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Eill Proves Her Infinite Possibilities on the Cover of 'Plastic Love'

‘PLASTIC LOVE’, the 4th digital single by eill, which was released on September 8th, has had very good reviews.

This song is originally from the album “VARIETY” by Mariya Takeuchi which was first released in 1984. This cover song is available to listen to through major music streaming services. The arrangement is made by the producer Yaffle, who is one of the leading figures in the Tokyo music scene. The tempo of the song is slightly slower than the original one and the arrangement is just perfect - it's not overdone too much or not enough. The usage of digital effects is quite catchy and has an amazing effect on the vocals. Most of all, eill's delicate voice cannot be forgotten once you hear it and her singing is very delicate, causing a great impression that will stay with you.

The lyrics and melody of the original song, which was first released in 1984, is still fresh.
Of course the arrangement by Tatsuro Yamashita is just great but at the same time eill's version of ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ has brilliant balance as a pop song in 2021.

To begin with, the combination of eill and the song ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ is an interesting one. As many media have already mentioned, the revival of Japanese “city pop” music has been viral in many countries recently, and ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ by Mariya Takeuchi is one of the songs which started this trend.

Let me explain what “city pop” music is. Firstly, the genre “city pop” doesn't really have any clear definitions, but there are some points as below.
・”city pop” is a Japanese pop music category which emerged and released during the late 1970s and 1980s.
・They are recorded with highly skilled performance and are played with a groove which is quite precise. They were created with the influence of western music which was popular at the time, including soul, disco, urban contemporary, funk and crossover.
・Furthermore the melody has influences from typical local Japanese pop songs and the lyrics show loneliness and sadness in the Tokyo scene just after rapid economic growth.
・With all that I have explained so far, “city pop” can be said to be the pop music which was played with a mellow sound with the feeling of a highly sophisticated urban city atmosphere.

As Japanese Wikipedia pointed out, the word “city pop” sometimes describes its genre and other times it simply points to the mood of the song.
Happy End, Eiichi Ohtaki, Sugar Babe, Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi (Yamashita and Takeuchi are married in 1982), Minako Yoshida, Yumi Arai (Yumi Matsutoya), Taeko Ohnuki, those are the list of artists and bands associated with city pop music genre. And they are the artists who are all very innovative and hip at that time.

After the 2000s their music has been gradually known to listeners around the world through the internet. The biggest element why “city pop” music spread rapidly is “Vaporwave'' which happened around 2010. “Vaporwave '' is a movement where people rearrange the Lofi contents like old music, games and old commercial videos.

With those boom backgrounds, “city pop” music had been recommended by all kinds of influencers including many DJs and creators around the world. One of the songs that got great attention is “PLASTIC LOVE” by Mariya Takeuchi. The song became viral in 2017.In July 2017 the unofficial music video of ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ has been watched over 24 million times. And there are so many comments in English and many other languages.With this popularity Mariya Takeuchi's label released an official music video (which you can watch now) and there are also many comments from around the world.

Now let me talk about the singer eill. She is a 23 years old artist who just made her major debut this April with the song ‘Koko de Iki wo Shite’. The song ‘Koko de Iki wo Shite’ is the ending theme song of the anime “Tokyo Revengers”. It ranked in the top10 in 50 countries on the Apple Music J-POP ranking.
Because of the tie up with popular anime, the song has been watched over 30 million times and 40 percent of the viewers are from overseas.

The artist eill writes the lyrics of her own song and her biggest charm is her voice.
On Tatsuro Yamashita's regular radio programme on August 22nd, which is called “Tatsuro Yamashita presents Rakuten Card SUNDAY SONG BOOK'', he played the cover song of ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ by eill. It was during the special annual programme called “conversation of couples over cooling off during the summertime”. Both Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi have mentioned about eill. Takeuchi says 'She has a good voice. Yamashita says 'She belongs to the new generation. From both of us she is like our grandchild.” She belongs to the same label and works for the same management office. But they didn't compliment her just because they are working in the same company. Two legends like them wouldn't spoil her since they are serious about the music.

Furthermore, in a TV programme called “Sokai joho variety Sukkiri!” on Nippon Television, eill was introduced solely in the special part of the programme on September 27th.
Her interview was introduced and there are many positive comments about her from SKY-HI and Kan Sano, who worked on a collaboration with eill and also produced for her as well. They both mentioned how beautiful her voice is and how special her singing style is. It was obvious that many creators and artists are clearly attracted by her voice.

Her music actually has no genre. She creates music from many different music influences including K-POP. At the same time, she has been getting popular as a fashion icon. She seems like the symbol of Generation Z.

To make things clear, the figure eill is not to be called “neo-city pop artist”, but the artists who are categorised as “city pop” music were definitely hip figures in the 70s and 80s in Japan. The time people are expected to be cooperative and follow the rules even more strongly compared to now. But those artists decided to be who they are and they flourished their uniqueness. They were ‘cool’ artists. And those cool artists were interacting with each other.

On the radio show I mentioned earlier, the couple Yamashita and Takeuchi finished the conversation with those comments.
Yamashita said, “Actually there are so many cover songs of ‘PLASTIC LOVE’.”
Takeuchi replied to him, “I am very grateful that this song has been appreciated by many people even now. This song was made about 37 years ago. It was good, we did our best, wasn't it?”

The latest ‘cool’ artist like eill gathered ‘cool’ talents around her and covered the “city pop” music song which was once played by the ‘cool’ legend. We can say that those interesting series of events are almost like Atavism.

The official YouTube music video of 'PLASTIC LOVE' by eill has been watched over 770.000 times (as of October 2nd). Many comments have been written in English and other languages, including Korean rather than Japanese.

At the end of last year, the song ‘Mayonaka no Door- Stay With Me’ by Miki Matsubara suddenly became viral all over the world. The song ranked on Apple Music J-Pop and Spotify Global viral charts. This news proves that listeners around the world are still rediscovering new songs from the “city pop' genre and won't stop anytime soon. Like the attention from the listeners and her attractive voice, and empathy to the generations, ‘PLASTIC LOVE’ by eill has many reasons to be attractive. I am sure this song will gain more listeners in the world. With the growth of artist eill, we can expect the further popularity of this special song.

▷PLASTIC LOVE
https://lnk.to/Plastic_LovePR

▷Koko de Iki wo Shite
https://lnk.to/KokodeikiwoshitePR

eill Profile
eill is a singer-songwriter who captivates audiences with her musicality based on urban contemporary music and with her voice, in which sweetness, bittersweetness, luster and strength coexist. When she was 15, she started singing and composing music on a computer. Highly acclaimed for her multi-faceted songwriting talents, she has provided songs to artists such as NEWS, Taeyeon (a former Girls' Generation member), and EXID. Many artists are fascinated by her emotionally expressive voice, and she has made guest
appearances in the songs of both domestic and overseas artists such as SKY-HI and
PINKSWEAT$.

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