I cried a little bit when we were mixing this one. I’ve broken up with guys I liked before, but to me it’s never for the rest of timeーI hope they have a good life, but I’ll always get to see them again. I think that even though the feelings I had for them might be gone by next time I see them, brand new feelings will bud instead because they were someone I once loved from the very bottom of my heart. I guess that’s how this song came to be? This song still makes me feel so sad that any time I sing it, tears start welling up in my eyes. (laughs) Right around the part in the lyrics where I say, “If I find you 5 years from now.” Ahh… that part just makes me feel so sad. I almost feel like I shouldn’t really say this myself, but they’re such sad words to say. It’s a positive thing though, of course. I remember writing down the words “Sorry for playing dumb” in the first verse and then writing the rest all in one sitting afterwards. And when I got to the “5 years from now” passage, I thought, “Oh, I’ve got something here!” I could feel my heart tighten up at that spot, so I added it into the song. Like “Kabutomushi,” I didn’t think it was all that compelling of a song. I was very happy when the director told me to record it. The more I heard it in the studio, the sadder I got, and the more I fell in love with it. I was just sitting there getting sadder and sadder all by myself, you know? I’m really glad I wrote it thoughーI got super emotional during the concert I got to do because of this release. I’m also glad so many people got to hear this song. It’s been especially important for singles to have a lot of impact lately, don’t you think? They need to leave a strong first impression, if you know what I mean. I was nervous about how people would react to a slow ballad like this. I think it got through to all the people who appreciate songs like this being released though, which makes me glad we released it as a single after all.
This song is about getting into a fight over the phone, then getting into the bathtub to calm down and wanting to apologize. Phones appear in a lot of my songs. In aiko songs, all phones are just regular ol’ phonesーnever cell phones or pay phones. They’re all just regular phones. But both then and now, whether it’s a cell phone or home phone, they’re all pretty much the same thing when you’re talking to the person you like, right? I don’t ever use texts or pagers because they’re too dated. Plus. I’d rather leave it up to whoever’s listening to decide what era they’re in. The arrangement on this song’s absolutely perfect. I just love it. It feels really good to sing, too. Singing high songs and uptempo, cheerful songs is exhilarating, and it gives me such a great sense of accomplishment when I’m done singing it. But you know, when I’m halfway through this song, I enter an almost dream-like stateーI don’t strain myself, and I don’t really try to put all that much effort in it either. I just sort of sing it in a nice, relaxed way.
Futatsu no Hohobana
I had this song already when we were recording for the album, so around September 2003 I’d say. I wrote this song hoping to sing it live sometime. A long time ago, I used to not like concerts all that much. Well, it wasn’t so much that I didn’t like themーI wanted to like them, but there was always this part of me that couldn’t help but be scared. I cried a lot in the dressing room after concerts. I didn’t know what to do. The more I did them, though, the more fun they became, and then I finally realized that all those people had come to see me, aiko. Now that I understand that, a lot of the time when I’m writing an upbeat song, I picture faces in the crowd. Venues. Images pop into my head: “Here’s how they’d cheer for me. They’d probably do this, huh?” That happened with this song too. It’s about how you feel like you can do anything, like you’re invincible when you’re with the person you love. Which is something you can feel moments at a time, but is very difficult for people to feel over a long stretch of time, you know? We want that feeling to last forever because we find ourselves doubting the other person. I mean, I always do. (laughs) That’s why I long for it. Then I took those moments, those feelings, and weaved them together into a song.
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