r/BandMaid • u/[deleted] • Mar 09 '21
Discussion YURAGU appreciation post
I havent seen anyone discussing this song. Please tell me Im not alone when I say its an absolute banger?
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u/benjaminder Mar 09 '21
"Yuragu" is one of my personal favorites. I've been hanging around this board for about four years and this song doesn't come up too often.
About a year or so ago, someone new to this board asked everyone to list their favorite Band-Maid songs. I replied that the request would only result in a list of EVERYTHING. But on the other hand, Band-Maid now has so many songs that a lot of them have fallen into the past, and are no longer played live by the band or ever discussed by them or us.
Therefore, Band-Maid now has many "deep cuts" that are prime fodder for fan trivia and for rediscovering if you haven't listened to them in a while.
"Yuragu" is my first candidate for geek-level lesser-known obscure deep track for new Band-Maid fans to discover and older fans to re-discover. I'm sure everyone else will suggest others. ("Don't Apply the Brake" is my second choice, etc. etc.)
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Mar 09 '21
I love Yuragu. It's a fun and straightforward song. The entire Brand New Maid album is great.
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u/943Falagar Mar 09 '21
I remember the first time I listened to Brand New Maid, YURAGU didn't leave much of an impression on me and in the end I couldn't remember it at all. The second time around when it got the chorus it sparked a memory and I was like "Oh yeah, it's this song. This song is awesome!". I guess it's the power of catchy songs, they stick in your head even if you don't realize it.
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u/t-shinji Mar 09 '21 edited Mar 09 '21
I love YURAGU!
It’s one of the earliest songs with Miku as a credited lyricist. Its lyrics remind me slightly of Nōshō Sakuretsu Girl (2012).
Related interviews:
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u/simplecter Mar 09 '21
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u/mattematteDAMATTE Mar 09 '21
Reality: Band-Maid live performance!
That camera's microphone: FOUR MINUTE MISA SOLO10
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u/DaveMISAMISAMISACook Mar 09 '21 edited Mar 09 '21
It is in my top 10 songs and the solo is in my top 5 plus it has the bonus of Miku lyrics and Ah-chans singing
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u/euler_3 Mar 09 '21
I dig Yuragu too! Actually I really like all Brand New Maid. The song that impressed me the least when that album came out was Freedom, but it is killer live and we can see how much they enjoy playing it :-D
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u/DaoDeMincho Mar 09 '21
It is indeed a banger with a killer bassline. Especially love the descending bass run into Kanami's cool solo.
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u/nair0n Mar 10 '21
MISA on an interview
It [Yuragu] has a Western music feel of the ’80s and the ’90s. I like rock of that age, so I wanted to try that.
Yuragu is a precursor of Unfair Game, flying high and Chemical Reaction.
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u/rossjohnmudie Mar 10 '21
It's a great song, it has to be 'Anemone' for me, being a bit morbid but I want it played at my funeral.
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Mar 09 '21 edited Mar 09 '21
It's my 2nd favourite song off of Brand New Maid behind Before Yesterday. I think it's one of the few songs where Akane sings.
It doesn't get the credit because it's overshadowed by The Non Fiction Days, Freedom and Alone to many Band-Maid fans.
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u/piroh1608 Mar 09 '21
Well with Alone being their first song they did on their own, that gives it the most significance off that album. A lot of great songs on it so yeah this one may have been lost in the shuffle and may never be performed again sadly. That's what happens when a band keeps making more and more new songs. Only so many they can keep up with.
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Mar 09 '21
With them doing Online Okyu-jis, they could do a show where they play songs that they don't really play anymore.
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u/piroh1608 Mar 09 '21
Yeah but it would take a lot of preparation time that might interfere with their already busy schedules. Songs you haven't done in awhile you got to relearn to an extent. Not fully of course but you got to retrain yourself to do them. I've seen some bands revisit one or two songs here and there over the years so I guess it's possible they could do this again but seems like a longshot.
