When you're happy or sad, when you want to work hard or relax, the music you want to listen to will vary depending on your mood at the time.

What kind of music is in the lives of Pacific League players? We will introduce a playlist that gives a glimpse into the players' daily lives and personalities. In the fourth installment, we will introduce the "Personal Mrs. GREEN APPLE Best Album" carefully selected by Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles player Yukiya Ito.

Ito, who is an avowed big fan of Mrs. GREEN APPLE, was asked to choose her favorite song from the many songs they have!

When Ito researched the songs she had heard on social media or around town that she thought were good, she found that they were mostly Mrs. GREEN APPLE songs, and although there was no clear trigger, she had become a fan without even realizing it. "I was already hooked as of two years ago!" she said with a smile, but then she said with a bit of sadness, "I've been losing tickets to their live shows for a long time..." Here are the five songs that Ito carefully selected.

[Previous "Playlist Pa" can be found here]

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(1) Tensho no Uta (feat. Inoue Sonoko) / Mrs. GREEN APPLE
...There's nothing else I can say about this song. I love the lyrics, the atmosphere of the song, the melody, everything about it. It's very difficult to put into words, but I just love it. When I'm relaxing at home and I suddenly feel like listening to it, and once I start playing it, I want to listen to it all the way through. I often have music playing at home, and when I think, "What should I play?", this is the song that immediately comes to mind.

(2) Whale Song / Mrs. GREEN APPLE
...I think this song will resonate with people who feel lonely and think, "I'm trying my best, but no one is watching me." I interpret the lyrics as a message that says, "Even if you feel lonely, someone is definitely watching you, so stay positive and do your best," and there are many parts that I can relate to. As you fight through a long season, there are times when you can't help but feel left behind if you don't get results. Even at times like those, it gives you a positive feeling that someone is definitely watching you and evaluating you, so I really like this song and it often encourages me.

(3) Kudari/Mrs. GREEN APPLE
...I started listening to this song because I liked the melody, but the lyrics give me the feeling that it's "emotions that come from caring for others." I particularly related to the lyric, "You become good at overreaching, and fixing things is a piece of cake." I love the human touch in the contradictions of emotions like, "You worry about what others think, and you end up being too considerate. You think it's okay if you're the only one who has to sacrifice, and you end up prioritizing others. But you still want others to be aware of how much pain you're in." I'm not the type to worry too much, but there are times when I find myself thinking about my own relationships, and I often listen to this song at times like those.
(Lyrics and composition: Motoki Omori, 2019, quoted from Mrs. GREEN APPLE's "Kudari")

(4)umbrella／Mrs.GREEN APPLE
...This is a song that vocalist Omori wrote when he was a student. Apparently, it wasn't originally planned to be released as a recording, but I learned that it was a song that a deceased loved, so it was decided to keep it as a recording. I think the lyrics of this song can be interpreted in various ways by different people, so I would like everyone to listen to it and hear how they interpret it.

(5) Floriginal/Mrs. GREEN APPLE
...This is just my interpretation, but the lyrics convey the emotion of "before thinking about others, you actually want to protect yourself and not get hurt." If you were to just list all the nice words, it might seem like the most important thing is to be considerate of others, but somewhere in everyone's heart, there must be feelings like "I actually want to have expectations of others, but I can't because I don't want to get hurt," or "I'm the most important person above all, so I want to protect myself," and I think this song focuses on those feelings. However, I don't think many people express these feelings out loud, so I'm sure there are many people who keep these feelings inside... I listen to this song thinking this.

[Mrs. GREEN APPLE... A Japanese rock band formed in 2013. In 2015, they made their major debut with the mini-album "Variety" from EMI Records. In 2024, they ranked first for the second consecutive year in Spotify Japan's "Top Artists of 2024 Japan," the most played artists.]

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■ Profile of Yukiya Ito
Born in Mie Prefecture on August 30, 1996. After graduating from Nihon University Sanko High School and Rissho University, he joined Yokohama DeNA as the second pick in the 2018 draft, and was traded to Tohoku Rakuten in 2022. In 2023, he played in a career-high 87 games, and last season, in 44 games, he had a batting average of .316 in scoring position. He is a utility player who can play outfield defense and is known for his powerful batting. His MBTI is INFJ (proponent).