Discussion topic for Track 2 of Love Song: Ao no Yume (Azure Dream). Please support the official release by purchasing the album from iTunes! You can find a translation of the lyrics on ShiraneHito’s blog.
Please tag references to later songs or outside works with the [spoiler] tag, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
0 voters
Now this is a cool song!
So this one sounds like someone following a person they admire. Somebody who is pursuing their dreams, who the protagonist isn’t able to follow, but only observe from a distance. They are happy to see them laugh, but also very sad that they can’t be with them.
But later in the song the singer keeps repeating “I have been looking for you”, and lots of dreamlike comments of “your hand, always with me”, like something they’re clinging to. It’s become his eternity, and that if she doesn’t exist then he doesn’t exist.
I’m definitely feeling like this is the same two people from the first song now, but I still have many questions. Like what the hell that edit at the end is where the singer’s voice becomes digitally distorted.
The illustration that goes with this song is one of my favorite ABe works! Such a delicate, romantic silhouette.
Also, this track sounds like it could be the op theme to a Key game, moreso than the other tracks on the album. It’s got that dancey (housey? trancey?) sound.
I feel bad for not being too big a fan of Love Song. It’s not a bad album, but I feel like there weren’t any particular tracks that stood out to me as a favorite. It doesn’t really help that Maeda’s composing has improved over the years. However, it had few tracks that I did like, and among them, I like this one the most. (Or at least for now. Maeda’s music has a funny habit of sounding better after some re-listening. looks at Last Regrets and Toki o Kizamu Uta)
Why I like it? It’s catchy af, Riya’s voice works here, and it’s well-composed (for the most part). It also stands out strongly among the tracks in the album. “Kimi o sagashiteta” makes for a nice motif too.
The lyrics is just… so sad. Also very Jun Maeda. He likes dreams. The way I read it, the POV (if “boku” was any indication, I’m presuming that this is a man) is in love with a woman (presumably the one in the picture) so deeply that she becomes his reason for being… but she died. The line “I throw myself to the fact that you will never wake up” is very telling. Then he desperately searched for her… and found her within his dream.
How am I saying this? The title is “Azure Dream.” The “eternal sky” is one important motif in this song, and when the POV is searching for his deceased lover in that sky, I’m getting that he’s referring to a heaven. An afterlife. Going back in the title, and if the line “I’ve been searching for you” is saying anything, the POV is dreaming heaven, where he apparently found his lover. In his dream. Ohmygod.
He wishes to be with her forever… but the song ends in a, uhh, manner that doesn’t feel conclusive at all. I like to think that it implies the dream ending, and if that’s the case…
Of course I can be wayyy off the mark in this reading. 
There is one thing that bothers me though. How do you think the third stanza fit to the story? I haven’t quite figured it out yet. (“Everything I see is always distorted./ Beyond those ever continuous shoeprints,/ I will destroy everything that gets in your way./ It’s all for you.”)
I love this song. I put both of these albums on my playlist and this one has survived every vetting process since the book (album?) club was announced.
My very first impression of the song, besides liking it, was that it was kind of intense- I believe I’ve used “Yandere” - the constant upbeat feel of the music and conviction of the singer that “I have been searching for you” and “Everything is for you” and especially “I will destroy everything that gets in your way. It is all for you.” Is all very extreme despite the feeling that the two will never be together. And the glitch out at the end gives the whole song an unsettling almost demented feeling right at the end.
That is not really my final read on the song though. I just thought it was an interesting line of thought.
I think this song reads more like a possible suicide than the first song. The singer vows their eternal devotion and the lyrics imply that the singer is heavily dependent on their love for the subject and that the subject is the one who has dreams beyond the current relationship.
This starts in the second stanza with
[quote]You are a traveler pursuing for your dream
And I walk behind you.
When you laugh, I’m also happy
But I wonder why my tears wont stop
[/quote]
Then In the the 4th stanza we hear
The song slows down after the nextchorus and the singer seems to reminisce about the love that was once there. And when the tempo picks back up the singer re-avows to be together forever and they resign themselves to the fact that the subject will never wake up. This sentiment reads to me that even if they accept that the person is no longer in this world they are devoted to finding them again.
And the next stanza where the singer wakes up “born on another planet” under the spring sunlight - reads that the singer was reborn in the future and now continues the search.
