■ “May the pain and sorrow felt by children, mothers, fathers, their names and ideals be eased even just a little, and may they all be treasured.” (Back Number, Iyori Shimizu)
back number will be performing the theme song for the Fuji TV Monday 9pm drama “The Beginning of the Sea,” starring Meguro Ren (Snow Man), which begins on July 1st.
It has been about nine years since back number last sang the theme song for a Monday night drama, “5→9~Watashi ni Koi Shita Obousan~” (October 2015). The “Christmas Song” that was chosen as the theme song for the drama has now become a Christmas staple.
The title of the theme song that back number wrote to accompany the story of “family” depicted through various images of “parents and children” is “To New Lovers.”
The song was written by Shimizu Iyori, who read through the scripts for episodes one through nine of the drama, and had numerous discussions with the drama’s producer, Murase, to share the drama’s theme and worldview before writing it specifically for the drama.
The opening melody, which only back number can weave, resonates in the heart, and the lyrics and singing voice of Shimizu seem to ask different questions to different listeners. This song flows as if it is gently embracing the conflicts and worries that everyone will have at some point in their lives, and it is a song that not only allows you to relate to the characters living in the story, but also makes you want to think about the story of someone important to everyone who comes into contact with the song.
The main character of the drama is Tsukioka Natsu (Meguro Ren). During his university days, he started dating his classmate Nagumo Mizuki (Furukawa Kotone) by chance and spent happy days with her. However, one day when he was about to start job hunting, she suddenly broke up with him, and the two broke up. Seven years have passed since then, and he is now dating Momose Yayoi (Arimura Kasumi) and starting a new life.
During this time, Natsu learns from a friend from her university days that Mizuki has passed away. Since she had not seen her friend since she was told that she was leaving, Natsu heads to the funeral without realizing it. There, she meets a young girl named Umi (Izumiya Sena). Natsu is shocked to learn that the girl is Mizuki’s child.
Then, Mizuki’s mother Akane (Otake Shinobu) tells Natsu that he is Umi’s father. Natsu learns that Mizuki had a child with him without his knowledge and had raised the child without telling him anything. He thinks back to the seven years that Mizuki and Umi had spent together…
One of the major themes in this work is “parent-child love.” When and how does a person become a “father” and when and how does a person become a “mother”? The relationship between Natsu, who had no idea that his child had been alive for seven years or how he had lived up to that point, and Umi, who suddenly appeared in his life, and the mother-child relationship between his deceased girlfriend and her daughter, are realistically and carefully depicted and woven together by the characters.
The melody of “New Lovers” is filled with kindness and sadness, and is appropriate for the theme of this work, which depicts the overlapping bonds of family. It is something that only back number can play. The producer, Takeshi Kobayashi, was in charge of the production, just like the Christmas song.
Be sure to check out the theme song performed by back number, which will reach everyone watching the story.
■ Comment from Shimizu Iyori (back number)
・About “The Beginning of the Sea” and “To New Lovers”
When I encounter the innocence I lost long ago, when I see a new generation creating things I would never have thought of, and when I witness the birth of life, I suddenly feel that “I guess I have to pass the baton now.” However, this is not an easy thing to do. I can’t give up on my life. But I also want to cherish it with all my heart.The true words that I always keep locked away, thinking “I shouldn’t tell anyone,” were drawn out by each person who appears in “The Beginning of the Sea,” and I wrote them in the same, unadulterated color of “myself” which is so embarrassing that it became the song “To New Lovers.”
May the pain and sorrow felt for children, mothers, fathers, their names and ideals be eased, and may they be cherished.
■ Producer Ken Murase (Fuji Television Network, Drama and Film Production Department) Comment
I think that the theme song is the lifeblood of a drama series. When I heard the idea for the setting from the scriptwriter, Ikukata-san, and started planning this drama, I decided to ask back number to write the theme song. I love the songs that Iyori-san weaves, singing incredibly delicate emotions with incredibly beautiful melodies, and I thought that it was the world I was trying to aim for in the place called drama, so I have been listening to back number’s songs with a feeling of admiration. I think back number is a band that consistently depicts something like “the strength hidden in a weak man” or, conversely, “the weakness that a strong man holds”. When I wanted to make the theme song of this drama a song with the theme of “a father’s feelings for his son”, the image of the main character that Iyori-san has drawn so far as a father came to my mind. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Iyori-san and have a meal, and I was able to talk a lot, a lot about the theme of this drama and what I want to portray in this drama. After that, he read the scripts from episode 1 to episode 9 and wrote melodies and lyrics that fit the world of this drama. Every time a new demo arrived, we exchanged a lot of messages almost every night, and I sent the members a lot of things, including the main footage we had just shot, stills for posters, and even picture books that appear in the drama, and they looked at them, and created a song that embodied the world of this drama in the form of music in an unparalleled way. I also visited the studio where the song was being produced and the final mix, and witnessed how the originally wonderful song was elevated to its utmost limit through the careful and delicate work of everyone, including Iyori, Kazuya, Hisashi, and producer Takeshi Kobayashi. The final song, with the power of lyrics, melody, singing voice, performance, and arrangement…I think it has become a song that contains not only “my father’s feelings” but much bigger and many more emotions. I feel that this is a special song that allows you to feel the feelings of not only the main character Natsu (Meguro Ren), but also Yayoi (Arimura Kasumi), Yamato (Kido Taisei), Mizuki (Furukawa Kotone), Tsuno (Ikematsu Sosuke), Akane (Otake Shinobu), and even the child Umi (Izumiya Sena). I would be happy if you could listen carefully to this song and feel the world of “The Sea’s Beginning” along with this song, including the meaning of the title “To New Lovers,” which made me say, “As expected of back number!”
Program Information
Fuji Television Network, Inc“The Beginning of the Sea”
Starts July 1, 2024 *First episode extended by 30 minutes
Every Monday 21:00-21:54
Cast: Ren Meguro, Kasumi Arimura, Sena Izumiya, Kotone Furukawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Shinobu Otake and others
Screenplay: Miku Ubukata
Music: Masahiro Tokuda
Produced by: Ken Murase
Directed by: Kazama Taiki, Takano Mai (the official spelling of “taka” is “hasigotaka”), Jeong Eun-hee
Produced and written by: Fuji Television
“The Beginning of the Sea” Official Website
https://www.fujitv.co.jp/uminohajimari/
Snow Man OFFICIAL SITE
https://starto.jp/s/p/artist/43
https://mentrecording.jp/snowman/
back number OFFICIAL SITE
http://backnumber.info/
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