[romaji and translation] Sparkle
 

There are some parts I couldn't catch.
--------------------------------------------------
Hora soko de kusubutte iru
Kawaii BOYS tachi to

Konya dake wa GIRLS tachi mo
Tsuyogari wa oyasumi

Karada de kanjite
Kokoro no mama ni

Atama n naka no risei bakari
Yuusen shi chau n de shou

Sonna toki wa tada beat ni
Mi o makasere ba ii

* Nagameru dake ja hajiman nai
Kimi no mono ni wa nara nai
Itsu made soko de sou yatte
Yubi o kuwaete ru tsumori

** No no no... No no no...
No no no... No no no...
No no...

Mamori ni haira nai de
Kougekiteki ni mesete mite

Kanou da toka fukanou da toka
Doko no dare no monosashi

Motto daitan ni
Zuuzuushii hodo

Ato ni natte kuyamu nante
Arikitari na hanashi wa nashi

Kikoete ru kono beat ni
Shitagae ba machigai nai

*** Chuutohanpa ja tsutawan nai
Furete mina kya wakan nai
Itsu made soko de sou yatte
Ojikezuite ru tsumori

** (repeat)
* (repeat)
*** (repeat)
** (repeat)
--------------------------------------------------
Hey, cute BOYS and GIRLS
Idling your times away there

No pretending to be strong
Just for tonight

Feel it with your bodies
As the mood strikes you

You tend to give top priority
To the reason in your head, don't you?

You should just go with the beat
In such a case

* If you only look, nothing happens
And it will never be yours
Until when are you going
To look on enviously there like that?

** No no no... No no no...
No no no... No no no...
No no...

Don't be on the defensive
But try to make yourself look aggressive and attractive

Whose measure on earth is it
Whether it's possible or impossible?

Be bolder
Until you seem forward

No more common story
To regret over what has happened

Go along with the beat you hear
And you'll be all right

*** You can't communicate your feelings with a half-hearted attitude
You don't know what it is, if you don't touch it
Until when are you going
To be scared there like that?

** (repeat)
* (repeat)
*** (repeat)
** (repeat)

Thank you! From what you've translated, it appears that Sparkle is NOT THAT dirty and sexual... but may I ask if what Sunshineslayer and Maikaru said are true, that in Japanese, Sparkle is full of offensive slangs and the like?

Hardly sexual at all. If anything this is more of a "stand up for yourself" type of thing. Thanks for the translation as always masa!

Thanks for the translation! :) Sparkle sounds like a Startin' ~part 2~!! =D

Thank you very much masa. I really like the lyrics, even if some of the parts are very uncharacteristic of Ayu. I wonder how the Japanese will react to such straightforwardly bold lyrics?

your translations are always the best. thanks so much. i understand the song much more now & love the lyrics

Goooosh thank you masa!!!

Totaly!! I love to see these lyrics! Not that bad at all anymore. ^^ Its nice to see that, that finger in ones mouth is away... :P

Thanks so much, this song is sooo cool! :)

Thanks for the translation :D

And all the so called sexual feelings are gone lol :P.

yea...
Sparkle is like the 2nd part of Startin'
this song is about encouragement..not about sexual thing~

The lyrics are cool. Very rebellious :) Thanks again masa!

WOW!
Masa, you made it even clearer!
Now, I understand the true meaning behind that lyrics.

Another Startin' indeed!


Thanks for the translation!!! *hugs*

thx for the translation :)

I havent listened to the song in a couple days, but I seem to recall something (when I was discussing it with my friend Masami) about "protecting my heart and hiding my body"...i think ...check it out.

Thank for the translation! I like it's lyrics.

