Wow, I’ve listened to this so many times now. I guess it is something that comes after listening to enough soul music- “cheesy” 80s pop becomes more nuanced. This particular track incorporates strings, horns, several guitars, great melody, etc. All of it is an understated compliment to the bassline rhythms. It’s incredible how these sounds are interweaved so intricately! I’d take it over Stevie Wonder, anyway. I think also as an English speaker, having the last verse or the breakdown be in all English gives it an incredible epic feeling for those who are in tune to it.
…And the youtube comments! “Plastic Love” apparently was prominent within youtube algorithms heavily around 2018, having something to do with the image recognition of Mariya’s bow tie (?), and it caused not only tens of millions of listens, but also a new genre, “City Pop”. After further “research”, some of the controversy was because the photographer, Alan Levenson, for this photo, which is not even the 12" single’s cover art, was mad that he wasn’t paid, so he ended up getting the video taken down, and somehow there was a huge twitter war over it. Personal insults and threats were abound, until an agreement was made to credit the photographer. Don’t take away their City Pop!
It’s also always nice to hear about the meanings of songs in languages that I don’t understand. Great song. That it is seeing such a resurgence is no surprise, but the depth to which it has reached these levels of success and adoration is still impressive. It give a vicarious feeling of triumph to the listener, I think.