Make A Difference

Song Information

 
Make A Difference's jacket.

Artist: Lala Moore with CoCoRo*Co
Composition/Arrangement: Jun Wakita
Lyrics: MARI
Vocals: Lala Moore, CoCoRo*Co
BPM: 130
Length: 2:00 (beatmania IIDX), 1:45 (DanceDanceRevolution)
Genre: GOSPEL
Movie: VJ GYO (beatmania IIDX 9th style→19 Lincle), ? (beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro→Present, DanceDanceRevolution)
First Music Game Appearance: beatmania IIDX 9th style
Other Music Game Appearances:

Lyrics

Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart

When the world seems so lost in itself
and you feel that life is not so easy on you
Don't forget that you're not by yourself
For together we can make this world a better place

Give it a chance (There's time to save this planet now)
Give us a hand
Find the way to help Mother Earth (It is not too late to give her a chance)
Help make her proud (We can work a way to building up a new future)

Twinkling stars are watching us
The twinkling stars are watching from above (Keeping an eye on us)

What we do today can make another difference (Open your heart and your mind)
What we do today can make another difference (To the world now)
[Make a difference]
What we do today can make another difference (Open your heart and your mind)
What we do today can make another difference (To the world, do it now)

Together we can build a better world
Together we can make it better now
Together we can build a better world now
Together we can make it better now
Together we can build a better world
Together we can make it better now
Together we can build a better world Now's the time
Together we can make it better

Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, yes you can
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams, follow your heart
Follow your dreams

Follow your dreams!

Song Connections / Remixes

  • The DanceDanceRevolution series uses a shorter version of Make A Difference.
  • A live medley of Spica, OVER THE CLOUDS, and Make A Difference was played at the beatmania IIDX secret LIVE ~one night premium party~ on September 13th, 2003. This medley can be found on the BEMANIトップランカー決定戦 2006 Sound Tracks, titled wacのライブ用トラック1。 ハウスっぽいやつ集めたの。.

Trivia

This song has different backgrounds, banners, jackets, or other related images. For more information, please see this page.
  • According to Jun Wakita, the original version of Make A Difference originally featured him doing the chorus of the song. This was later changed to sound closer to a song like たまゆら.
    • He also mentions that at one point Make A Difference would have featured acappella vocals. This was later ruled out due to the sheer difficulty of implementing them into a music game.
  • Make A Difference being crossed over marks Jun Wakita's first appearance in the DanceDanceRevolution series.
  • Make A Difference is an unlockable revival in beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS. To unlock it, clear 1st Dan.
    • It received brand-new Single HYPER/ANOTHER charts upon its revival.
    • As of January 7th, 2009, it is available by default.
  • Make A Difference received a Double ANOTHER chart in beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS + PREMIUM BEST. This chart was carried over to the arcade releases in beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem.
    • It also received a new BEGINNER chart in beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS + PREMIUM BEST.
  • As of beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro, Make A Difference features its video from the DanceDanceRevolution series, slightly extended to match the beatmania IIDX audio.
  • Make A Difference is currently the only song sung by Noriko Fukushima in any BEMANI arcade series.
    • It's only her original BEMANI song she didn't write the lyrics for herself.
  • Make A Difference is unlockable in beatmania IIDX INFINITAS from December 4th, 2019, after purchasing its charts with BITs.

Song Production Information

wac

The sound director TAKA told me "OK, make a gospel song next".
I'm wac, a former choir member. I'm still a choir member. Is it because I'm a choir guy?
When I say choir, I mean a boys choir at a boys school, so it's a world where 100 young boys yell "hoiya, hoiya, shuuririenen".
I wondered if it's similar to Tamayura. Rather, I said for it to be in that direction.
I said "No, acapella is next". Something's different. No, acapella is impossible to include in this game.

Firstly.
As it's often said, gospel means the Word of God.
I'm a man who sometimes believes in God and Buddha? I wonder if I'm qualified to speak about the Word of God.
However, TAKA told me "No, make a gospel song next".
"But God still won't descend".

