live to tell your story, your legacy
because no one else in this universe
would be able to tell your testimony
in the ways you are able to converse
v . n
I’m not sure why I wanted to post this after years of not running this blog, but late nights and good vibes inclined me to do so. I wanted to write something to motivate, something you could think on, but in the end this was all I could come up with. You could call this a late night drabble, I guess.
This past year, I felt, was an amazing school year. At the beginning of the year, I remember thinking, “Wow, you’re going to be a complete loner who can’t socialize.” Which was true for the first few weeks of school. I thought my only friends from middle school were going to leave me because they managed to find new friends, whether it be from their classes or their sports. Which I found to be true, but not true as well.
My friends from middle school remained to stay with me, though of course we all changed a bit. But they weren’t the only ones finding new friends. I only now just realized I have made tons of new friends as well (now I’m thinking, “Do they think of me as their friend?”). The friends I’ve made this year and the ones I’ve already known since middle school all made my life a trillion times better than I thought it would be (Okay, Valerie. You’re exaggerating). Of course, my family contributed to a major part of my life. There were times where I thought I was stuck in a dark corner, blind and lost. But both my family and friends helped me find my way to the door and helped me open it.
To simply put it, I think this past year was wondrous. Except, maybe I shouldn’t have slacked off on the academics part in the beginning (whoops). I’m glad to have met everyone that I met this year, whether it be friends, friends of friends, and even teachers. They all played a major part of my life this year. Thank you to all and I love you all!
(I was listening to EXO’s “Don’t Go” while typing this)
Avicii’s Sunset Jesus is something I’ve been listening to recently. I’ve been listening to it during car rides, my routine jogs, while I do my homework, or when I’m just trying to relax. Something about it makes me feel so happy. Maybe it’s the guitar or the part where the song says, “Breathe for a minute, I’ll be okay”
This song has a rather blunt message, I would say. So, this wouldn’t really need an analysis.
This song really helps me run better. Haha, but seriously, it helps me feel better on a bad day. I would recommend you give this song a try as well if you’re feeling down. Sorry this post was short, but it’s all I have time for.
Bye bye!!
art originally by niboshi ( mylist/7378631 )
( lyrics are already provided in the video )
This song is so cute, to me personally. It shows a daily struggle of a young boy. We all know the feeling, as we were all children before. We always had the guidance of our parents through our small struggles and our parents always taught us the right and wrong things to do. Without them, we’d just be irresponsible, immature people.
In this song, a young boy’s day in his life is shown. First, he wakes up to his mother making breakfast for him and his father telling him to say his morning greetings, claiming they were magical charms just as his mom tells him to say his “thanks-for-the-food” phrases. Both parents claimed that these “magical charms/spices” allowed him to smile for the whole day (from this, we can guess the kid is pretty well mannered). It proceeds with the boy saying that “there’s a ‘good morning’ for every ‘good night’ and a ‘thanks for the meal’ for every ‘the food was good'”. I guess this could mean be polite and appreciate the things your parents provide for you?
Of course, there has to be a struggle in this little, happy song. The poor boy. His toy broke and hit his little lady friend by accident. The girl runs off crying (in pain?) and he didn’t even get the chance to apologize. He cries as well as he tumbles into a dark circle of regret and loneliness. Of course, it’s papa to the rescue (and mama)! Both encourage him to go to the girl’s house and apologize. And so he does and everything becomes happy, happy and fluffy, fluffy again. The song ends with a cute scene of the boy giving a flower to the girl and they both say ‘thank you’ to each other (by this point, I’m squealing because it’s so cute).
I believe this song is a great example of family because it shows the care and love a parent has for their children and the support they give in order to raise us up well. So give this song a listen and perhaps tell me how you felt about it? I’d love some input! Goodbye for now!
picture originally found on weheartit.com
“Stars Above”
1 Dear child, you may have dreamed to touch the stars with those fragile fingertips of yours
2 Let me have you know if you close your eyes and imagine, you indeed can grab them all
3 You can dream of prancing from star to star, not paying attention to the world
4 But don’t get carried away in this dream, dear child, for you can fall
5 The stars are farther than they seem, grinning down at us with mocking faces
6 Sure, you may pout and throw a fit, cursing at the stars
7 Keep in mind, they are the reason that we strive to become better, walking in paces
8 Guaranteed, we will stumble and fall throughout our journey, becoming scarred
9 On this journey to the stars, we will wander into the city of gold
10 We will become the best, turning into the worst through everyday
11 Dear child, keep on searching for the city of gold until you’re old
12 We still have a million miles to go, but find that city and you’re already halfway
13 You’ll reach those stars, truly you will, and smile you will when you’ve sat upon a star above
14 Dear child, the stars call you onto this journey and the moon awaits, so on you go to the stars above
– Valerie H. Nguyen
Okay, this is a silly poem I thought about while I was listening to AVICII’s “Trouble” and wrote it to my past self. I believed I had no where to go, but in this poem, I told myself to search for the city of gold and reach the stars. This would mean I would fall and get hurt, but I will always get back up, because who reaches the stars in one perfect shot?
This may or may not be inspired by my habit of watching the stars at night. I hope this poem actually made sense and had some meaning to you, if not, then oh well! I recommend you listen to the song that inspired this poem, by the way!
original art by emumelo
“Starduster” (video includes translations) is a beautiful song that can be interpreted many different ways. However, if looked in a general view without going too deep into the song, it is merely the story of an individual’s “journey through the stars” as he wonders if the person whom he cherishes loves him back. It is a song I connected with the moment I heard it (not to mention the cute drawing of the cat).
In truth, this song may as well be considered a love song, but it also had a component of imagination as well, as the songwriter managed to write the song as a journey through space.
