On May 20, the halls of the Wiltern Theatre were filled with cheers and cries of fans, waiting in anticipation for the performance of one of the titans of the city pop genre, Anri. A sub-genre of 70s and 80s Japanese pop music, city pop has served as Anri’s specialty throughout her nearly 50-year career.
ANRI LIVE 2026 U.S.A Timely!! serves as one of the highlights in Live Nation’s City Pop Waves concert series, an initiative to bring Japan’s top city pop artists to the United States. This initiative started with Taeko Onuki, a star of the industry who performed for the first time abroad through City Pop Waves. Masayoshi Takanaka, another prominent city pop artist, was added to the series following his first U.S. concert in 2025.
City Pop Waves was created in response to the genre’s boom in popularity amongst the younger generation, primarily due to songs such as Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” and Miki Matsubara’s “Stay With Me” trending on social media. This recent trend matched the concert’s turnout, which skewed younger.
At the concert, fans played a game of cheering anytime a dolphin appeared in the accompanying music videos that were shown prior to the start of the performance. As the videos came to a close, Anri arrived, dressed in a black-and-white dress inspired by the outfit she wears on the cover of her most famous album, “Timely!!”
The concert stage was fairly empty aside from the musicians and their instruments, but this was done with good reason. The emptiness of the stage invited the audience to use their imagination and memory to create the backdrop of the music instead.
Anri often evokes a warm, summer day through tracks like “Windy Summer,” capturing the feeling of an ocean breeze at the beach. These easily imaginable scenes became iconic for city pop, in part due to Anri’s influence on the genre.
Although Anri’s aesthetic captures the sea and summer, nostalgia serves as the cornerstone of her music. Since city pop originated in 1980’s Japan, Anri often calls back to that period, layering her tracks with themes of romance, freedom and longing.
The finale of the first set, “Last Summer Whisper,” clearly shows how Anri layers her songs with nostalgia. The sunset after a summer shower that the song’s setting exists in matches Anri’s established aesthetic. The lyrics reinforce this vibe while adding a story about a romance that was not meant to be. The song’s wistfulness is topped off with Anri reminiscing over this relationship.
Despite Anri using 80s nostalgia as a basis for her music, she’s able to capture the attention of audiences who never experienced that era. Older listeners have a personal connection to the memories evoked by the songs, yet younger fans can still feel the timeless emotions and stories told through the music.
“I grew up listening to a lot of Michael Jackson, and typically in Anri’s “Super Get a Rainbow” album, a lot of the instruments are very similar to Michael Jackson, so for me, it does kind of have that nostalgic feeling, because I’ve [listened] to other artists from the 80s that [have] a similar vibe,” said Lucas Vigil from San Francisco.
Though some people have become fans of city pop through other artists, many others started their journey with Anri.
“I really started to get into [Anri] during our Japan trip after Lucas put me on, and I tie a lot of memories from that trip to the music, and it just brings me back to a time where I felt like life is really good,” said Joey Manahan, a fan from San Francisco.
As the concert reached its climax, Anri played the fan favorite track “悲しみがとまらない I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS.” The crowd erupted into cheers, with the entire theater singing along to a song that combines city pop’s energy, comfort and nostalgia.
“It’s always good to have that comfort music to go back to and rely on, just always use as a resource to keep you in check,” Manahan said.