Jyuna

[200922] Jinyoung on GOT7 Offline #18

• SHARON6 - Flower Road iPhone Case.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (How we can learn to fulfill our potential in Parenting, Business, School, Relationships) by Carol Dweck 

I just love how the line is distributed for members in the song, it’s very well arranged in my opinion.

I love how Jackson is the one to start the song. with the lyric giving a vibe of: oh, you wanna know about GOT7, ok, then let’s me tell you sth about them, it’s about 7 young boys…., plus with his low tone rapping, make it sounds even better. It gives me a feel like he’s the narrator of the song, and start with the best description of GOT7 as the beginning of the song.

And next we have the bridge where all 3 rappers sang (Jackson, Mark, BamBam) together with Yugyeom. I mean all the rappers sing their parts so well to portray the meaning of the song.

And lastly at the end, we have all the members sing the line “We will sing for you, for the rest of the days too”, followed by the fanchant of fans both in the MV version & the audio version, which let fans know that [Encore]’s for them and that fans are also ‘part’ of the song, which make the song even more precious and meaningful.

Moreover, the story behind the song hits me even more, since I’m new to GOT7, which just happened recently after I watched Jinyoung’s drama on TV, and decided to have a look at GOT7’s work and really fell in love with bunch of songs.

Here we have the arrangement of middle range vocals aligning with high range vocals side by side for the pre-chorus and chorus part, Jinyoung and then JayB, Yugyeom and then Youngjae, which makes it sound really nice 😊

It’s been so long since I last visited this blog and I’m coming back to post this essay/review/reflection I wrote almost two years ago.

So here’s a little shout-out to that friend who pushed me to post this despite my hesitance and fear, this is for you and I hope we start with that one step towards our dream ♥

JJ PROJECT -  내일, 오늘 (Tomorrow, Today) 

(author’s side-note: It would be so much better if you watch the music video first and do not forget to turn on the English caption for better understanding of the lyrics. Enjoy ^^)

Okay, now that you’ve listened to the song and watched the video, let’s start the song analysis / reflection.

“A song you can relate to if you’re wandering in your youth.”

This statement was taken from a comment section in a post about JJ Project’s latest comeback song, Tomorrow, Today. The song 내일,오늘 (Tomorrow, Today) released last 31st of July 2017 is a mellow, pop rock alternative type of song which is very laid-back or what people may describe as “feel-good” song. The music video which showcases the simplicity and beauty of Hokkaido, Japan (where the MV was shot) also added an aesthetic appeal to the overall turnout of the song.

Watching the video for the first time, I was moved to tears not only because of the beauty of the video or the feels of seeing JJ Project, or what ahgases (fans of the duo and their main group GOT7) endearingly refer to as JJP, comeback after 5 years, but mainly because of the meaning of the song. The message of the song is what everyone can relate to. As a lot of ahgases would say, it is a song which speaks to them in a deeper level. This is what I have felt while listening to the song.

Delving into the common troubles of the youth, it is not just about being lost.

The song ponders about our choices, figuring out life, and finding what we really want.

It gives us a glimpse of what is really happening in our world and what humans are facing.

Living in a world where everything is fast-paced, we are forced to choose, and in the process, a lot of time, we fail to consider some things, and forget the main reason why we are making those choices.

Here are some lines/verses in the song which really caught my eye and got me reflecting about a lot of things in my life:

“My visions and dreams are fading away”

“You keep pushing me while my eyes are half-covered. Telling me to pick which one to go with,

Somebody let me know, Tell me which way to go, Cause I don’t know

Today I hesitantly answer the questions again, That I don’t even know the answer to

Is it this way or that way?

My decisions are getting scary

With an unstable state of mind, I’m confronting the next decision

What will I be at the end of the road? Will I regret looking back later?”

