Performed by: OLIVIA inspi’ REIRA (from Nana)
Lyrics: Olivia
Music: Olivia
Relation to anime: used as ending theme for Nana
Listen to it here; lyrics can be found here. I don’t know who did the english translation, but it seems quite accurate.
..
There’s a sort of eerie-haunting feel to the introduction of this song. As if one had just met an old friend after a long disconnection. Or if one was…paying homage to a memory. The minor key also suggests that this might be just a little painful. >_> It’s done by some synthesized instruments – I can’t quite put my finger on what they are, but I think I detect a guitar somewhere – and I’m not sure what the tune is, but it’s like…a mass of harmonies. Nice ones. *listens again* Okay, there are strings, and there’s a definite chord progression. It goes….for those who want to know….
E flat minor, B major, F sharp major, C sharp major. This happens twice. Also, the guitar appears to be the tune – a delicate, plucked melody, with strings as backing. This backing also seems to go on for quite a way through the song.
Travel to the moon kimi wa nemuri yume wo toku
Dare mo inai hoshi no hikari ayatsurinagara
Tsuyoku naru tame wasureta egao
Kitto futarinara torimodosu
Travel to the moon The dream where you first appeared fades out
The light of the star I longed for is taken away
The smile I had to forget in order to be strong, for sure
If we are together, we can take it back
Olivia has quite a Western-sounding voice, if you know what I mean. Despite this, her Japanese pronunciation (not that I’m an expert on this, but, yes) seems quite good. I like her tone – it’s not the traditional Jpop voice…uh. actually, ignore that, I don’t think there is a traditional Jpop voice. but you know. It’s very musical and emotional, and kind of….raw-er than some other, cleaner ones….like Maaya. Why is it that I always compare everything/one to maaya? oh, well.
Apparently Olivia wrote the lyrics first in english and then had them translated into Japanese by someone else. This would explain why the re-translated lyrics (back into english) are somewhat more flowing than others..although they’re still a bit hard to understand. Oh, no, I get it. She’s thinking of going far away (to the moon) and being so far away from where she once was, she’s beginning to forget how it was (and she had to. to be strong, too). But, if she is with this other person – ‘you’ – then, she’ll remember everything. I get the feeling that she wants to. They must be nice memories. >_>
Kizuite I’m here waiting for you
Ima to wa chigau mirai ga atte mo
I’m here waiting for you
Sakebi tsudzukete
Kitto kokoro wa tsunagu ito wo tagutteru
Ano koro no watashi me wo samasu you ni
No need to cry
Open your eyes,
I’m here waiting for you
There is a future different from now
I’m here waiting for you
And I continue screaming
The thread that binds our hearts together is pulling
To bring you by my side as before
No need to cry
And now she’s here, waiting for ‘you’ to come back! I really like the melody, it’s so pretty and interesting. I especially like the “kizuite”; I can imagine someone saying, “open your eyes!” and then the music begins again and the person’s woken up and they hear her singing, “I’m here, waiting for you”. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to wake up to? Probably more so if it was ‘you’. Otherwise, it would be pretty scary I think….like a witch.
There’s a rock-ish backing to the chorus which fits her voice quite well. Her voice is quite audible through the whole song despite the way she changes her dynamic quite frequently. I think she has what’s called a ‘dramatic’ voice. I wonder if she sings the same way in less dramatic songs? The truth is, Maaya would not really fit a song like this. Olivia does, though.
That last line – “no need to cry” – is possibly my least favourite part of the whole song. It repeats too, later, in the other choruses. I don’t know why I dislike it so much. There has to be something there, otherwise the chorus would be incomplete, but couldn’t it be something with…I don’t know, more syllables? I realise the effect is quite nice, but for some reason it just grates on my nerves. I don’t think they fit in this song, those four words.
There’s some slow instrumental guitar bit here, which is like the chorus’ backing.
Travel in silence te wo nobaseba fureru no ni
Kimi wa tooi sore wa omoide no naka no koto
Koe ga kikoeru me wo tojireba
Chiisana itamisae itoshikute
Travel in silence I extend my hand to feel you, yet
You’re so far away
That memory is etched within me
When I hear your voice as I close my eyes
Even a little pain is precious to me
I think the backing is the same as the start but I can’t be sure. I like the melody of this a lot. Something that I’ve felt with some jpop songs (okay, I confess. I recently got a Maaya CD and I was disappointed with the way some songs sounded so similar.) is that their melodies and moods and everything about them is really similar, so much so that they sound like copies of each other. A Little Pain, however, is distinct and different from the rest (possibly because it sounds more western than others) and it’s quite refreshing.
I can really imagine someone trying so hard to remember someone and wanting to see them even if it’s painful for them. A scar from someone you love would be very precious to you, I think. …er, possibly. As a memento. You know. Of…violence.
The backing singers! They sound like her, though, and they do the ‘ah’ thing; a build-up to the chorus I think. Maybe they are her. Singers like to duplicate themselves.
Mitsumete
I’m here waiting for you
Kaze ni fukare hitori mayoutte mo
I’m here waiting for you
Sora wo miagete
See me now,
I’m here waiting for you
When I’m all alone being blown by the wind
I’m here waiting for you
I can see the entire sky
I like the “mitsumete” here even more than “kidzuite”. She sounds very, er, powerful and daring, like some ancient royal female standing on a hill with the wind blowing back their long hair and they shout to the whole world (or ‘you’ >_>), “See me now!”
…okay, I promise I didn’t read the rest of that. I didn’t notice the ‘blown by the wind’ and ‘the entire sky’ bit. It was my subconscious! Well, that just reinforces what I said even more. She must have a gift for translating images into people’s minds through her words.
