Lyrics

Since her debut with A Song for XX, a staple of Ayumi Hamasaki's career has been the lyrics she pens herself. Although it has become something of a trend for young starlets to have writing credits as well, Ayu's words stand out as being sincere -- there are no bubbly "I love you baby" songs, nor are there any generic proclamations of independence from a misunderstanding society. Every song Hamasaki has recorded can be traced to a true event in her life and is influenced by something she honestly believes in--a standard not many other pop singers can stand to. As this suggests, the themes and issues addressed in her lyrics have changed throughout her career.

Why am I crying?
Why am I lost?
Why did I stop?
Please tell me
When will I grow up?
How long can I stay a child?
Where have I come running from?
Where am I running to?
        -"A Song for XX" (1998)

Little by little, I've come to realize
That my past never heals
And that it's no use
Fearing the future I can't refuse
        -"No way to say" (2003)

 

(Translations from Divine Ayu)

"A Song for XX", like many of the songs written during this period, articulates the fear of growing up--the distrust of adults and reluctance to enter the unknown. Much of this is said to have been stemmed from her childhood, which was lived under the wary, mostly-present eye of a single mother after her father left on what was promised to be a short trip and never came back. On the other side, we can see a definite difference in her outlook in her later songs; no longer is she fearing change, but accepting it, allowing her to focus on the bigger picture. When asked to explain her evolution as a lyricist, Ayu provided this thoughtful reply:

"In the beginning, I was searching for myself in my music. My music was for me. I didn't have the mental room to be conscious of the listener; I wrote to save myself. I didn't understand what it was to write songs. But over time I began to see many things, my influence, the responsibilities that gave me."
        - Ayumi Hamasaki qtd. in TIME Magazine

Similarly, when asked during the same interview to identify the songs she was the most proud of, she responded, "I always like whatever I did most recently. It's the closest to who I am at the moment." As this suggests, there is no better way to explain this change of heart than that she herself has matured and grown with the world around her.

Another trait that sets her lyrics apart from the rest of industry is her use of English in her lyrics. It is very popular in East Asian pop music to include English words and phrases indiscriminately in songs -- whether it makes any sense or not. Ayumi Hamasaki's lyrics, however, did not include any English phrases until her sixth studio album RAINBOW; even then, her use of the language is uniform and discretional as opposed to the sporadic inclusions of slang favored by many of the industry's top artists. As was pointed out in an essay at this site when analyzing the lyrics of "Real Me", she uses the language stylistically to make a point rather than to keep up with the trend.

"She is expressing her assertions and thoughts as they are in the Japanese lyrics, while she is exaggerating them and telling extremely on purpose in the English lyrics. In short, the Japanese lyrics are heavy, the English lyrics are light. She is serious in the Japanese lyrics, but is rhyming and playing in the English lyrics."
        - Masa, "RAINBOW"

Unfortunately, I have decided not to provide any lyrics on this site at this time. My fluency is near non-existent, so any translations would be provided from an outside source, so why not direct you straight to the source? Therefore, here are some of my picks if you're looking for a good place to find translations.

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