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Jin’s Sing-and-Talk Livestream Side:Alone

Summary of this year’s livestream from Jin’s official YouTube channel. Original video here. Part 2 here. Done on commission!

The livestream starts with Jin checking his microphone and tuning his guitar. He plays a little bit while asking the listeners if the sound is okay. Then he proceeds to thank everyone who is listening and says he would like to perform a number of songs out of the music he has been making until now. He comments that even though it’s the tenth anniversary of his career, he doesn’t want to make the livestream too stiff because of that, and asks everyone to give their opinions about his music on Twitter and the like. He adds that although he decided to make this a two-day stream, which feels like a big deal, he’s actually streaming from his home.

Jin goes on to explain that the theme of this livestream is loneliness, since the first day’s livestream is titled “side:Alone”. Therefore, he wanted to play songs that evoke loneliness. When he starts playing, he stutters out that he’s getting nervous. He points out that the difference between his normal voice and singing voice is too big, and he hasn’t tuned up his voice enough, so he might break into falsetto. As he asks the listeners to wait a little bit, they urge him to hurry and begin, so he decides to just go for it and starts off with “Lost Time Memory”.

After he’s done, he says that he really likes the verse that goes, “don’t say such sad things” in particular. They’re not difficult words at all, but he’s glad to have put them in the lyrics. He then plays “Additional Memory”. Once it’s over, he says that he made the song with the image of “being alone despite having people around you”. He had once heard that when people pass away, they see their life flash before their eyes and an instant feels like an eternity, which had him thinking, “I see”, and that’s how he came up with the lyrics of it.

Before he plays the next song, “Inner Arts”, he says that he had made it long ago and would be happy if any of the listeners know it or like it. After playing, he says he created this song as a sort of cheer from within. He had actually messed up a part of it and explains that it was because he tried to read the comments while playing. He didn’t want to let them go unread and wishes he could do both things at the same time, but admits that he loses focus otherwise.

He then plays “Kiero”, one of his new songs, and says that if there was anyone who hadn’t heard of it yet, he would like them to listen. He says the lyrics are quite dark, but they match the theme “alone”. He quite likes the last part of the lyrics (“shut up, shut up, disappear, disappear”). He keeps coughing and clearing his throat every now and then but guarantees that he’s not sick or anything.

After a little bit of trivia about guitar playing and comments about how hard living is, Jin moves on to “101”, from “Sangatsu no Phantasia”. He’s proud of the lyrics and clarifies that “101” (originally read in English, “one-oh-one”) meant 1-0-1 in Japanese.

This was followed by “Kuusou Forest”. This one, too, is almost 10 years old. He laments ruining such a beautiful song by clearing his throat so much while playing, but can’t play it by himself without doing so because the notes are so high. He notes that all his songs are high and hard to sing, but he can play more or less the way he deems as ideal with an acoustic guitar. He calls it a “high-calorie song”, because it takes a lot of energy to play it.

He asks the listeners to allow himself to ready his heart for the next song, “Imaginary Reload”. Again, a song he really likes. He says he had “Kuusou Forest” in mind when making it. “Kuusou Forest” is a very uplifting song, so both might sound different, but he made them so that they would be like two sides of the same coin. He adds that perhaps quite a lot of his songs are like that.

The song that follows suit is a more cheerful one: “Yuukei Yesterday”. He makes a commentary on the “mitsuketa-ta-ta-ra taiyou wo niramitsukete” part of the lyrics, saying that it’s supposed to be “mitsuketa taiyou wo niramitsukete” and not “mitsuketara taiyou wo niramitsukete”. As to why he made it so easy to mistake, in his own words, he says he simply likes the catchy “ta-ta-ta-ra”.

He then announces that the next song is a bit loud, but goes for it without reserve. After he’s done with “Yobanashi Deceive” (which – surprise, surprise – is yet another song he likes), he says that he likes the funky sound of it, despite it being so hard to play. While preparing his guitar for more, he says that his stamina has come back.

The next song is “Lost Day Hour”, which is rather laidback, in contrast. Jin said he made it while thinking about the people who are treading their paths in life all by themselves. He comments about the simplicity of it and that he thinks it’s a very nice song. He has put the things he thinks about into it.

As the livestream reaches its last 20 minutes, Jin says he has an announcement to make, which might be a little bit late, but he had already posted said announcement to Twitter as well. After “Alone”, he wanted to use “Circle” as the next theme. The word “circle” bears the image of people gathering up, as opposed to “alone”, and of connecting bonds (because, although the theme’s title is “Circle” in English, the word “circle” in Japanese has the same pronunciation as the words “bond”, “fate” and “tidings”).

Jin resumes playing with the ending song of LISTENERS, “Love Song”, saying that the one who sings originally is the heroine’s voice actress, Takahashi Rie, but he would be singing a cover of it. He says that when he was writing the lyrics, he felt the chorus surging up within him. Although he always puts his feelings into all of his songs, this one hits particularly close to home and he wanted to convey that to the listeners.

He then takes a break. While doing so, he tips in on the fact that he enjoys coming up with themes to do things. He likes giving the fans food for thought with the meaning of the themes, like, “This song was used for Alone, so that one must be… for Circle, I guess”. He then announces his upcoming album and goes back to playing with a song from it, “FREAKS”. Not much was commented on this one other than that it’s a new song and that he’d like everyone to listen to the new release.

The next song is “RED”. All he says for this one is “This one was a song titled ‘RED’”, and then goes straight to playing “Summer Time Record”, lol. He was only playing half of each song, but as a good Haruka fanboy, he played the entirety of this one. He goes on to explain that these two songs overlap with his childhood days, which has left very vivid and lively impressions in his mind, but he thinks they’re very lonesome songs, so he added them to “Alone”.

Jin starts saying his goodbyes and announces that he’ll be finishing the livestream after one final song, “Gojitsutan” – one that he had written last summer. He also made this one while thinking about his childhood self. After he finishes playing, he admits that the last song got his throat. He says he’s going to train more and get his revenge on said song later. He then thanks everyone and says his goodbyes once more, ending the livestream while asking his fans to do their best at living their lives so that they could meet next time.