What is lofi music?
Lofi music is slow, mellow music with a soft, warm, slightly rough sound. It usually has no words, a relaxed hip hop beat, jazzy chords and small sounds such as vinyl crackle or rain. People play it in the background to study, work, relax or sleep.
What does lofi stand for?
Lofi stands for "low fidelity". Fidelity is how true a recording is to the real sound. A low fidelity recording has small flaws: hiss, crackle, a muffled top end, or notes that are a little out of time. Old cassette tapes and vinyl records sound like this.
Lofi music keeps those flaws on purpose. They make the music sound warm, close and human, like an old record playing in another room.
What does lofi actually mean as a kind of music?
Today "lofi" usually means lofi hip hop: short instrumental tracks at a slow tempo, about 60 to 90 beats a minute, with a laid-back drum beat, a bass line, and jazz chords on a piano, a guitar or a soft keyboard. Most tracks are two or three minutes long and play one after another in long mixes.
The sound grew out of hip hop producers who built beats from old jazz and soul records. The Japanese producer Nujabes and the American producer J Dilla are often named as two of its biggest influences.
Where to listen to lofi live
Lofi became famous through 24/7 live streams on YouTube. The best known is Lofi Girl, which shows a girl studying at her desk while lofi plays without a stop. Thousands of people listen to these streams at the same time, day and night.
Weather Friends is a lofi live stream with a difference: the picture is a real city, and the weather in it is live. Each city sky has its own lofi music that follows the weather, with softer songs in the rain and quieter songs at night.
Is lofi good for your brain?
There is little research on lofi itself. Research on background music in general is mixed: some people focus better with music, and some focus worse. Music with words tends to get in the way of reading and writing more than music without words.
Lofi has features that make it easy to ignore: no words, a slow, steady beat, and few surprises. That is why many people find it a good background for work. The best test is your own: try an hour of work with it and an hour without.
Is lofi good for ADHD?
Many people with ADHD say that steady background sound helps them stay on a task. A few small studies found that steady background noise helped some children with ADHD pay attention. Lofi has not been studied on its own, so no one can say for sure that it helps.
If you want to try it, pick music with no words and keep the volume low. Some people do better with plain rain sounds, which have no tune at all. This is not medical advice: talk to your doctor about ADHD.
Is lofi made by AI?
Most lofi on the big channels is made by human producers. Some lofi on streaming services is made with AI tools, and it can be hard to tell the difference.
Weather Friends music is not made by an AI model. Code builds each song from a fixed set of musical rules: a key, a tempo and loops of four chords. It then plays the song live with recorded piano and other real instruments. New songs come in every night.
How is lofi made?
A lofi producer usually starts with a short loop of chords, often jazz chords on a piano or an electric keyboard. They add a slow drum beat that sits a little behind the time, a round bass line, and a short tune on top. Then they make it sound old: they cut the high sounds, add tape hiss or vinyl crackle, and let the pitch wobble a little. Many add a sound from outside, such as rain, birds or a city street. The whole track stays calm from start to end, with no big drop or loud chorus.
Is lofi music popular in Japan?
Yes. Japan is a big part of lofi's story. Nujabes, a producer from Tokyo, made the jazzy hip hop that many lofi producers learned from, and his music for the anime Samurai Champloo brought it to many listeners around the world. Japanese city scenes, trains and rainy streets are still some of the most common pictures on lofi streams. Weather Friends has a live Tokyo sky with Tokyo Tower and Mount Fuji.
Is there a lofi radio station?
Most lofi radio is online, as 24/7 live streams on YouTube and as long playlists on music services. Every Weather Friends city sky plays lofi radio that never stops, chosen by the weather.
Frequently asked questions
What does lofi stand for?
Lofi stands for "low fidelity": music recorded or made to sound warm and a little rough, with hiss, crackle and soft edges.
Is lofi good for ADHD?
Lofi has not been studied on its own. Some people with ADHD find steady background sound helps them focus, and a few small studies found steady noise helped some children with ADHD. It is not a treatment.
Is lofi made by AI?
Most lofi is made by human producers. Some lofi on streaming services is made with AI tools.
Who is a famous Japanese lofi artist?
Nujabes, a producer from Tokyo, is the best known. His jazzy hip hop shaped the lofi sound.