Released July 20, 2011 Length 4:14 | Recorded May-July 2011 Label Warner Music Japan | |
Format Digital download
7 inch Genre J-pop
electropop
dance-pop | ||
"Pon Pon Pon" (stylized as PON PON PON) is a song and debut single by Japanese singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. It was released as the lead single for her EP, Moshi Moshi Harajuku, and later included on her debut album, "Pamyu Pamyu Revolution". The song was written and produced by Yasutaka Nakata of Capsule. The music video, a psychedelic tribute to kawaisa and Decora culture, was released to YouTube on July 16, 2011 and became a viral hit. On 27 July 2012 was released (and re-released on 3 January 2013) a limited edition of a 7' LP with A side: PONPONPON -extended mix- and Side B: Cherry Bon Bon -extended mix-, exclusive for DJs. As of 2016, the video has over 100 million views on YouTube. Internationally, the song has been featured in G-Eazy's single "Lost in Translation", and was featured in the American cartoon The Simpsons episode "Married to the Blob".
Contents
Development
The music video for "PonPonPon" was shot by Jun Tamukai. The theme of the music video is "kawaii", which means cute in Japanese. Tamukai regarded Kyary as a person bending the definition of "kawaii" by mixing it with weirdness. The art director Masuda Sebastian, of fashion brand 6%DOKIDOKI, adopted the randomness of "a room of a girl who isn't good at tidying up", adding "a taste of the 60-70s". The fashion stylist for the video was Kumiko Iijima.
Synopsis
The video is a mix of 2D and 3D animation. It depicts two worlds, the first of which was created by Masuda Sebastian and looks like a room of a girl; the other is her own mental world, where her face is pink-colored. The video starts with a microphone stand coming out of Kyary's ear. The microphone stand is used to imitate the image of Freddie Mercury.
In the chorus, Kyary performs a dance choreographed by air:man with the lyrics inserted as kinetic typography. When Kyary claps during the bridge, slices of bread appear because "pan" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a clap, as well as the word for bread.
A combo television unit into which a cassette is inserted is a reference to the fact that analog broadcasting stopped in Japan and was switched to digital broadcasting on July 20, the same day the song was released on iTunes Store. Kyary parodies the "Hige dance" from the 70s comedy show 8 Ji Dayo! Zenin Shugo wearing a mustache and does the "kamehameha" move from the Japanese manga series Dragon Ball.
Cover Artwork Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Reception
Katy Perry, who has developed a similar artistry as Kyary, tweeted about the video, and Kyary made a positive reaction to her tweet. The video was parodied by the comedy programs SMAP×SMAP and Pikaru no Teiri. The video was dubbed as "one of the craziest videos ever" by MTV's Bigger Than the Buzz.