"Pon Pon Pon" (stylized in all uppercase) is a song and debut single by Japanese singer

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu , known professionally as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Hiragana: ), is a Japanese singer, model and tarento. Her public image is associated with Japan's ''kawaii'' and ''decora (style), decora'' culture, centered in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Ky ...

. It was released as the lead single for her EP, '' Moshi Moshi Harajuku'', and later included on her debut album, ''

Pamyu Pamyu Revolution is the debut studio album by Japanese people, Japanese singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, released on May 23, 2012. The album includes the first two physical singles released by Kyary, "Tsukematsukeru" and "Candy Candy", as well as "PonPonPon", which wa ...

''. The song was written and produced by

Yasutaka Nakata is a Japanese music producer and DJ. He formed the group capsule (band), capsule in 1997 with vocalist Toshiko Koshijima and himself as composer and record producer. The group debuted in 2001 with the song "Sakura". He is known for being the ...

of Capsule. The music video, a psychedelic tribute to

Kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...

and Decora culture, was released to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on July 16, 2011, and became a viral hit.Favorite Summer Artists & Cats Grilling Out (!!!): It's Episode 2 Of MTV's Pop Music Web Show, 'Bigger Than The Buzz'!
Buzzworthy.mtv.com (2011-08-04). Retrieved on 2011-12-08. On 27 July 2012, a limited edition of a 7' LP with Side A: PONPONPON -extended mix- and Side B: Cherry Bon Bon -extended mix- was released (and re-released on January 3, 2013) exclusively for DJs. The song was launched on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

internationally in 23 countries, and set records for a Japanese song, reaching #1 in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and #4 in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. As of 2012, the song sold over 1million digital downloads. As of 2024, the music video has over 200million views on

. Internationally, the song has been featured in

G-Eazy Gerald Earl Gillum (born May 24, 1989), better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper. Based in Oakland, California, he began his career in 2006 and released two independent studio albums before signing with RCA Records to releas ...

's single "Lost in Translation",

FACE The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

's "Night Fever", and was featured in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode " Married to the Blob". "Pon Pon Pon" is featured on a 2012 Japan game, '' Just Dance Wii 2''. ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' in 2019 listed "PonPonPon" among the most influential J-Pop songs of the 2010s decade, noting the music video's extravagant aesthetics and electronic production.

Music video

Development

The music video for "PonPonPon" was shot by Jun Tamukai. The theme of the music video is "

kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...

", which means 'cute' in Japanese. Tamukai regarded Kyary as a person bending the definition of "kawaii" by mixing it with weirdness. The art director of the music video, Sebastian Masuda, 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 and designer 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 Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

. 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 A combo television unit, or a TV/VCR combo, sometimes known as a televideo, is a television with a videocassette recorder, VCR, DVD player, or sometimes both, built into a single unit. Types TV/VCR combos During the era of their popularity, ma ...

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 the iTunes Store. Kyary parodies the "Hige dance" from the 1970s comedy show ''8 Ji Dayo! Zen'in Shugo'' wearing a mustache and does the "kamehameha" move from the Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

''.

Personnel

The cover artwork credits—adapted from liner notes. *Steve Nakamura – art director, designer *Shinji Konishi – hair, make-up *Eri Soyama – stylist

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* - uploaded on 16 July 2011. {{Authority control 2011 debut singles Songs written by Yasutaka Nakata Kyary Pamyu Pamyu songs Song recordings produced by Yasutaka Nakata Warner Music Japan singles Electropop songs Dance-pop songs Japanese songs J-pop songs