Lo-fi AKA Chill Hop has become an internet sensation. It is all over Youtube where the genre has become an amalgam of the visual aesthetics of Japanese anime (prosaic scenes of a child writing a diary or staring out of her bedroom window) and dreamy synth beats and ethereal vocal samples. The audio visuals are looped to create a repetitive atmospheric ambience.
The lo-fi genre seems to chime with the times and capture the zeitgeist for millennials who enjoy anime graphics and lo-fi beats. The genre streams endlessly on Youtube channels that have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. There is also a lot of interest in the stand alone audio aspects of lo-fi with less ephemeral brands and playlists becoming increasingly popular on platforms such as Spotify. Lo-fi doesn’t look like it will fade away any time soon.