Spoilers for the end of Air The last four stanzas of this song reminded my immensely of Misuzu’s curse and death juxtaposed against the two children who are just begging their journey along the beach and into the future - walking to what we hope is a brighter future than what we just witnessed.
This song (as in the music itself, pre-lyrics) feels almost like force, much like the curse from Air and the singer and subject are almost swept up in it - propelled forward by something beyond themselves to be seeking each other and the shared dream.
An aside: if I am using any music terminology wrong please let me know. I don’t know my way around talking about music very well.
Yeah, I feel a lot of suicide here. The biggest tell is “Mou kimi ga mezamenai koto wo shitte mi wo nageru”[Learning you will never wake up again I throw my body](off a cliff you mean?) Now what the fuck the waking up on another planet is about is better left for later songs.
A thing about the title is that, normally, [Blue Dream] would be “Aoi Yume,” not “Ao no Yume.” I’d say the title is more like [Dream of Blue]. Blue comes up in the form of the sky, but there’s one annoying line that complicates this.
“ochite yuku sono fukasa ni shitta boku no ai wo
kimi no tame ni”
These lines are impossible! They’re important though because they talk about a depth(presumably of the Blue from the previous line), and somehow that connects to falling, learning and offering the narrator’s love. I promise I’m not making this more confusing for the fun of it. This is the grammatical equivalent of this face. It looks something like this:
So if anyone wants to take a crack at what blue could be a symbol of, glhf.
I have a bit of a different interpretation of this, so let me have a crack at it. The singer follows their loved one, who is shown to be a very determined person; someone with a goal to achieve. The singer constantly follows this person, supporting from the sidelines, helping them achieve what they set out to. Despite this, the singer is afraid; afraid that they seem unchanging to the eyes of their loves one, and afraid that they will get left behind. This fear drives them to desparately improve their support for their loved one…
However, somewhere down the road, something breaks. The loved one fails, and gone is their own determination. But because the singer has been piling up their own support, they were able to achieve something that the loved one failed to do. The rolea are reversed. The singer basks in achievement while the loved one wallows in failure. This new feeling, akin to being on a different planet, leaves them stunned. Gone is the person they loved, who had so much determination. And now the singer, who has outdone themselves, struggles to find that supporting role to the determined person which they lost.
That aside, this was a terrific song! The whole trance synths gives it a very Spica-ish vibe… but it changes around so much and brings so much variation to the melody that it becomes so refreshing to listen to. I’m not surprised people commenting this on being their favorite song from the album, and it definitely sets a very high bar.
Based on the translation provided in the topic, because I don’t know Japanese.
Title
A decent amount of information can be derived from the title “Azure Dream”. Azure is most used to describe the blue of a clear sky, but also outright means “clear sky”. Here, it azure is used for its first definition: color, one known to represent loyalty, wisdom, and tranquility. So, the song is a dream about the sky. In a more figurative sense, it is the singer’s limitless imagination. They seem themselves in a beautiful world that is theirs, with an endless sky and infinite possibilities. Yet, the lyrics of the song tell another story. This song continues to explore the theme of unhealthy attachment, with emphasis on the perspective of the people involved.
Summary and Interpretation
The song begins with the singer saying how they have been searching for someone. They go as far to say “in this time, in this planet, in this eternal sky” to further show how long they’ve been trying. Next, the pattern changes when the singer says “in that blueness”. The blueness is mentioned in a less vague manner to add emphasis to it. It also adds emphasis to the “eternal sky”. This eludes to the fact that the singer is enjoying the search. This emphasis contributes to the next line “My love even fell into such a depth”. In addition, @HeliosAlpha says that there is an element of learning in this line. The singer is learning how to love this other person, presumably out of obsession, to try to make an ideal world for the two of them. The love falls to a point where the singer says this line “It’s all for you.” Perhaps the person the singer is searching for is longing to be found, but later lines in the song hint against this. The singer is giving their all to find someone, pouring their heart into their search, to a point where it’s no longer sane.
The next stanza describes their time together. The singer’s love interest is someone driven, as stated by “You are a traveler pursuing for your dream.” The singer has an attraction to someone who knows what they want, and can’t help but follow. In the relationship, they want to be like the person they love, and they want to support them as much as possible, but the singer knows that in the end, it’s all moot. “But I wonder why my tears can’t stop” shows how the singer’s inner feelings are leaking out, telling them to stop this attachment because it isn’t sustainable. Deep down they know that it won’t end well, this one sided love.
