Happy New Year, O Readers!

is something I should’ve said yesterday (technically, earlier today), but it slipped my mind. So I’m saying it now. Ahaha…

Speaking of “now,” let’s jump right in to it! The title track “THIS IS NOW” ended up having more to it than I had initially thought. I recommend reading straight through the translation of the lyrics and miko’s blog post about the song, which I’ve also translated below, before reading the footnotes. I skipped the first few paragraphs of her blog post though, where she was just talking about the upcoming release in general and how there were things about it that were explained only in magazine interviews. She also gave her usual warning not to read if folks didn’t want spoilers before listening to the album.

Lyrics can be found here on Rock Lyric.

☆

THIS IS NOW

bukiyou ni ikitekita
majime de nani ga warui no sa tte
munan da to iwareyou ga
dakara nan da tte iun da

hengen jizai ni yatteyare
uso ya uragiri sakate ni tore
tsumaranai no wa omae darou
shinario makase no kenryokusha

kotae wa hitotsu sa koko ni aru

soba ni ite dare yori itoshii hito yo
sotto kuchizuke wo sora e
daremo ga sou uragiri se wo muketa tte
kimi to futari ikiru
kore ga ima no subete

doryokuka no rettousei
itsumo dareka no onasake sanka
boufuu de oreta kasa ja
geemu oobaa abunai ze

tenka wo tore genjou kowase
samonakya kimi wa zettai zetsumei
kitsuita ka? okashii daro?
mokuteki shudan wo gomakasu na yo

kotae wa hitotsu sa koko ni aru

nakanaide dare yori itoshii hito yo
kimi wa machigattenai sa
dareka ga sou kimi wo iikurumeta tte
tomo ni tatakai susumu
tatoe hai ni narou to

soba ni ite dare yori itoshii hito yo
sotto kuchizuke wo sora e
daremo ga sou uragiri se wo muketa tte
kimi to futari ikiru

nakanaide dare yori itoshii hito yo
kimi wa machigattenai sa
dareka ga sou kimi wo iikurumeta tte
tomo ni tatakai susumu
kore ga ima no subete

THIS IS NOW

Been living an unusual life
They say “What’s wrong with being normal?”
They tell me it’s the safe route,
But I’m saying, so what?¹

Keep dancing outside the box
Use the lies and betrayals against them
You’re the worthless ones,²
Powerful people who leave the script to others

There’s only one answer, and it’s here

Stay by me, dearest one³
Gently blowing kisses into the sky
Even if everyone turns their treacherous backs on you
I’ll live with you
This is everything now

A hardworking but bad student
Always under the umbrella of someone’s pity
An umbrella that snapped in a gale⁴
Game over, watch out

Conquer the world, shatter the status quo
Or else you’ll be driven into a corner
Did you catch that? Something’s off
Don’t twist the end and the means

There’s only one answer, and it’s here

Don’t cry, dearest one
You’re not wrong
If someone conned you into believing that
We’ll fight together and forge ahead
Even if we’re blown to smithereens

Stay by me, dearest one
Gently blowing kisses into the sky
Even if everyone turns their treacherous backs on you
I’ll live with you

Don’t cry, dearest one
You’re not wrong
If someone conned you into believing that
We’ll fight together and forge ahead
This is everything now

miko Blog, March 9, 2016

[From the sixth paragraph to the end]

This song came to be in the summer of 2015. It was a time when the five of us were in many meetings that would decide the future of the band.

Then, as musicians, and as human beings, we were suddenly attacked by an unexpected frustration. It was humiliating, heart-breaking, confusing, and infuriating. But we were able to overcome all that because the five of us were together.

Sharing our joys and pains, the five of us will grasp the future. To achieve that, we won’t fear anything.

Those thoughts and feelings exploded, and this song was made in one night. Some of the things that were said in those meetings became part of the lyrics exactly as spoken, so even though I’m credited as writing the music and lyrics on this track, far as I’m concerned this song is the will of exist†trace, made by its five members.

