City pop (Japanese: シティ・ポップ, Hepburn: shiti poppu) is a type of Japanese pop music that began in the mid-1970s and became very popular in the 1980s. It started as a part of Japan's music influenced by Western styles, but later included many different types, such as funk, disco, R&B, AOR, soft rock, and boogie. These styles were connected to Japan's growing economy and the rise of a leisure class. City pop was linked to new technologies like the Walkman, cars with built-in cassette decks and FM stereos, and electronic musical instruments.

Experts do not agree on a clear definition of city pop. In Japan, the term described music that had an "urban" feel and was aimed at people living in cities. Many city pop artists focused on Western styles like American funk, soft rock, and boogie, rather than traditional Japanese influences. Some songs included sounds from tropical music, disco, jazz fusion, Okinawan, Latin, and Caribbean music.

Tatsuro Yamashita, a famous singer-songwriter and one of the most successful city pop artists, is sometimes called the "king" of city pop. The band Yellow Magic Orchestra and its members also helped shape the mixing and arrangement styles that became important to the genre.

City pop lost popularity after the 1980s and was not widely appreciated by later Japanese generations. In the early 2010s, it gained new attention online, partly because of music-sharing blogs and reissued Japanese recordings. This revival made city pop important to sample-based music styles like vaporwave and future funk.

Definitions

Definitions of "city pop" have changed over time, and many artists linked to the genre have created music in very different styles. Yutaka Kimura, who has written many books about city pop, described the genre as "urban pop music for people who live in cities." In 2015, Ryotaro Aoki wrote in The Japan Times that city pop was "less a strict genre term than a broad vibe classification." Japan Archival Series supervisor Yosuke Kitazawa explained that there were "no restrictions on style or a specific genre" for city pop songs, but that the music was "made by city people, for city people." Kitazawa noted two main styles that represented city pop: "the first was bright, tropical music, and the second was energetic, fast-paced music."

Chris Ingalls of PopMatters described city pop as "a type of soft rock/AOR/funk," while Joshua Minsoo Kim of Pitchfork called it "a vague descriptor for Japanese music that included jazz and R&B." Ed Motta of Wax Poetics wrote that city pop was "really AOR and soft rock but with some funk and boogie too," adding that "funkier city pop songs often borrowed sounds from American groups like Skyy and BB&Q Band." A writer for Electronic Beats said city pop was Japan's "answer to synth pop and disco."

Origins

The Japanese promotion for Terry Melcher's second album, Royal Flush (1976), used the catchphrase "Mellow (Mexican Country Hollywood) City Pop!" The single "Orange Train" by Higurashi (1977) and the album City Lights by the Moonlight by Tomoko Soryō (1977) were also marketed with the phrase "city pops." In July 1977, a music magazine called Record Geijutsu introduced musicians like Minako Yoshida, Takao Kisugi, Tatsuro Yamashita, and others as "city pops" artists. This marked the beginning of the term "city pops" being used to describe a music genre. Some magazines also referred to Eric Carmen as "New York City Pop style" and the Alessi Brothers, who performed in Japan, as leaders of "American City Pops."

The term "city pop(s)" is a Japanese-made English word that record companies and music magazines started using in the late 1970s to describe music with an urban and sophisticated feel. At the time, the term was not used strictly, and it sometimes included songs or artists classified as Japanese folk rock. "City pops" was more commonly used than "city pop," and the term "city music" was also used. For example, "city music" appeared in articles about the band Sugar Babe (active 1973–1976) and its members Taeko Onuki and Tatsuro Yamashita. It was also used for artists like Yoshitaka Minami, Yumi Arai, Minako Yoshida, and Akiko Yano. Sugar Babe's 1975 album Songs is considered a pioneer of city pop, even though the term was not widely used then.

In a 2002 book, music critic Yutaka Kimura redefined "city pop(s)" as "Japanese city pop," tracing its origins to the band Happy End (1969–1972). However, Happy End was not a successful band at the time and had little influence. This view is criticized as a "Happy End historical view," even though Happy End members continued to work in Japanese rock and pop music after the band ended. The term "city pop" became more common later, likely because of the popularity of "J-pop" in the 1990s.

Musically, city pop uses techniques from jazz, such as major seventh and diminished chords, which were popular in American soft rock of the 1970s (bands like Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers). Yutaka Kimura called Happy End "ground zero" for the genre, while others, like Motta, linked it to the mid-1970s work of Haruomi Hosono and Tatsuro Yamashita. Haruomi Hosono started the band Tin Pan Alley in the mid-1970s, blending southern R&B, northern soul, jazz fusion, and tropical music from Hawaii and Okinawa. This style later became known as "city pop."

The genre was closely connected to Japan's technology boom in the 1970s and 1980s. Technologies like the Walkman, cars with built-in cassette decks and FM stereos, and electronic instruments such as the Casio CZ-101, Yamaha CS-80 synthesizers, and the Roland TR-808 drum machine influenced city pop. These tools helped musicians create the sounds they imagined and allowed fans to copy albums using cassette decks. According to Blistein, the genre combined pop, disco, funk, R&B, boogie, jazz fusion, Latin, Caribbean, and Polynesian music. It was deeply connected to Japan's economic growth and the wealthy new leisure class it created.

Popularity

City pop became a unique type of music that was very popular in the 1980s. According to Vice, the most famous artists of the genre were skilled composers and producers, such as Tatsuro Yamashita and Toshiki Kadomatsu. These artists created songs with detailed musical arrangements and writing styles. A strong economy during that time helped them get support from music labels. Yamashita is sometimes called the "king" of city pop. The music also influenced instrumental jazz fusion bands like Casiopea and T-Square, which later affected Japanese video game music. City pop’s influence spread to Indonesia, where it inspired a local style called pop kreatif. The genre lost popularity after the 1980s. Kitazawa described how many Japanese people who grew up with city pop saw it as unoriginal, common, and temporary music, even calling it "shitty pop."

Starting in the 2010s, city pop became popular again. Artists like Mariya Takeuchi gained international attention online. The genre also became a key influence for music styles like vaporwave and future funk, which use samples from other songs. Kim noted that blogs and reissued music from around 2010 helped introduce city pop to Western listeners. The music had been ignored by many Westerners and criticized by some Japanese people, but as YouTube helped more people discover it, city pop’s popularity grew. In 2020, a reporter for The Japan Times, Patrick St. Michel, wrote that outside Japan, small music labels began reissuing rare city pop records or creating collections. Many people learned about the genre through songs like Mariya Takeuchi’s "Plastic Love" or playlists on YouTube that include anime clips. Another song, "Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)" by Miki Matsubara, became popular in 2020. It reached the top of Spotify’s global viral chart for one week and appeared in Apple Music’s J-pop top 10 in 92 countries. Artist Ginger Root has said city pop influenced his music. Some believe the city pop revival started a greater interest in Showa-era retro culture. At the same time, city pop’s popularity in Japan helped bring back Indonesia’s pop kreatif genre, now called "Indonesian City Pop" by young people there.

In 2022, Universal Music Japan released limited editions of 107 albums from the 1970s and 1980s under the "City Pop Selections by Universal Music" collection, showing the genre’s return to popularity. Another collection, the Aldelight City Pop Collection (2023), was released by Sony Music. Other compilation albums include Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1976–1986 (2019), City Pop Story – Urban & Ocean (2023), City Music Tokyo (2023), City Pop Stories – '70s & '80s (2024), and City Pop Groovy '90s – Girls & Boys (2024).