SIM Anime and Gaming Club

Song of the week: "FIREWORKS" by EXILE

Woops, I was carried away with the newly released Final Fantasy Reishiki and delayed writing this for three days. Oh well...

Let's skip on my top 10 Jpop list because I want to introduce you to one of the catchiest Japanese songs I have ever heard in my whole life.
It's EXILE's "FIREWORKS", no, Katy Perry is not Japanese.
To be fair, every song that has a combination of fucking awesome shamisen and flute -or generally any traditional instruments- with modern genre of music such as RnB, has to be ungodly catchy.

Also, Avex banned all full PVs of their artist in youtube, that's why you can only find short PVs there. I gave another link above so check that one out for the full version.

"The Hurricane -FIREWORKS-" was released in summer 2009, and it was the second EXILE single after they merged with their brother group "J-soul Brothers", becoming a 14 member group. At that point of time, they managed to expand their repertoire by trying to include J Soul Brothers tendency to do more aggressive hip-hop songs and rap. FIREWORKS is one shining example.


 
So what do we have here?
1. Soothing intro followed by the awesome shamisen.
2. Bam! Fucking catchy chorus

Whoawhoawhoawaitwaitwait. See? We got ourselves a fucking catchy chorus right from the start, and it's gon' repeat throughout the whole track. That's the key selling point of this song, the chorus is captivating, exotic and is that damn catchy. The fact that it uses only simple phrases makes it oh so sing along time, "Fireworks, just like fireworks..."

On to the first verse. Well, it's your usual high quality EXILE RnB. It gets interesting near the chorus with the melody gradually getting higher and more aggressive.

Then there's the rap part. Some hate it, some love it. I'm quite torn between the two of them. It kinda bugs me when they suddenly rap in the middle of a very catchy RnB, but I don't dislike that either.

As for the lyrics, well to be honest, the lyrics writer here kinds of... uh... revolutionary, to say the least. EXILE excels in soft ballads with melancholic lyrics compared to their more RnB oriented works, so yeah.

Overall, the composer did a really great job here combining traditional instruments with EXILE's catchy RnB.
Fuck, the famous Yoshida Brothers even joined with their live tour to perform the awesomely difficult shamisen solo.


ROMAJI

IT’S SUMMERTIME!
EXILE’S MAIN JOB IS TO ROCK THIS WORLD

WISH IT'S FOREVER kienai de yaketsuki mi wo kogasu
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
kimi ga hi wo tsuketa doukasen
mune no naka hashirinuke uchiagaru
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

A E I O U fui wo tsukarete
kikaretakunai tameiki
YOU BLOW MY MIND
SPICY de amai
kuchibiru de ooi tsukusu kara

shisen wo ubai hanasanai neon no hana
yami wo terashi tamashii wo yusaburu hikari
omowazu te wo nobasu
DIAMONDS IN THE SKY
THAT MAKES ME WANT TO FLY

kaze ga fuite mo SELF IGNITION ga sadou
hibana wa ima ni mo moedashi sou
jounetsu ga hajiketobu oto
BANG! BANG! BANG!
manatsu no yoru ni

WISH IT'S FOREVER kienai de yaketsuki mi wo kogasu
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
kimi ga hi wo tsuketa doukasen
mune no naka hashirinuke uchiagaru
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

yoi no koro CONTRAST wa mada
boyakete nijindeiru kedo
YOU TOOK MY BREATH AWAY
SO HIGH kumo no ue e
izanai yumemigokochi ni shite shimau

karadajuu abiseru ILLUSION SHOWER
saibou ni shimikonde ai wo tsutaeru
omowazu nigirishimeru
DIAMONDS IN THE SKY
THAT MAKES ME WANT TO FLY

kaze ga fuite mo SELF IGNITION ga sadou
hibana wa ima ni mo moedashi sou
jounetsu ga hajike tobu oto
BANG! BANG! BANG!
manatsu no yoru ni

WISH IT'S FOREVER kienai de yaketsuki mi wo kogasu
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
kimi ga hi wo tsuketa doukasen
mune no naka hashirinuke uchiagaru
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

Hu mabushiisugiru BABY
hi no hizashi de mi mo kokoro mo BLAZIN
natsu no yokaze demo samasu koto wa muri
mou sude ni kuse ni narisou de CRAZY
ah ah futari no kyori wa mada
ah ah chikakute tooi kara
ah ah asahi ga noboru mae ni
kakujitsu ni chijime you ze kono mama
BANG F.I.R.E.wowowoworks
YES 5.4.3.2.1 COUNTDOWN
ima honmono no ai te ni tsukanda
moshi hanareteite mo nai fuan wa
hora miagero sora ni kabe wa nai ze
futari no WORLD kokoro wo tsunaideru
sono shunkan shunkan ni chikau
LOVE FOREVER
itsumade mo SPARK