Zutto kokoro wa te wo hirogete mamotteru
Ano koro no kimi ga furikaeru made
No need to cry
Truly inside my heart, my hands stretch out to protect
Your heart, until you come back
No need to cry
*gasp* Again. This line makes me want to cry. There’s not really a need to, I know.
The instrumental guitar backing again. After this some voices appear. This is a really strange bridge. And the words are even stranger. When I was listening to this (and I must have listened to it more than 10 times…) I didn’t notice that the words were in english at all. I thought, “oh, foreign language, strange words, might as well be ‘ahhhhh’ or ‘dadadada'”. Now that I read them I’m even more confused.
(Feel something, Feel nothing)
(Listen closely, listen closely)
Wide open ears
Disarm the dream tickler
In the constant moment
(You will find me where it’s quiet)
(Listen closely, listen closely)
Let the blood flow
Through all the spaces
Of the universe
I mean, “Disarm the dream tickler. In the constant moment, let the blood flow through all the spaces of the universe” You try to figure that out. I like the “of the yewww-ni-versse”, though. Quite unexpected and effective.
Kidzuite
I’m here waiting for you
Ima to wa chigau mirai ga atte mo
I’m here waiting for you
Sakebi tsudzukete
Kitto kokoro wa tsunaguito wo tagutteru
Ano koro no watashi me wo samasu you ni
No need to cry
Open your eyes,
I’m here waiting for you
There is a future different from now
I’m here waiting for you
And I continue screaming
The thread that binds our hearts together is pulling
To bring you by my side as before
No need to cry
the same chorus as before. It’s followed by some backing in the form of Olivia clones going “listen closely”. I listened closely. I swear. I listened to the “mitsumete”‘s. I was pulled to this song!
(Listen closely, listen closely)
(Listen closely, listen closely)
(Listen closely, listen closely)
Those are the listen closely’s. Quite an interesting backing, I think. I advise you all to listen closely to A Little Pain. It doesn’t disappoint! (Note: I like the verses most.)
YES !!!! A POST ON ‘A LITTLE PAIN’ !!
I think she is part french. I think..
I’ll suggest more songs later =]
Yup, I love this song so much.
olivia’s voice is really beautiful. Sugoi!
I’ve listened it again and again, feel sth deep inside me.
I cant believe i Love this song so much. I cant listen to it with out gettin all emotional. man i love this song! But does anyone know where i can get sheet music to this. either piano or guitar or both.
olivia is half japanese and 1/4 american and 1/4 german.
mum being japanese.
anyone checked out her sister’s stuff?
caroline lufkin.
and yes, OLIVIA did all the back up vocals herself….
quite a dedication…
Yuling Lee : There’s no such thing as 1/4 american. Unless she’s Native American. But she is actually half-Japanese, half-German.
I was impressed at how closely the Trapnest songs matched the voice of Reira (Aya Hirano); I didn’t realize it was a different person when watching the show. I suspect this is a couple notches above Hirano’s singing, though.
There are a lot of good songs on the NANA soundtracks. I need to grab some Olivia albums (maybe Anna Tsuchiya too, while I’m at it) and see if they stack up. Too many don’t. “Konna ni chikaku de” from Nodame Cantabile is awesome, but every other Crystal Kay song I listened to was boring …
Hey! I love that translation you got there of this song. I’ve seen a few and it doesn’t speak as strong as this one. Though I’m not sure which is more precise.
http://wiki.theppn.org/A_Little_Pain_(song)
The translation here is totally different from what you got here, however I still love this one more. Thank you so much and I agree with you how beautiful and touching this song is.
Thanks!
Interesting! You reviewed this song without being a Nana fan or an Olivia fan, which is good : you listened to the song without bias then 😉
I’m an Olivia fan, and… I still like this song, though it wasn’t made solely by her and thus is quite different from her solo works. The “weirdest” parts in it are the ones that sound the most like Olivia though.
(I won’t enter the debate of her origins from above but her first language is English, her japanese got better but is still sometimes weird sounding or hesitant, so her voice and singing sounding western is totally normal, and it must be one of the reasons why she fits the song : in the anime, it’s supposedly sung by a half-japanese half-american female singer who’s really more american than jp…anyway)
Olivia indeed conveys strong images to mind through her singing, this must be why I like her that much even though her works aren’t the kind I normally listen to.
Reading this entry reminded me of how much I actually like the song, i think I’ll review it too, like i did with “saikou no kataomoi” about the lyrics then 😉 speaking of which, I don’t totally agree with the translation you used in some parts ^^;
Well, I love the anime title Nana. And I have to admit I was a little weirded out (but also incredibly excited) by the fact that myself and one of the people who recorded this song share the same name. Nana –> Nana, Olivia –> Olivia. I’m sorry, anyways: I love that you put up the translation for this song and added your own notes, I feel like I understand the plot more than I would have if it was just lyrics alone.
Jaa … I think that all I had to say. :3
:.~Domo arigato gozaimasu~.:
-Olivia<33
I remember how this song would come at the end of NANA and given Yazawa’s love for cliffhangers that can break ur heart…. i would cry like a baby after every episode… and i am NOT the kind to do such things… but i ended up realizing that this song became such an important part of my growing up… everytime i feel like i am in a whirlwind of time, i listen to this song and feel comforted… its just the ost of my life…
i totally in love wit this song. i never get bored of this song because i ussually get boring with others pretty quickly. Well, I don’t care about the translation. I just lovr the voice and music.
There are so many different variations of this translation out there, but I appreciate this version, as you offer so much insight into the song! Thanks so much~
Agree with you how her voice feels more raw. I would like her a lot if her high notes are a little stronger actually. She’s got the confidence aspect down, that’s for certain =D