“Everything I see is always distorted” has a very clear meaning: the singer’s vision of the other person has blurred. Instead of a healthy relationship, they see a goal: to do everything for the good of the other person. Yet, the singer knows that their perspective has changed from reality. Even though they acknowledge that they have a distorted perspective, they continue acting on it. The level of crazy intensifies. “Beyond those ever continuing shoeprints,” there exists an unknown future. The word choice of “shoeprints” shows that the singer is not looking ahead, but down, at whatever is right in front of them. They plan to “destroy everything” directly beyond the other person(trying to make their life easier), without thinking about the future and the consequences. This leads to the question: what will the singer do? How will this attitude ruin their relationship?
The next stanza is curious. I interpret it to mean that the other person in the song no longer wants anything to do with the singer. They say “it exist[s] in a deep dream.” Only in the singer’s delusional mind does this relationship live on. The singer does not accept this, saying “I’ll wait for our next encounter.”
Another interpretation, with help from a later stanza, could hint to the fact that (rest of the song) the other person has died. In this earlier stanza, the other person tells the singer that they are going to die (probably because of Key aids), so the “eternity” from their words represents the eternity of death. The fifth stanza can be interpreted to mean that they have died, rising to the heavens “beyond the eternal clouds”. Later, the singer also states that they “will never wake up”. Having this interpretation has the rest of the song branch out in a different way, so the “alternate” (but in reality it could be the real “route”) ending will be covered here. The singer continues to love the person after they have died, but their death has them slowly descend into madness (I throw myself to the fact that you will never wake up). They believe that the relationship is still there saying “oh, my unchanging self in your eyes”, but it is just them, “waking up on a different planet” where the other person is gone, and continuing to search for something that was never there. I believe that this is more valid than the suicide interpretation because the singer awakens near the end, on “another planet.” If not for this line, I would have believed the singer died.
Back on track, the next stanza parallels to the one two above it, being about perspective, looking beyond, and living for someone else. It describes the sky from the other person’s perspective as “always clear,” the opposite of what the singer sees (always distorted). The other person sees “beyond those eternal clouds” which is a testament to how different they are. The “distorted” vision of the singer is figuratively because of these clouds; they know that their perception is limited, but it seems that they have accepted that they can’t do anything about it. The perception of what depends on the meaning of the sky. Generally throughout the song, it is used to refer to the limitless unknown. Specific to the singer, the sky is the love they have for the other person. So, the singer knows that the love they have for this other person is flawed, but laments that deep down, they can’t change. Yet, to the other person, the sky represents the future and their dream. Their future is clear, and they have a firm grasp on their lives. And they see a future without the singer.
In an almost chant, the singer reminisces about the past they shared with the other person in the song (the “eternal dream”, being “always with me”). But if they are thinking to the past, does the singer recognize that times have changed? The line “even if time changes everything” provides a few clues. It could mean something like “even if time changes everything I will still love you”. Even if time changes, the memories won’t.
The next stanza slightly twists this. “Forever and always, let’s be together” eludes to the singer not accepting that the other person is gone. Yet in the next line, they show that they know that they “will never wake up”. So they choose to have hope, to keep the dream of being together alive. But time and time again, the singer is delusional. They can’t be together. The repetition of the line “I have been looking for you” adds to the obsessive nature of the singer.
Near the very end, the singer “wakes up on another planet”. Could this mean that they have realized that obsessing over a lost cause is pointless? If “planet” is used as a symbol for their mindset/sanity, then yes (it’s kinda there, planets are big and support life, your brain is (kinda) big and supports your whole body/life). The significance of the season is another big theme in Love Song: the actual passage of time.
Musical Analysis
Ao no Yume begins with a myriad instruments slowly coming together, giving the impression of a single individual waking up in a field surrounded by nature. Riya begins singing, and the song develops a beat. For the first time in the song, the vocals are backed by strong instrumentals. The vocals represent the feelings of the singer. The surge of emotion from here is backed by the lyrics, describing the depth of this love. Through the first stanza, the instrumental is complex with no main melody standing out. After the line “It’s all for you,” it develops its leitmotif. This theme plays after every repeat of that line. If the background track represents the how the singer thinks/feels, it clues into what is in their head. While they were searching, they were a mess. Their thoughts were jumbled, and they couldn’t find a central focus. But when they fell in love, central thought emerged in their minds, like how the leitmotif rises from the bgm.
