Ayu's Song Titles
 

no offence, but i have a feeling dat ayus song titles are pointless....i mean, theres practically no correspondence to the lyrics at all, with the exception of a few songs....

Song titles are just titles for the song. Just because it is a title doesn't mean it has to do anything with the song. Also, there could be a meaning to each one, but we just don't know it. And, titles are not pointless. How would we be able to distinguish songs?

im not saying uts pointless...i think ayu doesnt no wut shes doing when shes naming dem(sorry sorry sorry)...and USUALLY they should have a correspondence....i mean, HANABI had no correcpondence but then HANABI 2 did...kinda confusing....and it might me tru...she might have her own meaning for it dat we dont see

Well, it's the trend in Japan. First of all, it would be really hard to name the songs in Japanese (as according to L'arc-en-ciel, not sure for Ayu though) but I agree that it's to distinguish the songs. Well, it think it's a sort of summary for the song, like how it was felt at that moment.

It's somewhat like the old saying "Don't judge a book (or in this case, a song) by its cover (title)". There doesn't need to be any relationship of the title to the lyrics, just as long as the lyrics make sense ;)

heh....tru tru..

I don't believe that after putting so much care and effort into the words and music of her songs that Ayu would choose random titles for them.

actually i'm sure tehrs a deep meaning behind it you're not seeing..evolution sure as hell made sense..."M" was a nicer title then "Maria"...what else did you expect her to name the song? i thought it was the perfect title..and hanabi was beautiful..although what i find strange is that she only says the title of the song in very few songs (ex. kanariya)

how do you know she didnt just stick titles there? read the lyrics again buddy. name a song that doesnt work one way or another (besides independant.. i truely think she meant "dependant" O_O..and key..i dont get that..)

Maybe we dont always see meaning to the song titles, but maybe they have meaning to ayu. just like inside jokes, only the people involved with it understand it..

ok, fine...u got me dere.....u keep proving me wrong over and over againXD....altho i still think some of em r weird(hearplace...pokerface...free and easy...O.o?!)

hey man, one word- creativity :cool ive never heard of american artists coming up with names like those.

:laugh too lazy to look them up O_O but i'm sure someone else on this trhead will look up the lyrics and figure the darnt hing out :P (btw, if heartplace was called "alsdjraefoi" i still would love it :cool THAT SONG RULEEEEEEEEEESSS

LOL!haha.dis is common of japanese artists too....one-word titles...how bout we just make a list of all her songs and wut the title means..oh yeah, one more .."vogue"(well...da flowers..)

I wondered about this, too, once in awhile. But most every one of ayu's songs has either an imagery tie in with the title or a thematic tie to the title.

poker face - She says, "It's easy to cry anytime, but I want to smile." Does this mean she can smile? Not necessarily. So she goes with no expression. A "poker face." (And the word is actually used in Japanese... pookaafeesu.)

YOU - Obvious

Trust - Trusting in oneself, the difference between trusting the future to fate and grasping fate oneself... These are themes in this one.

Depend on you - Talks about support, depending on someone. Even uses Japanese terminology similar to "depend" in the song.

For My Dear - Obviously a song written to someone held dear to her heart.

WHATEVER - Not sure about this one, but I'm sure there's a relationship somewhere there.

Others, like evolution were very intentional titles. ayu said in her first ever countdown live, before debuting the song evolution, that the word "evolution" has the same meaning as "shinkasuru" which means "to progress" or "to change for the better." M was a prayer to the Holy Virgin Mother Maria. Connected described a connection between (1) the composer of the lyrics and (2) her fans. Even said, "connected" in Japanese. Hanabi uses the image of a firework as the image of love. Fireworks only bloom for a moment and then fade. According to Masa and my own relatives, this is a pretty Japanese sentiment. Like a flower blooming and withering. So, it's like the story of her love in this case.

Plenty of meanings, not enough time. Hope this helps.

I always thought there was some sort of connection between the title and the lyrics, even if it was just a tiny connection. I don't think that after writing those lyrics, she would just pick titles randomly...

I think there's a connotation factor as well...what we interpret the titles as in English may be different than what it would've meant in Japanese, such as, like hanabiwings said, the meaning of HANABI. =)

I've heard many times that Ayu has a name she wants in Japanese and a member of "her staff" gives it an English name. I've heard this so many times that I tend to believe it. Anyone else hear this?

yea...i think dats hjow she does it bcuz she prolly doesnt no much english and i doubt it she can come up with 'evolution' or 'surreal' by herself

i think these titles are meant for the japanese audience so they dont have to make sense to english speakers

I think every song title has something to do with the lyrics. However, it might require serious thought and extra thinking - for instance, look at "Heartplace". In relation to the lyrics, I think that Ayu means that everyone has a place in their heart dedicated to the thought that they one day will be free - free from any problems they have.

I've often thought about this a lot too. Sometimes I see a slight connection between the title and the PV. Excuse me as I randomly nitpick songs. XD

Surreal - In the PV, there's the whole dreamworld effect and Ayu in a wild cat costume o.O To me, that's all pretty "surreal".

Free & Easy - If you "feel" the song, you (or at least I) feel somewhat...light and airy. And in the PV there is a good amount of time of Ayu throwing her head and hair around as if she were "free and easy".

Real Me - To me this didn't take much thought. The lyrics of the chorus talk about how a "woman never" blah blah...is she talking about herself as well? We can only assume since she IS a woman. And then if you take it further, is she using the general woman populace to portray herself and she really feels? (WOA pull me back in, I'm falling too deep XD) And in the PV, she's making all those clones. @.@ Self explanatory.

As a songwriter myself, however, there are a few instances when I've found myself lost to find a title. Some of my songs go for a long time, without a title. Most of the time, however, I usually pick a recurring theme or phrase. (and in Ayu's business, I'm sure she is pressed for time to get her songs out) *sigh*

Although I have run into a few stumpers, such as "ourselves". Anybody?

even if no one in the world knows us, we know eachother so well

Ourselves talks about how two people can be totally open with eachother, and understand eachother exclusively and like no one else does. Since Ayu sings the song in first person, she is effectively saying that "we" don't need to put on an act, we can be ourselves around eachother.

Or at least, that's my analysis.

ayu has her own reasons..

i dont think ayu seems to be the type to just title a piece of artwork with a random title.. if u know wut i mean ;]

Song titles in relation to the lyrics
 

Would you say that Ayu's song titles match the lyrics? For example, the song title "Dolls" at least to me, doesn't seem to fit the meaning of the lyrics. Yes, I wasn't expecting Ayu to talk about actual dolls or anything, but I don't think it really goes with the lyrics....

The song "Dolls" was inspired by a movie with the same title. mimika posted some info about it:
Dolls the song, Dolls the movie

For starters, I thought I was making a new thread, since I hadn't seen this one, so it got added on to the others.

I already knew that she was inspired by the movie. But I haven't actually seen the film itself, so how can I find the connection between the song title and the lyrics? Yes, Ayu liked the movie, but what if she was only inspired to name a song "Dolls" and not by the actually story of the film?

I also fail to see the connection between the lyrics of Daybreak and that songs title.

i dont have any comments... but i dont mind about the songs title even if its connected or not connected

Maybe the song is titled "Daybreak" because after a night a new day is arriving.
So it might be an image for the joy after a time of sadness and despair.
And she's singing: The sorrow behind the joy / The hope at the end of the suffering

I think Ayu is giving excellent titles to her songs, because it is REALLY hard to find the right titles...