@christinel2359

5 years ago

What the lyrics are based on - The story of Smeraldo started in a rural village in northern Italy, around the 15th~16th century. In the village called ‘La Città di smeraldo’, there was a small secluded castle. In that place lived a man with grotesque appearance. The man hid himself in the old castle, lonely. Maybe it was because of the hatred and beratement that he received from birth and when growing up that he didn’t open his heart to anyone, he got angry and hid if someone tried to approach him. His only joy was growing flowers in his garden. But one day, a girl appeared near the man’s castle. The girl in ragged clothes lifted her heels, jumped over the garden fence and stole the flowers. The man was mad as a hornet at first, he spent the whole night to guard the garden. But in his brief moment of sleepiness, the girl picked flowers again and ran away. It happened for several days, until one night the man pretended to fall asleep and watched the girl go. He was curious. Without realizing it, the man waited for the girl, and one day he followed her. He covered himself with a cloak and after following here the man discovered, the poor and weak girl was selling flowers for a living. The man wanted to help the girl. He wanted to teach her every method of growing flowers he knew, he wanted to teach her how to grow beautiful flowers. But he couldn’t come forward to the girl. She would be scared of him, she wouldn’t love his grotesque appearance. In the end, the only thing he could do was to grow and take care of the flowers so she could keep coming to his garden. The man decided to make a flower out of this world. He started to make a flower that the girl could sell at an expensive price. The man shut himself in the castle to make the flower. After countless attempts, the man made a flower that never existed in the world, and filled his garden with that flower. But the girl was nowhere to be seen. No matter how much he waited, the girl wouldn’t come to his garden. The man grew concerned and went to the village with his face covered. But the girl was already dead. ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ Now how does the story behind Smeraldo relates to the truth untold? This garden is filled with blossoming loneliness. I tied myself to this sand castle filled with thorns. When I look at this verse all I can think of is, to use the man on the story as a metaphor of what it means to be an Idol. Although they are on the spotlight, we often forget to think of what they really feel like, think of and wish for. Their sand castle is their spotlight. Garden = The world they create for us. The girl = their fan. We come to their garden-fandom- and take what they make, share and show. They observe us from afar, don't know our name, or where we came from, all they know is that our love for them is pure and warm. All they can do is just to observe us from afar in their garden. You know that I can’t show you me, give you me, I can’t show you my weakness. So I’m putting on a mask to go see you but I still want you. What I feel here is their reality of being an Idol putting on a mask and act a certain way to please the public eye, and meet the standards of a perfect idol persona. They cannot show us their entire real self, their fears and weaknesses just a very small glimse for fear of being rejected, judged or lose us. Although all they want is to be open and be with us without pretending. The Idol mask is what they can only show us, they don't like to pretend but must do it due to media and social pressure. A flower that resembles you blossomed in this garden of loneliness. I wanted to give it to you as I take off this stupid mask. But I know this can’t go on forever. I must hide because I’m ugly. I’m afraid, so pathetic. I’m so afraid in the end, will you leave me too? So I’m putting on a mask to go see you. The man created a flower out of this world for the girl, he wanted to give it to her but his fear of being rejected stopped him from doing so. Here that flower is their music, they created such inspiration just for us, they shared with us but they have to do it thru their Idol persona. They want us to love them for who they trutly are but their fears to show their true self makes them wish us to love them for someone they are not. The only way for them to show us to have a truthly understanding of them is their story between the lines of their songs.

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