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[thread] ok so if you haven't noticed something that i've been kind of leaning into this whole retro/vaporwave thing recently and that is in no small part due to me discovering the music of Yukika and diving down a hole of japanese/korean city pop
and i was kinda thinking about it, and also the origins and inspirations of city pop (namely, funk and disco) and i think i managed to figure out why exactly this is resonating with me so hard right now
and also it's september so i wanna talk about earth wind and fire
and also it's september so i wanna talk about earth wind and fire
so let's start by defining city pop
city pop is a genre of music that originated in japan in the 70s and 80s, and the term can be broadly used to describe most of the japanese pop music that was inspired by popular western music genres at the time
city pop is a genre of music that originated in japan in the 70s and 80s, and the term can be broadly used to describe most of the japanese pop music that was inspired by popular western music genres at the time
it is widely believed that the genre originated in japan, but especially recently you can see traces of it in popular korean (and probably also chinese/cantonese, although i can't speak on c-pop too much as i don't listen to it a lot) music
now around the same time in america, funk and disco are two of the most popular styles of music that we're seeing, and for this reason city pop takes a fair amount of influence from these two genres
and two of the acts leading the funk/disco era in western pop music were parliament, and yes - earth wind and fire
as i was listening to yukika i realized many of the things i liked about her music were things i also like about western funk
as i was listening to yukika i realized many of the things i liked about her music were things i also like about western funk
such as the prominence of keys, slick horn parts, driving grooves, and really catchy basslines
and me realizing this led me from listening to yukika to sort of rediscovering funk because i love earth wind and fire to pieces
and then i realized why exactly this is resonating with me right now
and to get into that, we need to talk about afrofuturism
and then i realized why exactly this is resonating with me right now
and to get into that, we need to talk about afrofuturism
so afrofuturism is a term that was retroactively coined, but more or less it's a Black art movement that was started in the 1950s that juxtaposes Black society onto a very shiny, chrome-finished, futuristic, technologically advanced backdrop
it is believed to be started by the jazz musician Sun Ra, who often employed imagery of outer space put together with that of ancient egyptian culture in his music and other art (seen below)
and later you can see this combination of african and futuristic imagery in the aesthetics of both parliament and earth wind & fire, who were the pioneers of both funk music and afrofuturism in the 70s and 80s
today one of the most prominent afrofuturist artists is janelle monae, and her connection to this art movement is one of the reasons why i love her so much
anyway that's all fine and good, it looks pretty, but what does it all mean?
well - whether the original afrofuturists intended this or not - the imagery seeks to envision a world, society and future in which Black people are not being held down by white supremacy, and are able to create for themselves a utopia of cultural and technological advancement
(forgot to mention but another very big example of the use of afrofuturism is the black panther movie)
but anyways this idealism in art is not only used to open conversations about the issues facing Black people, but also to empower and instil hope within the african disapora
and that is what is resonating with me right now
and that is what is resonating with me right now
just the courage to be able to envision a brighter future, or the ability to lean into that escapism, even if just for a moment, is something that i deeply admire especially when we're being faced with so much bleakness right now
this kind of messaging that - while maybe a bit subtle - was especially prominent in the 70s and 80s with the popularity of funk, EWF, and parliament, is the reason why i've been vibing so hard with this retro aesthetic and all this music that goes with it
so yeah that's all cool! and i'm prolly gonna spend the next little while digging deeper into old funk music and also city pop
/end of rant
/end of rant
oh also stream electric lady by janelle monae
