Music Meme, Day 3
Directions: EVERY DAY ANSWER ONE QUESTION AND POST A VIDEO OF THE SONG ON YOUR WALL. Label it as... Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc., then that day's question and the Artist and the Song title. HAVE FUN!! :D
Well, I'm rarely one to actually follow a meme's directions.
Looking over the original categories, I can't answer (or don't care) about half of them. So I think I'll go with a bit more free-form style of just picking 30-some-odd songs and writing up a bit about them.
I should say at the default that I have no particular musical tastes or knowledge. I listen to trashy pop most of the time. Still, I will make an attempt to pick reasonably good music.
Meme Masterpost
Yesterday's post: Natsumi Kiyoura, “Tabi no Tochuu”
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
Utada Hikaru, “Beautiful World” and three sets of lyrics / lyrics / lyrics . This was the main theme for the first of the “Neon Genesis Evangelion” reboot/remix movies, “Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone,” and was remixed for the second movie, “Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.”
I have a deep and profound hatred for “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” Watching it makes me homicidal. I know it's one of the best and most-analyzed anime ever made, and that, having never been able to finish it, I can't really claim to be a proper anime fan, but whenever I see those characters I want to throttle every single one of them. So I find it deeply ironic that one of my favorite songs comes from this particular anime.
(I also admit to a twisted fondness for “Komm, susser Tod” (“Come, Sweet Death”) from the original Evangelion movies (specifically, the second one, “End of Evangelion”). It's a sweet, catchy song about the death and despair and the apocalypse.)
Much like the theme from the original tv series, the always-popular “Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze” (“Angel's Cruel Thesis”), the singer implores a young boy to find his own strength and become greater. However, in this song I find that there's a much stronger sense of connection-the singer wants them to be together. If you glanced over the translations, you might notice the changing pronouns-there's no clear sense of whether most lines refer to “I” or “you.” The translation I found first and glommed onto was this one, where it's much more parallel to “Zankoku.” Whereas the singer in “Zankoku” seems to be a bit more hands-off-more of a cheerleader, if you will-the singer in “Beautiful World” keeps saying, I want to be with you, I see your pain, let me help. And given the themes of isolation in Evangelion, I think this is a significant change. Do you want this powerful, passionate, but stand-off-ish singer from “Zankoku,” or the softer, more intimate one of “Beautiful”? I'm much more for the latter. Like “Tabi no Tochuu” yesterday, the sense of companionship and love draws me in. Here's someone who sees you, but more than that, sees the potential for who you can be. Strangely hopeful for Evangelion...
Hmm, this comparison has potential for a longer write-up. I will consider it.
My favorite lines are “Whether you're sleeping or awake, / You just dream of comic books. Don't you like yourself?” This idea of being so in love with fiction in a desperate attempt to escape a mundane life has resonated with me at more than one time in my life, and, yes, it is a sort of escapism.
Before I read the actual lyrics, I was convinced that the chorus was “Beautiful world...beautiful void” instead of “beautiful boy.” I kind of like it better that way, ha.
~On the Artist~
Oh, Utada Hikaru. She's a been a darling of anime and gaming fans since she recorded “Hikari (PLANITb vers)” / “Simple and Clean (PLANITb)” for Kingdom Hearts and “Passion” / “Sanctuary” for Kingdom Hearts 2. (All of which are, naturally, near-impossible to find on Youtube. Apologies, but the non-remixed versions are...unobtainable.)
But wait, what's this, you say? A Japanese singer with excellent English?
Yup. Utada Hikaru was raised in both Japan and new York, and is fully bilingual. Unfortunately, her American albums haven't been very popular. Personally, while I dig her singing, I'm not a fan of songs like “Easy Breezy” (which has horrible lyrics) or “Come Back to Me” (where I don't care for the subject matter). I'm in love with her Japanese output all the way, but that's way more to tackle than I have time for.
~Bonus~
In my mind, I tend to group together Utada Hikaru with a small, but awesome, group of singers who are either internationally educated or have a mixed ethnic background, most of whom are awesomely bilingual. Yes, it's a fairly loose association, but that's what's in my head.
Well, being biracial myself, I have a slight adoration for other people who are also biracial. Sadly, I am not awesomely bilingual...
