Story behind the CAPS and lowercase song titles?

[Kodayumi]

Holds a meaning?

you never know

[Dustie]

Originally Posted by slowmoth

why a song is born is writted a song is born in the single and A Song is born (like A Song for XX) in the album??

but I like a song is born the most

The graphic designer probably messed it up

[evolutionricky]

Originally Posted by Dustie

The graphic designer probably messed it up

awe poor guy lol

[Corybobory]

Often when Japanese is written in romaji, words that are written in katakana are written with all caps... and katakana can be used for emphasis, kind of like writing in italics, so I just imagine the caps are to emphasise the words...? That's always been my theory.

[Impracticable]

^ Nah, because aren't all japanese song titles written in katakana anyway?

I've never seen one not ... but i could be wrong.

[Shiso]

Originally Posted by Impracticable

^ Nah, because aren't all japanese song titles written in katakana anyway?

Are You serious? There are lots of japanese songs in hiragana/kanji etc. Majority of them even.

And I don't really think the caps/not caps in Ayu's titles has a deeper meaning. I think it is just supposed to attract people's attention.

Not every Japanese knows english. So when the see "HANABI" on Music Station or other music show, they will memorize the way the title looks and then they will have no problem with finding the song on the tracklist of the album/single.
I have similiar experiences with japanese CDs that have all titles in japanese. I know all hiragana and katakana but I barely know any kanji. So when I look at a japanese tracklist my sight is attracted to the titles written in katakana/hiragana first. I barely can even distinguish the titles written in kanji-only.

As for the "A Song is born" and "a song is born" - I highly doubt it's a mistake. It just allows You to see which version is which. "a song is born" is the version with KEIKO. "A Song is born" is the "ayu-solo" version.

[waterballoon]

Haha, titles. As I've learned from literature, the title is one of the most important factors when looking at a text.

If you look at Ayu's songs with all caps, for example HEAVEN and BLUE BIRD. Now, what mood do these 2 songs give? HEAVEN would be a sadder tone and BLUE BIRD would be more of that "I'm happy like anything!" sort of mood. With that, I'm just assuming that whenever Ayu has a song in call caps, they'll be straight cut happy or sad. Just a short list of cap song titles below.

Sad
HEAVEN
NEVER EVER
HANABI
HANABI ~episode II~
SEASONS
GAME
HAPPY ENDING
CAROLS

Happy
SURREAL
AUDIENCE
UNITE!
ANGEL'S SONG
INSPIRE
HONEY
WE WISH
JEWEL
BLUE BIRD

However, I believe that Ayu uses caps in certain words of the song title simply to emphasize it. I would explain this in detail.

is this LOVE?

What is Ayu singing about? Unrequited love/ her getting cheated and what have you. The part where asks if 'this' is love, is when she 'saw through the lies' and 'pretend they were the truth', and that action itself is 'excessively empty'. Of course 'is this' isn't much important in the song itself, as they only help to make the title a proper sentence. Love, on the other hand, is what the main focus of the song is; the definition of love to Ayu. Therefore, the title is this LOVE?

my name's WOMEN

We know this song is on the pride of being a woman. Therefore, we know the focus of this song is woman. Now, as to why Ayu did not choose to capitalize "my name's" is prolly because she feels that putting a pronoun that speaks of herself i.e. "my", she couldn't bring out the message of the pride of being a woman to the whole population of women. However, by somewhat making herself look less important, and bringing out the women factor of this song, it connects better with women. my name's WOMEN

Now, I don't have a very good explanation for Ayu's titles without caps, but from what I've noticed, her songs with out caps have usually mixed feelings. Good examples would be ourselves, criminal, momentum, walking proud, etc. If you take a look at her track list for A BEST 2, be it black or white, you'll see certain songs in them. Ayu has explained that songs in BLACK are sad and songs in WHITE are happy. For songs without caps, their place in A BEST 2 ~BLACK/WHITE~ means the main mood of the song. For example, in walking proud, the song generally has a darker tone and has mainly sad lyrics. However, it is also important to note that the person Ayu is referring to (most likely herself, if we take reference to the PV of walking proud) is someone whom she admires and wishes to be like. Therefore, a slight of tone of happiness/positive feeling. However, since the main mood of walking proud is negative, it is in A BEST 2 ~BLACK~ and generally a sad song.

Also, her songs with very formal and offical titles, like Dearest and Heartplace, are usually like that since Dearest is a person and Heartplace is a place. For such things, Ayu most likely capitalizes the first letter. However, similar titles like Moments puzzle me.

Next, songs titles with capitalized first titles are also used for her cover songs. Ladies Night, In The Corner, Beautiful Day.

Lastly, some of her songs without caps at all are usually ironic. The best example is fairyland. One mistake that I think Ayu made (perhaps not) was putting fairyland in A BEST 2 ~WHITE~. Honestly, I think it should be put into the BLACK version. Why? Has anyone actually thought of this yet? fairyland IS indeed a sad song and not a happy one, despite its summer dance feel. I shall use the title, lyrics and PV to help on this one.

Firstly, look at the title. What does fairyland mean to you? A happy place since it's filled with fairies? But of course. However, do fairies actually exist? Therefore, fairyland would actually mean a paradise that's unrealistic and not true, since fairies do not exist.

Next, the lyrics. They generally give off a signal of happiness but we can see many references of Ayu feeling reluctant in it.

"Even now I don't understand
The meaning of growing up"

Confusion in those lines, a negative feeling.

And now the most crucial excerpt from fairyland.

"It seems familiar and unfamiliar
It makes my heartbeat quicker
Sweet and sad"

Please look at it. "Sweet and sad". Why would she feel this way if it's a happy song? Bittersweet is definitely not a very nice feeling.

Lastly for the PV, it gives off a very BLUE BIRD kind of feel but in the middle, with the combustion of the house and the photo of Ayu and her friends at the end, it just proves again that fairyland is not as simple as it seems. The burning of everything, her dreams, her life, her love, her friends... does that ever remotely remind you of happiness?

fairyland is a song of irony and delusion...

Ayu NEVER, I repeat, NEVER randomly cap song titles. Whatever she writes and chooses, she has a reason for it.

I hope I don't offend anyone and do correct me if you find any loopholes.

[nanami606]

depends which looks better - Caps or lower case.

[freedreamer]

waterballoon..u r amazing!
thanks for that analysis...
fairyland is sad..haiz..but hard to tell esp if you don't understand japanese

edit:
I realised that for "No way to say", "Endless sorrow", "Fly high", "Far away" ..only the first word's first letter is caps...
but like "For My Dear..." , "Born To Be...", "Beautiful Fighters", "Together When..." - the rest in caps as well...
just wondering

[criminal]

That post was amazing, waterballoon. But um, SURREAL is not a happy song. Though it's not sad either. It's realistic.

[Chiharo]

Originally Posted by nanami606

depends which looks better - Caps or lower case.

I always thought like that too.
But of course,it would be more likely that Ayu wants to point out at a word that's being written in caps...