| Forum Index » Ai's Chat Room » Do you all feel wasted not understanding Ai chin's lyrics? |
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| remblue |
 Posted: Jan 09, 2008 2:16 pm |
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Planetarium
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Posts: 757
Location: united states
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Hmmm I've been Listening to japanese music for about 10 years now and Ai-chan since 2005, I think music is universal and you don't need to understand the language to appreciate the song. Music is music through all languages. What's soothing the ear is soothing for the heart and mind.
Afterall there are many songs I fell in love with before I knew what the song was about. I think not understanding the song may change some people's opinions. For example if your the kind of person who don't like raunchy songs but you like the way the song sounds & Later find out the meaning of the song. You might end up disliking the song afterwards. But then if you think about it, If you take away the vocals you will end up liking it again since it was the beat of the song that attracted you to begin with. Again music is universal.
I will admit For Me It's important for me to know the meaning of the song is. I constantly search out lyrics to my favorite songs. And sometimes it's hard because I can't expect everyone to submit translations for the songs I like. Most of the time on the internet I'm searching out lyric translatoins  Luckily I found this forum, joined, and now I get translations for Ai-chans songs. {Thanks to ALL who translate her songs on this site} 
I dont feel like it's wasted just because I don't understand the language. It doesn't mean I can't enjoy the music. Like I said before I make it an effort to know the lyrics. And I try to commit to memory when listening to the songs what is being said (maybe some people will find me weird for being like that but hey that's me, and I don't mind taking my time to look up lyrics for songs I like) Sure for someone who understands the language it's natural for them to either like it or dislike, or even sing along with where as for me I'll be looking at the romaji tranlation to sing along
Lastly {Sorry I wrote this short story here which later I might publish as "Why I listen to Japanese music}
But It's definately not wasted for me! Because I can't name one single song that's sung in English that I like better than any of Ai-chans songs. |
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| orochicloud |
| Posted: Jan 09, 2008 6:02 pm |
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金魚花火
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 169
Location: Mexico City
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Even though I understand some parts of ai's songs, especially with the booklet in hand, and in simple songs, I cant really understand that easily her more complicated songs like Kumuriuta, but it doesnt make me feel bad at all  Actually, it gives me more motivation to keep studying japanese  |
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| someone or oher |
| Posted: Jan 21, 2008 9:43 pm |
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桃ノ花ビラ
Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 25
Location: Under the floorboards
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OK... I suspect that my rationale will be similar but different to most others on this forum: my first musical preference is not j-pop nor any other other Asian music. It's Black/Death/Thrash Metal (don't worry, I like bits and pieces of almost every form of music there). Most of you will have heard some at some point and wondered what the hell that horrible noise is... and those vocals! You can't possibly understand anything they're saying. Correct!
Lyrics, for the most part, are irrelevent. The music itself is what matters to me and this is what makes (for me) some of Ai's material quite special. I don't care if Neko ni Fuusen is about cats or whatever, it's a beautiful song (she could be reading her shopping list for all I care). I've read the translation threads and have to say that most of her songs don't read well in English anyway. That's fine. They aren't meant to.
I've found Ai's music to be a marevellously eclectic range of songs that seem to go from childish silliness through to evocotive beauty to apparent flirting with some of the uglier bits of Japanese music (Tsukune 30 Yen). She is the only J-Pop singer I've found so far who isn't boring or one-dimensionally cute. She's cute all right, but not "just cute".
Again, she could sing her grocery list or a list of her old school classmates. It would make no difference to my experience of her music. |
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| .::carlito::. |
| Posted: Jan 21, 2008 9:54 pm |
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ポケット
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
Posts: 2443
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Sure, I would like to know what Ai is singing about but the emotion in her voice is expressing how cool the song sounds. It's just the music and expression that matters to me really!  And Ai delivers those traits very well!  |
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| Glovek8 |
| Posted: Jan 22, 2008 3:43 pm |
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甘えんぼ
Joined: 15 May 2005
Posts: 66
Location: Singapore
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| and to add on, i think for crazy songs at least u need to understand a little of wat the lyrics are though maybe not all... For example, for some reason, i like the miso ramen song very much.. because to me it is rather uncommon for people to sing about how they cook =\ |
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| +Fumi |
| Posted: Jan 25, 2008 9:14 pm |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 339
Location: southern California
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| I understand most although my Japanese skills are not very good because I do not use this language every day since living in USA. I think music has private musical appeal, perhaps not necessary to understand everything. |
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| jameeshobe |
| Posted: Jan 29, 2008 5:48 pm |
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金魚花火
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 162
Location: Philippines
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| To be honest, I don't understand japanese at all. But I don't feel wasted because I don't understand Ai-Chin's songs. I love her songs, the melody. Most of all, I love her voice so much, I can't stop listening to her songs. It's not important that I don't understand it, as long as I feel the songs, as long as I feel good and feel relax when I'm listening to a song, I will not stop listening to it. |
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| Sonny |
| Posted: Jan 31, 2008 7:32 am |
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Happy Days
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
Posts: 91
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Even if I don't understand the song, I will still listen to it, the vocals is what I listen out for. In Ai's songs, her voice is something I find very different to other artists, thats why I like her songs. |
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| mangomalte |
| Posted: Feb 01, 2008 10:48 pm |
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恋愛写真
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 1508
Location: Sweden
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haha, for me it's kinda a fun game... or something like that.
