Team A - "Utsukushiki mono"

As I promised, I will be posting more actively, starting with one Team A song, one Team K song and one Team B song.

Let's start with a relatively recent Team A song, one of my A favourites.

"Utsukushiki mono" (Beautiful thing)
(from Team A 6th stage "Mokugekisha")
Team A (full team)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Ueda Koji
point of view: female
theme: sexy song
original lyrics


listen to Utsukushiki mono on youtube

Sharpen your nails, don't hesitate
Leave traces on my soft skin
I want to feel the pain of being loved
Let me know I am yours

Now I am naked, and rather than being served with kindness
I'd prefer to indulge in the luxury of one night's illusion

A cruel morning will come
For the most beautiful thing in this kingdom
Ah, shall I give you a dream
More expensive than silk, in the black of your eyes?

Bite my ears, don't hold back
Go straight in the midst of a kiss
I want you to be strong enough to make my blood flow
Let me know this is real

It's already the second new moon
Even though my pride has dropped to the floor
My appetite is insatiable
Move your troops forward as you please

The most precious thing in this kingdom
Is to live indulging in depravation
Ah, were I to be ruined I'd be satisfied with accepting it
Love is my fate

A cruel morning will come
For the most beautiful thing in this kingdom
Ah, shall I give you a dream
More expensive than silk, in the black of your eyes?

Who is the most beautiful woman in this kingdom
But me?
Come on, those who know, step forward
I will reward you by having your head

Comment
These are some of the most strongly sexual lyrics AKB has ever put out. The music, the dance, the outfits concur with the lyrics to create a Middle East flavoured, decadent setting. The picture of the powerful queen who just wants to be strongly held and taken at night, allowing her partner to cross the line in sexual play but not forgiving him for getting overboard and forgetting she's actually in control, is extremely vivid.
During the performance, four girls recite the lines of the chorus over the other girls singing it: Haruna for the first chorus, Takamina for the second, Mariko for the third and Acchan for the final, cruel one, as the other girls bow and awe her. It is a very nice touch that makes the lyrics pop up and brings them to life, making the performance of "Utsukushiki mono" look more like a high class musical theatre number than just the performance of a song.

Team A, "Kurumi to dialogue"

I've only posted one Team A song so far, and that's definitely wrong, cause Team A is my second favourite team by a very small margin (Team K just wins, but A is just awesome), and generally has a lot of songs I can safely call my favourites.
So, to celebrate Team A and also as an attempt of being up to date, let me bring you Team A's latest song, "Chance no junban"'s B-side, the amazing "Kurumi to dialogue".

"Kurumi to dialogue" (A dialogue with a walnut)
(from "Chance no junban" single)
Team A (full team)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: PJ
point of view: female
theme: sexy song
original lyrics


listen to Kurumi to dialogue on youtube

What do you wanna do?

Once you've cracked the walnut open
Its hard shell
What's there inside?
If I open my heart
I should understand
What's coming next, shouldn't I?

Do! Do!…Do!Do!

When our eyes met I felt something
I can't put my finger on
Even if you were erasing those signals
I felt your heartbeat
You were in a place
A little distant from me
And you didn't show it at all
cool

What should I do?

Once you've cracked the walnut open
I could hear
That voice I'd locked away...
Once you've learnt the truth
You can't go back anymore, can you?

Non!Non!…Non!Non!

Held by your hands,
Played with slowly,
I raise a cry
As if love was swaying
If you use a little force
Nonchalantly,
I can't really resist

Yes!Yes!…Yes!Yes!

What do you wanna do?

It's a secret to dad and mum
I was told this is wrong
It'd be ok if it was only a dream,
But can I crush it?

Do!Do!…Do!Do!

What should I do?

Once you've cracked the walnut open
It all starts
A crushed moral
More foolish than Adam and Eve
But somehow I want to do it

Once you've cracked the walnut open
Its hard shell
What's there inside?
If I open my heart
That forbidden thing is delicious

Do!Do!…Do!Do!
Do!Do!…Do!Do!

