With the song “For Lovers” by Lamp having 12 million streams across platforms, most people have likely heard of the band one way or another. Whether it be from a TikTok audio or the song itself, Lamp is a band that is becoming current.

Lamp is a Japanese band that consists of three members: Taiyo Someya (guitar), Yusuke Nagai (guitar), and Kaori Sakakibara (vocals). The two guitarists met and became friends in middle school while Sakakibara joined the friend group in their college years. In 2003, they released their first album, which paved the way for the new city-pop band.

On February 11, 2004, Lamp released their second album titled “For Lovers.” Although it performed worse than their previous album, it became a favorite among their fans. “For Lovers” is a cute love album that is full of poetic storytelling. While the album only has eight songs, they blend together nicely and portray a story.

Each song in the album has meaningful lyrics, but it can be hard to understand for listeners that do not know Japanese, so why not break them down?

Starting with their title track, “For Lovers,” a short but beautiful song consisting only of a couple sentences with slow guitar strumming in the background. The song describes a person looking at the seasons changing but being reminded of their lover in the ever-moving scenery.

The next song, “HIROGARU-NAMIDA” (Spreading Tears) is more upbeat than the previous song. The song will definitely get the listener to dance in their seat or mumble the lyrics. While the song is upbeat, it has a melancholic feeling. It explains the singer being happy about the trickling rain, which signals the end of summer, but they are still being reminded of the small town that they are leaving.

If the last song does not have a person dancing, the song “Last Train At 25’ O’clock” most definitely will. This song is the second most popular song on this album and with good reason. The song is adorable and explains a set of lovers missing the last train, wandering around the city aimlessly. The two lovers hold hands in one of their pockets and walk around in the cold, dimly lit streets. The song references the color white, and the cold weather to put emphasis on the changing seasons.

“Out On Sunny Sunday” is one of the most underrated songs on the album. It’s a very upbeat and uplifting song that will make anyone happy just by listening to it. This song takes place at a baseball game with the singer’s girlfriend. He explains how he looks at her eyes as she watches a baseball roll on the ground and how her smile reminds him of the smiles on the baseball boys. He says that his day off of work is a precious day to spend time with his girlfriend. Because the song is so happy, “Out On Sunny Sunday” is an amazing song to listen to when you are having a bad day.

The least popular song on the album, “Tomorrow Comes I Will,” is severely sold short. It is a sadder song when compared to the rest of the album. This song is told from the perspective of a girl going through a breakup. As seasons change, and as time goes by, the couple’s feelings for each other start to fall apart. She can tell that her boyfriend was waiting for the day that they would break up. She even explains how she knew when it would inevitably happen. While she knows how much they loved each other, the break up affects her more than him. Tears wet her hair and smear her makeup as she sits estranged. In the last part of the song, she goes on to say how she will be there for him with open arms whenever he feels sad or upset.

“Rainy Tapestry” is a very melancholic song that explains a one-sided love. As the singer is walking through the streets on a rainy day, she stumbles into a man sitting under an elm tree. She admires him from afar, and she slowly gains feelings for him. The rain is heavily symbolized in the song to describe her feelings. She describes her feelings to be the same as the falling rain and compares the one-sidedness of the love to a closed umbrella. Her love is the same as sugar cubes melting in a cup of tea. She eventually falls asleep after she confesses her feelings to the moon, and the rain starts coming down again.

In contrast to other songs from Lamp, “Words of Love” is more vague and mysterious. The song essentially describes a man waiting for his love to come to him at night. He knows she is on her way and is excited to see her. He fiddles around and looks out his window, looks at the night sky, and thinks about what words he wants to say to her when she arrives.

The last song on the album, “Behind the Moon Shadow,” is probably the saddest song on the album. It is one of the longest songs, but it is still a great one. It explains the bygone feelings of a past and innocent relationship. The singer reminisces on a past date where he walked across the beach with his lover behind the moon’s shadow. The happy memories make him wish he was still stuck in the past. While it is a sad and depressing song, it definitely wraps up the album well.

Lamp is a band that is currently becoming more and more popular. With social media giving more attention to the artists, every person should give Lamp a listen.