INTRODUCTION
“Unhappy Refrain” is the title of Japanese musician Wowaka’s (1987-2019) first full-length album, released in 2011, which gained critical acclaim online and launched his successful music career. Written while he was still in college, the album has 14 tracks and features the then newly released musical software Hatsune Miku, colloquially known as vocaloid. Wowaka is widely credited with being one of the early artists that brought about Hatsune Miku’s great rise to fame, with songs from the album such as “Rolling Girl” reaching the vocaloid Hall of Myth, a category for vocaloid songs exceeding 10,000,000 views on Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga.
Themes of the song vary, but underpinning the narrative is a coming-of-age story—the notion of someone trying to figure out who they really are. This message resonates with people from all walks of life, but especially young people who haven’t figured out their identity yet which could be a reason for its immense success in the online space. I decided to translate this album as the process offers an opportunity to closely study Wowaka’s musical style. An enigmatic artist, Wowaka was widely known for his at-times nonsensical but deeply profound lyrics. I wanted to understand the mechanisms he uses to tell his stories through his somewhat eccentric lyricism. Beyond that, this album is of great personal importance to me. I was one of the young people who found comfort in the tumultuous themes and emotions of the album, so for me it’s a very cherished piece of musical storytelling.
Throughout my journey through Wesleyan, I have been fascinated by the intersection between music and culture. I took this capstone opportunity to focus my efforts not only on the analysis of the broader concept of a shared collective identity, but on understanding how an artist expresses their individual identity, and how that resonated with Japanese youth online. What better way to do this than a deep-dive lyrical analysis through the effort of translation?
Though Wowaka passed away of heart failure in 2018 at the young age of 31, the work he created during his brief career has undoubtedly impacted many. In my translation, I hope to provide English-Speaking audiences access to this album, so they could connect to his work and find comfort in the music which deals with the universally frustrating and emotional journey of discovering who you are and what really matters to you.
FILE LINK
I figured having all 14 songs on one post would be a bit overwhelming, so I’ve decided to instead attach a pdf file that contains all the translations. The tracks are presented in order, and hyperlinked to the title of the song is the corresponding youtube video if you wish to listen to the song will reading the lyrics. This was an intense labor of love for me and really tested my langauge ability. I hope you enjoy!
