Work songs: recommended masterpieces and popular tracks

HeroFUNKY MONKEY BABYS

FUNKY MONKEY BABYS "Hero"

A song that could make any office worker sob, conveying that even ordinary salarymen—without flashy achievements—are admirable heroes who work hard every day.

The music video features announcer Shinichi Hatori, and it became a hot topic when he also appeared across networks at that year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen.

TAXISuzuki Kiyomi

Seimi Suzuki — TAXI

Ms.

Kiyomi Suzuki is the older sister of Mr.

Masayuki Suzuki—well-known from groups like the Chanels—and as siblings, they both have strikingly soulful voices that don’t sound typically Japanese.

It’s a song with an adult vibe, like meeting the usual woman at the usual bar after work.

Riemann’s LockTakahashi Yū

Yu Takahashi – Salaryman’s Rock (solo acoustic cover)

This song is about Japanese office workers—sometimes described as corporate drones.

Rather than rock, it’s a touching ballad.

It portrays everyday events at the office and in daily life that any employee can relate to, yet it also sounds like an encouraging, forward-looking anthem that urges us not to give up, to keep our hopes up, and to say, “Let’s go to work.”

Let’s workNORIKIYO from SD JUNKSTA

NORIKIYO from SD JUNKSTA [MV] “Let’s Get to Work”

Of course, NORIKIYO’s rap skills shine, but despite the MV’s comedic sensibility, it’s a hard-hitting track.

Surprisingly, the lyrics say some pretty sensible things, so it might even work as a work-themed song.

The senior-dis track on the same album also drew attention.

byte / part-time jobThe Misspergers

byte / part-time job

“This isn’t what the job listing promised!” This track by The Misspergers depicts the pent-up frustration of a part-time worker being spit out like a curse in rap form.

Billing themselves as a “work-drone dance! mad-song rock band,” their lyrics speak the raw truths of working people and have struck a chord with many.

This song appears on the EP ‘Long Live Labor,’ released in December 2023.

Despite its breezy four-on-the-floor beat, the biting lyrics that slam the bait-and-switch treatment leave a powerful impression through their stark contrast.

On nights when you trudge home feeling wronged, put this on and you might just feel that strange spark of energy—‘Guess I’ll manage to get through tomorrow too!’

Happy Order?imase

【imase】Happy Order?（MV）

Even on mornings when your steps feel a bit heavy on the way to a part-time job, this upbeat pop anthem instantly brightens your mood.

It sings, over a breezy dance sound, about everyday moments anyone who works can relate to—like the gloom before a shift starts and the way time flies once you get going.

Created by imase, the song was released in April 2024 as a tie-in with McDonald’s Japan, made to encourage roughly 200,000 crew members working nationwide.

It’s also included on the first album, “Bonsai.” Feeling worn out from work or struggling with relationships? Listening to this track might help you rediscover the fun and sparkle hidden in your everyday working life.

2 a.m. and a highballnakigoto

2 a.m. and a highball

On the way home after a shift, the 2 a.m.

air mingles with the languor of a highball.

It’s a song about a night like that—one almost everyone has lived—by the female rock duo Nakigoto.

Written by Emiri Minakami with the aim of creating a “song that saves,” it beautifully captures the delicate moment when, in the depths of dejection, an offhand word from someone close suddenly lifts you up.

First released on the September 2019 mini-album How to Make the Night, it was later re-included on the full-length album NAKIGOTO,.

If you listen on a night when work has drained you and you’re on the verge of losing sight of your own worth, won’t you find yourself in the protagonist, and feel—somehow—that you can get through tomorrow?