Comment
I already liked this song since its early leek but I never paid attention to the lyrics. So when I read them I was honestly astonished.
The metaphore is rather easy to see: "cracking the walnut" clearly refers to losing one's virginity. It's not the first time that AKB sing a song about this theme, in more or less explicit ways (songs that come to mind: "Virgin love", "Dear my teacher", "Dokugumo"...), but this is probably one of the most nicely worded and designed ones. We follow the girl meeting a boy, flirting with him and finally losing in to temptation, knowing that what she's doing might be wrong and that there's no way back but eventually conceding. Interestingly, the PV is all about losing to temptation, too, albeit sexual temptation is barely hinted at.

Team B - "Kuchi utsushi no chocolate"

I don't know why of all songs I chose "Kuchi utsushi~" as my first unit song post, seeing that there are girls I like much more in teams I like much more. But after all, this blog is about songs and lyrics, not girls... And I love this song to bits.


"Kuchi utsushi no chocolate" (Mouth-to-mouth chocolate)
(from Team B 4th stage "Idol no yoake")
Team B (Kashiwagi Yuki [centre], Ota Aika, Hirajima Natsumi)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Funta
point of view: female first person, female language
theme: sexy song
original lyrics


listen to Kuchi utsushi no chocolate on youtube

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
The usual kiss is boring
Twist it in forcefully...
Melt the chocolate with your tongue
I want to lick your love
Sticking our lips out...
We make a disgusting noise

We're free not to care about people looking, right?
If someone watches us I just become more daring
I climb on your lap in the middle of the open café
I'm a cute girl just like "Betty Blue"

Loving each other under the blue sky
Feels better than being naked

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
Embrace me from the side
As to kiss me deeply...
Chocolate, your bittersweet poison
Tastes so good
It'd be a shame to close my eyes
I want to trouble you as much as I can

I just want to be honest with my feelings
All human beings in the end can become animals
Even if I spill my cocoa cup
And it makes a stain on my uniform
I don't care about it
What's important is only the present

I can't even hear the sound of the helicopters
Flying above us
That's what love is

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
The usual kiss is boring
Twist it in forcefully...
Melt the chocolate with your tongue
I want to lick your love
Sticking our lips out...
We make a disgusting noise

From your mouth to mine
Embrace me from the side
As to kiss me deeply...
Chocolate, your bittersweet poison
Tastes so good
It'd be a shame to close my eyes
Your troubled face looks lovely, too

Comment
AKB48 has a few "naughty" songs, but I feel this is the naughtiest of them all because of both the literal meaning and the double meanings scattered through it. Add that the first person in this song is a high schooler (as the mention of the school uniform makes clear) and here's how "Kuchi utsushi~" is even more suggestive than songs with more risqué words and content.
Nonetheless, these lyrics are flawless in challenging a theme as delicate as the boldness of teenage and the first sexual fantasies. Teenage girls have as many of them as anyone else, and the chances of it being a daring high school girl's fantasy is very high. Looking at the literal meaning of these lyrics, the image of the girl boldly sitting on her embarassed boyfriend's lap and kissing him deeply just appears clearly in front of our eyes. Even details such as "Sticking our lips out / We make a disgusting noise" aren't avoided, giving the complete picture of the scene.

I am not going into detail about the blatantly clear double meanings associated with the words used especially in the chorus ("I want to lick your love", "Your bittersweet poison / Tastes so good"), which are not as important as the literal meaning but can't possibly be unintended, but there are two lines I would like to point out.

From the first verse: "I'm a cute girl just like "Betty Blue"". If you don't know who Betty Blue is, just by looking at these lyrics you're bound to think it's a cute cartoon character or something of that kind. It's actually a character from a French movie produced in the '80s. Betty is a beautiful, fragile, mentally disturbed young girl, whose insatiable love for the movie's male main character brings her to obsession and nervous breakdown. Not really "a cute girl" as one could expect from such a pretty, cartoonish name. And I trust Akimoto's culture enough to think this was fully intented.

Then, from the second verse: "Even if I spill my cocoa cup / And it makes a stain on my uniform / I don't care about it". The imagery is rather simple, but subtle: the stain on her school uniform means a stain on her "pureness" (let's not forget that high school girls are often idolized as a symbol of pureness).

These are the reasons why I say that having young girls such as Yuki (18 at the time), Nacchan (17) and Aika (only 14!) sing this song makes "Kuchi utsushi~" even naughtier than SDN48's more explicit songs.
I love it nonetheless. If possible, I love it even more for the lack of hypocrisy and the tongue-in-cheek tone of the whole song.