Therefore.
So, I made a five-note quintet singing "tralalalala", to which God will honorably descend in the end, so please do your best to not be taken away from this world.
Look, this is gospel! Or maybe it's pareidolia?
Actually, MARI's cheerful lyrics, the up-and-coming gospel group CoCoRo*Co, and Lala Moore's session that transcended time-space, we somehow reached a gospel-like joyphilia, maybe, probably, no way, I don't know.

For those who know such differences, I dedicate Make a Difference.
This song isn't brought up as a topic in the first place, but when it's brought up, it's "tralalalala", so I created this for LIGHT7. Even now, I regret every night that I should've started creating this with NORMAL.
God won't descend, so to those who are confident in playing this song, please sometimes rejoice in the joy of life.

Video Production Information

VJ GYO

This is the first song with the "GOSPEL" genre included in the IIDX series, which feels unique.
When I went on a sightseeing trip in America a long time ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a gospel music performance in a church in Harlem during an optional sightseeing tour of New York City.
Regardless of music likes and dislikes, I remember feeling sincerely moved by all the deeply religious people singing in a way which integrated their daily rituals in everyday life.

At that time, I didn't imagine it'd connect with music in IIDX, and conversely, even when I listen to this song, it doesn't connect with my image of that time.

However, I can see family and friends playing together, lovers talking to each other, and people walking their dogs at the local park... I was inspired seeing the locals having fun!
I remember those happy and cheerful feelings of when I was among warm, gentle, and bright people who cheerfully called out to me!
As expected of this song!

Difficulty & Notecounts

beatmania IIDX difficulty rated 1 to 7+ in 9th style, 1 to 8 in 10th style, 1 to 8+ in IIDX RED, and from 1 to 12 from HAPPY SKY onwards.
DanceDanceRevolution difficulty from 1 to 10 from DDRMAX2 to SuperNOVA2, and 1 to 20 from X onwards. (Ratings and notecounts obtained from BEMANIWiki 2nd.)

beatmania IIDX

Old Charts

Game SP Difficulty DP Difficulty
BEGINNER NORMAL HYPER ANOTHER LEGGENDARIA NORMAL HYPER ANOTHER LEGGENDARIA
Notecounts 361 445 859 - - 441 866 - -
beatmania IIDX 9th style - 4 7+ - - 4 7+ - -
beatmania IIDX 10th style - 4 8 - - 4 8 - -
beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED - 4 ↑8+ - - 4 8 - -
beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY - 4 ↑10 - - ↑5 ↑9 - -
beatmania IIDX 9th style CS 3 4 7+ - - 4 7+ - -

New Charts

Game SP Difficulty DP Difficulty
BEGINNER NORMAL HYPER ANOTHER LEGGENDARIA NORMAL HYPER ANOTHER LEGGENDARIA
Notecounts 210 445 846 1155 - 441 866 1202 -
beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS→17 SIRIUS - ↑5 9 10 - 5 9 - -
beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem→Present - 5 9 10 - 5 9 10 -
beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS + PREMIUM BEST 2 5 9 10 - 5 9 10 -
beatmania IIDX INFINITAS - 5 9 10 - 5 9 10 -
beatmania IIDX ULTIMATE MOBILE - 5 9 10 - - - - -

DanceDanceRevolution

Game Single Double
Beginner Basic Difficult Expert Challenge Basic Difficult Expert Challenge
Notecounts / Freeze Arrows / Shock Arrows 90 / 6 164 / 27 245 / 49 349 / 38 - / - / - 165 / 27 242 / 49 352 / 40 - / - / -
DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME2 / Dancing Stage Max 1 4 6 8 - 4 6 8 -
DanceDanceRevolution STR!KE 1 4 6 8 - 4 6 8 -
DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA→SuperNOVA2 1 4 6 8 - 4 6 8 -
DanceDanceRevolution X→Present 3 5 7 12 - 5 8 12 -
DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX 3 5 7 12 - 5 8 12 -