3 times when J-Pop copied shit from Kylie Minogue's music videos

Kylie Minogue and J-Pop may seem estranged on paper, but there are threads that tie them together. Kylie's aesthetic during the early 2000s would go on to become a visual cadence which would became popular in J-Pop some years after. Kylie Minogue also had two of her songs officially remixed by Nakata Yasutaka, the man behind all of Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's music.

Kylie's influence on J-Pop is not a myth. It's no 'secret, secret' that Perfume's first album Game featured songs which sounded like they could have easily been songs on Kylie Minogue's Fever album, which was released 7 years prior. This could be subjective. But it's a fact that at least 3 of her music videos were copied, ripped off, referenced, etc. in music videos from 3 major artists in J-Pop. Including the former HBIC Les Namiserable I. And the video that started it all? 2001's Dawn Shadforth directed "Can't get you out of my head".

"Can't get you out of my head" is one of Kylie Minogue's most iconic songs and videos to date. Her career was already rolling along nicely as a result of her comeback a year prior. But "Can't get you out of my head" changed the course of her entire career. A course which put her in the eye-line of J-Pop. Starting oddly enough with the colourful J-rapping duo M-Flo.

When M-Flo copied Kylie
M-Flo's video for their lead Cosmicolor single "Love don't cry" borrowed pretty heavily from Kylie Minogue's "Can't get you out of my head". The first 2 setups from Kylie's video are the first 2 that you see in M-Flo's. A car driving through a badly CGI'd city that looks like Big Blue from F-Zero with flat roads and a monochromatic pussy shimmy on a rooftop.

Dancing on a rooftop in daylight is by no means an original concept. But the framing, the style of the buildings, the design of the rooftop and the colour schemes are far too similar to be chalked up to coincidence. The likenesses are too similar for there to have been no awareness of Kylie's original video, and a few comic book shots and a meteor shower does not hide that fact.

When Namie Amuro copied Kylie
Namie's "Can't sleep, can't eat, I'm sick" didn't just straight up copy Jennifer Lopez's "Get right", but also seemed to borrow a scene from the very same video which M-Flo were 'inspired' by. I won't drag Namie for copying J.Lo, because "Can't sleep, can't eat, I'm sick" is better than "Get right". (No. I'm not sorry. Send me your Google map pin and fight me). And Jennifer Lopez's whole music career has been built on her copying some other bitch, getting somebody else's leftover song, or having her team snatch singles from under noses.

One particular scene in Namie Amuro's video caught my eye, and I instantly was thrown back to Kylie's video. Now, this may seem like a stretch to some. But not me bitch.

Dancing on a rooftop in front of a city skyline has been done before and is not exclusive to Kylie Minogue. But there's no denying the similarities between the two scenes. The look of the set. The lighting. The lens flaring. The animated lights on the buildings. And let's face it, Namie had based her entire post 2013 career copying what was poppin' in the West. But it was interesting to see her net cast out beyond the 'Urban sector' that she was obsessed with and catch Kylie Minogue. Then again, this highlights just how big "Can't get you out of my head" was. There was nobody in the world of pop who hadn't heard of the song and was not aware of it. Plus, there's MTV. Namie was probably sat on her sofa in a maxi dress at 3am smoking cigarettes, when MTV world played Kylie's video and her ass recorded it on VHS.

When Ami Suzuki copied Kylie
And then there was Ami Suzuki. The girl whose career was thrown into Valhalla after her manager tried to fuck with tax evasion. When will people learn? The 2 things that you cannot escape are death and tax evasion. And if you're black, racism. But Ami managed to drag herself from the keep of the Grim reaper and build back her career after Japan tried to blacklist a bitch. So she basically gon' live forever now.

Ami's comeback album Supreme show spawned a video which pretty much copied the entire of Kylie Minogue's Melina Matsoukas directed video for her Calvin Harris produced single "In my arms". A bitch didn't even give it time or copy an old video. She dropped her shit within the same year as Kylie's. A mere 7 months later.

Ami Suzuki's video literally copies every setup from Kylie's 2007 bop, minus one; which probably got cut because there wasn't enough budget for a fan and some ribbons. The similarities between Kylie and Ami's videos are about as subtle as Rihanna's titties in a sheer halter neck.

Ami and Kylie both serving face and dancing in yellow hollowed circles. Cool. Okay. This could just be a coincidence. Dancing in a geometric shape has been done many times before. Ami Suzuki's "Can't stop the disco" is an 80s song with a 90s visual. Its era appropriate. So, we'll let this slide. But the box setup? Gurl. The colours of the frames and fabric may differ. But the construction and even the way in which the boxes are framed and shot are THE SAME. Funky sunglasses and a geometric print jacket with a hood. Ami. Gurl.

Now, in a twist, Melina Matsuokasm the director of Kylie Minogue's video, known for her work with Beyoncé, has come under fire for stealing other people's work. Rihanna's "S&M" video got called out by David LaChappelle for ripping off a photoshoot he had done years prior. Many called out her work on Rihanna's "Rude boy" for not only copying M.I.A's video for "Galang", but also Grace Jones and Keith Haring's collaboration in the 80s. She also got into shit for footage she had used without clearance rights for Beyoncé's "Formation" video. However, in this instance, it seems that Melina is the one having her work be Ctrl + C'd, down to the last detail. Although with Melina's track record, it's hard for me not to wonder if she in fact copied Ami's video. Even though Ami's was released after Kylie's.

US pop being a point of reference in J-Pop isn't crazy or unheard of. For years J-Pop has plucked sounds, looks and themes from the only territory whose music market share is bigger than theirs. But it's interesting to see Kylie Minogue in the fold, as she's never been big in the US. Which means the Japanese music biz has it's eye on the UK and Europe too, which isn't wildly surprisingly given the popularity and following that some UK and European acts have in Japan.

But Kylie Minogue holds a fair amount of influence that she's not always credited with. And whilst on a global scale you wouldn't immediately deem her as the most obvious or go to choice of an artist to reference over the likes of say Madonna; Kylie Minogue is probably one of the most J-Pop friendly acts around in terms of her sound, her look and the history of her career. Having started out in TV, transitioning into singing at a young age and becoming the closest thing to that of an idol.

Kylie Minogue's sound from 2001 onward would also mark her indefinite return to pop. Revealing a look and a sound that would gain popularity and notoriety within J-Pop some years after with acts such as Meg, Perfume and the aforementioned Ami Suzuki. All of whom released albums with a sound and aesthetic much akin to Kylie Minogue's 2001 album Fever.

Kylie may not be the biggest star in the US, but she's big in the UK, which just happens to be the world's third biggest music market. Us J-Pop listeners know full well that just because shit ain't poppin' in the US, don't mean it ain't poppin'. And those J-Pop eyes and ears stay lurking ya'll.