Same songs?
Since it’s been announced that the drEP has seven songs, fans have been trying to figure out what happened to certain snippets. Using Tunebat’s Song Key & BPM Finder, I compared a few pairs of clips to determine if they are the same song or not. The post is long, so please keep reading under the cut.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert in music. I don’t even listen to music that much. Please don’t use this as definitive proof. This was made just for fun!
#1 “Paranoid” = “Spotlight”?
Fans have been comparing the TikTok sound “Because I’m Paranoid” to the “Spotlight” snippet from the EP announcement, hoping they are the same. While the two do have very similar BPM, they do not share the same key and alt key. A key change is possible, but some have pointed out that both snippets might be the chorus of their own respective songs.
[tiktok]
Nobody knowing
Because I’m paranoid
Of things that I can’t avoid
Like me needing you
So can you fill the void?
[ep announcement]
I wanna put you in the spotlight
Turn off the cameras
Now you’re (all mine?)
I doubt these two are the same song, but I’d love to be proven wrong. Hopefully, we still get both in the EP.
#2 “2036″ = “Slow Down”?
A few fans have compared the snippet with the lyrics “It’s 2036” to the “Slow Down” snippet from the EP announcement. To my surprise, both have the same key and alt key.
[tweet]
It’s 2036
I’ll probably have some kids
I’ll teach them not to do the same stupid shit I did
In 2059
I hope that I’m alive
I hope they finally made those crazy cars that can fly
[ep announcement]
Time keeps passing
Don’t let it pass you
Slow down
If true, this would explain why Dream shared the first snippet the morning after he posted the poll with the options “KOL”, “E”, and “SD”. Given the snippet’s lyrics and the words “Slow down” in Dream’s letter, “SD” must be “Slow Down”. I’m hoping that these two are part of the same song, as I love the “2036” snippet so much.
#3 “Total Disconnection” = “Still care about you”?
Most fans have agreed that the snippets captioned “TOTAL DISCONNECTION” and “I missed driving and listening to music” from Snapchat are the same song. This seems extremely likely as both share the same key, alt key, and BPM.
[tweet]
We would be better off without this
Total disconnection
I feel like throwing up
I look at my reflection
I see myself growing up
[snapchat] [ep announcement]
Forever isn’t far away
So I need you to hear me say
I still care about you
Still care about you
Listen to the clips one after another, and it’s convincing that these are from the same song.
#3.1 “Total Disconnection” = “Kind of Love”?
This isn’t as solid of a theory, but this song might be called “Kind of Love”. The first snippet captioned “TOTAL DISCONNECTION” was shared the morning after Dream posted the poll with the options “KOL”, “E”, and “SD”. “KOL” stands for “Kind of Love”, given that this song name is seen in Dream’s music player and the words “kind of love” are in Dream’s letter. Hopefully, Dream gives us more snippets or hints soon.
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Misery loves Company Part 3
Yeah, we are at the part that proves this saying.
Trigger warning for (holy fuck a lot): child abuse, slavery, human trafficking, forced sex work, mentions of domestic abuse, mentions of death, mentions of murder, mentions of alcohol, talk about sex
I hope I have everything covered. This is also pretty long because I didn't want to part it into two. You know, just get through it.
I promise this is the worst part. After this we will have either funny things, stupid things or smut.
After breakfast and a trip to the market, they were now stocked up with everything they would need on the road and saved themselves from the approaching warmth in the weather to the room. So equipped with juice and diluted beer, as well as some of the sweets and treats from the market, Lyran now sat on the floor of the room with Arritit. It was still a few hours until sunset, so he could rest enough.
"So...," Arritit began between two pieces of the little fruit-infused sweet dough balls, "you've carved out enough time now."
"I like to forget that you're just as stubborn as I am."
"That's why we like each other."
Her grin was wide enough to show her teeth.
"True again," Lyran admitted, emptying his cup.
"I'm listening."
"Everyone leaves me eventually. I'm used to that."
He shrugged and refilled them both.
"But why are you used to it."
"My father died before I could remember him, my mother was forced to remarry due to silly Wealzarythian laws. My stepfather was a gambler, wife beater and drunkard. My cousins died in Kirenes' silly war. Years later, my uncle. My mother died of disease when I was twelve. Shall I go on?"
"I know that wasn't all. I can see that by looking at you."
The small wooden stick for the fruit balls was misused by Arritit as a miniature sword as she waved it under his nose. Surrendered, he rolled his eyes and stuffed one of the candies into his mouth. Lyran screwed up his face, not expecting how sour it was.
"You can't tell by looking at me," he replied as he shook his head at the sour taste.
"I guess you can. I can see you trying to avoid it and looking everywhere but at me."
