Mariya Takeuchi
photo: kamasami kong · cc0 ↗Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter crowned the "Queen of City Pop" for a run of glossy, immaculately arranged pop albums in the late 1970s and '80s, many of them produced by her husband Tatsuro Yamashita. Her 1984 song "Plastic Love" — a minor hit in its day — became a global YouTube phenomenon decades later and the emblematic track of the 2010s city-pop revival, introducing a new generation to her catalog.
Takeuchi married Yamashita in 1982, and from that point on he arranged and produced much of her catalog, embedding his signature dense, funk-inflected city-pop chord voicings directly into her own songwriting.
listen forPlay Yamashita's driving 'Ride on Time' next to Takeuchi's 'Genki wo Dashite' — the same tight, syncopated groove and glossy horn-and-synth stabs sit under both, just reframed around Takeuchi's warmer, more conversational vocal.
Takeuchi has said hearing the Beatles as a child was what first made her want to make music seriously, and their bright, major-key melodicism runs through her own most guileless, hook-driven songs.
listen forPlay the Beatles' sun-drenched 'Here Comes the Sun' next to Takeuchi's own Merseybeat homage 'Mersey Beat de Utawasete' — the title alone points at the debt, and both share the same chiming, acoustic-guitar-led major-key lift.
Takeuchi's late-1970s and '80s records lean on the same stacked vocal harmonies and West Coast pop brightness the Beach Boys pioneered, a sound she leaned into further once she began recording with Los Angeles session players.
listen forSet the Beach Boys' 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' against Takeuchi's own 'September' — both open on a bright, harmony-stacked hook built for driving with the windows down, even with an ocean between their studios.