Ito
Updated: Sep 27
⋆ Japanese Track
⋆ Title Translation: Thread/String
⋆ Release Date: November 3 2021 (as a pre-release OST single, for TXT's first Japanese mini album, Chaotic Wonderland, released November 10 2021)
⋆ Genre: Pop Ballad
⋆ Other Info: 'Spiral Labyrinth DNA Forensic Investigation' Opening
⋆ Producing Credits: GReeeeN
⋆ Writing/Composing Credits: GReeeeN
ABOUT/MEANING: “Ito” (糸 / “Thread”) uses thread as a metaphor for the bond formed when two people destined to find one another finally meet. Before that encounter, the narrator feels incomplete, like only half of himself, searching through the “spiral of life” for the person holding the other half of his thread. When their paths finally cross, those separate threads are tied together, creating a shared future neither could form alone.
That connection is not presented as perfectly smooth. Their threads may fray, tangle and twist, but by continuing side by side they intertwine and weave together, becoming stronger through everything they experience. The song therefore portrays love not simply as fate bringing two people together, but as a bond that continues to be created after they meet - two incomplete threads repeatedly overlapping, strengthening and becoming something enduring together.
CONTEXT: “Ito” was written by GReeeeN around the theme of kizuna (絆), meaning a bond or connection between people. GReeeeN explained that they imagined people being born as “halves,” each holding a thread of fate (unmei no ito / 運命の糸) that connects them with someone important. When those threads encounter one another and are “sewn” together so they will not separate, the two halves form a kizuna.
The concept also incorporates Japanese wordplay between ito (糸 / thread), au (逢う / to meet) and nuu (縫う / to sew), connecting the act of meeting someone with sewing two threads together. GReeeeN described both encounters and the bonds created through them as forming within a “spiral of fate,” complementing the song’s role as the opening theme for the drama Spiral Labyrinth: DNA Forensic Investigation.
LYRICS - ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Hey, where are you?
I've been searching for the thread at my fingertips,
But it’s always swept away by the wind,
Searching for a place to connect in the spiral of life.
Each time I lose sight of it,
I tell myself you must be somewhere out there.
I've been thinking of you,
The one I have yet to meet.
By chance, we are pulled together and meet.
The two of us will be tied together so we won’t part.
Just like the day you and I met, may our bond never unravel.
Two souls in love, like a thread, sewn together by fate
Hey, were you there all along?
My heart was always searching for you.
Something always felt incomplete,
Like I’m half of myself.
Look - your outstretched hand,
At the tip of that hand,
Our future together is being tied.
By chance, we are pulled together and meet.
The two of us will be tied together so we won’t part.
Just like the day you and I met, may our bond never unravel.
Two souls in love, like a thread, sewn together by fate
Overlapping threads become stronger,
Again and again, we meet by fate.
So our love will continue forever.
Even if we fray, tangle, and twist,
Side by side, we will intertwine and weave together.
We are—
By chance, we are pulled together and meet.
The two of us will be tied together so we won’t part.
Just like the day you and I met, may our bond never unravel.
Our two halves meet, tying our love together.
I’m definitely half of the thread.
You are the other half of my thread.
We layer together and intertwine.
I’m definitely half of the thread.
You are the other half of my thread.
A thread of love,
Tightly tied together.
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