Aki (Autumn, for beloved you)

Composer: Nozomi Matsumoto

Words from composer:

A slightly bittersweet love song. At first it sounds like a word play, but the words are arranged in a unique way: the placement of the words “Aishite Iru(I love you)” to “Kirai(I hate you),” and “Aishite nai(I don’t love you)” to “Kirai janai(I don’t hate you).” Because we “love” someone, we have strong and intense emotions, such as hating them or fearing that they will hate us. And these emotions are continuous. I tried to express the swaying of the human emotions in the rhythmic fluctuation created by the struggle between the eighth notes and the quintuplets. In that “struggle” part, it’s better to sing freely, sharing the flow of one beat per measure, rather than trying to keep the rhythm exactly the same.