Song Title Meanings
 

There are a few songs in Ayu's repertoire with titles I just don't get, or didn't get at first. I mean, it's pretty common for the name of the song to not be in the lyrics in either English or Japanese but still pertain to it in some way. Others are more ambiguous.

Ivy is the most recent one for me. My best guess on this one is the fact that it as an evergreen, very resilient and continues to grow regardless of what it goes through. Looking at it that way, it fits nicely with the overall theme of the song.

One of my all-time favorites, BRILLANTE, is another head-scratcher. I believe it is some form of brilliant in french or italian, one of those. One definition I looked up suggested shining or like a diamond. But none of those seem to fit this dark and philosophical song for me. It's all about being lost in the darkness and pursuing a path alone, paths diverging and learning to live with pain without showing it. So... maybe someone can help me out with this one.

call confused me at first, being before Letter and all; I figured it was referencing a phone call until reading the lyrics more closely. It does make me wonder if Ayu's understanding of English isn't better than I thought, since that word is a homonym and all that. But I think it's used in the sense of the name by which you refer to something... not being able to put a label on something or how to categorize it in your mind. Which makes sense. But being placed before Letter definitely made that one more puzzling.

From Misa-chan's translation of call: "Hey, but just what should I call this?"

I always figured that Ayu's more obscure titles are references to what or who she's singing about, and that only the person she's writing about would understand what it means. Like an inside joke, almost.

I wonder where Ayu got the title for Kanariya?

^That one should be pretty obvious...

For BRILLANTE, in my own opinion as always, I always took it as 'shining brightly' and could refer to the road that they may have shared together all along. Like saying, 'even though the road we walked together shines brightly we must walk seperate ones'. I have this interpretation because while the song is about needing to seperate and walk different roads on their own there's a feeling of not wanting that seperation to happen; as though saying, 'I know this seperation needs to happen but it doesn't mean I'm going to like it'.

Keep in mind that BRILLANTE has 2 meanings, like the english Brilliant :
shining like a diamond, but also means to be smart, clever.

i also always find that ayu's title songs don't fit with the songs lyrics.
and i rly wonder about "Ivy"
some said it's "I loVe You"?

The world "brillante" exist in english:
The music for sure is very... showy and musical-like.

That makes the most sense actually. Although it is a song about endings, it seems to have a very going out in flames vibe about it. I always think of a building burning down when I listen to it...

I don't get NaNaNa meaning at all. Does it simply mean NoNoNo?

I have a hunch that many of these song titles are simply the title of the original demo, to be honest.

I think most of the song titles are just her randomly picking out word(s) from the lyrics and (most of the time) loosely translating them into English

or just whatever she feels like calling them (I think WHATEVER is one example?)

well, "appears" is obvious
its how couples appear in real life relative to other people.

I have to disagree. I think WHATEVER makes sense also; I think the song is Ayu singing to a person who has a very whatever-attitude to people and feelings. Throughout the song she's telling a person to say certain things and express certain feelings and saying "I think that I'm not the only one who's been wanting to be together." is like showing that 'just because you don't say it, doesn't mean I don't feel like you feel that way too'.

OMG! Thank you. I don't know why I never thought of that. Many of Do As Infinity's earlier songs have the names of their demos, usually because the vibe of them reminded Dai of another band. Hence Tangerine Dream, Heart, Wings, etc. That was a very astute observation.

I wasn't saying that the title WHATEVER doesn't make sense, my point was that of course she can name her song whatever she wants. The sense of "WHATEVER" doesn't necessarily come from that kind of way of thinking (it's clearly your interpretation, and thus a possibility, but that doesn't necessitate the name "WHATEVER"). In any case, she named her songs as she saw fit.

My favourite song title of Ayu's has always been vogue as its definition just describes the songs lyrics so well...

vogue - the prevailing fashion or style at a particular time. Doomed to be no longer stylish one day.
lyrics (chorus) - " You bloom fully; a beautiful open flower. After that your petals will just silently fall." (Wataru's translation).

That's powerful. This is just one indication that I should've read more into her lyrics.

What about NEVER EVER?

I think I'll never get the meaning behind Humming 7/4 :P

She composed it by humming on a recorder and the time of some parts of the song is 7/4