During the finale, the top 20 girls performed a song called "As We Dream" together—a lovely, sentimental final sendoff for the show's end about dreams and friendship AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL IT GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS. T__T After Nekkoya, there were no other mixed language songs so it delighted me that for the finale, they finally sang another song in both Korean and Japanese.
The Japanese version of the song has made me cry twice now. ;___________;
It honestly probably has a little to do with the fact that the Korean girls sound much less uncomfortable singing in Japanese, while the Japanese girls have a bigger challenge pronouncing Korean, so I'm able to immerse myself in the emotions a bit more with this version.
But mostly, I love the meaning of the Japanese lyrics and feel them much deeper. Compared to the Korean version, these lyrics are more about "I found myself," "I'm alive" rather than "I follow you," "It's because of you." Somehow it also feels more melancholic to me too. ;; It's truly a bittersweet song.
Probably my favorite thing though is Shiroma Miru's line at 1:08 where she sings, "Let's make every second meaningful," because in the Korean version, she literally just sings "lalalalala~" to the same melody. But here, she actually does make her part meaningful! (I'm very confused by why they didn't write Korean lyrics there but oh well.)
The following translation by @sunshineyena:
I've found it interesting when songs are translated into a different language how difficult it is to find that compromise between being true to the original lyrics versus making the lyrics flow. Even more surprising is when there are entire sections that don't exist in the other version. I admire that you take the time to look at the songs lyrics to enjoy it to its fullest. I started listening to Jpop and Kpop mostly because I always felt like lyrics distracted me into paying attention. I enjoyed the melodies and that was my way of immersing into the emotions of the song, but recently I've felt like looking at the lyrics (translated or not) is the way to really get to know the song.
ReplyDeleteI actually spent like a week trying to remember what I wanted to say instead of being awkward and just commenting "SOMETHING SOMETHING Music & Lyrics"...that one cheesy movie with Hugh Grant and I'm sorry this is awkward anyway.
THIS IS A WELL WRITTEN COMMENT AND NOT AWKWARD AT ALL HI
DeleteIt's interesting that you say that because I'm totally there with you in that I really like that I can't entirely understand the lyrics in Jpop and Kpop! Or rather, I feel like enjoying and appreciating songs can be separate things. I like that I can enjoy songs without thinking too hard about the lyrics, or in many cases, cringing and/or nitpicking at them. (Also I like being able to listen to anything without having to make sure it's not too embarrassing to be heard by others LOL..) And then looking at the lyrical meaning to get a further appreciation for songs. ^^ The only thing is that I wish I could understand lyrics in k-hiphop since the meaning kind of makes everything in a lot of rap songs...? But yeah I totally get everything you're saying.
Also I still need to watch that iconic Hugh Grant movie oops