Why didn't the girl scream? [Lyrics analysis of 'Monday Morning, My Skirt Was Cut']
Among Keyakizaka46's songs, this one is unique.
This is because the protagonist of this song is not a 'rebellious youth'.
She is even losing the energy to rebel.
From the very beginning, the protagonist questions school and adults.
If you won't teach me the truth,
I'll just find out on the internet
There is a resignation here that is unique to modern youth.
Rebellion in the past was passionate. People were angry at adults, hated society, and dreamed of revolution. But the protagonist of this song lacks that heat.
I don't even have anything passionate enough
to want to rebel against
In terms of other Keyakizaka46 songs, it is not an explosive anger like 'Fukyouwaon'.
It is colder. It is quieter.
And that quietness is what is terrifying.
The title of this song, 'My Skirt Was Cut', can of course be read as an actual incident of victimization. But I think it is more symbolic than that.
What is a skirt?
It is a uniform.
In other words, it is a role given by society.
A student. A high school girl. A youth with a future.
Such an identity is slashed by someone unknown.
And the culprit is unknown.
This is important.
The culprit is 'someone'.
They have no face and no name.
I guess someone on the commuter train did it
In other words, the enemy is not an individual.
It is society itself.
Crowded trains. School. Adults. Peer pressure. Anxiety about the future.
As a result of the accumulation of such countless stresses, the protagonist's skirt is cut.
It is not that one person is to blame.
That is precisely why there is no salvation.
By the second verse, this song becomes even more desperate.
Are we on a local train even though there are no dreams or hopes?
This is life itself.
Born. Go to school. Go to university. Join a company. Get married. Grow old. Die.
The tracks are visible.
Yet there is no hope visible at the destination.
Even so, the train does not stop.
That is why the protagonist says.
I can't be foolish enough to want to die,
nor is it fun enough to want to live on
This is not a death wish.
It is actually the opposite.
It is the reality of modern people who feel 'it is not painful enough to die, and not fun enough to live'.
Keyakizaka46 is often said to have sung about the anger of youth.
But I think otherwise.
What Keyakizaka46 sang about was not anger, but
the despair of a generation that had become unable to even feel anger.
And there is one passage in this song that is the most important.
Everyone lives while having something cut
Here, the story ceases to be about an individual.
It is not just the girl whose skirt was cut.
People whose dreams were cut. People whose confidence was cut.
People whose love was cut. People whose pride was cut.
Everyone lives while losing something.
Therefore, this song is not a song for victims.
It is a song for every human being as a stakeholder.
However, the protagonist does not cry until the end.
She does not scream. She does not seek revenge. She does not try to change the world.
She just asserts her existence.
I am here,
that is all I want to convey
I believe this passage is the core of Keyakizaka46.
If 'Silent Majority' is a song that says 'raise your voice', then 'Monday Morning, My Skirt Was Cut' is a song that says 'even if you cannot raise your voice, it is okay to be there'. The music video is also considered a work depicting the night before 'Silent Majority'.
This song is not a song of hope. Nor is it a song of despair. It is 'a song for people who live through Monday while being hurt'.
Even if my skirt is cut, I go to school.
I ride the crowded train.
Even if I cannot see the future, the morning comes.
That figure is by no means cool.
But it is beautiful.
The charm that the group Keyakizaka46 possessed lies in the fact that they sang about the dignity of human beings who continue to live without being able to fit into the world, rather than heroes who change the world.
I believe 'Monday Morning, My Skirt Was Cut' is the song in which that philosophy is expressed most sharply.