Where she was right, she was right. It was easier when he wasn't seeing her reaction in the process. It should have been easier after all this time. It had all been more than twenty years now, but it was anything but easy.
Arritit's hand on his brought Lyran out of his thoughts. Questioningly, he looked at her.
"All well?" she inquired quietly.
"As well as can be expected. I'm still alive and free, aren't I?"
"You are, and you're safe with me. Don't forget that."
"How could I ever forget."
The rustle of her clothes revealed that she was shifting, even before Arritit sat next to Lyran and put an arm around his waist. Her head rested against his upper arm.
"I know what it's like, never being able to forget. Sometimes I still see Belvie in front of me."
"Belvie?"
Cynically, she snorted.
"My fiancée. At least that's what we used to call each other. We had just come of age, so you do such nonsense. Father..."
Lyran understood too well where this was going.
"I didn't know he lashed out like that. I only knew about Halrin and Tunebat."
"They were the first. Belvie tried to help me bring Sojan back to his senses. Father used it."
Shifting his weight a bit, Lyran in turn now put his arm around her.
"Our fathers are assholes. My stepfather sold me to the Golden Cage just weeks after Mom died to pay off his gambling debts."
Her head turned a little, so she was looking at him. It was strange how Arritit's usually bright eyes seemed clouded right now, and it wasn't just because of the tears that threatened to fall
soon.
"How did you get through that?"
It was just a whisper, marked by bewilderment.
"I don't know."
Frustrated, Lyran went through his hair, only to find that his curls were already about to knot up again.
"What happened next?"
"There were a few of us kids. The youngest were just used as delivery boys. We older ones.... Had to serve as valets when customers booked a room. Or clean in the public rooms while customers were there. Some of the adults tried to look out for us, but let's just say I wasn't very good at following orders."
"The scars..."
"Yeah."
As many times as Arritit had patched him up, she had of course seen the many scars from the whippings on his back.
"But you know the reputation of the Golden Cage. Every time I started trusting someone more...they disappeared. I didn't understand why for the first few years. Until I had to help cover up for the first time when I was fifteen. Shortly after, Astrina came along. Her uncle had sold her after her parents died. You don't want to know how many kids grew up there, only to die soon because some adult sold them to get rid of them, pay off gambling debts, or whatever to afford."
Memories of that time came flooding back. Actually, Lyran had hoped it had all buried far enough. Arritit's hand at his waist squeezed gently.
"That's why Sojan didn't want you to go then."
"It took you this long to get it?"
The laugh came almost automatically, even though it was actually inappropriate. A small smile on Arritit's face, however, made it clear that it was all right.
"I knew there were bad memories there, but not how bad. Other than that, everything went haywire after that night."
"Yeah, it did..."
Again, she gave him a little squeeze.
"What actually happened back then?"
"Time jump, huh?"
With an annoyed snort, Arritit rolled her eyes and indicated with a quick nod for him to continue.
"Alright, let's stay in time. You're a poor storyteller for a bard."
"You're just impatient, dearest Ari."
Lyran rested his head on hers and took a deep breath.
"Where were we? Ah Astrina."
A deep sigh later, he took another deep breath.
"We understood each other quickly. She was a few weeks older than me and was being auctioned off to a particularly violent client for the Night of the Virgins. I was also supposed to be there as a servant. That was the owner's way of making it clear to me where my place was. Something was going through me that night. The customer had hardly settled down in the room when he hit Astrina the first time. After that, a lot of things are blurry. I know from reports from the town guard that the customer, a guard, and the owner died that night, a fire broke out in the Golden Cage but was brought under control and several people were considered missing or dead from the poor souls who worked there. Astrina and I made it to the Royal Theater and got shelter there."
The tension of bringing it all back up was starting to get to Lyran. It felt like someone had put chains around his chest.
Arritit nudged him and held out a sweet pastry.
"Eat, the sugar helps."
"Are you trying to fatten me up?" joked Lyran, but gratefully accepted the pastry.
"I want to keep you sane."
"I am sane."
Before biting into the pastry, Lyran gave Arritit a kiss on the nose.
"I'm afraid that can change quickly."
"The worst that can happen is that I get drunk tonight."
She rolled her eyes and used the pause to eat something herself. For a few moments they sat there like that, holding each other, and pursuing their own thoughts.
"How did you handle it back then?" asked Lyran into the silence.
He knew Sojan had struggled with guilt and grief for the decades since, but Arritit never seemed like she felt the same way. She licked her lips thoughtfully.
"Sojan and I came to this dimension together. Mother had sent us ahead to make sure we were safe. She followed almost two years later, when she thought it was safe to go too. I remember when she found me, I was learning from a shaman everything needed to be a healer for other tribes. She also stayed in the village for a while, learning a few things herself. I never dared to ask where Ren and Ram were. Maybe because I knew they were loyal to Father, or maybe because I was afraid to hear the confirmation. I don't know."