at first i didn't understand a single word, but my japanese skills are growing pretty much every day so i understand more and more of the texts. especially when i listen to songs i haven't heard in a really long time i sometimes go "ooooh! so that's what she's singing!"
i really like to listen to music with good lyrics, but sometimes i hear songs i really like musically and i don't fancy the lyrics, so then it would be nice to not know what the song is about. but i'm sure Ai-chin hasn't got any lousy lyrics in her songs. |
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| JinDesu |
| Posted: Feb 03, 2008 11:17 pm |
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甘えんぼ
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 79
Location: NYC
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I know very little japanese, but in the context of the songs and the mood set by the melodies, I can generally get what the song is trying to impart.
MV and PVs help too : ) |
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| emq81 |
| Posted: Feb 04, 2008 8:09 pm |
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桃ノ花ビラ
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 18
Location: miri, sarawak, malaysia
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| For me, music is universal. Every song that i like, i begin to like it because of the music.So i don't really feel wasted if i don't understand the lyrics.If i really like a song which i don't understand the language (example japanese and korean song), i just go to the internet and find the lyrics with the translation. Now, listening to a lot of japanese song, watching japanese drama and anime, i begin to learn and understand a bit of japanese language, which i'm thinking of learning officially. |
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| bankai |
| Posted: Feb 10, 2008 4:45 am |
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甘えんぼ
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 68
Location: England
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This is an interesting topic!
I think I am in the same boat as the majority of people here. I have been studying Japanese for some months now but I don't know much, occasionally I understand a few words here and there in Ai's music.
I've only recently started to appreciate how much depth lyrics can add to a song, especially when you discover deeper meaning in profound lyrics. So now when I listen to music now understanding the lyrics has become an important element I take into consideration.
Before this I cared so little about lyrics it was entirely about the melody, rhythm, the overall emotional feeling these two things brought together and whether I liked the 'sound' of the vocalist or not. I think this is still how I approach Japanese music because I don't understand the lyrics, and reading translations might not capture the artists meaning accurately.
I think the reason I like Ai Otsuka so much is because her music has so much character and I'd say 95% of the time it really appeals to me. Her happy songs make me feel great, really great but I've always been a bigger fan of her slow sad songs and the melodies reach into me so deeply, I know it sounds cheesy but when I listen to her ballads it really moves my heart, despite not understanding the lyrics.
I often think what difference would it make if I understood Ai's lyrics, my brother thinks I wouldn't like it because he thinks she's a generic pop star, and he assumes all pop stars write bad lyrics haha - but he also likes some of her songs that I've shown him, so he knows she's more than your average pop artist! I'll only be able to decide for myself when I can understand them directly, which I imagine will come gradually as I don't intend to stop studying Japanese!
Because of all of this it really pleases me when I find out things like Ai is the key writer behind her music, and watching her play her songs on her live DVDs is a real highlight of my love for her music because her arrangements are in my opinion even better than the original songs on record, and her performances are always so heartfelt - which is why I would LOVE to go to her concerts, but I won't blab on about that it gets me down every time I consider the hope of being able to go to one of her shows. |
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| chadwick wellingsworth |
| Posted: Feb 10, 2008 5:03 pm |
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桃ノ花ビラ
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Posts: 4
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| Personally I think that while it is not 100% needed to know the lyrics to the song to enjoy it, esp. when language is a barrier, knowing the concept of the song goes a long way if you want to feel fulfilled (this is where music videos may be handy!) |
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| willby |
| Posted: Mar 10, 2008 1:35 pm |
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Happy Days
Joined: 24 Dec 2007
Posts: 111
Location: Belgium
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i have been wondering lately: does she write them by herself, has she someone who writes them for her?
utada and ayu write write their own lyrics. but how about yui and ai? |
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| sljinu |
| Posted: Mar 10, 2008 5:19 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 948
Location: Australia
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| Can't vouch for YUI cos I dunno but Ai writes her own lyrics. At least, she says she does anyway |
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