A City Pop masterpiece! A classic album—highly recommended.
Born in Japan, “city pop” has been rediscovered by overseas music fans with the spread of the internet, sparking a uniquely online-era boom.
Tracks like Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” and Miki Matsubara’s “Mayonaka no Door — Stay With Me” have drawn attention, and more recently, The Weeknd released a song sampling Tomoko Aran’s “Midnight Pretenders.” It’s fascinating how city pop—refined music influenced by Western pop—is being embraced abroad in a kind of reverse import.
This article introduces a “classic city pop album” for those who want to start listening to the genre!
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- Big Hits, Including New Standard Favorites! Best Hits of Popular J-POP Songs
- From City Pop to Ballads!! Mariya Takeuchi’s Easy-to-Sing Songs
- A Classic of Korean City Pop [KOREAN CITY POP]
- A special feature on Mariya Takeuchi’s best songs: a must-hear collection of masterpieces for both longtime fans and first-time listeners.
- Recommended songs by the new city pop band “Roman Kakumei”
- A roundup of debut songs by Japanese female artists from the 1970s
- [90s Music] Shibuya-kei Classics: Recommended Popular Songs
A city pop masterpiece! A classic album—one highly recommended pick (1–10)
Midnight PretendersAran Tomoko
It hardly needs saying anymore that Japanese city pop is wildly popular overseas, but “Out of Time,” a track on The Weeknd’s massively successful fifth album Dawn FM, released in February 2022, is sure to further accelerate the genre’s momentum.
The romantic, mellow yet catchy intro of “Out of Time” features a striking main phrase sampled from Tomoko Aran’s 1983 song “Midnight Pretenders,” and Aran is recognized as a key artist in city pop history.
“Midnight Pretenders,” also known as an early composition project for Tetsurō Oda—who would later become famous for writing numerous Being-era hits in the ’90s—appears on Aran’s third album, Floating Space.
On this album, Aran wrote all the lyrics, while Masanori Nishimura—bassist and vocalist of FENCE OF DEFENSE, who also produced the record—handled most of the composing and arranging.
The result is a highly acclaimed city pop classic.
In fact, both the aforementioned “Midnight Pretenders” and “I’M IN LOVE” were reissued as 7-inch singles amid the 2020s city pop revival, a testament to their enduring popularity.
Overall, the album leans heavily into digital pop squarely rooted in ’80s new wave, making it a masterpiece that also showcases the forward-thinking nature of Japanese music of the era.
I can’t stop this sadnessAnri
Making her debut at the young age of 17 with the timeless J-pop classic “Olivia o Kikinagara,” Anri became a major star in the 1980s with a style that highlighted summery, seaside imagery.
Even today in the 2020s, she continues to thrive on the front lines, and the landmark albums she created in collaboration with artists like Toshiiki Kadomatsu and Takeshi Kobayashi remain hugely popular from a city pop perspective as well.
In fact, among overseas music fans, Anri is often praised as the “Queen of City Pop.”
Among her discography, let’s look at Timely!!, the 1983 masterpiece that became her first No.
1 on the Oricon charts.
Produced by Toshiki Kadomatsu—who at the time was not yet widely known—the album is also significant for cementing the image of Anri mentioned above.
It’s a powerhouse of J-pop with broad appeal, featuring the hit “CAT’S EYE,” familiar as the theme song of the anime of the same name, as well as another signature track, “Kanashimi ga Tomaranai” (“I Can’t Stop the Loneliness”).
At the same time, it’s a top-tier classic brimming with peak-of-summer gems that city pop fans can’t resist.
Be sure to note that Anri herself composed songs like “A HOPE FROM SAD STREET” and “LOST LOVE IN THE RAIN,” showcasing her talents as a singer-songwriter.
You’re My BabySato Hiroshi
Just the sound of waves and the romantic piano in the intro of AWAKENING is enough to knock you out! This is Awakening, the solo album released in 1982 by Hiroshi Sato—one of the most iconic keyboardists in J-pop history, a prolific studio musician who played on countless classic records, and a composer behind many commercial jingles and TV theme songs.
Although Sato was releasing music as a singer-songwriter at the time, his reputation as a keyboardist led to more and more work with other artists.
Determined to break out of that situation, he decided to move to the United States in 1979.
A few years later, he encountered the LinnDrum LM-1 drum machine, which blew his mind.
He created demo tapes using it, returned to Japan, and released this album—an extremely intriguing backstory.
Sato had long been a one-man overdubbing wizard, and here he fully harnesses the drum machine to program his ideal rhythm patterns while also handling vocals, resulting in a work that feels quintessentially City Pop in its polish.
The jazz-inflected keyboard voicings and summer-evoking songs are classic City Pop traits, but a first-time listener might not even realize the drums are programmed.
Another highlight is the sheer mastery of his programming—so impressive that Masato Nakamura, the bassist of Dreams Come True, once called him a “Jedi Master of programming.” By the way, the track Say Goodbye is sampled/quoted in Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy) by the UK rock band The 1975.
