On the broadcast of the radio program “IZONE Honda Hitomi’s World Get You” (every Thursday from 21:30 to 21:45) on June 18, 2020 (Thursday), IZONE’s Honda Hitomi answered questions about “Merry-Go-Round,” a song she wrote herself, from the new album “Oneiric Diary.”
Honda Hitomi: Today, “Oneiric Diary” has been released, so I’d like to talk a lot about the album. Last week, I was so eager to talk about it…I was so frustrated, but today, I’d like to talk as much as I can about the appeal of this album. Our new album “Oneiric Diary” contains a total of eight songs, two of which are in Japanese. And, you know, it also includes a song called “WithOne,” written by all 12 members of IZONE. And in this album, there is a song for which I wrote the lyrics for the first time in a while…
I’ve received a lot of questions about that from everyone, so I’d like to answer them one by one.
About the “instigation for writing lyrics” and the “theme of the song”
Honda Hitomi: First of all… from someone with the radio name “Pantomi Daisuki”.
Listener email: I’d like to know what the “instigation” and “theme” were that led you to write the lyrics for “Merry-Go-Round”.
Honda Hitomi: I think some of you may have seen my story about what inspired me to write lyrics, or rather the reason why I wanted to write lyrics for the song “Merry-Go-Round”. A while ago, when we were doing a photo shoot for a Korean magazine, we shot at a place that was like an amusement park that closed down and is no longer in operation. There was a merry-go-round at the shooting location, and I was inspired by seeing the merry-go-round.
The theme of the lyrics is, quite frankly, “dreams”. The “merry-go-round” in this song expresses “time that never stops,” and, um… it’s kind of like “life.” Yes.
By riding this “merry-go-round of time,” I met you and discovered a side of me I didn’t know before, so I want to keep making “my dreams with you” come true. So I tried to make it a song about “dreams in fantasy” that says, “don’t wake up from your dreams.”
I wonder if that gets across…? (laughs).
Thoughts on writing lyrics on your own
Honda Hitomi: From someone with the radio name “Mikan no Sakebi.”
Listener email: How was it writing lyrics on your own?
Honda Hitomi: …So.
That’s right. I’m always the type of person who writes lyrics alone, and I can’t write unless I’m locked in a completely silent room… In that sense, I was able to concentrate alone, so it was easy to write.
But when I’m writing Korean lyrics alone, I have worries like “will this get the meaning across?” or “are these words okay…” and I can’t share those worries.
But for me, I can’t write lyrics or come up with lyrics unless I’m in a place where there are no other people around… Yes.
In the sense of “writing lyrics alone”…that’s true.
I think I was able to concentrate better when I was alone.