Pop Stars: Why can't we have em this good?

[Dhalin]

So I've had this MP3 on my HDD for a long, long time... ever since someone used this particular song for a BGM in a video of gameplay.

Recently, I found this file again after it had been buried and forgotten for a long time, and I always thought the song had a nice catchy tune.

Well, I got curious, and opened up Winamp and looked at the ID3 tag, and it said the song was called "Evolution" by Ayumi Hamasaki.

So, curious, I went to Youtube, and I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-CJJyjlMqQ

So, I'm sitting here and watching this (this isn't the exact version of the song, but it is the same song) and I'm going "woah... why aren't any of our pop stars this good!?"

She's not trashy, or half-naked, she's not swinging her hips in a suggestive way during the whole thing, she's not singing about love/romance/relationships or bad luck with the aforementioned love/romance/relationships... no, this song is... Different.

The lyrics themselves have quite the catchy "tune" (sound?) and I'd have to say I very much enjoyed the video.

[Thicklesip]

Americans want to bludgeon people to death with their genitals.

Japan wants to make you sit there going "what? Why? WHY??"


(dancing in a Buckingham Palace guard uniform cannot possibly be easy or comfortable--how do they keep the hats from flying off? do they superglue them on?)

[Sigi]

Americans want to bludgeon people to death with their genitals.

A very intriguing sentence

[Dhalin]

Americans want to bludgeon people to death with their genitals.

Japan wants to make you sit there going "what? Why? WHY??"


(dancing in a Buckingham Palace guard uniform cannot possibly be easy or comfortable--how do they keep the hats from flying off? do they superglue them on?)

Yeah, I thought the palace guards were a little odd too. As far as the hats ago, don't those hats normally have chin straps?

But I _loved_ the synchronized dancing, heck, even the singer was sync'd with the dancers _standing behind her_. I think only one of the dancers' movements were slightly off (the 2nd from the left).

That, and I loved her entrance, the whole opening globe thing was awesome.

[Frith-Rae]

You know there are many US Pop Stars who aren't half naked - however as for song subject - well crap you'd have to throw out most music if it can't be about love/relationships being in/out of them. That's like saying "I want to read a book without it being about a relationship!"

HA! good luck...

Me, I am just happen when I hear a song that isn't about a dysfunctionally co-dependent relationship. Since most love songs, just by the fact that its a SONG, end up really describing things that are quite dysfunctional lol. But then I tend to sniff out co-dependent peopole and things from 5 miles and then quickly run the other direction; work related sensitivity I guess .

[Dhalin]

You know there are many US Pop Stars who aren't half naked - however as for song subject - well crap you'd have to throw out most music if it can't be about love/relationships being in/out of them. That's like saying "I want to read a book without it being about a relationship!"

HA! good luck...

Me, I am just happen when I hear a song that isn't about a dysfunctionally co-dependent relationship. Since most love songs, just by the fact that its a SONG, end up really describing things that are quite dysfunctional lol. But then I tend to sniff out co-dependent peopole and things from 5 miles and then quickly run the other direction; work related sensitivity I guess .

There are *plenty* of things to write, or sing about, that has nothing to do with love or relationships. I can name a few songs/books off the top of my head if you wanted...

Metallica - One
Dream Theater - Panic Attack
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames
Simon and Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
Muse - Knights of Cydonia
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride (though, this one I think is about drugs)
Rolling Stones - Can't Get no Satisfaction, Get off of My Cloud

And books, lots of books... the Lord of the Rings series, Watership Down, Rats of NIMH, etc.

Its just that a lot of songwriters just don't get creative enough to sing about anything other than relationships, especially those of the dysfunctional type. I would have to agree though, I like songs about happy relationships more than I do those about dysfunctional ones. Like... "Heaven is a Place on Earth" I enjoy a lot more than these "OMG he's cheating on me!" or "OMG, she broke up with me!" songs...

I like songs that are more symbolic, and songs that make you think and use your imagination, and the rare song that's about something "new", like in my OP, I haven't heard a song that is sung about the turn of the century and reflecting back upon the last century and thinking ahead, etc.

[velveeta]

Americans want to bludgeon people to death with their genitals.

well when you got the biggest stik.....

[Frith-Rae]

Rolling Stones - Can't Get no Satisfaction, Get off of My Cloud

Just to argue, one could say this COULD be also about a relationship
I can't comment on the rest of the songs, I only know two others (outside of Magic Carpet Ride which yes, is about substance abuse lol). I've heard most of those artists, just not "into" them enough to know the songs of which you speak.

And 4/5 of those artists are American .

I'm not saying there's nothing else - I am saying that relationships are a huge part of that common humanity thing so..its a popular topic.

And everyone of those books you mentioned had relationships as major plot points. And when I say "human relationships" I don't mean just romantic.

Not all songs about relationships are about romantic ones . But the world reolves around our interactions, and those we have interactions with we develop relationships with (wether its distant, close, enemy, friend, or lovah...)

But yes, its much nicer to hear songs about nice, healthy relationships and not ones where you'd die for the person, you live just for them, and you're lost when they aren't around. That's not love, that's codependency! LOL . Or even worse the "I love you anyway..." songs. UGG. Zomg NO!

[Dhalin]

Well, when I said "relationships", I meant "romantic relationships".

My bad.