“Fearing that the most precious person won’t love me,
I took off on a solo flight to the stars ten thousand years away”
This first line is what I rambled about in my first paragraph above. Quite heart-wrenching, isn’t it? A fear that love can cause can make an individual hide away forever. However, it seems this individual can’t live without this “precious person” by their side. But they cannot reach them as they are in “space”. Which is why the singer repeatedly begs for “the love to be given”.
“Give the love at once,
Give the love to me,
Give the love, please,
Give the love…”
Okay, this seems a bit desperate. But think about it, being in space with no one else by your side must be pretty lonely. What can one do but beg and desire to be loved?
You must be wondering: “where is the ‘space’ part coming from?”
Well, several lines include bits and pieces indicating the author is implying space. For example:
- “I definitely just had been drifting in space among these debris.”
- “The light can’t shine from the stars, as if darkness engulfs it.”
- “As I slowly open my eyes, a dark sea of sky stands before me”
Alright, enough talk. Give the song a listen!
To sum everything up, this song is related to imagination as the song is taken place in space, yet it has the message that love can create fear that is very heart-wrenching.
I hope you enjoy the song as much as I did and I hope you didn’t cry as hard as I did (just kidding I totally didn’t cry).
Bye bye for now, everyone!
image originally drawn by pichyoko ( ぴちょこ )
Author Update: I am feeling much better than I did the past few weeks!! I hope that means I can write a longer post this time…
So, the song “Laying Down in the Center of Tokyo” (translations here) by 40mp (have fun reading the Japanese, folks) can be very relatable to young adults who have the same fears, struggles, and anxieties.
The song primarily focuses on a young adult man, as seen on the right in the image, who struggles throughout his everyday life. The song repeatedly says, “A single tear fell” after every chorus. However, after meeting (or perhaps reuniting) with the girl seen on the left of the image, the phrase changes to “Two tears fell together”. This could symbolize the hope we get from others and how their help could in turn help us move along in life. Aside from that, the song also discusses the fear of being an outcast as the first verse talks about the man being pointed out (and ultimately, called out) by a kid, in which the kid’s mother quickly pulls him away. We all get that in real life, getting picked on, pointed at, avoided. The second verse (after the first chorus) also discusses being unable to tell one’s emotions, something we’ve all gone through at one point in life.
However, I find it interesting that the male decides to lay down in the center of a crowded intersection or as the song says, “an asphalt”. I could not decipher the deeper meaning of it, but I assume that it symbolizes the exhaustion we feel and us deciding to just lay down, facing the blue sky, while life is bustling by.
This song is very catchy (at least to me). I feel as if I can relate to this song, in terms of the stress and anxiety I can get from something, whether it be about school or social life. I can also connect to the “single tear fell” in the beginning which turns to the “two tears falling together” as I was alone in my struggle, but my family and friends came to my aid just when I was about to lose hope.
I suggest you listen to the song as it is motivational and simply beautiful! I personally like these two covers by ENE and Yoru. Go ahead and enjoy your day, munchkins!
” Having risen up beneath the sky atop the asphalt
I clung to it, the warmth I felt, from your outstretched hand
the crowd of people began to move in that harshly blue sky
A pair of tears, fell down together “
So Outer Science is related to control because the main character in here is controlled by the bad guy and all of her friends are ultimately killed until she turns back time. I chose this cover because I really like Kanseru’s voice. The KagePro series is really intriguing, however, the art isn’t quite advanced.
Pardon that this is shorter than my usual posts. I’m currently sick and it’s hard to type and think while your mind is in a haze. I’ll try to improve this when I’m better.
Just on a side note but I think my English teacher, Mr. Barro, may or may not have inspired the new EXO song “Sing For You” with his poem of “The Astronaut’s Whale“.
Okay, but on with the actual purpose of the post. This song literally made me bawl my eyes out with how it expressed the feeling of regret and sadness. It may seem like a confusing song when you watch it for the first time, but at the same time it’s blatantly obvious. All it really is is a story of how a guy regrets what he has done and realizes how much he lost. But of course, SM wanted us to bawl our eyes out first and then smile because in the end, it’s a happy reunion or acceptance of some sort. This song can either be taken as the guy’s message to a girl he couldn’t confess to or it can be to a friend whom he had gotten into an argument or some sort of altercation with and regrets it. I honestly prefer the latter as it can be related to almost everyone.
Please listen to this song and I hope you cry. Just kidding. But you may need a box of tissues.
” The way you cry, the way you smile
Do you know how much you mean to me?
Words I wanna say, words I lost
I’ll confess to you though it might sound awkward
Just listen, I’ll sing for you, sing for you
Just listen, I’ll sing for you “
Nagi Yanagi. Digital Image. Lyricsakura.files.wordpress.com. WordPress. 13 May, 2014. Web. 13 Dec, 2015.
Her musical career started off when she sang as an utaite, a person who covers vocaloid songs or J-Pop songs in general, named Gazelle. She was then scouted and signed into Geneon as a professional singer. Since then, she has sang the opening and closing songs for a variety of anime and released many albums.
Personally, I first fell in love with Nagi’s voice after listening to her songs from the FlamingJune series. After which I found her song “Kimi No Shiranai Monogatari” or “The Story You Don’t Know”. It has since been a song I listen to constantly as her voice is very calming, sweet, and powerful in this song, as it is in every song she sings. Another song that I love from Nagi Yanagi is “Hero“.
There are many things about Nagi Yanagi that make me admire her in each and every way, but I can’t list all of that within one blog post.
So give her music/songs a try and maybe, just maybe, you will fall in love just as I did. Happy listening!
– Butter
Music in Other Cultures 