Plastic Love – Wikipedia

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1984 song by Mariya Takeuchi

“Plastic Love“ (Japanese: プラスティック・ラヴ, Hepburn: Purasutikku Ravu) is a song by Japanese city pop singer Mariya Takeuchi, featured on her 1984 album Variety.[1] Upon its release as a single a year later,[2] it was moderately successful, selling around 10,000 copies.[3]

In 2017, “Plastic Love” saw a resurgence internationally when an eight-minute remix of the song was uploaded to YouTube. It quickly garnered more than 24 million views, before a copyright claim over the album art unintentionally led to its removal.[4][5][6] It was subsequently restored in 2019 and has garnered over 63 million views.

Production and release[edit]

“Plastic Love” was written and performed by Takeuchi and produced by her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita.[2] In an interview with The Japan Times, Takeuchi remarked: “I wanted to write something danceable, something with a city pop sound… [the lyrics] tell the story of a woman who lost the man she truly loves.”[4] Yamashita also played guitar for the song, while Yasuharu Nakanishi played electric piano, Kōki Itō played bass guitar, and Jūn Aoyama played drums.[7]

The song was first released on Takeuchi’s number-one hit album, Variety (1984). The single was Takeuchi’s twelfth single to be released.[8] A twelve-inch single was released on March 25, 1985, which included an “extended club mix” and “new re-mix” of the song and reached 86th on the Oricon Singles Chart.[6][9]

Resurgence[edit]

On July 5, 2017, an eight-minute fan-made remix of “Plastic Love” was uploaded to YouTube by a user known as “Plastic Lover”. The video showed a cropped version of the cover of Takeuchi’s earlier single “Sweetest Music”, taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Alan Levenson.[4][5] In an interview, Plastic Lover said that their video was a re-upload of a now-deleted video on YouTube.[10]

Coinciding with the vaporwave genre’s rise in popularity,[11][12] Plastic Lover’s upload spread rapidly throughout YouTube through the platform’s recommendations algorithm.[4][13] Its spread was also aided by internet memes, discussions on Reddit, and fan art of the “Sweetest Music” cover on platforms such as DeviantArt.[4][7] The video garnered 24 million views before being taken down for a copyright dispute with Levenson, but was then restored in 2019 with credit given to Levenson in the video description and thumbnail.[10][6] The song has also inspired a fan-made English translation version, in addition to inspiring remixes and fan art of the cover.[14] As of May 2021, the video had more than 63 million views.[10]

Ryan Bassil of Vice noted that the song is “a rare tune that doesn’t exactly need words to expertly describe a specific, defined feeling – one of lust, heartbreak, love, fear, adventure, loss, all caught up in the swirling midst of a night out on the town” and called the song “the best pop song in the world”.[15] Cat Zhang of Pitchfork reported that younger city pop fans commonly cite “Plastic Love” as their “gateway to the genre”.[16] Multiple cover versions of “Plastic Love” also exist, including by Tofubeats,[7]Friday Night Plans[17] and Chai.[18]

On May 16, 2019, the short version of the official music video produced by Kyōtaro Hayashi was released on YouTube running 90 seconds long.[6] The full version, which runs approximately 5 minutes, is included in the DVD and Blu-ray release of “Souvenir the Movie” released on November 18, 2020.[19] The music video became available on YouTube on November 11, 2021.[20]Tower Records released a re-print of “Plastic Love” as a 12-inch single on November 3, 2021, along with LP records of Takeuchi’s albums Variety and Request.[21][22]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Mariya Takeuchi and arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita.

12″ single
  1. “Plastic Love” (Extended Club Mix) – 9:15
  2. “Plastic Love” (New Re-Mix) – 4:51

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Singles Discography”. Mariya Takeuchi Official Website. Smile Company Ltd. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  2. ^ a b “1984年5月7日竹内まりや『VARIETY』がオリコン・アルバム・チャート1位を記録～世界的に再評価されている「プラスティック・ラブ」収録” (in Japanese). Nippon Broadcasting System. May 7, 2019. Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  3. ^ “「臼井孝のヒット曲探検隊 ～アーティスト別 ベストヒット20」 デビュー40周年を迎えた 竹内まりやのヒットを探る”. OK Music (in Japanese). November 22, 2018. Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e St. Michel, Patrick (November 17, 2018). “Mariya Takeuchi: The pop genius behind 2018’s surprise online smash hit from Japan”. The Japan Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Nevarez, Leonard (June 5, 2019). “the curious case of Mariya Takeuchi’s Plastic Love: guest blog by Thomas Calkins”. Musical Urbanism. Vassar College. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e “Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” gets music video after 35 years”. Arama! Japan. May 17, 2019. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c “tofubeats – Plastic Love”. Mikiki (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  8. ^ “シングル・ディスコグラフィー [Part 1]（1978-1989）”. Mariya Takeuchi Official Website (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  9. ^ “竹内まりや – PLASTIC LOVE(12inch)”. Warner Music Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c Zhang, Cat (May 18, 2021). “Talking to the Anonymous YouTuber and the Photographer Who Helped Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” Go Viral”. Pitchfork. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Blistein, Jon (May 2, 2019). “City Pop: Why Does the Soundtrack to Tokyo’s Tech Boom Still Resonate?”. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  12. ^ Lee, Giacomo (July 12, 2019). “From Vaporwave to Future Funk: Night Tempo artists talk Japanese aesthetics of cuteness and City Pop”. Digital Arts. International Data Group. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  13. ^ Marshall, Colin (October 3, 2018). “How Youtube’s Algorithm Turned an Obscure 1980s Japanese Song Into an Enormously Popular Hit: Discover Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love”“. Open Culture. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Kennis, Haley. “Plastic Love: Nostalgia for a Nonexistent Time”. Afterglow. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  15. ^ Bassil, Ryan (June 13, 2018). “An 80s Japanese Track Is the Best Pop Song in the World”. Vice. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  16. ^ Zhang, Cat (February 24, 2021). “The Endless Life Cycle of Japanese City Pop”. Pitchfork. Archived from the original on August 13, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  17. ^ Keith, James (November 15, 2019). “Tokyo’s Friday Night Plans Combine Jazz, R&B And Experimental Pop On ‘Complex’ EP”. Complex. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  18. ^ “CHAIが〈Sub Pop〉と契約 第1弾シングル「Donuts Mind If I Do」ゲリラ・リリース”. Spincoaster (in Japanese). October 2, 2020. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  19. ^ “souvenir the movie 〜MARIYA TAKEUCHI Theater Live〜 (Special Edition)”. Warner Music Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  20. ^ 竹内まりや – Plastic Love (Official Music Video), archived from the original on November 11, 2021, retrieved November 11, 2021
  21. ^ “竹内まりや、”プラスティック・ラブ”12インチ・アナログ・シングル11月3日「レコードの日」に発売決定。アルバム『VARIETY』と『REQUEST』アナログ盤再発売も”. Tower Records (in Japanese). August 30, 2021. Archived from the original on September 15, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  22. ^ Silbert, Jack (September 13, 2021). “The Catchy Japanese Pop Song That Dominates Your Youtube Recs Is Back!”. Highsnobiety. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  23. ^ “Billboard Japan Hot 100 – Week of November 10, 2021”. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). November 10, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  24. ^ PLASTIC LOVE – Oricon Oricon News. Retrieved November 10, 2021.

External links[edit]