#Oh for anyone curious in English the Japanese lyrics I used for the link are something like

[alangdorf]

いつかきっと全部手に入れる、私はそう欲張りなアイドル！

On the subject of silly little experiments, here’s another one! I still struggle with foreshortening and painting so I don’t think this turned out perfectly, but it gets across what I was going for. I don’t watch tv very often anymore but I ended up watching Oshi no Ko because I got super obsessed with Idol and the plot intrigued me, and aside from one major caveat I actually really enjoyed it! Hoshino Ai, you’re a real one ＊

[dkniade]

Can I just say that I’m glad to see more fans of datsugoku here? LIKE ITS SO SO GOOD AND GOD SO TRAGICC THEY DESERVED BETTER!! Also also your analysis on Oktavia’s cover was FUCKING AMAZING HOLY HELLL/pos

(If anyone’s curious about the song mentioned here, note that the first link’s music video contains flashing lights and rapid motions, and the themes include violence and character death)

Thank you so much!! I really love Datsugoku’s MV for telling such a story in a mere 3 minutes and 47 seconds while combining music/lyrics/visuals together well. I remember how I used to really look up to sidu for her work on Datsugoku, particularly for its lighting and video editing haha. Over the years her artstyle has changed but Datsugoku is one of my favourite “phases” of her art style I’d say

(I think to this day if I’m trying to get someone into Neruke I’d just send them the MV haha)

But as a song it’s just really cool to listen to as well. The riff at the start, that guitar solo in the middle (I wrote a post about my interpretation of the solo’s narrative significance) IT’S SO GOOD. One of the best—or most memorable?—solos Neru has written I think. I like that you can get one interpretation based on the music/lyrics themselves, and another slightly different interpretation based on the MV (since what’s described in the lyrics don’t exactly match what’s happening on-screen even though they’re describing the same event.) This mismatch (?) in how the media forms are staggered (?) is so cool, like when the LYRICS say (using my translation)—

.

Slamming down on the rusted throttle

with all that I’ve got—

so hard that I’d break my bones—

Right now, let’s break through reality

.

—but the ANIMATION shows the moments before, where Kawasemi throws the knife to rip off Kuina’s blindfold, mouthes something in a cocky way, and runs away to start the chase…!

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(Note that the next link here goes to a post which links to a video with flashing lights and rapid motions.)

AH speaking of a tragic ending that deserved better, back in 2021 I was able to participate in a Neruke 10th anniversary fan medley MV, and did the illustration for Datsugoku! The section chosen was of course the very guitar solo itself so I tried to depict a scene of freedom and happiness in the illustration. Whether the smiling and relaxed Kawasemi is alive in the illustration is up to interpretation, haha…

It’s to match lyrics like—(note that this section of the lyrics kiiind of alludes to metaphoric drugs, and again character death)—

.

“Increasing the altitude without a change in your expression, you laugh”

(“顔色変えず高度上げて君は笑う”)

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and

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“As the engine heats up, I don’t care about what’s happening to the plane’s body, so high I was in the blue heavens”

(“エンジンがヒートして　機体がどうしたって気にもしない程に　トリップしてしまう大空は偉大さ”)

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UE UE UE KAWASEMI YOU BASTARD WITH NO SELF-PRESERVATION (affectionate). Looking at it again, as a loanword from English,トリップして (trip-shite) likely refers to tripping (on drugs)… as in he’s in such a state of ecstasy—in seventh heaven, if you will—it’s like he’s high. ….oh my god hence Oktavia’s line:

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“Though the engine overheats, the plane begins to dive / I don’t care, it’s right in front of me / The Seventh Heaven finally on the bright side”

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(Long ramble about Oktavia’s lyrics, Japanese lyrics, English translyrics, melody, and phonology here)

As for my initial reaction Oktavia’s encore cover, thank you!! As I’ve mentioned in the reaction/analysis post I really like how she writes lyrics. Rhythmically, I’ve realized that it’s not just about fitting the Japanese lyrics’ syllables to English words while retaining the meaning, it’s about sonority (relative loudness of a speech sound) and how the sonority of the English lyrics should sound with the melody—and as a poet and occasional (English cover) lyricist who tries to rhyme and keep the rhythm, THAT’S REALLY DIFFICULT. I think… a vocal melody written for a song in Japanese would probably take advantage of how Japanese is mostly consonant-vowel (e.g. Datsugoku can be split up to da-tsu-go-ku, but don’t quote my on the technicalities), but rewrite the lyrics to English without thinking of rhythm and suddenly it’s hard to sing lyrics when they’re all mushed together, be it because the sonority just don’t work, or that there are too many consonants…

For example, it’s easier to sing

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あの頃僕ら夢を見ていたんだ

(Ano koro bokura yume o miteita nda)

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than it is to sing, say,

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“Back then the two of us would dream of better lives than this”

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even though the syllable count matches (do you know how hard it was to intentionally write a line that’d mess with the syllabic stress in relation to the melody)

SO THAT’S WHY I LOVE OKTAVIA’S LYRIC

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“Tell me you remember when we’d dream of another life.”