EVERYTIME I SEE YOU
MY HEART BURNS, BREAKS AND SHAKES, OH CRAZY
mada POSE wo kaete semari kuru
NIAGARA, STAR-MINE, ROMAN-CANDLE

IT’S SUMMERTIME!
EXILE’S MAIN JOB IS TO ROCK THIS WORLD
IT’S SUMMERTIME!
EXILE’S MAIN JOB IS TO ROCK THIS WORLD

WISH IT'S FOREVER kienai de yaketsuki mi wo kogasu
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
kimi ga hi wo tsuketa doukasen
mune no naka hashirinuke uchiagaru
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

fureru na hiasobi wa DANGER
kore wa gaki no oasobi jyanee-nda
sugu kieru hiasobi wa DANGER
moshi yannara atoshimatsu wasuren na

WISH IT'S FOREVER kienai de yaketsuki mi wo kogasu
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
kimi ga hi wo tsuketa doukasen
mune no naka hashirinuke uchiagaru
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

TRANSLATION

It's summertime!
EXILE's main job is to rock this world

WISH IT'S FOREVER everlasting, setting this passionate self on fire
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
You have just ignited the fuse
and its gushing out here inside my chest
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

A E I O U just like that I was caught off guard,
don't wanna hear a thing, I let out a sigh
You blow my mind
Spicy yet sweet
I want to swallow you with these lips

You're a neon flower that stole my attention, can't let go of you
You're the light that illuminates the dark and soothes my soul
so I reached out straight away
DIAMONDS IN THE SKY
THAT MAKES ME WANT TO FLY

The wind blows and SELF IGNITION is starting
its sparks burn out so fast
The sound of our passion going crazy
BANG! BANG! BANG!
in the middle of this summer night

WISH IT'S FOREVER everlasting, setting this passionate self on fire
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
You have just ignited the fuse
and its gushing out here inside my chest
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

evening falls, and the contrast
makes it sparkles even though it's getting dark
YOU TOOK MY BREATH AWAY
SO HIGH above the clouds
I want to dive into that alluring dreamish feeling

ILLUSION SHOWER bathes my whole body
"Tell her your love", that thought is filling my body cells
so I grasped out straight away
DIAMONDS IN THE SKY
THAT MAKES ME WANT TO FLY

The wind blows and SELF IGNITION is starting
its sparks burn out so fast
The sound of our passion going crazy
BANG! BANG! BANG!
in the middle of this summer night

WISH IT'S FOREVER everlasting, setting this passionate self on fire
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
You have just ignited the fuse
and its gushing out here inside my chest
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

Hoo it's too bright BABY
My heart and soul is blazing from the sun's brightness
it's impossible to cool down even with the summer night's wind
and now it's already a usual thing, I'm going crazy
AH AH There's a distance between the two of us...
AH AH We managed to get this close from far...
AH AH Before the sun rises
I have to make sure that everything stays like this
BANG F.I.R.E.wowowoworks
YES 5.4.3.2.1 COUNTDOWN
Now Imma grab true love with these hands
No worries even if we are separated
Hey look! There are no walls separating us in the sky
A WORLD of our own connects our hearts
At that very moment we swore
LOVE FOREVER
Sparks forever and ever

EVERYTIME I SEE YOU
MY HEART BURNS, BREAKS AND SHAKES, OH CRAZY
When you change your pose yet again, what I saw were
NIAGARA, STAR-MINE, ROMAN-CANDLE

It's summertime!
EXILE's main job is to rock this world
It's summertime!
EXILE's main job is to rock this world

WISH IT'S FOREVER everlasting, setting this passionate self on fire
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
You have just ignited the fuse
and its gushing out here inside my chest
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS

Don't touch it! Playing with fire is dangerous
This is not a plaything for children
Now begone! Playing with fire is dangerous
If you still insist on doing this, don't regret it afterwards

WISH IT'S FOREVER everlasting, setting this passionate self on fire
FIREWORKS, JUST LIKE FIREWORKS
You have just ignited the fuse
and its gushing out here inside my chest
YOUR LOVE IS LIKE FIREWORKS