How K-Pop & J-Pop Have Historically Fused with Western Music

K-Pop and J-Pop had much of their early beginnings in the late 20th century. K-Pop arose in the early 1990s with a lot of hip hop and western influence. City Pop was a form of J-Pop that arose in the 70's and 80's with a strong western influence including pop, jazz and disco. "Nan Arayo" by Seo Taiji and Boys was known as on of the earliest K-Pop songs that is an example K-Pop music with hip hop and western influence (Seo Taiji and Boys, Seo Taiji and Boys, 1992). It again demonstrates that K-Pop has already had a wide amount of western influence as discussed in the previous post. At the same time it leaves the open-ended analysis of what the future of K-Pop is with regards to its relationship to the West through musical influence. J-Pop was originally more influenced by Western music in the 1970s and 1980s than it is today. This is evident in the City Pop genre of J-Pop which was prominent in Japan up until the early 90's. 

"Love Space" by Tatsuro Yamashita is an excellent example of a Japanese City Pop song. There are clear western influences in the chorus vocals and the disco feel of the song. This song is quite groovy and I wish I would have heard it long before I did in 2023 because it is a very positive song. Even if I cannot fully understand the song without translating that lyrics, I feel that the vibe of the song can be applied to many life situations and it is a very nostalgic fitting song for the fans of the genre. I do not have an official link to his song on Youtube due to copyright, so I cannot post his music video here (Tatsuro Yamashita, Spacy, 1977). 

 

"Remember Summer Days" by Anri is another City Pop favorite of mine and was discovered by me at the same time as "Love Space" due to it being featured in a long City Pop video on Youtube that was probably taken down due to copyright. It demonstrates western influence through the beats and it also feels very disco. The music video that Artzie Music posted of Anri's song with Tokyo Tower and the city in the background adds to the summer vibe of the song. The sun in the background and air feel like it is moving on a hot and humid summer day when it probably really is not. All of these effects together with the song make it feel like the artist is presenting melancholic feelings about her life in Japan and meaning to share it with a broader audience beyond the Japanese market in some sense (Artzie Music, Youtube, 2014).

   

"Street Dancer" by Hiromi Iwasaki is another fine song that is another example of western influence in Japanese City Pop. The song has a lower energy and slower pace to it that "Love Space" and "Remember Summer Days" which is great because it adds to the diversity of the City Pop genre through the song's tempo (not that the other two songs don't add diversity). Lastly, it is also one of the longest songs I have talked about so far which contrasts with Rose's (BLACKPINK) cover of "Eyes Closed" by Halsey. Both Iwasaki's song and Rose's cover add a lot of diversity to J-Pop and K-Pop through the western type of music that influenced both songs (one being a complete cover) (Hiromi Iwasaki Official Youtube Channel, Youtube, 2018).

The reason for the brief mention of an earlier K-Pop song and not listing any more examples of early K-Pop is because I feel that K-Pop still maintains the stronger western influence today compared to modern J-Pop. Understanding modern J-Pop's historical connection with western music helps understand what J-Pop used to be and what it can potentially become in the future. The City Pop songs of this time period had heavier similarities with western music than they do now, but that demonstrates experience with using genres from the U.S. and other western countries as inspiration for Japanese songs.