As far as Get off of My Cloud, I have my sincere doubts that is about a romantic relationship. The guy is signing about everything that personally bothers him, it is more like a rant... the advertisements, the cops putting parking tickets on his windshield while he's asleep in the car, etc.

That's just a rant song, venting some frustration. Nowhere in the song is a woman (or a romantic relationship) mentioned, and I don't see anything symbolic in there either.

In "Can't get no Satisfaction", it is very similar to Get off my Cloud -- he's singing about things he's trying to do, but yet they keep going wrong, although the last verse *does* mention a woman he's trying to meet, but it doesn't seem like the whole focus of the song to me...

[Sigi]

Your writing made me curious so I watched the video. It was disappointing. I think it was superkitch with a meaningless text. I'm sorry but I find this kind of music rather irritating.

[Dhalin]

What exactly is a "superkitch" anyways?

And the text.... that's a non-localized translation... basically what that means, is that they directly translated the singer's words... that's why it doesn't really.. "sound right" or "doesn't make sense"... directly babel-fishing Japanese never works well, as they have so many cultural references and such... when you translate Japanese, you have to know both cultures to do it properly, or your English-speaking audience isn't going to fully understand it.

Basically, what I got from the song (I have experience in this....) is this:

The video was recorded at the Tokyo Dome Concert in 2001 (which makes me think early 2001?), so I'd bet that she wrote the song in 2000, the turn of the Century. The subtitles read as follows:

"So its true, it seems as though we're aiming for a new century. It is something miraculous: This is a thing you can only taste once"

It means pretty much what it says: Not many people live to see the turn of a new century, let alone twice. You'd have to be 100+ years old and be born right near 1900 to have seen the turn of two centuries.

Then she goes on to say:

"One more time ... Let's Remember"

Basically, I think she's saying "Let's look back on the century we just went through, and ponder all the changes... and if you think about it, there really were a _lot_ of changes from 1901 to 2000... a HUGE amount of changes to culture, technology, etc.. a LOT happened in this past 100 years, I'd have to say moreso than other centuries.

The 1st chorus reads:

"On the day we arrived on this Earth, we were somehow happy and it somehow hurt. We were crying"

I think this is a very loose and poor translation. The words themselves may be translated properly, but I think there's a deeper meaning here. She could be literally referring to childbirth, but I doubt it... it is never that simple with the Japanese. My best guess is that she's referring to the hard times that we've been having during the last 30 or so years (she's a J-Pop singer; most of her audience is 30 years or younger, try to remember that).

Most of her audience was born within the last 30 years, in harder times. Somehow we are happy amidst the hard times, even though it (economical hardships, among other things) hurts.

In the 2nd Verse, it reads:

"Reality is a Traitor; it is easy to misjudge things. So with your own two eyes, please decide the worth of this place."

That one is fairly straightforward; I think she's talking about the modern news media with this. The News Media feeds news to you, but they are oftentimes biased (especially over here in the US, but I doubt she'd be singing about the US news media, and I don't know what Japan's News Media is like), and "Reality" as they put it might not be the true "Reality".

This goes right with the next line:

"Do it ...... with your own standards."

She's telling you to think for yourself and don't let anyone else tell you how to think about anything.

The 2nd chorus:

"We've arrived in this kind of time. But somehow we'll die, so somehow we're standing here and we're living through today"

I think this is another bad translation. I think she's really saying:

"Even though we've been born in harsh times (again, I think she's referring to economical/unemployment/warfare woes), we need to (or we are) forget (ting) about how we're going to die, and live for today and enjoy each day to its fullest no matter what happens". The 'we're standing here' almost seems defiant (watch how she points down with her finger during that line). It is almost like she's saying "no matter what you throw at us, we're going to live through it and enjoy life!" Or at least that's the meaning I get from that.

2nd Chorus, pt 2:

"We've arrived on this kind of world. Somehow I'm very happy while crying at the top of my lungs"

This one took me a bit of thinking too...

What I'm thinking, is somewhat along the lines of "No matter what happens, I'm going to be happy even if I'm feeling horrible".

Alternate meaning: The "crying" could be crying of joy instead of crying of sadness/sorrow. In that case:

"No matter what happens, I'm going to be happy and I'm going to cry for joy".

I'm not sure which it is.

Then there's the synchronized dancing, and the nice fretwork... would love to know who the guitarist is lol... and then there's the two echo'd lines:

"I've arrived in this kind of time (But I met you)"
"I've arrived in this kind of world (But I met you)"

The "met you" could either mean a lover, or her fans. Depends if she's addressing the audience, or singing about someone in particular, not sure. Either way, whoever she's addressing this to, she's basically saying "Yes, these times and the world we live in kinda sucks, but we have each other to help through it" IMO.

And then she repeats Chorus #1.

So yes, _lots_ of untranslated meaning/cultural reference/etc in this song I think, is why the subtitles don't seem to make much sense.

Edit: My suspicions were right. I googled it, and a couple other lyrics sites offered slightly better translations (though still very loose translations) ... there's a couple key words that the video left out.

"We've arrived in these times.
But somehow things move on
So somehow we're standing here
and we're living through today."

That kinda puts a new spin on it too. gah. lol. I wonder how the guy who made the video completely left out "But somehow things move on" from the lyrics... that's a whole _sentence_, so yeah, I'd have to say poor translation.