"I remember the deranged twins well...," Lyran remarked.
It had only been a few days back then, and Halrin, who was surprisingly still alive, had protected him from most of them, but Ram in particular had taken her vicious streak out on him with glee.
"They were playing with you then, weren't they?"
Arritit looked at him seriously. He didn't have to answer, he could tell by looking at her. A simple nod was enough.
"Then you know what I went through."
"I can imagine."
Gently, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Arritit returned the gesture with a smile and a kiss on his nose.
"That probably makes you the only one in all known dimensions."
"I only wish you could have been protected from that."
She chuckled and shook her head briefly.
"Akejin and Sojan did their best, except they couldn't always watch over me either. Akejin was almost grown up when I was born."
Lyran reached over to the candied fruit and held out the bag to Arritit.
"You need the sugar just as much."
"Thanks."
Of course, she had to pick the biggest piece, but Lyran didn't care.
"So, you and Astrina... what went wrong?"
"By the Great Mother, if I knew."
He looked up at the ceiling and licked his lower lip.
"I really loved her. Even when I was at the Bard School, I tried to spend as much time with her as I could. She loved it when I talked about what we learned. I had this big dream that someday she and I would have a little house, I would have a job with one of the nobles, and we would have a little family. Maybe I screwed up making her realize that dream always included her, or maybe she realized there was something else."
"And that was?"
The laugh in her voice made him smile. He looked back up at her and realized she was glued to his lips.
"Ismanis. We were in the same year. I think sometime around the end of sophomore year, I started to fall for him. The summer before senior year, Astrina broke up with me. She said she couldn't keep it up."
"And Ismanis? That's an elf name, isn't it?"
Lyran laughed. Arritit's lack of knowledge about languages was almost legendary.
"Yes, it is. He was one of the elves at the school. We weren't together long. A year and a half or so? I came to the royal court, and he found employment outside. That was it."
The gleam in Arritit's eyes, Lyran already knew too well. She released the embrace and changed her sitting position so that she could look directly at him.
"Come on, a young handsome bard like you at court. Surely there was somebody there."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you. My bed was left to me alone and was also visited every night. Even though the palace rumor mill thought they knew I had an exceedingly close relationship with Prince Mendis."
Her head went forward, and she looked at him with her mouth open.
"Wait, you were rumored to have been in bed with the current King Wealmoores?"
"Not everyone can say that, can they?"
Lyran couldn't help but grin at that. Mendis and he were happy to fuel the rumor mill at the time, simply thus because that was how they could control it.
"Clearly not," Arritit chuckled, stuffing the next piece of candied fruit into her mouth.
With big movements she chewed, the piece probably harder than expected.
"So....after all, you were with the freedom troupes."
"I was."
He looked away to the side, hoping Arritit didn't notice. Her face suddenly in front of him, however, said it hadn't.
"No... you can't be serious."
"I don't know what you mean."
"You had a thing with a soldier, didn't you?"
"Yes and no," Lyran evaded.
He leaned away from her a little, but it was no use. Arritit slid behind and looked at him, waiting.
"What was it?"
"Neftani actually wanted to become a bard, but wasn't allowed because the family didn't have enough money. He taught me to fight, and I taught him some simple songs."
Her waggling eyebrows were enough indication that she was waiting for the delicate stuff. Growling, Lyran relented.
"All right, we were in Stramsa’gonil, it had snowed, we couldn't go any further, and Neftani and I were sharing a room anyway. A lot of wine flowed, we sang, played cards, and drank until well into the morning. What happens with a group of soldiers who have to wait."
"And then more happened, right?"
"Yes. We were both buzzed, but not drunk. When we stumbled up to the room, he kissed me all at once, and one thing led to another."
Laughing, Arritit fell backward onto the floor.
"Damn, I didn't think you had it in you."
"Everyone makes mistakes."
From one moment to the next, she became serious again and sat up once more.
"Don't say that...."
"He pretended nothing happened for the sake of the dear family, because he was the only son to carry on the family name. Exactly that. That's why I left the freedom troupes, as soon as we reached the snow line at Adach'phenil, I joined a group of merchants. And you know the rest."
Lyran did not like the look in her eyes. Arritit's look spoke of pity, compassion, and concern. Reaching for a dumpling steered him away.
"Lyran..."
"I'm telling you; I'm used to this. This is my life. I'm just damned by the gods."
The bitter smile had come so naturally after all these years. Always smiling and not being a burden to others, he was good at that.
A moment later, he was lying on his back on the floor with Arritit on top of him, holding him tightly.
"Don't do that."
"What?"
"Hiding behind a smile and funny songs."