As kids, we have those hopes and dreams we keep close to our heart, vowing to make them all come true when we become adults, but growing up, we realize, some of these dreams may be impossible to reach. We wake up to the reality of the world. How harsh the society we live in is. Our dreams either get crushed or forgotten. Forgotten because we often sacrifice to follow our dreams for practicality and comfort in life. You want to be a painter? A writer? A dancer? Society says no because according to its standards, you’re not gonna be successful. It’s not a high paying job. People will look down on you and take advantage of your gift/talent for free. Why not try to be a doctor or a lawyer instead? Oftentimes, we encounter these kinds of situation where our dreams are sacrificed and forgotten.

Today’s society is all about having your life figured out. Having your own identity. And because of this, we have to comply, and even though we are still struggling to find our purpose. We lose our identity because society keeps directing us to do this, do that. We become lost. Confused. We’re like those fallen leaves getting drifted by the wind. We go where the wind goes. We go with the flow, join the bandwagon. We lose ourselves because we become too overwhelmed with everything. In our lives, we always come at crossroads. This isn’t just a phase being experienced by the youth. No matter how old you are, 20s, 30s, or even in your later adult life, there are times when you just don’t know what to do. We become clueless. We don’t know what to do with our lives anymore. We know what we want but we don’t know if can achieve them. We have to quickly decide which path to take, what career to take, because if you take too much of your time, you get judged. And at these moments, we just say “f*ck it, I’m doing this,” even if we aren’t sure if will impact our future in a good or a bad way. We have to choose without thinking. We become reckless with our decisions. We have these thoughts plaguing our minds, if I choose this decision, will I regret this later on? There is uncertainty lingering inside us. And it becomes so big, we become suffocated. We feel anxious about ourselves. In this world where everyone aims for perfection, we are expected that the decisions we make are also perfect. We become so blindsided by it that we forget what we really want.  

Tomorrow, Today is a song which ponders on the reality of life and how the society operates. It is a song that speaks to everyone’s inner struggle. A song that makes you reflect your life. It makes you ask yourself, “Is this really what I want?” “Have I been living well?” and I commend JJ Project (and Park Jin Young) for penning and producing a song which speaks so much about life and the everyday struggles people go through.

P.S. 

Check out these very aesthetically-pleasing photos from the duo’s Photo Essay which was released as a pre-order benefit of the physical album. And the captions they added will also make you reflect on life.

Photo credits to JYP Entertainment.

Added translation to photos by @GOT7Jjai on twitter.

credits to ARTHUB TEO

“The way I think of ‘my fans’ and how I think of ‘my lover’ is similar”, says Nishijima Takahiro

It’s okay even if I’m not satisfied with my private life I’m half-joking, half-serious……(smiles)

There are various forms of love in this world.

In the summer of 2013, he released his solo song under the name “Nissy”. Creating works that depict relationships between men and women and such, his commitment to this has expanded - doing an arena performance in Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama arena last year until this year, having enthused a total of 70,000 people all on his own. On April 19, his 7th single “Hanacherie” was released.

“Up until now, I’ve been singing a lot of straightforward love songs that wholeheartedly think about his partner. But there’s always another theme to it. When making music, I carefully think about whether the song will be enjoyable, whether it will encourage or heal people in their daily lives. Though there is also a pure and transparent emotion, there is also a touch of “sadness” of the protagonist, which is easily felt. This time too, I gave a lot of thought about the feelings of the main character. Don’t misunderstand me, but I think it’s a 100% genuine “I’ll keep on thinking about you only” way of loving a person, something that matches girls’ delusions and desires; something which I don’t think I can do in real life (smiles).”

As a guy who is also active as an actor, he said whether he is acting or singing, he doesn’t put his personal emotions as much as possible. Even when he’s writing his songs, he doesn’t quite like mixing his private self into his works.

“If it were a band, then exposing our deep feelings will make it ‘original’. But as a group, most of our songs are provided (by other professionals), we have to put feelings on words that aren’t ours. There’s also a ‘fake’ feeling on that. But still, this is entertainment, so if the audience are enjoying it, then it’s all good.