Maybe it’s because everyone’s thoughts went into this song, but the energy they put into it during live shows is tremendous! Some of us are like, “I’m so emotional I’m gonna cry!” while others are on fire like “BRING IT ON!” I think that from the intro we’re all performing with this look on our faces that screams “Whaddaya think? Aren’t we AWESOME?” (LOL)

But anyway, the soul of this song is definitely the chorus. It was unintentional, but it uses a characteristically Japanese scale to create a melody that calls out to Japanese people’s hearts. I love how the song goes from the hard, driving verses to that melodious chorus.

Oh, that’s right! This time, for the first time, I did most of this song’s sequencing myself. Oh, cute shiny synths!⁵ I want to do some more from now on, so I have to study!

While we’re all here, I’ll share one more tidbit! The sound you hear in the background of the intro when Jyou screams “THIS IS…NOW!!” is actually related to that one thing on the cover. The reason for that is…because it’s connected to another song, so you’ll find out in a few days! Aren’t you just dying to know?!

Even if everyone turns their treacherous backs on you
I’ll live with you
This is everything now

No matter what kind of wall you’re backed up against or how far down you’ve fallen, I think that this song will surely give you the courage to rise to the challenge. Just as we didn’t lose.

---

^1. Japanese dictionaries include a definition of 不器用 which Japanese-English dictionaries leave out, namely “going against human ways.” Since “awkward,” the usual translation of “bukiyou,” doesn’t really make sense here, I’ve chosen to go with “unusual.” I’m interpreting this verse as being about people from the record label or some such similar organization telling the band that they need to change direction, perhaps to something more mainstream. Hence why I also went with “normal” for 真面目 (majime), which is more commonly translated as “serious” or “earnest.” The reference to a “safe” alternative also makes sense with this interpretation. Another way I’m thinking of this is with 王道 and 邪道 (oudou and jadou). Like “bukiyou,” the dictionary definition of “jadou” includes the dramatic-sounding meaning “evil ways,” but as anyone who read Bakuman (in Japanese at least) might recognize, these words can also mean something more like “mainstream” and “alternative.” ⤴

^2. I’ve taken a slight artistic liberty with the first line of this verse, but one I stand behind 100%. The compound 変幻自在 (hengen jizai) can mean “protean” or “chameleon-like.” The Japanese dictionary definition of the compound  says “Being able to appear, disappear, and change as [one] pleases.” That reminded me of the compound 神出鬼没 (shinshutsukibotsu), which means “elusive” but paints the picture of a diety appearing and disapparing as they please. So this notion of being multi-faceted made me think of “defying convention” and “thinking outside the box,” while the more direct definitions of the words made me think of movement a lot. Hence, “Keep dancing outside the box.”

The third line in this verse says “You’re the worthless one(s),” but uses お前 (omae) for “you.” The other “you” in this song, the “you” the singer is singing to, is addressed with キミ (kimi). At other points in the song “you” refers to the singer (i.e. the singer is repeating a line that was spoken to them) and to the antagonists (so to speak) of this story. ⤴

^3. A literal translation of the direct address in this line is “you who are dearer than anyone.” But if you think about it “dearer than anyone” can be expressed simply and most naturally as “dearest.” Phrases like these are often translated unnaturally, because there is no grammatical equivalent to the superlative conjugation -est in Japanese and most beginning translators tend to focus far too much on grammar over meaning. ⤴

^4. 傘下 (sanka) literally means “under [the] umbrella.” In modern Japanese it is used almost exclusively in a business sense, i.e. “X Business has come under the umbrella of Y Corporation.” A Google search of the word 傘下 shows the predominance of this usage. For a more detailed explanation, this Goiryoku.com page explains that various business arrangements in which the umbrella organization holds less than 50% stock in the company in question (including holding no stock at all, but just exerting a big influence on said company through some other means) are described with the word “sanka.” Given the next line in this song about the umbrella snapping in a windstorm, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was one of those things taken straight from the contentious meetings miko wrote about in her blog. ⤴

^5. As a cute note, miko anthropomorphizes the synthesizers by referring to them with the suffix “-chan,” which I tried to express the feeling of with the word “cute.” ⤴