You feel like a stranger to me Melting and mixing the feelings around But you are just a shadow In my eyes I miss you And I love you But because you aren't here I cant picture myself in that frame
You feel like a stranger to me I want to know who you are cause you're in me You are a whisper In my ear... I miss you And I love you But because you aren't here I cant picture myself in that frame I cant play by the rules Because there is no winning this game
I'm all alone In these dark woods I'm not going home And I easily could Reach for you Turn away I can take anything But this game
You feel like a stranger to me If you were with me would I still be the same? I miss you And I love you But because you aren't here I cant picture myself in that frame I cant play by the rules Because there is no winning - There is no winning this this game
Melinda "Hi, we’re the Promise Sisters and we’re going to tell you a little bit about ourselves."
Vanessa "Hi, I’m Vanessa Finnegan, Aya from Promise, and this is our kitchen which is where we practice our songs for Promise, and we keep our costumes hung up here, our different colors and stuff…."
Leanne(Camera) "Hi."
Melinda "Hi, I’m Melinda Finnegan, Emi from Promise."
Leanne "So, what are your favorite things to do in your free time?"
Melinda "Um, I like to draw, well I especially like to paint, and I like to play softball. I just became a pitcher so I’m excited."
Leanne "I like to watch TV, I like to write, I’m writing a book right now…I also like to sew, well actually I hate sewing but I sew anyway…. Am I looking like a total dork? (laughs)"
Melinda "I want to be an artist when I grow up, or a paleontologist. Um, I like hanging out with my friends, and my sisters."
Vanessa "I’m Vanessa, and I like to run and I like fencing. I also like to swim and I’m going to join a swim team next year probably, hopefully. We were all homeschooled until 2005 which is probably why we’re all so close, because we were each other’s only friends for awhile."
Leanne "Yeah, and It was really hard to make the transition between homeschooling and public school, so yeah, for me it was because I was homeschooled for a really long time."
Vanessa "It wasn’t that hard for me because I started it in 4th grade so it was pretty easy to make new friends back then, but I think homeschooling stays with you because I’m still kind of awkward in some social situations."
Leanne "Um, also, we were born in England, Vanessa and I were. And I lived there for 7 years before we moved to America."
Vanessa "But Melinda was born here. We still visit England a lot, well, not a lot, but as much as we can, because our Nanny and Papa (They are our Dad's parents) still live there and a lot of our Dad’s side of the family, and it’s really nice over there."
(three) "Hi Nanny and Papa! We miss you! "
Leanne "Oh we have a question on our formspring. My computer died so I have to remember it…it said 'What are three of your favorite songs, one from each of you?' My favorite song of all time is 'Canvas' by 'Imogen Heap', and she’s an English Artist."
Melinda "My favorite song is 'Party in the USA' by 'Miley Cyrus'".
Vanessa "My favorite song is 'Story of Girl' by 'Nine Days'”.
Leanne "In 2005 I went to my first anime convention, it was Onna Fest ’05, and I won the karaoke contest there so that’s how I got started singing. And then at AnimeNEXT 2006 my sisters came and that was our first anime convention together and ever since then we’ve been performing at conventions together. Um…my first anime that I saw…well I started off watching cartoons when I was younger on TV, and then my first anime I saw was 'Full Metal Alchemist' and I love that anime so much."
Vanessa "My favorite anime is'The Twelve Kingdoms'”.
Melinda "My favorite anime is 'Haruhi Suzumiya' and 'Spiral'".
続いてしまっていますが、お馴染み米・ニュ ージャージー州の三姉妹アイドルグループ Promise(Facebook)の長女であるLeanne リアンさんからの、 "Promise - original song news!" と題したメッセージ・ビデオが公開されています。 50秒ほどの短いものですが、例によってリアン さんの言葉を、英語と日本語で採録しておきま すね。 字幕で入れた方が見やすいかもですけど、 そうすると意訳も増えて、言葉のフォローが 完璧じゃなくなってしまいますし、難しいです。
"Hi,everyone! This is Leanne from Promise. I would just like to say thank you so much to everyone who's watching our videos. It means a lot to us that we can have fans out there that actually watching our videos. So,thank you so much.
I have some exciting news. I've been writing an original song for Promise. And I've working on it for some time. We're just getting to the point where we are ready to record it and everything. So we have an English and a Japanese version. So look out for that. We will be releasing that soon hopefully.