"I'm a bard. It doesn't matter how I feel. My job is to distract others from their troubles."
"And who distracts you?" she asked straight forward.
He tried to take a breath to answer, but her weight made it difficult.
"Get off me first," he gasped, strained.
"I'm not that heavy."
"No, but I'm stuffed."
Amused, she rolled to the side. So now they lay there, like ladybugs on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.
"Ari?"
"Hmm?"
"Have you found anyone in all these decades?"
She took an audible breath and huffed loudly.
"In the village where I was trained there was a woman, the daughter of the carpenter. I thought it was something serious, but she ended up choosing the blacksmith's son. Years later, there was a town guard in another town. We got along well, but he showed his true colors when I thought I was pregnant. You never saw anyone run so fast. Then the fishing village. Lannhia was adorable, smart, and a damn good midwife. She helped train Pris as a new shaman."
"What happened?"
"Father..."
Lyran turned around. He propped himself up on one arm and looked at her seriously.
"You left your chance to be happy because you ran away from your father?"
"I had to protect her. You know why. Then there was Yuna. I knew I couldn't go back to Lannhia like that after everything. I went to the village three years ago to check on Pris. Lannhia didn't even greet me, instead she was wandering the market with her wife right under my nose."
Arritit's voice became more and more strained. Lyran wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Instead, he put his free arm around her and pulled her close. The humidity and warmth were secondary as he took her in his arms and wrapped himself around her like a human blanket.
"Twin stars, indeed," he murmured to himself.
"What do you mean?"
"The moon signs of the elves. We would both be twin stars. As similar as we are, it's only fitting."
There came only a hum in reply.
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Hey man Idk if you still come around here but I'm looking for a song it was listed on spotify in 2020 as a song by Hokago tea time. its called "second guess" its a piano song and im pretty sure it wasn't actually by them as it has since been scrubbed from the web outside of a few reddit posts also interested in finding it. I was wondering if somehow you had it downloaded by chance. plzz let me know if u find it/have it
Hi there, thanks for your question! I haven't heard of this before so of course I had to go do some digging on the subject. While I couldn't find the song itself, I'd like to document my findings here.
On October 13th 2020, a song called Second Guess was uploaded to Spotify and attributed to Hokago Tea Time. The Spotify artist profile for this song does not appear to be the same as the official Hokago Tea Time profile, however because they have the same name, I'm guessing Spotify got confused and lumped the two together.
The track went largely unnoticed until the following Friday, the 16th of October, when Spotify's Release Radar playlist got updated. This is a dynamically generated playlist showcasing new releases from artists that the user has shown interest in. As modern day algorithm-powered technology is far from flawless, this song started appearing in the Release Radar playlists of users who listen to the real Hokago Tea Time. That's when people started to take notice, and a few posts and blog articles were written about it (in Japanese). It was quickly dismissed as having nothing to do with the actual band.
While the single is still present on Spotify, it has been made unavailable in all regions, so there's no way to access the song there. It amassed a play count of 63,982 plays before playback was disabled, so it did reach a fair amount of people. The cover artwork is fanart of the manga Spy × Family, and it was made by an artist named mr milktea (who makes some fantastic art, by the way).
It's pretty safe to assume that the uploader simply stole someone else's song and tried to pass it off as a Hokago Tea Time song, for whatever reason. Music theft and misattribution is far from uncommon on platforms like Spotify, and it's a real struggle for lesser known independent artists to try to combat it, as copyright laws and content ID tools are largely designed to serve wealthy rightsholders as opposed to individual creators.
If anyone reading this happens to have more information about the song, please do reach out, as it would be nice to know what the original song actually is. If it helps, the song is a piano instrumental in the key of C# Minor, with a BPM of 160 and duration of 3:33 (assuming the data on Tunebat is correct).
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Because I am an insane nerd with too much time on my hands, I made a chart of all the songs from Aikatsu and Pretty Series. It includes things like debut episode, BPM, and song length. Some things are not directly analyzed by me but found based on sheet music or AI websites like Tunebat or Keytube, so there are likely mistakes. Since there are like 300 songs and I will probably never complete it, I made it so that anyone can edit.
Anyway, based on my chart, which is nowhere near complete and probably contains errors...
The longest song is In bloom
The shortest song is Lovely☆Bomb
The song with the widest range is Don’t be Afraid
The song with the narrowest range is Solar flare sherbet
The song with the fastest tempo is POPCORN DREAMING♪
The song with the slowest tempo is Moonlight destiny
The song that debuted earliest in the year is What a WonderPri World!!
The songs that debuted latest in the year are 0-week-old and The Carnival of Mischief!!
The song with the most keys/key changes is GOst♭Coaster
I update this post as the chart gets more complete, so some of the stats may change.
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