Screenshot from YouTube
If you’ve been blessed by YouTube’s algorithm gods over the last few years, you would have chanced upon an ‘80s pop song called “Plastic Love” by a Japanese artist named Mariya Takeuchi at least once. If you were hooked, you’re not alone: “Plastic Love” and the rest of Takeuchi’s songs in her album VARIETY reached #1 in Japanese music charts in 1984, and a still image of Takeuchi with the song audio earned millions of hits on YouTube. It’s pretty much the greatest pop song in the world.While the fan-made music video was taken down after a dispute with the photographer on the video’s still image, the song never left our hearts, and we now have something we never thought we wanted: an official music video for “Plastic Love,” 35 years after its official release. Warner Music Japan uploaded the video on YouTube on Thursday, May 16.The music video captures the exact mood the song projects: a gentle shifting between loneliness and adventure, coupled with a sense of nostalgia and a loss for something you’ve never had. In the video, a woman shares a cab with an obscure man, while a dapper custodian cheerfully does his work. The two cross paths in a corridor of what seems to be a hotel, and share a longing glance before going on their separate ways.“I made it as a united body, intermingling with the respect for the age when this song was born, and our interpretation of the same generation,” director Kyoutaro Hayashi shared in Japanese on the video description.The song’s enduring popularity isn’t the only reason Warner Music decided to make a music video for “Plastic Love." Takeuchi is releasing a 62-track compilation of her songs entitled Turntable to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of her career in August this year.While the music video uses the short version of the song (an extended club mix was released in 1985), it’s more than enough for listeners who want to hear – and watch – “Plastic Love” again and again.Watch the music video here:
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