NEXT DANCE
Inori Minase
Inori Minase’s “NEXT DANCE” is a song about transformation—about moving from fear and fragmentation toward resilience, connection, and renewal. Its lyrics dwell not on a single narrative but on shifting states: anxiety, hesitation, discovery, and ultimately affirmation. In this movement, the song becomes a metaphorical “dance,” where each step embodies contradiction, tension, and possibility.
The Fractured Self
ノートの隅 自画像
Nōto no sumi, jigazō
A self-portrait in the corner of my notebookあの日の私
Ano hi no watashi
The me of that day不安に押し潰れそうで
Fuan ni oshitsuburesō de
Almost crushed by anxiety震えていた 残像
Furuete ita, zanzō
A trembling afterimage
The opening frames the self as a fragile sketch, a “self-portrait” tucked away in a notebook’s margins. It is not a bold declaration of identity but a faint outline, trembling under the weight of anxiety. The “afterimage” suggests both memory and residue—a self that persists but feels insubstantial.
Questions Without Answers
どうでもいい どうすればいい
Dō demo ii, dō sureba ii
It doesn’t matter, what should I do?返事はない
Henji wa nai
There is no answer
The lyric captures the paralysis of indecision. The repetition of opposites—“どうでもいい” (it doesn’t matter) versus “どうすればいい” (what should I do?)—reveals a conflict where even apathy and desperation coexist. The lack of reply underscores a confrontation with silence, with uncertainty as the only response.
Multiplicity, Not Singularity
ごちゃ混ぜの気持ち 声 願い
Gochamaze no kimochi, koe, negai
Mixed-up feelings, voices, wishes軌道を探してたね
Kidō o sagashiteta ne
You were searching for an orbit一色じゃない
Isshoku janai
It’s not a single color
The self is not unified but mixed, chaotic. Rather than resolving into a singular truth, the lyric affirms plurality. The metaphor of “orbit” suggests both search and motion: the speaker is not lost in stillness but caught in a gravitational pull toward something undefined. The insistence on “not a single color” underscores an embrace of complexity, diversity of identity, and contradiction.
Into the Forest of Uncertainty
底知れない森を
Soko shirenai mori o
A bottomless forestあぁ 手付かずのまま 進む
Ā, tezukazu no mama, susumu
Ah, moving forward, untouched解像度上げようとして
Kaizōdo ageyō to shite
Trying to raise the resolution逸らしちゃったな ごめん
Sorashichatta na, gomen
But I looked away, sorry
Here the imagery turns almost mythic: the “bottomless forest” becomes a metaphor for the unknown. The attempt to “raise the resolution” is a striking image, a desire for clarity, yet clarity itself slips away. This acknowledgment of failure—“I looked away, sorry”—humanizes the struggle, refusing to offer false triumph.
The Contradictions of Emotion
嬉しくて 消えたくて 泣きたい
Ureshikute, kietakute, nakitai
Happy, wanting to disappear, wanting to cryほんの2ミリ
Honno 2-miri
Just two millimeters逃げ出したい 逃げ出したくはない
Nigedashitai, nigedashitaku wa nai
I want to run away, I don’t want to run away
This passage is one of the most striking in the song. Emotions collide—joy coexists with despair, the desire for disappearance with the urge to stay. The “two millimeters” image conveys how thin the line is between retreat and persistence, how close fragility and resilience can be.
Reflection, Connection, and Evolution
混ざり合って 反射し合え
Mazariatte, hansha shiae
Mix together, reflect one another多面体と進化論
Tamentai to shinkaron
A polyhedron and evolution一人じゃない
Hitori janai
You’re not alone
Here the song pivots: multiplicity becomes strength. The “polyhedron” suggests complexity, and “evolution” suggests transformation. Rather than seeking a singular truth, the lyric celebrates facets, reflections, and connections. This is where the motif of loneliness versus togetherness is most explicit: even in a “dark, dark world,” the self is not truly solitary.
Toward the Next Tomorrow
本当の自分
Hontō no jibun
The true self本当の答えなんてなくていい
Hontō no kotae nante nakute ii
It’s okay if there’s no true answer届けたい 生まれたい 照らしたい
Todoketai, umaretai, terashitai
I want to reach, to be born, to shine
This lyric rejects absolutes. The “true self” and the “true answer” are dismissed as unnecessary. What matters is movement—the verbs reach, be born, shine. The emphasis shifts from essence to action, from fixed truth to ongoing process.
The song closes with affirmation:
無数の至福に会えるのならば
Musū no shifuku ni aeru no naraba
If I can meet countless moments of bliss生き抜いてゆく
Ikinuite yuku
I will live through it好きになれてよかった
Suki ni narete yokatta
I’m glad I could love自分を そして
Jibun o, soshite
Myself, and then次なる明日へ
Tsuginaru ashita e
Toward the next tomorrow
The conclusion affirms survival, love, and continuation. What began as trembling and fragmented resolves into an embrace of multiplicity and forward motion. “Next Dance” is thus not about resolution in the sense of clarity, but resolution as resilience: the willingness to keep stepping forward into the next tomorrow.
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