Future bass is relatively new, growing in popularity in the mid to late 2010s and popularised by artists such as San Holo and Illenium. A genre of EDM which “borrows elements from hip-hop and soul music”[1] Unknown to some, but incredibly popular among anyone familiar with anime, the genre has a far cuter, brighter sibling known as “kawaii future bass”, characterised by chiptune synths, video game and anime samples with a smattering of J-pop chord progressions, this genre has been growing and continues to do so.

With the EP titled “Kirara”, the artist Snail’s House (otherwise known as “Ujico”) introduced the world to “kawaii future bass”, kawaii meaning cute in Japanese. His track incorporated “Japanese pop culture, including audio samples from anime and video games”[1], these musical attributes becoming the backbone of the “kawaii” sound.

However iconic anime samples may be, there is far more depth to the genre than bright timbres and happy sounds. In an interview with Snail’s House discussing his “Ordinary songs 4”, he said, “I wanted to figure out how to make cute songs out of not-very-cute sounds”[2], and goes on to discuss heavily distorted drums and using the “amen” breakbeat.

As kawaii future bass has matured it has diversified, with artists such as Antenna Girl creating music very close to j-pop, Colate sometimes moving to electro-pop and Snail’s House being incredibly diverse, from his lighthearted and playful “hot milk” to his much harder hitting and experimental tracks like “Cinnamon”. Even within all this diversity, the genre is easily recognisable by its happy and bright timbre, use of j-pop melodies and chords, use of heavily processed vocals or samples and use of extended harmony such as 7ths and 9ths.

One prominent harmonic feature of kawaii future bass is the use of a chromatically descending chord progression starting on the 2nd chord of the scale. For example, if the song is in C, this progression would consist of D minor, C# minor and C minor, before ending the cadence with G major, the 5th chord of the scale, to then resume the harmony as usual. Over time, this small harmonic movement has become genre-defining for kawaii future bass, and although it is not required, if the artist doesn’t stray too far from the usual standards of kawaii future bass, these chords are included.

While this is still an incredibly new and recent genre, it has already garnered a strong fanbase, and is only set to grow in the future.

[1] Masterclass | Future Bass Guide
[2] Bandcamp | Eight Kawaii Artists Using Grotesque Sounds to Redefine “Cute” Japanese Music