Free Fridays: Best realisation about songs.

18 July 2025

“It’s my turn!” one kid will shout from the back, fighting with another.

Every morning during school drop-offs, the kids will fight over who gets to play their song of choice in the car. We have a system now to take turns.

If it’s Idris’ turn, we’re doomed because it’ll be baa baa black sheep the whole way. Sarah will choose some song from her school concert, Daniel will choose a rap song that gives us all headaches. Mariam, she’s our DJ. She’s my go-to for what’s the nice song these days – mostly K-pop. She knows all the new K-pop groups and the trending songs, she’s pretty cool. And in no time, Fadza and I find ourselves bobbing our heads along to Korean words we don’t understand. Give us a couple months, we can probably speak Korean.

There’s this one song we’ve been listening to lately. It’s a Japanese song that Daniel or Mariam (can’t remember) found. And it’s so catchy. It’s called Shinunoga E-wa by Fujii Kaze. No idea who he is, but his Spotify song picture looks handsome and this song is so nice and soothing. It has a relaxing tone and his voice is melodious, so it’s a nice song to drive to.

A much better choice than Daniel’s usual nonsense.

We like to sing along to the chorus (because that’s all we can pronounce).

So we’d nod our heads and sing shinunoga e-wa, shinunoga e-wa.

We’d annoy our kids with it too when they ask questions.

“Mom, can we get ice cream?” Sarah will ask.

“Shinunoga e-waaaaa,” Fadza and I sing to ignore her.

“Dad, can we drop by FamilyMart on the way home?” Mariam asks.

“Shinunoga e-waaaaa,” we sing some more, while she rolls her eyes.

“Stoppppp,” the kids will say.

Anyway, one day, I was curious and asked them, “I love this song. By the way, what does shinunoga e-wa mean?”

“I’d rather die,” Daniel answers me.

Well, that’s rude!

“Excuse me, watch your mouth. Answer your mother properly,” I tell him sternly.

There’s a time to joke, and there’s a time to respect your parents.

“No, mom, the song means I’d rather die,” he laughs.

“WHAT?!!!” I exclaim.

“You didn’t know?” Mariam asks, bored.

“You mean all these time, you let your mother chant I’d rather die, I’d rather die?” I ask, gasping.

“We thought you knew!”

YA RABB -

ASTARGHFIRULLAHALAZIM!

Listening to these songs and being hypnotised by them is wrong enough in Islam, what more chanting nonsense words. *facepalm*

Thoughts of me buying groceries while having this song stuck in my head, chanting the chorus to myself and smiling. And then picking up cooking knives because we needed new ones. OMGGGGG…. If there was any Japanese in that supermarket, they’d be confused.

I smacked myself silly, vowing to stay away from that song. Or at least listen to it at home alone (also not a good look).

If you like music, here’s a reminder for you to check what on earth the songs you like mean, especially if they’re not in a language you’re familiar. Like how APT is a song about a drinking game and here Sarah is playing it on loop. I’ve even heard it at children’s school concerts. And I learned recently that a song I liked and kept singing was 100% about penetration. Fadza laughed so hard when he found out. I wear hijab, guys! Can you imagine. I swear, I’m the most naïve one in the family.

So yes, next song you hear, google it first so you’re not made into a fool by these trending people.

Your friendly neighborhood lyric police, signing off.

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If you have a brand you’d like me to tell the world about, drop me a line at hello@sincerelyvivy.com. Would love to be of service to you!

heart to heart

I shared this last Tuesday that a friend of mine from Nuffnang days Rachel Tan started her own business Nurts, wanting to foster meaningful experiences in our everyday bonds with our loved ones. Through games, books - when I heard these two, I was like I’M DOWN.

I have the Heart to Heart one and forced Fadza to play, and honestly we had so much fun. Then I played it again with my best friends and Mariam, and we laughed so much all the way till midnight. It’s a card game with questions and action cards, for us to get to know each other better. Highly recommended for family and friends games nights!

I had to describe an object to Fadza and he had to guess. Let me try it on you now.

It’s a cuboid. Typically white, grey or black. It has lines on it. And a flap that can open up and down. It’s normally high up above you.

Got it?

Come on…..

It’s….

AIRCOND!!

Fadza didn’t get it.

If you want this (or their other products) for your next games night, I got you a 15% off discount! Use the code “SINCERELYNURTS2” on their website here to redeem. This discount is for all products! Expires 15 August 2025, minimum spend RM120.

I just bought their other games too!

Can’t wait to play!

Till then, see you next Tuesday :)

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