The music is then calmer, with a driving beat to keep it going. This reflects the time described in the song, when the singer met this other person and fell in love with them. Simpler times. It then swells to what I think is the chorus, as the lyrics take a more drastic meaning. Again, we see how the music reflects the singer.
In the slow section, the singer reminisces about the past. The change in tempo suggests that the singer is starting to slow down in their search. However, as they continue to recall fond memories, the background track begins to add onto itself, slowly swelling back into the full track from the chorus. Emotions in full swing, the singer continuously declares that they “have been looking for [them]”.
At the end, the leitmotif overlaps the singer until the song abruptly stops. I interpret it to be the singer’s mind “breaking”. After obsessing over the other person for so long, they have become mentally exhausted and can no longer function. Another theory I have is that it represents the singer waking from the dream. It reminded me of the end of (Owari no Hoshi) Kooru Yume, where they awaken from their frozen dream to a person with a headset saying there was a “bug”. At the moment, this is the only connection I can draw.
Aside:
When I first heard the song, I thought the distorted part was the creepiest thing ever. I thought it was a problem with my computer and it scared the crap out of me.
Picture
The picture shows Biz a girl/woman with her face pointed towards the sky, eyes closed. This pose reminds me of one someone would make if they had accepted their fate. The calm face, the gentle breeze, the white clouds all paint a peaceful picture. I believe that this scene is the person feeling released from obsession of the singer. Relieved, they can finally face the sky from their dreams. Yet, their eyes are closed because they have share the sky with the singer. It reminds them of the singer, and may bring them painful memories.
One Sentence Summary
Obsession throws a relationship into disarray as finality evokes insanity (RIP the dream).
Final/Random Thoughts
Yo this song was hard for me to interpret. Initially the ideas are somewhat simple, but my brain farted for about 48 hours straight while I tried to write this. It gave me so much grief that I don’t want to listen to it for a while. In the end, it’s my fault for obsessively listening to it for the past few days. I racked my brain thinking about symbolism and stuff so much I think I might be going insane.
hey
doesn’t that sound familiar
(Exaggeration aside, it was mentally exhausting. I have a feeling 90% of this is bs because I was ded)
The song gives me the impression that the singer is (as @kyuketsukimiyu said) somewhat of a yandere. But they never take any action, just obsessing over them (maybe we’ll see it in later songs).
Ao no Yume did remind me of the story from Futari dake no Ark, with the whole (<–what was in the previous spoiler tags) having a dream, being unable to reach it thing. I haven’t read the lyrics depth yet, but I’m excited to find connections that branch the two albums.
Tried my best
I think you may be onto something here. I can’t figure out how the obsessive nature of the lyrics ties into this, however. Do you have any ideas? I really like your interpretation.
One last thing, a message I got out of the song. I think it applies to everything
We all share the same sky. The only difference is how we see it.
This is probably the most despairing of all five songs. The others have a promising ending, albeit a sad one, but they all try to look at the brighter side. This one borders on desperation and her (or his) love couldn’t possibly be healthy.
I get that sort of impression too. Though, I’d like to add a starry night at the background, sort of like waking up from a dream or living in it.
I think it’s the whole obsession with the person’s goal rather than the person itself that made me think this. The whole “I was born in another planet” gives me the vibe that the singer feels like they are in a place that they aren’t used to; and considering their obsession was born out of their insecurity that they are unchanging in the eyes of their loved one, this is probably the biggest contrast that I can think of that fits the lyrics
Here to talk about the musical composition on this piece again.
First off, compared to the first song on the album, this song has a much more intricate instrumentation. The opening really sets up the electronic mood for the song. The most notable sound to me in the beeping sound, which reminds me of a communications relay or morse code. When everything comes in together, there’s a sense of being awash with sound. The galloping synth, the bass synth’s eighth note pulsing, the bass kicks on every beat and the snare on every off-beat, the flute and string on the melody. All of it together gives an impression sense of depth (though when you listen to each part individually it loses some of it’s luster).