Thank you so much masa ! *____*

but can i suggest you the missing part of the lyrics ? it doesn't mean anything i think, but at least you'll have the phonetic:

i hope that it could help, or another one who's working on these lyrics ^__^

thank you MASA!!!!!!!!
i really like how mature your translation is :D
but i also liked the sexy Ayu translation :P

anyways, yeah, it really feels like the continuation of Startin' ^^

Ahh! i love it!
indeed it does sound like the second part of Startin', but i do think that there also is somewhat of a sexy yet rebellious theme. Just fantastic :D

Thank you so much for translating!
The lyrics are not sexual at all O__O

Haha, that's true ^__^

thanks like always masa!

masa,thank you!I love your translations~

Thank you for your version of translation of the song as always, though I'm sure it will be better once the full lyrics are known and what kanji was used. May I ask though why you completely changed some of the lines though such as "指を咥えてるつもり"? I know that it is always difficult to translate meaning from one language to another, but it does seem to me in this case that some of the lines may have been changed too much? It especially makes it difficult since no one has the actual kanji yet.
I don't want to seem offensive or anything since I know translating is very tough work and I always appreciate any translations that people do. I would just like to get more opinions from those with fluent or at least close to fluent Japanese ability about this song.

gotta get back to class now, haha.

Thank you, masa :P

10x :)

Thanks

Thank you. I was really waiting for a good translation.. It's so cool that Ayu can make a sexy song and still stay Ayu

Well, it ends up not being sexual at all! Stand up for yourself! :D LOVE the lyrics~ Thanks a lot masa! :thumbsup

Thank you very much for the translation, masa. I do have to admit that some parts are still strange to me. Like AyUta said: "Be bolder until you look disturbing"? I mean, it kind of makes sense, but kind of doesn't. :laugh

i love the lyrics, very empowering, go ayu!!!!

If you only look, nothing happens
And it will never be yours

That part sounds similar to the first few lines of Catcher in the Light. It's a nice sounding song :)

Perfect dance lyrics, makes me think of "Please don't stop the music"

I have to make a correction.
Because, we all don't actually know what the real lyrics are.
And the the sexual things I was commenting on were lyrics posted on 2 Channel before I could actually hear the real song.
The only part I have problems with now is the first part..
About the hot and cute boys, and the girls they're with.
Also, she uses a lot of slang words, which is a bit new for her.

And in the first, I didnt say there was any offensive slang words..
Only to some people, they could be offensive.. because some are really not used to her using these slangs at all.
For me, at least, there is definitely a superficial qualities to this song..
About attack and defensive of the first meeting of woman and man..
Like it seems like a water-down version of American songs with this message ahaha.
And her talking about giving your body to the beat..

Sorry I laughed at that one.. ahahaha.

Although I still cannot connect to this song,
it is not as bad as 2 channel made the lyrics to be.

Well, we still cannot know what the correct lyrics are,,
So I am sorry if I made some wrong comments on some wrong lyrics from 2 channel.
I'm sorry about that~~ ._.);
I over-reacted. LOL

^There's nothing wrong actually for making comments. At least SunshineSlayer agreed with you (and I believe both of you and masa knows Japanese better than us). Probly I do have to apologize if I did make wrong comment towards your comment (if I had made any lol).

I still love this song (in fact it grows on me very very fast). The thing makes me worried tho is the reaction from the Japanese. In reality, it doesn't matter if foreigners (us) loving the song or not. We don't affect the general reaction or cd sales as much as compared to the Japanese public. I dunno how "shallow" or bad grammar the song is (I accept the shallow part because I still think an artist doesn't need to create deep meaningful lyrics every single time... but the grammar part... oh well). I hope the Japanese will accept this song in the end.

Also, is it just ayu fans thinking this, or the causal listener agree with the shallowness as well??

OT: Did you join AHS in april last year? I thought you've been here for longer than that... :shakehead..

thank you! always love your translations!

sparkle doesn't feel that dirty~!

Really you don't have to apologize. :) It seems Masa romanized some parts differently than what you originally had - but it is hard to tell which one is actually the "correct one" - we probably won't know until the lyric booklet comes out. I do think masa softened some things from the original Japanese though - thats at least the feeling that I get from what we think are the original lyrics.

I just got back from class, but as soon as I got home I asked my boyfriend to take a look at the lyrics (as some might remember, he is native Japanese here in the states temporarily and has lately become my 'ayu checker' haha.) He said that the lyrics to him do indeed come off as kind of rough and rudish - definitely not Ayu's usual style of writing and he said he definitely didn't get a really 'female empowerment' vibe either. He is pretty much in agreement with you - that it's a "watered down version of American lyrics" and just like a typical dance song kind of lyrics.

I'm fine with it though as long as these lyrics don't represent what Ayu considers to be her "NEXT LEVEL."

Startin version 2? really?

