Part of that success can be attributed to YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which suggests videos for viewers based on what they think they might like. The Plastic Lover upload currently boasts more than 22 million views. Since then, “Plastic Love” has become an online sensation. Singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi is particularly fond of her 1984 album, ‘Variety,’ which features the track ‘Plastic Love.’ | COURTESY OF WARNER MUSIC JAPAN The song - a galloping, funk-indebted piece of pop whose lyrics harbor a sense of melancholy - originally appeared on the album, “Variety.” In the summer of 2017, a YouTube channel called Plastic Lover shared the track - or, more accurately, a seven-minute remix of it. The post featured a photo of Takeuchi that had been taken in Hollywood in 1980, a shot used as the cover for a single titled “Sweetest Music” that was released later that year but cropped in on her smile. That changed in 2017 when the internet discovered her 1984 track, “Plastic Love.” Takeuchi’s success, however, has long been limited to her home country (save for a few niche audiences devoted to vintage Japanese pop). “Despite almost no live activity, she has done what many singers and songwriters haven’t been able to do and maintain her popularity,” Kanazawa says. Music journalist Toshikazu Kanazawa commends Takeuchi for striking a work-life balance. The two of them are arguably the most famous couple in the domestic music industry today. In 1982, she married fellow musician Tatsuro Yamashita, now 65, who has arranged and produced her creations from the start. She has written and arranged songs for J-pop royalty - from Akina Nakamori to SMAP - and her “Sutekina Holiday” is an entrenched part of the country’s Christmas canon. Since debuting in the late ’70s, she has racked up sales of more than 16 million copies, with her best-of album, “Impressions,” accounting for around 3 million of that number alone. Takeuchi’s career has been anything but ordinary, however. … I can’t think of anything special in my daily life.” “I go to the supermarket, I buy groceries, I cook, sometimes I clean or watch a movie. “It’s usually so ordinary,” she says with a laugh when asked to describe her day-to-day activities. “Because of all this promotion, I’ve been busy,” Takeuchi says, sitting in a spacious room decorated with vintage furnishings in Warner Music Japan’s Tokyo offices. Pop revival: Mariya Takeuchi poses for a portrait at Warner Music Japan’s Tokyo offices in September.
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