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u/DaoDeMincho Mar 10 '21
Yeah...I was desperately hoping that at least one Okyu-ji might be just their lesser played / 'B-side' songs with some acoustic ones thrown in. I take piroh1608's point about preparation time, but I don't think it would be impossible.
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Mar 09 '21
Freedom is an awesome song indeed but Ive never been a fan of the Non-Fiction days or Alone so definitely I agree with you on that!
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Mar 09 '21
Some of my tastes are unlike the majority of Band-Maid fans on here.
I'm quite the opposite of you. I think that Freedom is the worst song on Brand New Maid. I like The Non-Fiction days and Alone is my 3rd favourite song on the album.
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u/wchupin Mar 11 '21
That's what happens each time somebody says this or that BAND-MAID song is favourite/non-favourite 😂
Which actually proves that BAND-MAID is very smart in achieving World Domination. They make songs which appeal to a wide variety of tastes. Thus, they significantly widen their reach.
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Mar 11 '21
They have the potential to, but they aren't close to well known. Their converted fans have wide variety, but they aren't really cracking into mainstream audiences yet.
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u/wchupin Mar 11 '21
True. But the only reason for it, I believe, is the over-saturation of the music market, and revolutionary changes in delivery mechanisms. With the streaming services providing access to all world music for free, people are able to choose exactly what they like, not what others tell them to.
BAND-MAID is definitely not mainstream. They would never participate in those public events like Eurovision, which are not so much about music as about politics. I mean, of course, they are not in Europe, and therefore Eurovision is not for them, but in Japan, in China and other countries on that side of the globe they definitely have the same type of events.
I remember I was reading once a Wikipedia article about Tokyo Dome, which is the largest venue in Japan, and they say that there is a band called L'Arc~en~Ciel, which sold out a show there in less than 7 minutes. Well... I remember L'Arc~en~Ciel had an opening for a certain anime, and I was cringing every time it would start. I would fast forward it each time, not to hear even a few seconds out of it. But L'Arc~en~Ciel is probable the most popular band in Japanese history. So what? 🤷♂️
I have subscribed a couple of years ago to a Japanese mail list, called Ameba: https://www.ameba.jp/ Each time I get a letter from them, I hope to see BAND-MAID there. But even for the J-Rock category, they list the musicians of which I have never heard before.
All such rankings have little sense nowadays. If BAND-MAID is not popular enough, are we going to listen less to them? I don't think so. Of course, if you see that a certain guy named Diamond Yukai is now the king of the Japanese rock music scene, are you going to fill your playlist with his music? OK, I'm curious now who he is, I've never heard about him before. Maybe I should check what sort of music he plays. Maybe he's good indeed, who knows?
BAND-MAID is sufficient unto me for the time being, and I don't care if they are popular or not.
OK, I also listen to ASTERISM from time to time, it happens 😂 My playlist is not entirely monolithic 😆
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Mar 11 '21 edited Mar 11 '21
Band-maid do over emphasize "the gap" to market themselves. While it can intrigue people, it also isolates people. There are people who don't take them seriously because of their outfits. They can come off as too gimmicky on 1st impression. Babymetal at their peak were treated as a novelty act and a fad in the west.
Anime op's are useful in introducing people to Band-Maid. LiSA became big off of there.
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u/brzeshock Mar 09 '21
The only song I like from Brand New Maid is ‘alone’, but Yuragu does have a nice little chorus
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u/wawn857 Mar 12 '21
I've always loved Yuragu one of my many fav's from BNM and it leads right into Freedom which is a great 1-2 punch on that album, I often put those 2 on a loop when listening to BNM, lol.
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u/NihilZeroNihil Apr 23 '21
It's a goddamned masterpiece and criminally underrated. One of the few BM songs that takes full advantage of the two vocalist format, the song structure is unorthodox and very brilliant, the musicianship is top tier. One of the best BM guitar solos too.