Thanks for the translation anyways!

Thanks masa for the translation <3

I always look forward to your translations :D

I dunno how this song's possibly sexual..@_@

I dunno about 'female empowerment', but maybe just 'empowerment' in general suits the song pretty well, don't you think? Maybe older generations of Japanese people wouldn't find it 'empowering' per se, but this sort of language may be aimed at a youthful crowd.

I like the lyrics, they're really inspiring to me atm since I feel like there's something I should be doing, but I don't have enough courage to step forward and do it. I think that maybe the first set of lyrics feel a bit disconnected from the song, but I think Ayu was simply experimenting and trying to do something "kakkoii", maybe for shock factor.

But for a 'step forward and do it' type song, I prefer Bold & Delicious. The lyrics and arrangement are just more uplifting and less aggressive. I feel like this is more of a 'you're in the club, go dance with her/him' because of the general dance sound and lyrics. Startin' too, perhaps, is a better 'step forward and do it' song, while it was aggressive, it had power. Sparkle seems kind of aggressive, but I don't sense too much power in it. Rather, it seems like it's telling you step forward and do something that you shouldn't be doing just for the sake of being crazy like 'hey come take some of these drugs, they'll make you feel good' lmao I'm sorry I'm not making any sense right now, am I? :laugh

Sparkle does remind me of a trashy underground erotic club with people on drugs though. Kouki Tange PV plz. <3

Thank you for this. :D :love
someone else translated it in another thread or something
but theirs was not good at all. :|

thanks for helping us with your translations masa! \*_*/

Yes, yes, that's what it feels like imo as well. :) Although, that is an extreme example, haha.

thanks for the lyrics of Sparkle :)

Thanks for the translations :D

Why are so many people so relieved sparkle isnt sexual

who the hell thought it was sexual to begin with
who the hell thinks its wrong for ayu to be sexual in her music
she does it all the time, not typically lyrically but in many other ways

and IDK about any of you but it does not sound anything like Startin'.

Oh that's soooo sexual... please.

Thanks so much!

now I'm really curious of how the final translation will look like... To those of you know can speak (or at least read) Japanese, this song sounds totally off, and it is like coming from a weird planet. This is pretty interesting, and at the same time make me panic. From your reactions and how sunshine described the Japanese reactions... if the lyrical content is sorta an indicator of what NEXT LEVEL will sound like, I can kinda imagine that there will be another (m)u incident again.. Last time ayu tried something very new (B&D, etc.), and the result was the decrease in cd sales (the starting point where her albums can't hit million copies anymore). If the Japanese thinks Sparkle is a weird thing like B&D, I can't imagine how bad NEXT LEVEL's sales will be...

Thank you

Wow thank you!! She says a little English in this song. I didn't hear any the first 74 times lol.

But Sparkle's musical style is something that is present in some other J-pop singers, like Kuu and Namie Amuro. The really dance music that gets people groovy.

@ maikaru: Okay, I understand what you mean. :yes The song is really enjoyable and the lyrics are confident at least.

@ sunshineslayer: Is it all right if your boyfriend could "identify" which "dialect" she's using to write this song? Because if I'm not wrong, Japan has several dialects, in which the speaking differs with each dialect. Perhaps she has chosen to write Sparkle in the slightly more "straightforward/rude" dialect? :P

thanks! [:

now all of you that said the song was overly sexual and 'provocative' can shut up...lol

Thanks. The lyrics remind me of Catcher In the Light.

I don't think it is really a "dialect" persay. It's not like Fukui-ben or something like that. It's more like Maikeru said - she uses more slang in this than usual. And just overall makes it more rough and un-ayu sounding I guess? Its something probably only totally native would completely get - 'cause I don't totally understand it either. I think I used the Koda comparison before, but when she talked about amniotic fluid getting bad, it really didn't sound bad in English right? But there was something in the way she said it that pissed a whole bunch of Japanese off for what reason, you and me will probably never figure out. :)
I don't know whether the lyrics are really going to be a problem in Japan or not, probably not, I just think they are just very different for Ayu. Some reactions to the lyrics have just been like 'eh whatever' while others are like Maikeru and don't like that style of lyric writing for Ayu.

