City Pop

04. 18. 2020 

dosii, the album holding the track Lovememore by the Korean duo artists, dosii, came early 2019 but the song already had over 500k plays on SoundCloud prior to the official release. While the album is labeled as R&B and soul, it holds a nostalgic, retro feel to it. Like a moodier version of city pop. An “urban-vintage” feel.

I wanted to talk about this song (or rather, the genre of this song!) today since I found it buried under my playlists of retro songs. The playlist holds mostly 80s and 90s music and genres like city pop. I believe city pop originated from Japan in the late 70s and moved over to Korea as it grew in popularity. It has a range of styles but seems to be associated with rising tech such as cassettes, radios and electronic instruments at the time. It peaked during the 80s, which is why a lot of the songs I am sharing on this post will be from that period. Apparently, the style reappeared in the 2010s, gaining popularity internationally as well as becoming a keystone to newer, modern takes on the genre.

I think the most internationally recognized city pop song would be Mariya Takeuchi’s Plastic Love, which came out in 1984. It was one of the artist’s most successful songs, reaching number one on the 1982 Oricon Music chart in Japan. The song talks about dancing in discotheques after a breakup. It picked up immense popularity approximately 35 years after its release, earning a music video in 2019. I wonder how a resurgence of an old song happened? Are there similar elements that people connect with now?

One of my favorite Korean retro songs is Light and Salt’s Shampoo Fairy which came out in 1990. (In fact, dosii did a remake of this song: check it out here!)The song sings about the loveliness of their crush. I think the lyrics are very pretty, using figurative language like “silver light” and “fairy” to define the singer’s fascination and admiration for the “her”. It is funny and a bit bittersweet when the last verse reveals that she will always be “my dream” as the singer watches her from far away. I thought the song was talking about first crushes or something like that at first… but I think the “her” that’s mentioned may actually be an idol the singer looks up to instead since the first verse starts roughly translates to “coming out of the square screen”?

네모난 화면 헤치며
살며시 다가와 은빛의 환상 심어준
그녀는 나만의 작은 요정

These songs always make me feel good and yearn for a time I wasn’t born in. The beat and the way the electronic sound overlap together with soft voices are always interesting to hear and gives a sense of movement and freedom. It’s a great playlist to listen to during this time when I feel compact at home!