City Pop masterpieces! Classic albums – one recommended pick (11–20)
Summer ConnectionOhnuki Taeko
Taeko Onuki, who co-founded the legendary band Sugar Babe—pioneers of city pop—together with Tatsuro Yamashita, has continued to reign as an outstanding singer-songwriter since the band’s breakup.
Many of her albums are highly regarded as classic early city pop, and SUNSHOWER, featured in this article, is one of them.
Released in 1977, SUNSHOWER is Onuki’s second album; with the exception of one track, all songs were written and composed by Onuki, with arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
It’s a widely acclaimed masterpiece that has also earned strong popularity overseas.
A telling episode underscoring its international appeal occurred on the 2014 TV variety show “Why Did You Come to Japan?”, where an overseas music fan came to Japan specifically to find this record—an incident that became a hot topic among city pop enthusiasts.
Although the album unfortunately did not achieve major commercial success at the time, it featured up-and-coming musicians and fully embraced contemporaneous fusion and crossover sounds.
It was later reappraised by the club generation in the 1990s through the Shibuya-kei movement.
Alongside Onuki’s talent as a singer-songwriter, Professor Sakamoto’s assured pre-YMO production skills, the comfortable groove created by Chris Parker—drummer of the fusion favorite Stuff—and the album’s forward-looking sound are all elements that will likely see its reputation continue to grow.
Message of RougeArai Yumi
Yuming, aka Yumi Matsutoya, made her debut as a composer in 1971 at the young age of 17 and burst onto the scene the following year as a rising singer-songwriter.
Then performing under the name Yumi Arai, she created a wealth of wonderful masterpieces with her urban sensibility and is often regarded as a forerunner of city pop.
In this piece, however, we focus on her third album, Cobalt Hour, released in 1975—the same year as Sugar Babe’s Songs.
It includes enduring J-pop classics beloved across generations, such as Graduation Photo, originally written for Hi-Fi Set, and Rouge no Dengon, widely known as the theme song for the acclaimed animated film Kiki’s Delivery Service.
After her debut and second albums, which showcased a precocious prodigy with rich literary sensibilities and a somewhat introspective, poetic style, this landmark record is highly regarded as the moment when her talents as a future queen of Japanese pop fully blossomed.
Produced comprehensively by Masataka Matsutoya—who would later become her husband—the album features Tin Pan Alley, the band comprising outstanding musicians who made enormous contributions to Japanese popular music history: Masataka Matsutoya, Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, Hiroshi Sato, Tatsuo Hayashi, and others.
They continued their participation from the previous two albums, bringing out Arai’s full appeal as a songwriter.
Lined with superb, urbane, and impeccably sophisticated pop songs that stand apart from the folksy, down-to-earth mood that dominated the 1970s, this work can rightly be called a foundational “city pop” album.
Down TownShugā Beibu
In the 1970s, which could be called the eve of City Pop, are you familiar with the legendary band Sugar Babe, formed in their youth by musicians who would go on to represent Japan, such as Tatsuro Yamashita and Taeko Onuki? Active for only about three years and leaving behind just one album, they did not achieve commercial success.
However, the music they created with a sensibility completely different from conventional Japanese kayōkyoku has been reappraised—helped by the later achievements of its members—and is now recognized as an essential, important band in the history of Japanese music.
Sugar Babe’s sole album, “SONGS,” was released in 1975 as the first title on the Niagara label established by Eiichi Ohtaki of Happy End, with Ohtaki also serving as producer.
This innovative work, created by highly talented musicians in their early twenties, stands as a milestone of J-Pop and is a must-mention classic in the City Pop context.
Although today many music fans praise its high level of completion—on par with the great Western albums of its era—the prevailing view is that it was too ahead of its time to be accepted back then.
From the famous “DOWN TOWN,” covered by numerous artists, to the beautiful choral work, meticulously crafted shimmering arrangements, and evergreen melodies, this album offers new discoveries every time you listen.
It isn’t available on streaming services at the moment, but I highly recommend buying the CD or vinyl to experience it.
drizzleitō ginji
When it comes to the beloved national TV show Waratte Iitomo!, the opening theme Ukiki Watching sung by the Iitomo Youth Trio is absolutely indispensable.
The song itself can be called a national classic, but do you know who composed it? The composer, Ginji Ito, is a musician known for joining the legendary band Sugar Babe—famous for producing major artists like Tatsuro Yamashita and Taeko Onuki—as a second-phase member.
He wrote lyrics for several tracks on their sole album SONGS and is also known for his work with the Niagara Triangle alongside Yamashita and Eiichi Ohtaki.
In addition to his career as a solo singer-songwriter, Ito has been active in a wide range of roles as an arranger and producer.
His first solo album, Deadly Drive, released in 1977, is a highly acclaimed masterpiece that was reissued in 2017 as a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.
With close friends like Taeko Onuki and Ryuichi Sakamoto participating, it’s a quintessential city pop gem whose urbane, sophisticated sound perfectly matches Ito’s refined vocals.
The classic Konuka-ame is a song from his period with the band Goma no Hae and was also performed live during the Sugar Babe era.
Needless to say, the album is outstanding, and from the perspective of Japanese music history and city pop history, it is a work of considerable significance.