"ダーリン" (Darling) by Mrs. GREEN APPLE is a love song with a loneliness problem. The singer keeps listing what they want: 負けない何かが欲しい [I want something that won't lose], 解けない絆が欲しい [I want a bond that can't come undone]. The idea is that if they had a love that was only theirs, they could finally stop comparing themselves to everyone else. Then the nights get honest. They lie curled up, 布団で小さくなってる [making myself small in my futon], and admit that even on a road they chose themselves, they still look back sometimes.
The chorus is the sweet part. Darling 僕の背中に乗って泳いでて [Darling, ride on my back and swim], because the sea of やるせない日々 [helpless, miserable days] is deep. Watch the pronouns here: the singer flips between 僕 (boku, a casual "I" usually used by boys) and 私 (watashi, a neutral or feminine "I"), and even puts '私' in quote marks. It reads like someone figuring out who "I" even is. My favourite moment is near the end: 私のワダカマリ [my lingering resentment, that knot inside] won't ease just because everyone feels the same, and the singer finally asks 私の私で居てもいいの? [is it okay for me to just be me?]. The answer comes straight after: あの子にはなれないし / なる必要も無いから [I can't be that girl, and I don't need to be]. Blunt, a bit self-mocking, and a great line to learn the casual ~し and ~から endings from.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE is a Japanese pop-rock band from Tokyo, formed in 2013 by vocalist and songwriter Motoki Ohmori. They made their major-label debut in 2015 with the mini-album Variety on EMI Records.
Since the start of 2022 the band has been a trio: Ohmori, guitarist Hiroto Wakai and keyboardist Ryoka Fujisawa.