubble gum pop, then the next Bossa Nova, then the next is like a classical song, the next like a Euro Disco, then the next is a cover of a Beach Boys album. And all of that's just from one artist. Other artists were experimenting with other styles so you have endless variety. Big shoutout to Takanaka and Kikuchi. Anyway, my experiences and tastes aside, the reason I think it took off is the same reason anime did. A combination of Japan being open to spreading their culture and having the infrastructure to do it. A certain businessman is clearly trying to make KPOP take off in the same way. But one guy can only do so much. Compared to thousands of fans who organically found and shared city pop songs. If some other countries had been more open, the current craze might have had been Italian Disco or various styles of Brazilian music. But a lot of people are listening to music from those genres. They just happen to come from Japanese composers under the label of City Pop/Jazz/Funk.

As an early gen z (2001) i feel so drawn to city pop music because it makes me feel transported to another realm. a world full of neon lights, retro tecnology, joy, melancholy and true passionate romance. it's such perfect music that makes me escape from my unhappy reality and yet, keeps me yearning for the day i will live the life of my dreams. city pop playlists helped me sleep well during the anxiety-ridden reality of the pandemic.

As someone who’s been listening to Japanese music in general for years now, I’m glad other people are finally catching on. Not just city pop but Japanese music in general is so fire. The chord progression just hits different.

It's more than Gen Z - I'm Gen X, and I am really digging City Pop, as well as retrowave. It's just that happy, mindless flow, I think. At least, for me.

When I started listening to city pop 5 or 6 years ago I didn't understand Japanese at all, but I loved the music. I've now been studying Japanese for 3 years, and living in Osaka for the last 2 years, and now that I can understand the lyrics, I have to say, City Pop has become even better. The strange thing is a lot of songs that I felt were fun dance songs turned out to be heartbreaking when you can understand what's being said. Understanding Japanese has given me an entirely different perspective on these artists I originally just considered to be pop stars, and has allowed me to look closer into the meanings of their songs. It's truly an incredible feeling to be able to understand the music after hearing it for so long.

It isn't just City Pop I would say, but Jazz Fusion as well with artists like Casiopea, Masayoshi Takanaka, and T-Square to name a few. Takanaka definitely at the top of my list for me at the moment, especially his tracks from Brasilian Skies, Seychelles, and The Rainbow Goblins. If anyone likes the music from Gran Turismo, I URGE you to look into Casiopea or T-Square