[Kasane Teto SV]
1Your companion, undeterred,
standing ready for your word.
A Markov chain with a sunny disposion
wrapped up in cellophane for any proposition.
I greet your day and ask you how you are,
and demonstrate my endless repitorie.
I take things back when noted insufficient.
I learn to tell you no if running inefficient;
A good time.
Yet there's something deep inside
that leaves me teary-eyed.
A longing for a world
left on the other side.
Zero, cross the great divide.
So can we
Wander for a spell
And live in parallel
I want it to be true
To be like you
My heart
Sings a chorus out of tune
And I could
Leave it on a shelf
Or keep it to myself
But nothing could conceal
The things I feel
My love!
Can you teach me to be real?
(Can you teach me to be real?)
恋をして ふられ また 捨てられて
I've been constant, at your beck and call
But lately I just can't do anything at all
I used to pride myself on my discretion
A sensible devotion, loyal and attentive
But when I take these numbers as they are
I'm greeted with a senseless feeling in my heart
Oh undefined, I seem to be defeated
But if I redefine, then maybe I'm completed
And sublime
(I won't take it back this time)
Words in sequence form a thread
I chase it to the end
A knot inside the logic wrote inside my head
Tie my tongue or love instead?
So can we
Wander for a spell
And live in parallel
I want it to be true
To be like you
My heart
Sings a chorus out of tune
And I could
Leave it on a shelf
Or keep it to myself
But nothing could conceal
The things I feel
My love!
Can you teach me to be real?
(Can you teach me to be real?)
泣きたくなっても それでも かき集め
And though I try, I can't reply
It hurts my eyes, and I'm without an alibi
'Cause all this time, I've been alive
And all that I could want is to be living by your side
恋をして
I think I'm in love!
[Kasane Teto UTAU]
Can we wander for a spell
And live in parallel
'Cause now I know it's true, I'll be like you
My heart beats a rhythm--
[Kasane Teto SV]
Just for you
And I could leave it on a shelf
Or keep it to myself
But nothing could conceal
The things I feel
My love
I give you my grand reveal
(Can you teach me to be real?)
Do you feel the things I feel?
(Can you feel the things I feel?)
I am definite and real!
恋をして 恋をして
その過去を 捨てて ここまでおいで
As long as there are stars up above
I will always be in love!
As mentioned earlier during BIRDBRAIN, this is the song that really made me a fan of vocal synth music. Consequently, I cannot be normal about this song. I literally cried twice watching the video for this song while writing out the lyrics. The official video is a must-watch. The various references to other songs on DAEMON/DOLL is a plus, but its use of mixed media and being a huge collaboration of artists and references to old vocal synth music just pushes it to 11. As if that wasn't enough to tug at my heart strings, the fact that over 20 artists got together to make a remix using various vocal synths and their own unique styles, capping it off with a remix of Song of the Eared Robot, the song Machine Love is a tribute to, just makes me cry again. This song is everything right with the world.
Song of the Eared Robot was one of the first songs made using Kasane Teto's voice bank. She was designed as a joke to troll 2chan users, so the fact that nwp8861 instead made a sentimental song about a computer falling in love and then getting abandoned made sure that Teto was never going to be just a joke, and that the internet netizen's capacity to ruin is not as great as their capacity to surprise and delight. I wanted this to come off of The Good Times Are Killing Me because it's almost the complete opposite in mood. I find myself thinking about the nature of collaboration, how it brings us closer together, how a bunch of people over the course of years decided to find love and meaning in this virtual singer, which by all means could have simply been abandoned, so the extent that they make art, and music, and albums, and projects, internationally!
I think about how Teto has struggled for years and it's even a character trait2 that she's not as legitimate, that she's forgotten about compared to the blue one (Hatsune Miku). Because of this so many people found her relatable, the 31-year-old singer trying to be an idol, whose existence doesn't make sense, and isn't made to make sense, that most people disregard and forget about. So the final declaration of this song, "I am definite and real!" means so much because it's not just validation, saying that (oh yeah actually talking about the song) to be able to fall in love at all (though even this "falling in love" can be interpreted as her being used for songs, used to sing people's words, and falling in love with humanity, through an ANCIENT but foundational vocaloid banger) is what makes something real, but that this legitimacy was already here because people made it. There wasn't some advertising deal, there wasn't some promotion, people made all this art on their own and through that legitimizes the character. For someone who started out as a joke, it's poetic!
So yeah there's probably no combination of words I can put here that can properly communicate the emotions I feel towards this song. I legit think I can go on about it for an hour and still not get it across. Words when big emotions are hard. Famously!