Rie Fu, “Life is Like a Boat”, from the anime Bleach. Rie Fu was born in America, and currently lives between Japan and the UK. Also bilingual, and she tends to blend English and Japanese lyrics together, like in this song. See also: “I Wanna Go To A Place” from Gundam SEED, “Anata ga Koko ni Iru Riyuu” from D.gray-man.
“Kiss Me Good-Bye” (Japanese version) / “Kiss Me Good-Bye” (English vers), the themes for Final Fantasy XII, by Angela Aki. She's Japanese and Italian, raised in Japan, and bilingual. So awesome. She also covered Final Fantasy VIII's “Eyes on Me.” See also: “This Love”, “Tegami” (“Letter”).
Crystal Kay, “Konna ni Chikaku de” Crystal Kay is African-American and Korean, but born in Japan. Another lovely bilingual singer, and I adore hearing the more R&B styled music with Japanese lyrics. See also: “Reewind!” with m-flo, “After Love ~ First Boyfriend ~ ” with Kaname (Chemistry)
“Wish” / “Wish” (English version), from the anime NANA, performed by Olivia Lufkin (in character as Reira). She's American and Okinawan, and lived in San Diego and Okinawa. Here are few of her other NANA songs: “A Little Pain”, “Starless Night”, “Winter Sleep”
Sowelu, “I Will”, from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Sowelu is Japanese and Irish, and lives in Tokyo. Haven't listened to a lot of her stuff to really make other recs. She died do a cover of “Time After Time” and a few other anime songs, like
“Wish” for d.Gray-man and “Moon on the Water” for Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad.
Jero, “Umiyuki” This singer famously learned enka from his Japanese grandmother. Enka is sort of like...country music? Perhaps? It's basically “music old people listen to” in Japan. So the, ahem, visual disconnect between the singer and song is quite strong. I'm too lazy to dig up the actual PV, and enka is not my thing, so no other recs.
Himeka, “Asu e no Kizuna”, from the anime Valkyria Chronicles. Oddly enough, she's French-Canadian. Apparently she was a fan of Sailor Moon, learned Japanese, and moved to Japan, where she won a contest to sing an anime song. There was an interesting kerfluffle on 4chan's anime board when they realized that the singer was not, in fact, Japanese. It was amusing. She did a lovely cover of “Sayonara Solitia” from Chrno Crusade and the ending theme for Letter Bee, and “Hatenaki Michi”. “Mirai e” is also lovely.
Well, I'm rarely one to actually follow a meme's directions.
Looking over the original categories, I can't answer (or don't care) about half of them. So I think I'll go with a bit more free-form style of just picking 30-some-odd songs and writing up a bit about them.
I should say at the default that I have no particular musical tastes or knowledge. I listen to trashy pop most of the time. Still, I will make an attempt to pick reasonably good music.
Meme Masterpost
Yesterday's post: Natsumi Kiyoura, “Tabi no Tochuu”
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
Click to viewUtada Hikaru, “Beautiful World” and three sets of lyrics / lyrics / lyrics . This was the main theme for the first of the “Neon Genesis Evangelion” reboot/remix movies, “Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone,” and was remixed for the second movie, “Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.”
I have a deep and profound hatred for “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” Watching it makes me homicidal. I know it's one of the best and most-analyzed anime ever made, and that, having never been able to finish it, I can't really claim to be a proper anime fan, but whenever I see those characters I want to throttle every single one of them. So I find it deeply ironic that one of my favorite songs comes from this particular anime.
(I also admit to a twisted fondness for “Komm, susser Tod” (“Come, Sweet Death”) from the original Evangelion movies (specifically, the second one, “End of Evangelion”). It's a sweet, catchy song about the death and despair and the apocalypse.)
Much like the theme from the original tv series, the always-popular “Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze” (“Angel's Cruel Thesis”), the singer implores a young boy to find his own strength and become greater. However, in this song I find that there's a much stronger sense of connection-the singer wants them to be together. If you glanced over the translations, you might notice the changing pronouns-there's no clear sense of whether most lines refer to “I” or “you.” The translation I found first and glommed onto was this one, where it's much more parallel to “Zankoku.” Whereas the singer in “Zankoku” seems to be a bit more hands-off-more of a cheerleader, if you will-the singer in “Beautiful World” keeps saying, I want to be with you, I see your pain, let me help. And given the themes of isolation in Evangelion, I think this is a significant change. Do you want this powerful, passionate, but stand-off-ish singer from “Zankoku,” or the softer, more intimate one of “Beautiful”? I'm much more for the latter. Like “Tabi no Tochuu” yesterday, the sense of companionship and love draws me in. Here's someone who sees you, but more than that, sees the potential for who you can be. Strangely hopeful for Evangelion...