So much of the texture of this song, as with most electronic songs, comes mostly from dropping and adding tracks between sections. Drop the galloping synth, add in some piano chords and you have the next verse. Add everything back in for the chorus. You also have the building and releases to mark transitions between sections. One nice touch with that is the use of filters to allow just the attacks on the galloping synth line to come through without overpowering the verses.
Then we come to the sudden break with some acoustic (almost classical guitar) and a quiet background with a lot motion. Then we have a big thrum from the incoming bass texture. I really like this part, it hangs in the air and is one of the more effective ways to do a break.
The ending maybe a goes a little too far with the repetition and echoes, but it’s not an uncommon way to end a pop tune. Of course, the digitization, skipping, and ultimate modem-like tone really creates an interesting end point. There’s a sense of things falling apart, disconnecting. I think this reinforces the idea of suicide that some have suggested, and puts me in a similar mindspace to Little Bustes Refrain.
As for personal opinions, not to sound too negative, but this song has a pleasing amateurishness to it (I feel this way about a lot of Maeda’s early compositions). It’s actually one of my favorite things about this album as a whole.
I think that this song since it’s really intense, it’s possibly a case of the singer being so intensely in love and wanting to search that it’s destroying them mentally. I agree that it seems a bit “yandere”, and is quite sinister, the singer could even be like an evil spirit/ghost, gone mad and haunting their love. Especially with that distortion at the end.
If you don’t exist, I also cease to exist.
Could imply that if the person they love dies, they also have no reason to live and will stop existing.
There’s quite a lot of ways this song can go, especially with the curveball:
I throw myself to the fact that you will never wake up.
Does this mean their partner is in a coma? Or are they in a coma completely mad thinking their lover is the one asleep? Or does it mean that their partner is dead, and their love for them has driven them insane?
This song feels really different to all the others in the album musically. It’s got a nice strong melody that I like, the KIMO WO SAGASHITETA is super catchy.
Wow I never really thought about this but I completely agree with this opinion. The old-ness of a lot of this stuff makes it really charming in a way. I think this applies to a fair few Key soundtracks in general in a way, like the Clannad soundtrack is just SO Clannad if you get what I mean. The specific synths and instruments and how MIDI-y some are just makes all these so great and charming.
I find a strong contrast between the outlook of the singer in this song and the one before it, which makes me want to believe they’re different people (even if both songs are about the same pair). The Hill of Beginning features a singer who’s somber and reluctant. He struggles with facing forward when he has so much from the past he fondly remembers that he wishes was part of his present condition. I get the opposite feeling from this song. Whether unfounded or not, this singer is eager to live in the present and future with the object of their affections. The singer is desperately certain that the two will be together forever, while the singer from the first track is realistic about the fact his relationship has ended. What I find interesting in this song is, as others have examined, there doesn’t seem to be much of an actual relationship between these two. The singer has decided that this person he/she’s been searching for is the one and is determined to whole-heartedly devote his/herself to this newfound purpose. I also see time clearly progress in this song, in contrast to the last. In the previous song, the singer spends most of his/her time thinking about the past, but in the present, he/she seems to stay at pretty much the same point. Here, the singer is almost completely talking about the present, and time flows more clearly from moment to moment. I interpret the object of the singer’s affections as confident, judging by the fact the singer assesses that “The sky you see is always clear / Beyond those eternal clouds”. This person sounds determined and sure of what he/she wants to do in his/her life. Perhaps the singer, who seems to have been previously searching for a purpose, takes a liking to this person’s set goals, hence the strong attraction. This is also evidenced by the singer calling this person “a traveler pursuing for your dream.”
A pair of lines I find interesting come from the second stanza. The last two lines say, “When you laugh, I’m also happy.” followed by, “But I wonder why my tears can’t stop.” Are these happy tears? Is this as other people here have interpreted, indicative of the fact that the two don’t really know each other, and perhaps the singer is sad that he/she can’t ever get close to the object of his/her affections?
Finally, the music also contrasts with the previous one. For the most part, this song is more upbeat and energetic than the previous song, which definitely had a slower, sentimental tone. The bridge, I believe it’s called, where the song shifts is even more somber than the previous song’s music. I take this as the singer’s emotions very clearly fluctuating, which is evidenced by the line, “my tears can’t stop”.
A solid piece, though I am more fond of the piano piece in track 1. It’ll be interesting to see if the connections between these songs become clearer as the album goes on.
