Glass Flower - Kinpuri
So, there's been a while a lot since my last post, and there are so many reasons for that...I guess ... I hope! I've been in a roller coaster of feelings constantly questioning myself whether I'm good enough for this job or not, sometimes I think all I'm doing is keeping track of my multiple mistakes and I can't even get my mess together... but! It'll stop ranting about life and insecurities just to focus on this song... I know it's been a while, but at least I'm doing ONE song from my ever increasing pending list.
So, hello welcome back to my attempts of doing some lyrics translation, in this opportunity I tried to get my hands on one song of new Johnny's group King & Prince. To give this whole thing some context, *Yes I'll be rambling a lot today because it's not past midnight here, meaning I have some time and because it's been so long since I can do this, I have tons of things to say!!* I love Hanadan and it didn't take me much effort to fall in love with this weird cutie pie that is Hirano Sho. So, instructed by Matsujun, I naturally fell in love with Cinderella Girl, that's a lie actually, lol, I liked the song after watching Domyoji's come back, Matsujun didn't have to talk! lol, I'll stop now. To make this short, I tried listening to their first single looking for a song to pick and translate but that search was fruitless, CG was done by ...everyone, so nothing there. But with the arrival of their second single I tried again, 'cause Jhonny's are my weakness, okay, and I'll write my impressions on this single bellow but the song I picked to translate is this, Glass Flower, it's actually a song voted by fans to be included as a coupling song. I've never heard it before, but after a couple of listenings I felt its beautiful painful lyrics, and after properly checking the lyrics this was a closed deal. Do give this song a listen, it's great. I got the kanji from here. I'm really not familiar with their voices so I won't mark them...but I think Hirano is starting...I'll talk about their vocals later, but Kishi is by far my favorite.
The composer is the same for KAT-TUN's MY EVERY TIME and the lyricist is the same from songs such as Hey! Say! JUMP's order and Hey! Say! JUMP's Shall We?.
King & Prince ( KinPuri)
Glass Flower
作詞：miyakei
作曲：Jongsung Yoon・Taehoon Lee・youwhich
まだきっと またずっと…
花が咲いたよ ふたり育てるはずの 夢は眠ったよ
不思議なくらい 違和感もない
乾いた喉は あなたをもう呼ばない
加工されたGlass Flower
二度と褪せないけど
生まれ変わる事を拒んで
時を止めてる
Bright 正しい終わり方を
誰も知らない
もう二度と思い出さないよ
咲くより散るよりも
綺麗に枯れていきたい
あなたはきっと言うから
まだきっと またずっと
不自然に飾られるように
まだきっと またずっと
あなたを想うくらいなら
月が上がるよ ふたりだけで見つけた 星は隠れた
終わる事ない 瞬きはない
閉じた瞳じゃ あの星座は見えない
光まとったGlass Flower
綺麗に咲いたって
照らされないと輝けなくて
色を失くすよ
Blind あの空の青さえも
映し出せない
もう一度忘れてしまおうと
咲かせて散らしても
欠片も愛しいままで
どこまでも透き通る
まだきっと またずっと
不器用に目を塞ぐのは
まだきっと またずっと
あの日を想ってるから
着色されて永遠を手にする
美しい悲しみはいらない
乾いて褪せて朽ちて行け
あるがままの記憶
もう二度と思い出さないよ
咲くより散るよりも
綺麗に枯れていきたい
あなたはきっと言うから
まだきっと またずっと
不自然に飾られるように
まだきっと またずっと
あなたを想うくらいなら
まだきっと またずっと
まだきっと またずっと
あなたを想うくらいなら
まだきっと またずっと
またずっと…
King & Prince
Glass Flower
Lyricist：miyakei
Composer：Jongsung Yoon・Taehoon Lee・youwhich
Surely still, even now
The flowers bloomed and the dream of the two of us growing up together has died
It's even strange that there are no uncomfortable feelings
there's no dry throat calling you anymore.
An artificial glass flower,
that even though it won't ever wither again
it's denied to be reborn.
Stopping the time
Bright, the right way to end this,
no one knows it.
I will never forget it again.
"More than blooming, more than have all my petals scattered
I want to wither beautifully"
Since you'd surely say that,
surely still, even now
wishing to be adorned unnaturally
surely still, even now
it's what comes to my mind when I think of you.
The moon rises, hiding the stars that only the two of us found,
it's never-ending, there are no twinkling stars
when the eyes are closed, we can't see that constellation.
A glass flower clothed in light,
you said you wanted to bloom beautifully
There's no shine unless it's illuminated,
so it'll lose its color.
