Cat Zhang of Pitchfork reported that younger city pop fans commonly cite "Plastic Love" as their "gateway to the genre". Ryan Bassil of Vice noted that the song is "a rare tune that doesn't exactly need words to expertly describe a specific, defined feeling – one of lust, heartbreak, love, fear, adventure, loss, all caught up in the swirling midst of a night out on the town" and called the song "the best pop song in the world". As of May 2021, the video had more than 63 million views. The video garnered 24 million views before being taken down for a copyright dispute with Levenson, but was then restored in 2019 with credit given to Levenson in the video description and thumbnail. Its spread was also aided by internet memes, discussions on Reddit, and fan art of the "Sweetest Music" cover on platforms such as DeviantArt. Coinciding with the vaporwave genre's rise in popularity, Plastic Lover's upload spread rapidly throughout YouTube through the platform's recommendations algorithm. In an interview, Plastic Lover said that their video was a re-upload of a now-deleted video on YouTube. The video showed a cropped version of the cover of Takeuchi's earlier single "Sweetest Music", taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Alan Levenson. On July 5, 2017, an eight-minute fan-made remix of "Plastic Love" was uploaded to YouTube by a user known as "Plastic Lover". A twelve-inch single was released on March 15, 1985, which included an "extended club mix" and "new re-mix" of the song and reached 86th on the Oricon Singles Chart. The single was Takeuchi's twelfth single to be released. The song was first released on Takeuchi's number-one hit album, Variety (1984). tell the story of a woman who lost the man she truly loves." Yamashita also played guitar for the song, while Yasuharu Nakanishi played electric piano, Kōki Itō played bass guitar, and Jūn Aoyama played drums. In an interview with The Japan Times, Takeuchi remarked: "I wanted to write something danceable, something with a city pop sound. After a brief hiatus following 2004's Longtime Favorites album, Takeuchi returned to the scene in 2007 with the number one album Denim, and repeated the number one feat with 2008's Expressions."Plastic Love" was written and performed by Takeuchi and produced by her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita.
Along with her success as a solo artist, however, Takeuchi has become something of a go-to songwriter for Japan's pop industry, penning songs for a series of top artists. Since 1984, Takeuchi has released seven studio albums, each holding the Oricon number one slot, and a 1994 compilation (Impressions) became one of the higher-selling Japanese albums with three million copies sold. Upon her return in 1984, fame was awaiting in a grander fashion. After marrying fellow musician and sometimes collaborator Tatsuro Yamashita in 1981, Takeuchi took a leave from the industry to raise their young child. The albums fared similarly, each hitting the weekly Top 20, but only 1980's Love Songs hit number one on the charts and became a strong seller. She released a total of five albums between 19, with a series of singles scratching the Top 100 or Top 40 of the Oricon charts, but never gaining a number one hit (though "Mysterious Peach Pie" did become a strong player, peaking at a number three position). The single garnered moderate success, ultimately launching Takeuchi into wide recognition. A Keio University student with a penchant for singing, Mariya Takeuchi took it upon herself to jump-start her career, releasing a single in 1978 without a label.