To give an example, in the very first line she uses the term "kusubutte" which I was hard pressed to find in a dictionary (I tried 4 different ones) finally I was able to figure out that it means "to smolder". So its not just that she is saying "Hey there are cute boys here", she is literally saying "Hey there are smoldering hot cute boys here". It definitely makes the meaning of that line more sensual don't you think? And definitely not something you usually hear from Ayu I think everyone can at least agree on that. So naturally, some people just won't like that direction for Ayu. Also, if the romaji based on listening is correct there is a line about putting fingers in your mouth, which is supposed to imply want (and here is translated as "enviously"). But there are other ways of saying envious in Japanese without using the imagery of fingers and mouths, so it seems Ayu chose that kind of imagery deliberately. So yeah, new style for Ayu for sure. :yes

Sorry for the long post, didn't mean for it to become a lecture!

XD If I believed that Ayu spoke to me... I think my life would be twice as awkward. "Be Bolder Until you look disturbing", I don't think so :laugh

It's a little different from some of the stuff she's written in the past but I think it's reasonable and people shouldn't be so taken aback by it. It's not something outrageous and out of no where.

thanks masa for the lyrics and translation! ^_^

Thanks for the translation!

thank you for translation!

A new writing style from her indeed :yes

Thank you for the further elaboration... so it's more of the slang. Well, we would only know if such a lyric style is well-received by Japan when the sales result come out, and we would know if anyone is boycotting this single. ;)

Thanks for translating.

Hehe, why would we want to start disturbing someone? ^_^

"Bold & Disturbing" would be an interesting Ayu title. Actually, it doesn't make any more or less sense than using "Delicious". :D

'Delicious' sounds cuter and funnier, though. :)

I love it! something full of energy and positive

Thanks for the translation. Like someone else said, those look much cleaner.

So is it a women encouragement song or a encouragement song for young people? At first I thought "kawaii" refered to the boys and girls, so I thought the first part refers to both of them, just like the whole song. maikaru translated it as "the girls who are with them", though, which gives the whole lyrics a different meaning. I guess they're probably both right.
Those lyrics are so confusing. I don't know what to think about them. Really. One time it's "They aren't so bad" the next it's "They're superficial". There could be more to them than what they seem to be (for example, using a club scenery to talk about life), but I never felt like that about ayu's lyrics. And I never felt so disconnected to them.

You are welcome.

To SunshineSlayer
"Yubi o kuwaeru" is not a slang but an idiom we commonly use with no sexal image. It means "do nothing but look on something (someone) enviously".

Right yes, that is what I mean. But do you have an idea for why she wanted to use that particular idiom in this song instead of just using another word for envious? It seems to maybe have some more deeper kind of meaning to me. maybe not :shrug Is there a reason you decided to leave the yubi part out of the translation or did you just think the idiom would appear too odd in English?

I would love to hear more what your opinion of these lyrics are though as I have been reading very mixed reactions of them from Japanese fans. Do you like this type of lyrics for Ayu?

This is getting interesting :D Ayu did say (if I remember correctly it was after she completed Days) that she would like to write more straight-forward songs in the future. As for my opinion I consider Sparkle a catchy/addictive and cool song like STEP you was and I hope the casual listeners in Japan will too.

here in Brazil we have that "sucking your thumb" too, with the same meaning by the way... It's most like... a children sucking his/her thumb looking to something he/she can't get.. there's really no sexual conotation here, when I ready the first translation I understood the idiom without any trouble...
I'm think it's pretty much the same thing in Japan (there are some words and idioms here and there that are a bit similar cause Portuguese, who colonized Brazil, had comercial contact with Japan some centuries ago...)

If we say "look on enviously" in Japanese without using the idiom, it should be "urayamashi sou ni mite iru". As you see, it's far longer than "yubi o kuwaeru". And I feel it's smart and poetic to use this idiom than to say "urayamashi sou ni mite iru" in direct way.

Because there are still missing parts in the lyrics now, I refrain from telling my opinion on this song. But if my romaji translation is all correct, I have to say that the first stanza disappointed me. Because the way of using words in the first stanza doesn't seem to me good, unusually.

^Yeah, I always think its interesting how so many Japanese ended up in Brazil.

Yes, it is a more poetic way of saying I think. I almost prefer having the original idiom in the english though (sucking on your thumb/finger) but yeah I suppose many people would probably read that as strange in English.

