The album Variety was released while Takeuchi was pregnant and the song вЂPlastic LoveвЂ™ only reached 86 on the Japanese music chartsFast forward to July 5 in 2017, an eight-minute fan-made remix of the track was uploaded to YouTube by a user known as Plastic Lover with a thumbnail of the cover of Takeuchi's earlier single Sweetest Music, taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Alan Levenson. However, to get people from around the globe to listen to a genre that they probably have never heard of, a great track is not quite enough. вЂњNo matter how many other guys would pursue her, she couldnвЂ™t shake the feelings of loneliness that the loss created.вЂќ tell the story of a woman who lost the man she truly loves,' Takeuchi explained to The Japan Times.ДЄccording to Takeuchi, the lyrics are about a woman who lost her true love. 'I wanted to write something danceable, something with a city pop sound. 'Plastic Love' has a hypnotic groove and catchy melody but with lyrics that give off a hollow plastic feeling, we could all still relate to. In a fast-paced world, we are all chasing that glamorously shiny lifestyle, but often neglect what's actually important, leaving a big hole in our hearts. The background of 'Plastic Love' is still somewhat similar to the world we are living in currently, and perhaps that's why it still resonates with music fans.

Taking pieces ranging from synth-pop to new wave to jazz to disco and with a little influence from the West - mainly the English lyrics - we now had a well-defined new genre called city pop that represents the 1980s bubble era in Japan. Its cosmopolitan lifestyle also influenced music and city pop was born, loved for its ability to reflect a new kind of city life. Towards the end of the ShЕЌwa period in Japan, the country's shiny new modern cities were seeing Japan becoming one of the world's superpowers. Since then, Takeuchi has been regarded as one of the most influential artists in the city pop genre, while Yamashita has been labelled as the king of city pop. вЂPlastic LoveвЂ™ was written and sung by Mariya Takeuchi and produced by her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita, in 1984.

Even still, three decades after its original release, the track recently broke Japan's top ten sales chart for the first time and got a full-length official music video - which gives us a reason to listen to it another 24 million times.Д«ut why is a nearly 40-year-old city pop song becoming so popular after so many decades? Mariya Takeuchi's 'Plastic Love' was originally recorded back in 1984 and has enjoyed a recent uptick in popularity with thanks to Plastic Lover, an unofficial upload on YouTube that cultivated 24 million views before it was deleted.

Mariya takeuchi plastic love remix