LookBack: Stereopony Music, Vol. 6

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, we now present Destonus’ favorite song: Smilife! ::Shiho begins opening drumroll::

From the moment I first watched the PV for this song, I was hooked. From the extras paid to rock out to the girls, to Shiho going absolutely nuts on the drums, Nohana in human metronome mode as usual, with Aimi’s voice doing more work than her fingers, it is no wonder it is my absolute favorite Stereopony song, just as much as my favorite song by 7!! is “Fallin Love”, my favorite song by FLiP is “Kazana”, and as for that dance-savvy foursome who just hit album number five…the jury inside my head is still deliberating. I have only heard this song live once technically at Anime Boston when they opened with it. I have a video of their Hydrangea Blooms concert where they played it as part of an encore, but to me, it only half-counts as seeing it live, since to count as seeing it live in my book requires my physical presence in the auditorium, not me parked in a chair watching my laptop screen or sitting on the couch watching a Blu-Ray of SCANDAL’s live at Budoukan. (This hopefully explains why I said I hadn’t seen “Stereopony no Tabi wa Tsuzuku” live) Butterfly’s Song of the Week Entry says the song talks about “how our shortcomings and failures can be taken as a learning experience because there is something beyond us, something great that encourages us. An example of such encouragement comes from our friends, who watch our backs when we are just cornered by our problems.” I find this to be quite true. They say you can learn more from a loss than from a victory, and personally, when I look back at some of my older writings from when I was still in school, they seem to be better then than they are now, and I chalk that up to the constant feedback that I was getting from friends, both in school and through e-mail, sparking my creativity and suggesting how I might rewrite lines to make them stronger. I suppose I can say that I can write better when I know that people are supporting me and looking forward to the next chapter. The arrangement is such that you can clearly hear Shiho going all out on the drums while the riffs from Aimi’s guitar reverberate for a few moments before she comes in again with another verse. Although Aimi is out in front as the lead, mixing it so that Shiho can be heard loud and clear was a good move on their part.

Next up is “Cupido”. I love how this starts very softly with clapping instead of drumming as Aimi accompanies the claps with her guitar before Shiho comes in. They always tell you to write what you know, and I will continue to be the conspiracy theorist that thinks Aimi does not just extrapolate her songs from books she has read or TV dramas she has watched, or things that have happened to her friends, and there will always be those that tell me that the only song that comes straight from Aimi is “Arigatou”. My fellow writers Ms. Butterfly and Ms. Salad talk about this song being about summer, and specifically summer love; and how you do not want either to ever end. While I can relate to the former; I wish it was always summer or spring, as long as it isn’t too humid; the bright colors of fall only remind me that the return of the nightmarish white substance that impedes driving is just around the corner. I cannot figure out if this is a song about spending that last good summer day chilling out at the beach with your friends, or a beach date with that special someone, or some combination of the two. I can relate, but probably not as much as my colleagues; both female; can. Nonetheless, it is a catchy song.

My introduction to “Nagareboshi” was at Anime Boston after Shiho had an MC session discussing the earthquake that had occurred in Japan around that time. At the time, it did not occur to me that she introduced the song because she had written it. But now, it makes perfect sense. Besides the fact that they can both play piano and knew how to play it before they learned the drums, both Rina from SCANDAL and Shiho write amazingly deep songs, which in Rina’s case is even more astounding because of her cheerful persona. But as with all ballads, Aimi is in her element, and gives words that are not her own life with the passion she puts into her singing. My counterpart sums up Shiho’s words by saying, “It is mostly a song of anguish, expressing someone’s inner thoughts and insecurities over a difficult moment; but mostly, this is also a song about growing up and the pain it sometimes brings.” It was a difficult time for Japan, which moved me so much to donate money to the Red Cross for it; but the lyrics relate to the disaster in saying that although times are difficult now and there is much pain and suffering, it will not always be this way. Wisdom must be earned, and sometimes it comes at a great cost; and once we pick ourselves back up again, we are stronger from the experience. Before I take Butterfly’s job, let me finish by saying that this is a beautiful song. Aimi’s guitar compliments Shiho’s drums, as the melody moves from melancholy to happiness and back again. My counterpart might have skipped this song until someone told her to check it out; in my case, it was an unfamiliarity with Stereopony’s B-sides that made me track them down. And as the “na na na’s” carry “Nagareboshi” to its end, so ends its section.

Ms. Salad already took the words right out of my mouth; this single is well produced and balanced. From my favorite song of all to a song I may need to consider as an insert for my writings, Smilfe delivers on all levels.

About the author

Destonus is a Very Good Days member from Massachusetts. He moderates the Stereopony, Draft King, and AIMI discussions, the Music Discussion forum along with Dereko, and manages the Very Good Days Encyclopedia Project.