Have you read the currently available issue of BRUTUS' "Special Feature: Love Songs" yet? In this issue, we asked some of the best music listeners to select the 100 songs you should listen to right now, and we've ranked them for you.
As a spin-off project, BRUTUS.jp conducted a reader survey from October 13th to 19th. Of the more than 300 songs collected, we will announce the top 5 songs that received the most votes, along with the stories behind them.
First, we'll be revealing just a few of the songs that unfortunately didn't make it into the top 5 but still received a lot of votes!
Sparkling/aiko
Aiko's "Kirakira" is a memorable song that a senior student I admired sang for me during my school days. Aiko's lyrics express everything in the world in just three words - "Spring wings," "Cutting your nails too short," and "My silver ring turning black." I am overwhelmed every time I listen to this song. / Tawawa-chan (42 years old)
Prema/Fujii Kaze
You can only love someone or something if you love yourself. I think this song is the ultimate love song by Fujii Kaze, who sings, "You yourself are love itself, I myself am love itself." / Kumomin (53 years old)
Boujou/Southern All Stars
Ten years ago in the summer, I went to Lake Tama with a girl I really, really loved. A few months earlier, she had lost the man she loved and was considering following him, but she acted as if she didn't want to show it in front of me. After listening to her story in full, standing in front of the vast lake, we both gazed silently at the sun setting over the lake. On my way home alone, listening to this song, I realized that there was no room for me in her heart, as she could not forget her deceased boyfriend. I think this song is set in the ocean rather than a lake, but every time I hear it, I vaguely recall a past love and the sunset reflected on the lake's surface. / Etsuko Ichihara (42 years old)
Mayoiga/Yoh Literature
With an intro that sounds like someone is running alongside me, and the opening lyrics "Welcome back, I've been waiting for you, everything's okay now," it makes me feel like there are people who have been watching me up until now and who acknowledge me, and it makes my eyes well up every time I listen to it. The phrase "Please love the world" appears several times. It feels like a prayer for everyone to acknowledge and love themselves, and then to find love for everything in the world. I thought it was a love song filled with loving feelings for all those in the world who are living life to the fullest in the present. / Kuri Gohan (23 years old)
The Man of Destiny/Spitz
My boyfriend and I have similar tastes in music, and Spitz is one of them. He doesn't like karaoke, but we often go to karaoke together, and he almost always sings "Unmei no Hito." The lyrics, "It's good enough to do too much," perfectly describe him, and he cares about me and cherishes me deeply. I love this song, which he sings with all his heart, always on my side. / Nakata (22 years old)
5th place: Theory of Happiness / Shiina Ringo
While there are many different forms of love in this world, I think Shiina Ringo's "Happiness Theory" depicts the essence of any love. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like the love between a parent and child, and a few years later, when I was talking about this song with my mother, she said, "It feels like my feelings for you," and I thought, "parent and child..." / Toko (23 years old)
I love the lyrics. The straightforward and strong will to simply think of the other person makes me feel like I can become just as strong, and that I want to continue thinking the same way. / Rerere (49)
4th place: BABY BABY/Ginkgo BOYZ
Breaking up with lovers, losing friends, being separated from family. I played this song because I didn't want to accept the reality that I couldn't be with all the people I'd met forever. However, after I began to interpret the lyrics "Everything is shining, waving goodbye" as meaning that the time, space, and memories I'd spent with those people were shining, I started playing this song because I wanted to embrace reality. From then on, I began to cherish hope for the present and future rather than harboring regrets about the past. / Young Forest (22 years old)
Even after losing you, I still want to continue loving you with these feelings, I want things to stay the same, I want these feelings to continue even if my relationship with you isn't eternal... This song evokes such transience. I want to cherish forever the time I spent loving you, the time we spent together, and everything else. I want to live forever for you. A song of love that asks for nothing in return. A love song that reaches the heart with Mineta's soulful voice. I too would like to be someone who can give that kind of love. / Hachi (25 years old)
3rd place: Love Song / Sambomaster
I love people who write literary and meaningful lyrics, but I also like songs like Sambomaster that express their feelings in straightforward lyrics. It's rare to find such a straightforward love song (even the title). / Chris (25 years old)
I was hit by the earthquake, and then lost my grandparents who lived in the area that same year, and our house was demolished. I was living without even understanding the sadness of it all, but then I heard this song at a Sambomaster concert and cried until I was completely hoarse. I wish I had seen them more while they were still alive, I should have been kinder to my grandmother who was battling illness in her later years, I should have visited their house more often - I'm filled with regrets, but Yamaguchi's soulful singing voice saved me. I'll always love you, grandparents in heaven! / Water Surper (26 years old)
2nd place: Slow Ballad / RC Succession
A song that is simple, without saying "I like you" or "I love you," but is very deep and sweet, like the origin of love songs. / Kaa (52 years old)
In my early twenties, I was busy learning my job. To refresh myself, I would drive to the mountains of Nagano in the middle of the night and gaze at the starry sky. I would stay alone in the car, wrapped in a blanket, until morning. At those times, I always listened to slow ballads. They embraced and soothed my exhausted body and mind. Even now, when I listen to these songs, I feel the sadness of those days and the affection I feel for myself. They are love songs directed at myself. They are precious and I really, really love them. / Hana (64 years old)
1st place: I Love You / Yasuyuki Okamura
The song is filled with "I love you" and the feeling of happiness is overwhelming. I would like to hear the straightforward lyrics "I love you" too. / Oxfu (54 years old)
The first song by Okamura-chan that my father, a huge fan of hers, introduced me to was "Daisuki." Whenever I go to karaoke, I sing it, remembering the shock I felt when I first heard it after my father recommended it to me, and more than anything, thinking of my beloved girlfriend. The romantic choice of words and their straightforwardness make me happy no matter how many times I listen to it. I love how the sounds in "Hey, Three Weeks Honeymoon" fit together so well. / Hiichi (16 years old)
When the intro to "Daisuki" plays at Yasuyuki Okamura's concert, I feel the whole venue become excited. I feel so happy to be able to sing the lyrics "I love you" together. As the lyrics say, this also makes me think, "There aren't many things that are this important." / Poka (23 years old)
