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Explanatory Notes for H3 Music Research Paper

The research paper analyzes the musical elements of Japanese Citypop from the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on key artists like Tatsuro Yamashita, Anri, and EPO. It fills a gap in existing literature by examining the genre's melodies, rhythms, and cultural influences, highlighting its unique blend of Western and Japanese musical styles. The paper concludes by discussing Citypop's influence on modern J-Pop and its resurgence in contemporary Western music through genres like Future Funk and Vaporwave.

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34 views2 pages

Explanatory Notes for H3 Music Research Paper

The research paper analyzes the musical elements of Japanese Citypop from the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on key artists like Tatsuro Yamashita, Anri, and EPO. It fills a gap in existing literature by examining the genre's melodies, rhythms, and cultural influences, highlighting its unique blend of Western and Japanese musical styles. The paper concludes by discussing Citypop's influence on modern J-Pop and its resurgence in contemporary Western music through genres like Future Funk and Vaporwave.

Uploaded by

2bcool212
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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This research paper, “Influences and Idiosyncrasies: 1975-1985 Japanese Citypop”, was motivated

by the lack of musically-technical analysis of Japanese Pop Music from the 1970s and 1980s,

Citypop. Most prior books, research papers and journals on Citypop focus on the sociological or

linguistics aspects of Citypop in showcasing the zeitgeist of Japan’s post-war economic boom:

hedonism, urbanism, opulence and optimism, longing for “youthful innocence”. Hence, this research

paper is the first in its field to fill this academic gap by analyzing the genre’s musical elements based

around the focal artists of Tatsuro Yamashita, Anri and EPO, with case studies into these artists’

backgrounds. The paper analyzed 18 Citypop albums and transcribes over 16 songs by-ear into full

score-notation, interpreted the songs’ lyrics and translated many publications and interviews entirely

in Japanese. It focuses on the songs’ melody, rhythm, harmony, musical texture, instrumentation and

cultural influences and expressions, by analyzing their horizontal intervallic-relation between notes,

chordal progression, scales and modulations, embellishments, riffs, orchestration and layering

techniques, antiphonal exchanges, syncopation and more. Highlighting Citypop’s influences from

domestic socio-cultural events and sentiments, this paper also showcases foreign influence from

American music (Surf Music, Jazz, Rockabilly, Broadway and Chicago Soul), Latin-Caribbean

Music (Cuban Salsa, Latin Polyrhythms, Flamenco Music) etc. Also highlighted are Citypop’s

idiosyncrasies, including the Odo-Shinko chord progression. It is the first publication to showcase

how Citypop reflects the Japanese cultural ideal of wakon yosai (Japanese spirit, Western learnings),

by amalgamating Western influences with unique Japanese flavors. This debunks a common

perception that Citypop is a mere imitator of Western pop at the time. The paper relates how Citypop

is an example of Japan’s post-war creativity, representing the zeitgeist of Japan’s post-war economic

boom, culminating in a case study of EPO’s Shanghai Etranger to showcase these diverse influences

(including the aforementioned, alongside Peking Operatic, Balinese and Eurodisco music) and the

wakon yosai spirit. The paper concludes with an analysis of Citypop has influenced modern Japanese
Popular Music (J-Pop) and how Citypop’s recent resurgence online through off-shoot genres like

Future Funk and Vaporwave have inspired contemporary Western artists. Emulating and sampling

Citypop, these artists have utilized “reverse-wakon yosai” to create new Western popular music,

showcasing Citypop’s impacts on the wider popular music scene in Japan and the wider world.

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