Hmm, this comparison has potential for a longer write-up. I will consider it.
My favorite lines are “Whether you're sleeping or awake, / You just dream of comic books. Don't you like yourself?” This idea of being so in love with fiction in a desperate attempt to escape a mundane life has resonated with me at more than one time in my life, and, yes, it is a sort of escapism.
Before I read the actual lyrics, I was convinced that the chorus was “Beautiful world...beautiful void” instead of “beautiful boy.” I kind of like it better that way, ha.
~On the Artist~
Oh, Utada Hikaru. She's a been a darling of anime and gaming fans since she recorded “Hikari (PLANITb vers)” / “Simple and Clean (PLANITb)” for Kingdom Hearts and “Passion” / “Sanctuary” for Kingdom Hearts 2. (All of which are, naturally, near-impossible to find on Youtube. Apologies, but the non-remixed versions are...unobtainable.)
But wait, what's this, you say? A Japanese singer with excellent English?
Yup. Utada Hikaru was raised in both Japan and new York, and is fully bilingual. Unfortunately, her American albums haven't been very popular. Personally, while I dig her singing, I'm not a fan of songs like “Easy Breezy” (which has horrible lyrics) or “Come Back to Me” (where I don't care for the subject matter). I'm in love with her Japanese output all the way, but that's way more to tackle than I have time for.
~Bonus~
In my mind, I tend to group together Utada Hikaru with a small, but awesome, group of singers who are either internationally educated or have a mixed ethnic background, most of whom are awesomely bilingual. Yes, it's a fairly loose association, but that's what's in my head.
Well, being biracial myself, I have a slight adoration for other people who are also biracial. Sadly, I am not awesomely bilingual...
Rie Fu, “Life is Like a Boat”, from the anime Bleach. Rie Fu was born in America, and currently lives between Japan and the UK. Also bilingual, and she tends to blend English and Japanese lyrics together, like in this song. See also: “I Wanna Go To A Place” from Gundam SEED, “Anata ga Koko ni Iru Riyuu” from D.gray-man.
“Kiss Me Good-Bye” (Japanese version) / “Kiss Me Good-Bye” (English vers), the themes for Final Fantasy XII, by Angela Aki. She's Japanese and Italian, raised in Japan, and bilingual. So awesome. She also covered Final Fantasy VIII's “Eyes on Me.” See also: “This Love”, “Tegami” (“Letter”).
Crystal Kay, “Konna ni Chikaku de” Crystal Kay is African-American and Korean, but born in Japan. Another lovely bilingual singer, and I adore hearing the more R&B styled music with Japanese lyrics. See also: “Reewind!” with m-flo, “After Love ~ First Boyfriend ~ ” with Kaname (Chemistry)
“Wish” / “Wish” (English version), from the anime NANA, performed by Olivia Lufkin (in character as Reira). She's American and Okinawan, and lived in San Diego and Okinawa. Here are few of her other NANA songs: “A Little Pain”, “Starless Night”, “Winter Sleep”
Sowelu, “I Will”, from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Sowelu is Japanese and Irish, and lives in Tokyo. Haven't listened to a lot of her stuff to really make other recs. She died do a cover of “Time After Time” and a few other anime songs, like
“Wish” for d.Gray-man and “Moon on the Water” for Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad.
Jero, “Umiyuki” This singer famously learned enka from his Japanese grandmother. Enka is sort of like...country music? Perhaps? It's basically “music old people listen to” in Japan. So the, ahem, visual disconnect between the singer and song is quite strong. I'm too lazy to dig up the actual PV, and enka is not my thing, so no other recs.
Himeka, “Asu e no Kizuna”, from the anime Valkyria Chronicles. Oddly enough, she's French-Canadian. Apparently she was a fan of Sailor Moon, learned Japanese, and moved to Japan, where she won a contest to sing an anime song. There was an interesting kerfluffle on 4chan's anime board when they realized that the singer was not, in fact, Japanese. It was amusing. She did a lovely cover of “Sayonara Solitia” from Chrno Crusade and the ending theme for Letter Bee, and “Hatenaki Michi”. “Mirai e” is also lovely.