And one more thing. I've been working on my all original songs on my own YouTube channel. So please check that out. The link is right here. (http://www.youtube.com/leannemfinnegan ) And,yeah,so thank you so much. And Have a good night!"
リアンさんが、現地時間の４月30日付けでアッ プした、オリジナルとしては二曲目になるのが、 "Love will never die"という曲です。 この曲については、ビデオの冒頭にリアンさん による解説の言葉があるのですが、日本の方 にも伝わるように、その部分の採録を、英語と 日本語で、それぞれ掲載しておきます。
"Hey. I wrote a new song. And I really wanna share with you, cause it's really special. But first I wanna show you something. These are...past four years have been really hard for me and my family. I have one parent in my life now. And it's difficult to live with my dream and do what I want to do with my life. Because I've been really unmotivated and depressed. Especially last year in high school I struggled a lot.
The other day I read a news article about a young woman named Eva. She has the same dream as me to be an actress. I was amazed how strong and brave she was. Even though she struggled with cystic fibrosis, she still got her degree in theater in college. And she shared her life story with the world in a documentary called "65 Red Roses". She made me realize that I need to be strong to live my dream even through the hard times. Because I don't wanna let my life and my dreams just slip away. She didn't. She inspired so many people in this world.
Eva passed away on March 27, 2010. And I wrote this song in her memory."
そうですね、まずパフォーマンスとして変化 があるのは、末妹であるMelinda(Emi)さ んが、よりフィーチャーされている、ということ があると思います。 ただ初々しかった「夢の中へ」の頃と比べると、 ずっと堂々としたダンスと歌声を披露していま すよね。 前回発表した「Let Me Be With You」では、 次女のVanessa(Aya)さんが、初めてメイン・ ボーカルを担当してもいましたし、そういう意味 で、よりPromiseの、３人それぞれに魅力が 見つけられる、三姉妹アイドルグループとして の強みが構築されつつあるといえるでしょう。 今回はダンスの構成も、より「見せる」ことを 意識して、それが成功しているとも思います。 振り付けは全て長女のLeanneさんが考案し ているそうですが、良い仕事をしていますね。
４月14日付け記事でもお伝えしたように、 Promiseは、さる４月11日に、地元ニュージャ ージー州ホボケンのスティーブン工科大学で 開催された、Castle Point Anime Convention (公式サイト)内の、"Group Karaoke Contest" という企画で、司会を務めました。 記事では、ファンの方が撮影した準公式ビデオ としての、「Let Me Be With You」カバー動 画を紹介したんですが、その後Promise側から も公式な、イベントの模様を伝える動画が公開 されています。 「Let Me Be With You」は、こちらのアング ルから見た方が可愛いかもですね。 また、かなり気合いの入った、カラオケ・コンテ ストの参加者さん達の姿も興味深いです。
これまでのビデオを見てきてわかる通り、 Promiseのリード・シンガーは、長姉のLeanne さん、あるいはLeanneさんとVanessaさん で半分ずつくらいの担当だったわけですが、 今回はついに、Vanessaさんの単独リードに 挑んだわけです。 選ばれた曲は、アニメ「ちょびっツ」のOPである 「Let Me Be With You」。 作品はよく知りませんが(１話しか見ていないん です)、曲そのものは好きだったので、これは自 分にも、嬉しい選曲でした。
今回はこれまでの動画のように、ライブでのパ フォーマンスを収録したものではなく、テレビア ニメ「ef - a tale of memories.」(日本公 式サイト)のOPテーマ"Euphoric Field"を、 グループの長姉であるLeanne(Yuka)さんが ソロで歌ってカヴァーし、Promiseの色々な写 真をスライドショー的に構成したクリップになって います。
"Euphoric Field"cover and Promise Slideshow
僕個人はこの曲や、アニメとその原作となった ゲームについては何も知らなかったので、これ が初めて聞く機会になりました。 ELISAさんという方が歌っている、オリジナルの 歌詞自体も、そもそも英語なんですよね？ 日本人シンガーさんが歌っている英語詩曲を、 ネイティブのアメリカ人女性が歌ったらこうなる、 という実験としても面白いです。 ELISAさんも大学の英文学科在籍ということで、 英語はきっと達者な筈だと思いますけど、大き な文脈の中での、発音や表現にしても、違いは あるかもしれません。 「ef - a tale of memories.」のファンの方の 意見を聞いてみたいですね。
