On the bayfm radio program “Tonight, Under Sakura’s Tree” (every Wednesday from 24:00 to 24:30) broadcast on Wednesday, October 7, 2020.
Sakura Miyawaki: Well, in the meantime, there are only 14 days left until the release of IZ*ONE’s first Japanese album “Twelve”.
The script says, “I thought it was still a long way off, but it’s almost here,” but there are still two weeks left. When will it be released? I wish they would just release it already (laughs).
Last week, we aired FIESTA (Japanese Ver.), a track from the album “Twelve.”
I’ve received some feedback on it, so I’d like to share it with you.
Thank you, radio name Polo.
Listener email: Good evening, Saku-chan.
I listened to the Japanese version of FIESTA, which was aired for the first time in space the other day.
It was amazing.
I was completely used to the Korean version of FIESTA, but ever since the track list for the album was released, I was excited to see what the Japanese version would be like, both in terms of the meaning of the lyrics and the sound.
And when I listened to it, it was truly amazing.
The first thing I felt when I heard the Japanese version was that it felt like a new song, different from the Korean version in a good way.
It felt like Saku’s interpretation, based on her deep understanding of the song, had been added to the worldview of the Korean version, but it didn’t ruin the original worldview, and it matched just right.
What was impressive was that throughout the song, I felt a stronger sense of subjectivity than in the Korean version.
“If you start,” that’s right, “The time we’ve been waiting for has finally come,” and while the Korean version is a bit passive and about leaving ourselves to fate, the Japanese version is more positive, confident, and proactive, saying, “We’ll bring about that time ourselves.”
It felt like I could get a sense of Saku’s inner self, and listening to the song made me feel happy.
Miyawaki Sakura: Wow. Thank you for your wonderful feedback.
Ah, but as this person said, when I wrote lyrics I thought that IZ*ONE’s passive nature might not suit FIESTA.
So I wanted to express in these lyrics the proactiveness of taking action on your own, and the strength to change your own destiny, so thank you for noticing that (laughs).