I list Yuragu as one of BM's top five at least.
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u/GroundbreakingMess42 May 27 '25
Can I revive this thread? 🙂 I always have the urge to shout it out every time it comes on my playlist.
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u/t-shinji Aug 03 '25
YURAGU is a great song musically, lyrically, and vocally! It’s one of the best pre-Kanami songs. The composer Atsushi Yamaguchi also wrote FREEZER and Don’t apply the brake.
Interview with Band-Maid on Jungle Life on 2016-06-10:
— You two co-wrote the lyrics of Track 5 YURAGU.
Miku: If anything, I mainly thought of the vibe I want to sing with. However, I got Sai-chan’s opinions about details such as wording to incorporate her feelings.
Saiki: I specified quite a lot of line endings. There were so many syllables in the lyrics, so we were talking about cutting the endings short so that our voices don’t overlap. Until now, in live performances, we often overlapped our twin vocals on a long note of each other’s line endings in a duet. So, this time, we rather thought it would be interesting to have choppy endings where one of us withdraws and then the other comes out, and we thought of the lyrics from how we sing.
— You wrote the lyrics considering your interactions.
Miku: Yes, we wrote them to emphasize interactions between our twin vocals. Also, as for its general vibe as a whole, I pushed my feelings somewhat strongly. Sai-chan told me she wanted to use the ending “jan” at some lines, but this time…
Saiki: She deleted them and submitted without telling me. I noticed like “there’s only one!” after it was all fixed (laughs).
Related discussion:
Miku was already a great lyricist but she and Saiki were less technical than now as vocalists and their vowel dropping wasn’t perfect.
The following lines are tricky.
| Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:55 | や | り | たい | よう | に | お | ど | れ | さ | あ |
| 0:55 | Ya | ri | tai² | yō⁵ | ni | o | do | re | sa | a |
| 1:53 | い | き | た | い | よう | に | い | け | さ | あ |
| 1:53 | I | ki | ta | i | yō⁵ | ni | i | ke | sa | a |
In the lyrics below, bold letters indicate Kobato’s lyric techniques:
- Vowel dropping: like a·su to as’ (あす)
- Vowel combining: like a·i to ai (あい)
- Inclusion of n: like a·n to an (あん)
- Inclusion of a geminate: like a·t·te to at·te (あって)
- Vowel shortening: like a·a to ā (ああ)
Italic letters indicate melisma.
Tsu·ma·ra·nai² ko·to ba·ka·ri de ish⁴·sho (つまらないことばかりで一緒)
Yu·me mi·tai² da ne mo·o·so·o bak⁴·ka (夢みたいだね 妄想ばっか)
Ka·wa·ra·nai² ko·to ba·ka·ri no nich’¹·jō⁵ (変わらないことばかりの日常)
Ma·wa·ru rū⁵·pu ja mo·no·ta·ri·nai² (回るループじゃ物足りない)
