Recording
Plastic Love
Mariya Takeuchi
Independently chosen for2 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.
- Released
- 1984
- Label
- Moon
- On
- City Pop and Sung to Someone
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
8 sections, the first drop of 2 at 0:21, 7% of the way in, 10% of it spent climbing.
- Tempo
- 103.4 BPM
- holds throughout
- Dynamic range
- 6.7 dB
- moderate range, typical of a modern master
- Length
- 5:09
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintrobar -4
- 0:57Bsteadybar 20
- 1:17Bbreakdownbar 29
- 1:35Csteadybar 36
- 2:30Abuildbar 60
- 3:00Cpeakbar 73
- 3:19Cliftbar 81
- 4:02Doutrobar 100
Drops at 0:21 (bar 5), 2:31 (bar 61). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:57
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 66
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:20
- Energy
- 75
- Brightness
- 75
- Density
- 82
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 54
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 0:56
- Energy
- 86
- Brightness
- 74
- Density
- 25
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:30
- Energy
- 76
- Brightness
- 73
- Density
- 70
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 0:19
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 84
- Density
- 17
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 0:43
- Energy
- 76
- Brightness
- 71
- Density
- 45
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · sung
- Lasts
- 1:07
- Energy
- 24
- Brightness
- 75
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in City Pop
A woman announcing she will not fall in love again, over the most buoyant arrangement imaginable. Rediscovered by a YouTube algorithm thirty years later and now the genre's front door.
Picked by Sung to Someone
The most misread record here. It sounds like a city at three in the morning, and what it actually is is one woman telling someone not to take her seriously — which she only has to say out loud because he has started to.