Japan 🗾 | 5ive Songs

1. Bad Bunny, “Yonaguni”

🎵 “Yonaguni” • 🏷 Rimas Entertainment • 📅 2021

“Tell me where you are, that I’ll grab a flight for you / And I’ll go to Yonaguni.” On 🎵 “Yonaguni”, 🏆 Grammy-winning Latin superstar 🎙 Bad Bunny is willing to go to the ends of the earth to find her – she’s the one. As we’ve come to expect from a Bad Bunny record, he has awesome production supporting him.  In this case, 🎛 Tainy and 🎛 Smash David deliver a sleek, warm backdrop.  The beat plays a gargantuan role in the overall success, inciting foot tapping and head nodding. As for Bunny himself, I love the warm, bright tone he sings with. 

Additionally, “Yonaguni” thrive off a tuneful melody. Thematically, Bad Bunny focuses on matters of the heart, including sex.   

“You kill it with whichever outfit
Baby, you are different
Shorty, has a big butt
Too, too big
And I’ve studied it, I’m graduating now
And I’ll tattoo it on my face.”

While you can read his intentions, by the end, on the outro (performed in Japanese, mind you), he comes right out and says, “I want to have sex today.” The silver lining: “But only with you / Where are you?” All in all, Benito Martinez executes like a champ, and honestly, we’d expect no less.

Also appears on 🔽:
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2. Shawn Mendes, “Lost in Japan”

💿 Shawn Mendes • 🏷 Island • 📅 2018

“Let’s get lost tonight / Let’s get lost tonight / Baby, you and I can’t seem to get you off my mind.” 🎵 “Lost in Japan” gives 🎙 Shawn Mendes an impressive moment on his 2018 album, 💿 Shawn Mendes. “I could feel the tension / We could cut it with a knife,” the Canadian pop heartthrob sings, continuing, “I know it’s more than just a friendship / I can hear you think I’m right.”

First and foremost, Mendes flaunts his prodigious pipes.  “Lost in Japan” has an alluring pop-soul sound. It’s a groovy, danceable joint, characterized by superb production comprised of cool synths, a robust bass line, and tasteful piano.  The chorus is best part of the record – the celebrated centerpiece. 

“Do you got plans tonight?
I’m a couple hundred miles from Japan, and I
I was thinking I could fly to your hotel tonight
Cause I-I-I can’t get you off my mind.”

Also appears on 🔽:
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3. Iggy Azalea, “Tokyo Snow Trip”

💿 Survive the Summer (EP) • 🏷 Island • 📅 2018

“Pinocchio nose drip, Tokyo snow trip / Wake up in Mexico, buenas noches.” Australian rapper 🎙 Iggy Azalea returned in 2018 with 15-minute EP, 💿 Survive the Summer. The EP had its share of moments, such as the song at hand, 🎵 “Tokyo Snow Trip”. On the brief joint, Iggy focuses on drugs (“My dope, the dopest / Fall asleep with the stove lit”) and money (“Hush money in the sofa” and “Came, came in a Benz, not a Focus”). Japan? Not so much.

“Tokyo Snow Trip” features hard-nosed minimal, skeletal production work with a sound intended for the club. Azalea performs this with a whispered approach at times, reminiscing back to 🎙 Ying Yang Twins’ 🎵 “Wait (The Whisper Song)”.  Beyond unorthodox vocal approach, the form is also unorthodox, lacking verses. “Tokyo Snow Trip,” hence, is built on the bridge, pre-chorus, chorus, and post-chorus.  Ultimately, it’s interesting, but devoid of substance – other than drugs of course.  As for the snow, Azalea isn’t talking about the wet stuff that falls from the skies…

Also appears on 🔽:
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4. Serj Tankian, “Harakiri”

💿 Harakiri • 🏷 Serj Tankian / Woah Dad! • 📅 2012

“We’re the day birds / Deciding to fly against the sky / Within our dreams, we all wake up / To kiss the ones who are born to die.”  🎙 Serj Tankian has a lot to say on 🎵 “Harakiri,” the title track from his 2012 sophomore album.  First things first, hara-kiri is defined as “ritual suicide by disembowelment practiced by Japanese samurai or formerly decreed by a court in lieu of the death penalty.” The key word is disembowelment, which is both disgusting and incredibly brutal and painful. Sometimes, rather than being called hara-kiri, it’s referred to as seppuku. 

Tankian doesn’t get specific about the act of hara-kiri itself on “Harakiri.” He speaks figuratively and metaphorically about the wrongs and questionable beliefs of the human race.  He specifically cites the 2010-11 mass animal deaths of drum fish and blackbirds in Arkansas, making a dual statement about how poorly humans treat mother nature, as well as how poor human nature is in general.  Expectedly, Tankian also criticizes overzealous religious beliefs. 

“The drum fish
They bleached themselves in Harakiri
The blackbirds
They fell in thousands from the sky
Their red wings
Streaming down from the higher seas
Deflected by the ground
They crowned the sun.”

Also appears on 🔽:
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5. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, “Sea of Trees”

💿 12 Bar Bruise • 🏷 Flightless • 📅 2012

🎵 “Sea of Trees” is an energetic, rollicking, fast-paced song from psychedelic rock standouts 🎙 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.  “Sea of Trees” appears on the collective’s 2012 album, 💿 12 Bar Bruise.  That said, even if this three-and-a-quarter-minute joint is set in a major key and sounds happy, you should totally dive into the lyrics and theme.

“Sea of Trees” is named after/associated with the Sea of Trees in Japan, perhaps best known as the Aokigahara forest.  That forest, of course, has become one of the most infamous places on the planet, as it’s known for its high suicide rate.  So, the ‘See of Trees’ aka the Aokigahara forest has earned its most popular nickname, ‘Suicide Forest’ given its unfortunate, high suicide rate. While 🎙 Stu Mackenzie and company deliver a record that doesn’t sound morbid, the lyrics confirm the connection with Aokigahara. 

“Oh, hell, I’m feeling underwater
My head is sinking like a stone
And hell, I’m feeling kinda sick
I don’t know what’s the use in it
And when you’re feeling suicidal
Sometimes, you’ve just got to unfold.”

Also appears on 🔽:
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