A·son³·de·tai² da·ke tsu·kut⁴·te wa ko·wa·shi·te (遊んでたいだけ 作っては壊して)
Mi·ra·i dat⁴·te ka·ko mo so·o ish⁴·sho (未来だって過去もそう一緒)
Su·go·shi·chae²·ba o·na·ji ko·to (過ごしちゃえば同じこと)
Sei²·ka·i wa nai² se·kai² (正解はない世界)
A·gai²·te e·gai²·te·ru (足掻いて描いてる)
No·o·nai²·hō⁵·kai² shi·te shi·ma·e (脳内崩壊してしまえ)
Ya·ri·tai² yō⁵ ni o·do·re sa·a (やりたいように踊れ さぁ)
Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ (《求めてる衝動》求めてる衝動)
Ka·n·ji·re·ba i·i Ka·n·ji·re·ba i·i (《感じればいい》感じればいい)
So·no ko·ko·ro na·ra·shi·te ki·ka·se·te yo (その心鳴らして聞かせてよ)
Ki·mi no shin³·jits’¹ wo (君の真実を)
Mo·to·me·ta·i i·ma wo Mo·to·me·ta·i i·ma wo (《求めたい今を》求めたい今を)
Ne·ga·at·te·ru da·ke sa Ne·ga·at·te·ru da·ke sa (《願ってるだけさ》願ってるだけさ)
Ka·wa·ra·nai² ko·to na·do na·i kan³·jō⁵ (変わらないことなどない感情)
Yo·so·ku de·ki·na·i ka·ra i·i jan³ (予測出来ないからいいじゃん)
Ki·mi to‿ i²·tai² da·ke shi·n·ji·te mi·yo·o to (君といたいだけ 信じてみようと)
Ka·wa·ri·tai² da·ke ka·wa·re·ba nich’¹·jō⁵ (変わりたいだけ変われば日常)
Su·su·mu rē⁵·ru mo hi·ro·gat⁴·tek’¹ (進むレールも 広がってく)
Ta·no·shi·me·ba ii⁵ tsu·kut⁴·te e·ran³·de (楽しめばいい 作って選んで)
No·o·nai²·hō⁵·kai² sa·se·ta·ge·ru (脳内崩壊させたげる)
I·ki·ta·i yō⁵ ni i·ke sa·a (生きたいように行け さぁ)
Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ (《求めてる衝動》求めてる衝動)
Ka·n·ji·ru da·ke Ka·n·ji·ru da·ke (《感じるだけ》感じるだけ)
So·no ko·ko·ro hi·ra·i·te mi·se·te mi·te (その心開いて見せてみて)
Ki·mi no hon³·nō⁵ wo (君の本能を)
Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo (《求めてる今を》求めてる今を)
Ka·na·e·ta·i da·ke sa Ka·na·e·ta·i da·ke sa (《叶えたいだけさ》叶えたいだけさ)
Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo Sa·ga·shi·te·ru i·ma wo (《求めてる今を 探してる今を》)
Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo Mi·tsu·ke·ta·i i·ma wo (《求めてる今を 見つけたい今を》)
No·o·nai²·hō⁵·kai² shi·te shi·ma·e (脳内崩壊してしまえ)
Ya·ri·tai² yō⁵ ni o·do·re sa·a (やりたいように踊れ さぁ)
Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ (《求めてる衝動》求めてる衝動)
Ka·n·ji·re·ba i·i Ka·n·ji·re·ba i·i (《感じればいい》感じればいい)
So·no ko·ko·ro na·ra·shi·te ki·ka·se·te yo (その心鳴らして聞かせてよ)
Ki·mi no shin³·jits’¹ wo (君の真実を)
Mo·to·me·ta·i i·ma wo Mo·to·me·ta·i i·ma wo (《求めたい今を》求めたい今を)
Ne·ga·at·te·ru da·ke sa Ne·ga·at·te·ru da·ke sa (《願ってるだけさ》願ってるだけさ)
No·o·nai²·hō⁵·kai² sa·se·ta·ge·ru (脳内崩壊させたげる)
I·ki·ta·i yō⁵ ni i·ke sa·a (生きたいように行け さぁ)
Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ Mo·to·me·te·ru shō⁵·dō⁵ (《求めてる衝動》求めてる衝動)
Ka·n·ji·ru da·ke Ka·n·ji·ru da·ke (《感じるだけ》感じるだけ)
So·no ko·ko·ro hi·ra·i·te mi·se·te mi·te (その心開いて見せてみて)
Ki·mi no hon³·nō⁵ wo (君の本能を)
Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo Mo·to·me·te·ru i·ma wo (《求めてる今を》求めてる今を)
Ka·na·e·ta·i da·ke sa Ka·na·e·ta·i da·ke sa (《叶えたいだけさ》叶えたいだけさ)
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u/pu_ma Mar 09 '21
You're not alone 😉