Blind, even the blue of that sky
can't be reflected.
Once more, I tried to forget it
even if it blooms and gets scattered
the fragments remain beautiful
no matter where it's still crystal clear
(Surely still, even now)
The reason for my clumsily closed eyes
(Surely still, even now)
is because I'm still thinking about that day.
It gets colored and gains eternity,
there's no need for a beautiful sorrow
that gets dry and fades away, forgotten by time,
that's the truth of memories.
I'll never forget it again.
More than blooming and have my petals scattered
I want to wither remaining beautiful
that's surely your sayings
Surely still, even now
Unnaturally adorned
(surely still, even now)
if I think about you.
Still, I'm sure, even now
Still, I'm sure, even now
When I think about you
You surely still, even now
and forever again...
Isn't this such a beautiful and painful song?? So, first of all, I'll leave here a few notes on the actual translation, later my impressions and what I've read about the meaning of the lyrics and to end this whole ordeal, my impressions on the single, I guess that will be out of this section.
- First of all, I want to mention the use of pronouns, or in singular since it's only one. あなた (anata) is a pronoun you would use with someone equal in status as you, and it can be used by guys, but it can also be related to the way wives call their husbands. This is the pronoun that the person in the song uses to refer to their partner.
- Then, about the part that repeats a lot, and gives this song a very catchy tone, まだきっと またずっと… (mada kitto mata zutto) well, this is hard to translate since it may imply different things and I believe it gets its meaning from the rest of the lyrics. "Surely again. Still and forever" I think that was the closest I think I'd translate it, but at times it was hard to connect this with the rest of the stanza, that's the reason why I added some (). I guess it refers to something that will surely happen again and will continue in the future.
- In the first stanza, about the dream, it can be translated as the dream is asleep. I picked 'died' because I think it conveyed more the idea that that dream was over.
- In the second verse, the word before 'glass flower' can be translated as processed/ fabricated/ shaped. So I used 'artificial' to accent the contrast against the natural flowers.
- もう二度と思い出さないよ. This phrase! with the double negation not happening in English. Well, this is weird in English, but it's like ' I won't forget it again' as in 'I won't try to forget it again', after finishing the whole song, I guess this is about they giving up on trying to forget this situation, since they have tried before and couldn't.
- In the moon verse, I'm not sure, but it may refer to the brightness or darkness, because when I translated this part as 'it's never-ending' it is in contrast to the blinking of the stars, so the darkness of the night sky contrasted with the blinking of the stars they can't see.
- The highlighted stanza is my favorite in term of lyrics, and I'm not satisfied with the results, but I like it. I couldn't get it just as good as I wanted, and I'll add here my proper apologies for any and all my mistakes in either language. In terms of meaning, the following verse is my favorite, I'll explain later.
- In the part of the thinking of you, it may be a better way to say this expressing it like 'when I get to think about you'.
Edited: I had forgotten all the most important parts haha, the GLASS FLOWER bit, it's because in my first draft I didn't want to repeat what was already written, gomen :P
Also a tiny bit on the stars that I thought it was in that way, but my English is so meh
So, now in terms of meanings, this song is so BEAUTIFUL. I love painful songs, and this one is a particularly good one. I'll give it a 7 in my metric of painful lyrics. LOL. Okay, in terms of the meaning behind all of this, well, there are many interpretations that I read around the Internet, I'll mention the most interesting ones. And of course my favorite. But let me mention first what's clear after reading the lyrics.
This is about a break-up, a separation, between two people, and it's like there are inevitable reasons that we don't get to understand or judge like you don't know whether it's the right move or not. And since there's this separation the other person or dream remains like untouched like a flower in a glass, it will never wither but it won't be alive. Which leads me to the meaning of glass flower, it could be a flower made of glass, which is not natural or this sort of thing they do when they preserve a flower by putting it inside a glass thing.
So, I'll write now about 3 possible meanings. Let me start with this, some people think this song is about a break-up between two people, like a husband and a wife or lovers, and the person telling the story (it could be the male or female) perceives the other as some memory that will remain in time as something that doesn't end, like a glass flower. The person decided to finish the relationship in order to preserve it with good memories, like an unwithered flower. It can also refer to giving up a dream, instead of a person.
A second interpretation that I found pretty curious actually is that this song is dedicated to Kinpuri members from an ex-girlfriend point of view. Like them choosing the path of idol-hood, lol is that even a word?! above this relationship and chose to become this unwithered but artificial flowers, the kirakira guys that are on stage but won't get to have normal lives or relationships. It's actually interesting and although I find it dramatic in a cringy way, I guess we could remotely connect Kinpuri with all the petals scattered and the flowers image. The whole prince aura and its attractions are something that I don't get, but I guess it captivates the younger audiences a lot... actually I kind of like it a bit... after some thought lol.