Same goes for acting, since I don’t write my script, the role itself and its background are different from me. But then, after the theme and music have been decided, we will make arrangements and give our ideas, we’ll change the nuances of words during the recording, make adjustments until we’re satisfied.

There’s a similarity between music and acting when it comes to putting your feelings on the work, but as an actor, I think it’s best to act it out once you’ve been called out on the scene. The way actors should act on the scene is quite different depending on the director. There are people too who practices that make you think “he gave it a lot of thought”, and there are also those who give it a shot without any prior plans. So no matter what scene it is, I think we have to be flexible (laughs).

I don’t quite like my personal matters, like my troubles or a part of me that is happy, to mix with my music or acting. I think exposing it as it is and having those who can understand is good enough, but establishing that as entertainment is hard. Without self-praising, narcissism and egoism, I want to respond to what is being sought.” 

Boldly speaking with philosophical words like “ego”, it may be a proof of him as an expressionist who constantly fights with his emotions inside. Even during the shooting, just when we thought he’s smiling, he’d suddenly stop doing so. Such eyes also reflected coldheartedness. Is he a good person or a bad person? Is he a boy or an adult? Is he excited or bored? Is he innocent or impure? He’s misleading with his mysterious atmosphere. After having reached 30′s, his everyday work becomes increasingly his priority. Does he want to enrich his private life, or has this been fading from reality..

“I was talking to the staff a while ago, whether do I wish to get married or have I thought what I want in the future now that I’m 30, and (the staff) was surprised that I haven’t given it a lot of thought (smiles).

Of course I want time for myself. But my own time is also connected to my work. Right now, it’s very fun to create and think about entertainment, like during LIVE where the atmosphere is created by everyone. I don’t like being egoistical (laughs), but I want it to be something which you can get intoxicated with. And as I’ve said before, ‘I’ve come this far, but there’s still a long way to go. I want to go as far as I can’. Though I don’t really know how far I could go.”

What is he aiming specifically? Just that, aside from things such as romance and marriage, things that he wants to get, scenery that he’d like to see, he definitely has them now.

“I’ve been told by others that these 12 years were “without a hitch”, but it was actually never smooth-sailing. Even regarding the time that I became a solo artist, I think it’s late. As I get older, there are things that become impossible with my body, so when I’m doing solo activities, there was also this frustration of “if only it were earlier”. But on the other hand, I turn that frustration as my motivation……”

Having experienced his solo LIVE for the first time, there were some things he has found out. Thinking that, “Responding to what is being sought is one thing for entertainment”, “would they be pleased if I do this?”, when he thought about the concept, there was something similar with his “way of loving my lover” and “way of thinking about my fans”.

“LIVE is like a gathering of ‘people who loves me’, so doing things that will make those people happy have a similar feeling to that of making one’s lover happy (laughs). But there’s a part of it that, if my personal life were fulfilling around the time I had a LIVE, then I might not have had that way of thinking. 

When it comes to the necessities of music or going to lives, I think there are people somewhere out there who are not satisfied. But what surprised me was when there was one time when the staff told me that a fan said “Nisshi is the coolest”, and that was the same time when I was feeling mentally and physically bad. ….. (smiles) But maybe it’s precisely because I’m not in the best mental condition that there are people who aren’t satisfied (laughs).

In terms of expressions, I think a strong sense of sadness or worry can create a strong energy. That’s why for the time being …… For the next ten years of my life, I think it’s fine even if I’m not satisfied with my private life. I’m half-joking, half-serious… (smiles)”

There are various forms of love in this world. And his love for the entertainment world and the love his fans have for him are clearly and straightforwardly pouring.

The dance break for Evergreen during Mad Cyclone tour is the cutest of all the dance break. Look at how the vocals also do the dance at the side ಠ‿ಥ 

And that huddle at the end ಥ∀ಥ