Yes, that is what I had been thinking as well, even though my Japanese is not perfect at all. Some parts of the original Japanese lyrics just seem very odd. Not Ayu's usual standard.

I've been reading a few Japanese that actually think she is saying "VOICE"-tachi and "CHORUS"-tachi instead of "BOYS" and "GIRLS", but that doesn't really make sense either. :)

I'm interested in what the rest of the lyrics will be.

Thanks for replying! :)

If i'm not wrong it's the country with most japanese after Japan itself...

Yep, it is. Its just odd because people really wouldn't guess that at all.

:luv2 I had no idea!! :thud that's great though :D We only have a solid number of Chinese people here.

There's a fair amount of Germans in brasil also I believe...

thanks for the lyrics, and for all the discussion you guys, it's very interesting, especially for a song like Sparkle :)

OMGH!!!!!
thanks....

i don't 'see' any sexual things behind these lyrics...
anyway ur translation made me love Sparkle more!:luv2

the lyrics do not seem like the usual ayu type lyrics. it's a refreshing change!

Thank you for the translation masa!!! :) :) :D

Thank you for the translation!!

I found full sparkle lyrics from jpopasia. Not sure are those entirely correct. English translation is not so good.

source: http://www.jpopasia.com/lyrics/19479...i/sparkle.html

Whatever the actual lyrics may turn out to be, thanks masa for your efforts! :heart

I don't actually like the text O.o'

Sounds like Catcher In The Light:
If you only look, nothing happens
And it will never be yours

It's an empowerment song. I keep thinking about B&D and Born To Be... and Inspire.

Thank you for your hard work!

Thank you, masa! Your translations are always my favorite XD

Yeah, she did actually repeat the exact same writing as in CITL if I'm remembering it correctly.

is this the right text for "be bold until you look disturbing"?

後になって悔むなんて在り来たりな話々

^no, it's もっと大胆に騒々しいほど

thanks so much masa

lol..somehow that lyrics things is bugging me..HAHAH...ok *throws it away*

this song's lyrics are so empowering! I mean...I really feel like..Ayu is just screaming to everyone to just get out there and be bold..

cool how the "beat" she used matches that of the song style..

and "kokoro" means body too...now i noe...i thought it only meant heart
coz then
"Feel it with your bodies
As the mood strikes you"

Feel it with your heart...sounds more right...hahahha..yea u get it. BUT i'm not gonna fuss about that since I don;t noe japanese. at least i learned something new

hahah maybe it is the CITL part 2. hahah...maybe she did wanna make instrumentals into songs :X
but decided to retain the styles of them..hahha..(just a thot)

karada means body, so if you were to translate literally, its kind of like she is saying 'feel the beat of your heart with your body.' Basically its like she is comparing a dance beat with a heart beat and to let your body feel it and take over from there.

I really like the lyrics. I haven't heard the full song yet, only a preview on Ayu's website but I loved the song at once. I also think that this is one of the ways of NEXT LEVEL which is nice. Sexy song from Ayu is a nice thing to me. <3

Sparkle is indeed bold and daring. I do see why some people would see this song as "sexy" - the lyrics are really unlike Ayu!

Thanks for the translation masa, we appreciate you!

It really does sound like Startin' ~part II~...

But I could've sworn I heard Ayu say "boys" in this song...(And this is coming from the person who didn't even hear that word "girls"...^_^; )

she says both boys and girls..

Arigatou for the lyrics - which are sexy ^^

as for the missing part of the lyrics, i tried to listen for myself. i have two suggestions. i really can't make out that part very well. anyway, here are my two. both kinda make sense so i have no clue. i guess we'll find out in a few days when the single is released. haha

・・・OR・・・

this is really starting to bug me!!! lol

thankies

thank you very much!!

Thanks Masa!!!
The lyrics are really makes me think "Do something".

You know I thought that Sparkle was going to be more of a harder rock song but I actually like how it's done, I think it is WAY better than rule. I was sad that there was no PV for it, I was thinking 'If you can make a PV for GREEN you can't make one for sparkle.' Of course when I listen to this song I imagine Ayu in like this club scene with her dancers. Really sexy lol.

Love the lyrics!! Thanks!