And the third interpretation of this and the one that moves me the most, is actually one related to death, because why not! I mean since the beginning this is about growing up together interrupted, like a childhood friend, a girl, I pictured, that didn't bloom in a way she didn't get to grow up and become all beautiful because she died. And the interesting part is what you can read between lines, like when they say that nobody knows the right way to finish this (life, to me). And it's curious how they think about her in terms of wanting to be preserved and avoid natural decay. And that's why within this interpretation the lines below the highlighted ones are so great, because if we're talking about she choosing this path on her own, they contradict this by saying that even when we bloom and are scattered as in the normal process of living and dying here, then even the fragments, the petals are beautiful, because they're crystal clear, as in having a full life is fulfilling. I don't know.. that's all that I got into my mind. Like having lost her is something that still now has its weight and even if they have tried in the past, to forget it, they won't try that anymore, because a memory, is that, something that gains eternity within us.
I like to see a pretty close meaning with my thoughts, but I guess that's the best part with this type of lyrics, you get to read whatever agrees with your conscious and you get a meaning out of this. These are beautiful lyrics for that and for the many reasons I've covered just now, so, I'm glad I found this song and to have them singing. Although I think I'd like this even being sung by any other group.
Okay, that was it! Now, on the single, after the first listening, the hardest part was their voices, I didn't enjoy that much the vocals. There are many reasons for this, and the most important is because I don't know their voices that's why I'm less biased, for example, if it's Nino singing it could be bad (remotely) but I'll still like it because it's Nino, this is just an example. So, by not knowing their voices it was so much easier noticing little things here and there. I don't like them going so high, so THIS is the main reason why I picked this song. I said finally! the right tone for Kishi. This is probably my favorite song, along with BEATMAKER, and that was because it's upbeat.
But! after a few listenings I ended up liking all the songs, they are pretty catchy, even Memorial, which is an over cheesy song, so I guess I'm beyond redemption on music taste LOL. Okay, High On Love! is super catchy and I'm happy they got to perform it many times. I don't know much on them but my favorite voices are... well Hirano can be a hit or miss, I like him most of the times when he's not singing so freaking high! Kishi, what can I say? he has the type of voice that I like the most in each group. And the one that I like after those two... I think is one of the 3 I don't get to identify by name, lol, I know who is Genki, but the other 3... Among them, I think is Ren? Well, I'm just sure it's not Kaito. I'll leave this comment to laugh at myself once I get to know them better lol.
So, now, the last two remarks because why now? First, I'm really sad about Genki's problem and the fact that he had to take some time off, of course, I'm sure that's the right move, but it actually surprises me that he got this far with that problem in the public light. I mean I can't imagine how hard it must be. It only reminded me of Tsuyo's problem and his song.
And last, while looking at comments on this song's meaning, I found this, there's this part of the song that gets translated as 'beautiful sorrow' and according to the hanakotoba or flower language it is this flower (beach rose or Japanese rose). There are some people out there more meticulous than me in things as important as this lol, and that's a good thing lol.
Okay, I had many more comments on everything that has been going on this whole month without writing(?) What about my subbing? well...it's there lol, but I want to watch Sho's movie right now! before I have to put up with exams and this crazy week, sorry my life is pretty hectic, or I want to think so, so my brains refused to work during this long weekend.
First time adding a kinpuri tag, and I know this is random and I had many other songs pending, but I had started this a while ago and my motivation flutters as petals in this scattered life I'm living.
Random thoughts: I read Micchi's Jweb entry and couldn't help to smile like a silly aunty, lol!
Oh and poor Ohkura! Kura, I hope that person 😡 can understand what means behaving as a person and can give you some peace of mind. I'm sorry you have to go through this. Please, pretty please ganbare! and don't leave us because of her.
And last! Isn't amazing how knowledgeable I am about younger groups? lol, I've been listening to Japonica style on YouTube a lot! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ON YT and I kind of identify them now. I liked Taiga the best in the video.
I'm excited about KK's new single! I'm missing them.
And I don't want to know anything else, more than what I've already read about 5x20 because it's too painful!!
I don't want to read the lyrics to 5x20 before listening to it!!
I'll just leave this beautiful fanart (not mine as all the pics here in this post) because I love fanarts and I love Arashi and
'5 IS MY TREASURE NUMBER'
😭😭😭😭😭
That's all I've read! and I even put this on my wsp status and I'm sure no one understood. LOL