3XL is a love song built on one silly, great joke: his feelings got too big for him, like a T-shirt three sizes too large. It opens with a girl he once liked standing in the front row at his show, "ๅใไฟบใฎ้ณใซไนใฃใฆใ" [you're riding on my sound], and he admits "ไฟบใฏๅฐใๆธๆใฃใฆใ" [I'm a little thrown]. Then the image lands: "ใใซใใซใฎ 3XL" [a baggy 3XL]. Bukabuka is the Japanese word for clothes that hang loose and flap around, and it is a fun one to learn.
The verses flash back to school. She teased him at lunch, "ๆชๆฏใช้กใงไฟบใ่ชใฃใๆผไผใฟ" [lunch break, when you tempted me with a mischievous face], and he showed off way too hard at dance school, "ใฏใฝใขใใใพใใฃใ" [I showed off like crazy]. Apiru is slang made from the English word "appeal", meaning to show yourself off, and kuso here just cranks it up. He also compares the two of them to "ๅ ็ซใจ็ ๅ" [an immune system and a germ], which is a very odd way to say you are lovesick, and I love it.
The second verse jumps ahead: "ใใใใ10ไฝๅนด็ตใฃใฆใใ " [it's been ten-something years since then]. She has a boyfriend, and he shrugs it off as "็ฉบๆฏใ" [a swing and a miss], a baseball word for a strikeout. He even remembers the "MD" they listened to together, the MiniDisc, a music format that was big in Japan around the 2000s. The chorus turns the joke around: "ใใซใใใใใใฎๆใฏ" [this love is way too big], but now it "ใใฃใใใใฆใ 3XL" [fits, 3XL]. He grew into it. The kindest line comes near the end, "ๅนธใใใใงๅนธใ" [you look happy, so I'm happy], and he even says not squeezing her sweaty hand back is why he has the life he has now.
Number_i is a Japanese trio of Sho Hirano, Yuta Jinguji and Yuta Kishi, formed in October 2023 under the agency TOBE.
Their debut single "GOAT" came out on January 1, 2024, and that April they played the Coachella festival in California.