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The way the consonants at the ends of the words follow the vowels at the beginning of the next word makes it flow SO WELL. It seems she writes the lyrics based more on the melody’s ups-and-downs itself instead of the Japanese syllables, if that makes sense?

Oktavia’s mentioned something similar about rhyming and syllables in Japanese vs English lyrics once

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“it is interesting though that rhyming is so integral to english lyrics but like in other languages (japanese) that sort of culture doesn't exist

my theory is that it's because english has so many different pronunciations to learn rhymes are more appealing 'cause they're rarer? vs japanese where because of the syllable system you can write lyrics that rhyme MUCH easier so it's not as prioritized???? idk”

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The syllable system in Japanese is different from English so maybe it sounds nice in English when a (relatively) complicated syllabic system suddenly has rhymes where it usually wouldn’t…?

Ahaha, anyway, thank you for the ask! I was able to ramble about Datsugoku’s lyrics and gain more insight on the song even after a year…

[lovecatsys]

130-140?☺️

130. What’s the craziest thing you’ve learned about the music business?

crazy in a "wow I had no idea way" but my mom told me about this episode of a show she was watching or smth where there was an interview with some sort of music production guy who said that almost all singers throughout the history of recording music needed minor adjustments from autotune to get the voice to the right pitch. Apparently this guy also said that David Bowie was one of the few musicians who NEVER needed that! Because he took so many voice lessons when he was younger, he had the training to hit the notes perfectly. I wouldn't quote me on this exactly but I can ask my mom what show and episode it was if anyone is curious.

131. What’s an artist band you couldn’t even be paid to see live?

Taylor Swift. Or Imagine Dragons tbh

132. What’s an artist you’d kill to see live?

Placebo, I wanna see them so bad dammit! But idk if they'll ever come to America and I don't have a passport :(

Also David Bowie if this hypothetical killing someone else could bring him back from the dead.

133. What’s some the most obscure band/artist you know?

Omg okay my favorite answer to give to this is Otis Zee and the Zambuka band who I found on this random obscure playlist album called "Gems of the 60s and 70s" that has like a stock photo cover of gems with SUPER obscure artists that I doubt anyone has heard of before. Anyways they only have two songs on spotify and both are about Christmas. They're like a funk band. I think I found this playlist through another artist on it who I found a spotify link to on this website that had like.... thousands of links to musical artists on Spotify categorized by genre. No clue what it was called this was a while ago and I'm no longer friends with the person who showed it to me 😭.

134. Which non English sung music(and excluding your mother language) do you listen to the most?

Oh man, I barely listen to anything non English at all, but I'm gonna say Japanese because I used to listen to YMO a lot and I have a headmate who listened exclusively to J-Pop when she was around.

135. What’s a music pet peeve of youre?

when I find an obscure artist who's music I love but they turn out to be a terrible person. Like with famous artists who are bad people its not really the same and u can just pirate them, but when you find someone who has like 2 fans and their music and vibes are immaculate but they turn out to be a TERF (actual thing that happened to me 😭) it sucks so bad

136. What are some of the most creative musicians you can think of?

Bowie is definitely up there for me. Also Nova Twins, their music is super creative and interesting. Maybe Placebo goes on this list to. I feel like Nova Twins though, you have a hard time really putting them in with a specific genre, they're just so unique!

137. What is your first favorite song based on memory?

My parents listened to a lot of folk, americana, bluegrass, and country when I was little, so that was pretty much most of what I had exposure to at the time lol. I remember my favorite song being Caroline by Old Crow Medicine Show at one point, probably the earliest I can think of.

138. What is your first favorite band/artist based on memory?

I really loved Dido at one point, idk how early that was but I think it might be her. I still listen to some of her stuff occasionally, I love her voice and her style, plus it gives me nostalgia now.

139. What is your first favorite album based on memory?

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette was the first "album" I was really conscious of, and it definitely was my favorite when I was like 12, because my mom would play the CD in the car as we drove places. Funny, because she would always tell me it was her favorite album when she was 12-13, because thats how old she was when it came out, and shed play it in the CD player in her room.

140. What’s a lyric you’ve horribly misheard?

Oml I just figured out I was wrong abt this one like a couple weeks ago but for a long time I thought Bowie was saying "inspiration have I none just to touch the flaming gnome" instead of "flaming dove" 😭