♪Artist of the Week・andymori

おはよう！こんにちは！こんばんわ！

Good morning! Hello! Good evening!

How is everybody this fine Friday/Saturday? ^^ If you’re doing great, that’s awesome! But if you’re down in the dumps and need a pick-me-up, well you’re in luck!

Some of you may have noticed the slight, subtle edit made to this week’s ♪Song of the Week, this is because the band I am going to introduce this week IS TOO MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME (aka, I can’t really pick a song, so I’m gonna throw a bunch of them at you).

This band is a trio of awesomeness – vocals, guitar, bass and drums. They may look like a group of very skinny, laid-back peoples who play funky indie music, but I can assure those of you who aren’t quite into indie, that this music is indeed very very funky, meaning you should ALL listen to the next few tracks I’m gonna おすすめして (recommend) to you all!

(we’re going from laid-back to upbeat)
Number #1 is: “1984”

Reminds me of The Beatles a little…

Number #2 is: “Blue Sky/Aoisora/青い空”

Very chill song.

Number #3 is: “City Lights”

Picking up some speed with some very speedy lyrics indeed.

Number #4 is: “Bengal Tiger and Whisky”

This song is great, it will get you nodding (at least) every time, I assure you!

Bonus! (Just so we get a nice number) Number #5: “Beautiful Celebrity”

I like this one a lot, it has a really dreamy feel to it..

If I was holding an awesome party in a loft in Tokyo, these five songs would be top of my list. (And in saying that, if anyone  here reading this  owns such an awesome loft and is planning a party and decides to play these songs ;).. let me know how it goes!).

So what did you think of them? I would love to hear how you  liked them, so please drop a comment down belong!

P.S. You may have been thinking as I had, what are these lyrics about?! And so you might have hopped onto google, as I had, to do a little 検索（けんさく, research) but alas there is no translation to be found! Disappointed!!! That is exactly how I felt! So I hope to be working on some translations in the coming weeks/months ( some big exams coming up 😦 )…

じゃまた~ Everyone!

♪Song of the Week・CANDY CANDY + PONPONPON by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu♪

For a while there, you thought that ‘song of the week’ had disappeared forever. Well, I’m glad to say, it’s back! Sometimes, music just brightens your day that much more, so I am super-extra- happy to welcome two songs in one week to make up for all the lost songs in the past.. month or so.

The singer’s name きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ・Kyary Pamyu Pamyu does not sound like a name at all, I must admit. Nevertheless, her songs are very addicting to watch, and they do, as by my all-music-must-do-rule, brighten up your day.

Some quick background info on the singer – her real name is actually Kiriko Takemura (I am very humbly sorry to shock many people that ‘kyary pamyu pamyu’ is not her real birth name. Imagine writing that during Kindergarten.) She is also a model and blogger, often featuring in the Harajuku fashion magazine ‘Kera’.

Oh, and she is 19 this year.

Here is a lovely picture of our singer with some ketchup on her face.

PonPonPon – Kyary’s first single. Please do enjoy this psychedelically challenging ride of a MV. It’s amazing how you don’t get bored while watching, and at the same time, the music is so catchy♪ It actually topped the music charts internationally so I’m so proud of her!

Candy Candy – Kyary’s second physical single.

la la la~ Hope you love Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s bright and bubbly music as much as I do!

Word of the Day

まごまご・mago mago

confusing

♫Song of the week: “君へのラブソング〜１０年先も〜” by Matsushita Yuuya (松下優也)

This week (sorry I missed out on last week’s!) the spotlight is on Matsushita Yuuya’s song, “君へのラブソング〜１０年先も〜” (“Love Song To You ~ Even after 10 years ~”).

<video updated soon, hang in there!>

This song is still pretty fresh! It came out exactly three months ago in January. I recall hearing it somewhere on the internet when it first came out, and heard it again last week when I was at Daiso! (yes that is where I get my music from) It’s a nice break from all the techno-supersonic-pop that seems to be all the rage these days, and best of all it’s a sappy love song! The music video is quite interesting to watch too, Yuuya seems to have hand gestures to match all his lyrics!

The best part of this song is the actual lyrics being sung, so I tried to translate them for y’all, check it out below!

♪Song of the Week: “手纸一拝啓15の君へ” by Angela Aki

According NHK, news broadcaster of Japan, the life of a Japanese teenager is harder than others. The pressure to study hard has driven many cases of suicide amongst junior high school students in Japan.

Angela Aki (one of the bests artists ever. hands down) wrote a song targeting junior high school students. It is about a 15 year old student who writes a letter to her future self, asking for guidance and reassurance.

…and sure enough, she receives a reassuring letter back.

It is such a beautiful song so please do listen to it. When you feel that the workload is pulling you down so much that you are suffocating and you can’t escape, find a peaceful spot and play this song.

手紙ー拝啓十五の君へ・Tegami – Haikei Jyuugo no Kimi e
Letter – Greetings to a 15 Year Old.

歌手: アンジェラ・アキ
作詞: アンジェラ・アキ
作曲: アンジェラ・アキ

♫Song of the week: “A.ri.ga.tou” by CNBLUE

It didn’t come out just last week, but it was released by Korean band CNBLUE (シーエヌブルー), a little more than two years ago. This is what I love listening to in Japan, hands down. Yes it is my ‘shinkansen’ 新幹線 (‘bullet train’) song. “A.ri.ga.tou”, from their ThankU album is a Japanese-sung song, and the lyrics are quite meaningful.

A great way to pick up new words in Japanese (as a matter of fact, any other language actually) is through music.
Here are the lyrics or ‘kashi‘ (歌詞):