What else should we react to? 🤔 Comment below! Also if you like the song in the intro support the channel directly & stream my new album ‘Blacklist’ now 🖤 http://song.link/blacklistalbum

You pretty much nailed most of the key points to this song.

For context, Calli was part of the underground Japanese rap scene. But when 2020 hit, the bars closed down ("shattering the bars we played") and most of her friends, peers, and mentors from that scene were forced to return to their stable 9-5's, leaving the dream to wither and die. Meanwhile, Calli took a big risk at applying for Hololive, which at that point was heavily portrayed as cutesy idol/jpop-focused (a hard departure from underground rap). She undeniably found success there, but many of her former friends saw her as selling out and trading the integrity of her art for success and leaving them behind.

This song is basically her love letter to those friends saying "I miss you, but I can't undo what I've worked so hard to accomplish. I can't go back to you, but I can wait for you to catch up and join me on the mountaintop."

“I guess I just wanted some of them to be proud of me” - Calli

Man, when I first asked you for Calli I was kinda hoping you'd get hooked, but I was not expecting 3 reax in 3 weeks. This is dope. Thanks, Knox

"We all have layers".
...
...
FUCK, IS THAT WHY SHE LOVES SHREK?!

Fun fact: this song was almost gonna thrown to the deepest part of her folders and never be released. Calli felt kinda hesitant to release it because this song talk about her past life so deeply, it's too emotional for her. But she decided to soldier on and release it, and she glad that she did. There's also a video (stream archive) of her that dive deep into the lyrics and meanings behind it.

And damn, Knox, you're breaking it down like the Doom Guy tearing up those demons.

3 of her hololive genmates sang this song as a trio at their latest concert. I bet she was crying like a baby. I know I was.

This song's got some interesting layers, the most interesting to me is the death of a 'life' that was the indie/underground rap scene in japan over the last few years, -- "When the ladder fell and shattered every bar that we had played" covid literally killed bars.  hundreds of them that will never open again, the scene will never completely recover all while she found insane success the world she knew was ending

she not only got to meet and be around the heroes she had that got her into music in the first place, she got to befriend them and spend years of her life running around the city with them, doing live shows, making music, working together... only for them to treat her like the bad guy when her success hit as their world ended.

Hi! If I remember well, Calli was in a group underground, singing at bars, when the pandemic came the places like that got closed, and they all got ‘normal’ jobs.

Calli found hololive, she didn’t think that she was really gonna end working there, it was a joke, but they accepted. In a video she explains that, she kinda wanted them to be proud of her, but no one tell her that.

She felt bad because she was also thinking that some of them deserved more the famous than her, even though she’s telling herself that she shouldn’t feel this way because she got it with effors, still she think that way.

All Westerners say that Calliope's lyrics are amazing.
As a Japanese, I could not quite understand why.
But after seeing your reaction, I think I understand a little better.
Thank you! 👍

Your breakdowns have been crazy on point. She made entire hour-long streams about breaking down her lyrics and you're catching a bunch of hidden clues. An interesting thing to note has been that she was heavily influenced by the Japanese rap scene, which helps with that very unique sound and flow you described. A lot of this song is also about that scene and how it has changed over time. On that topic, I'd absolutely recommend reacting to the song "Crown". It was a collaboration between her and a Japanese rapper/singer duo called 'Boogey Voxx' and can be found on their channel. I'd love to hear your thoughts on some more bilingual songs, especially the Japanese rap.

Wonderful reaction, even after working with her it can get hard to notice all the subtilities in her lyric writing and i love that content like this helps to appreciate the full picture, thank you so much ! Awesome content, really

Most likely Calli's space references is mostly referring to how she's an American who moved Japan and how at times that can feel "alien" if I remember correctly.

This song is 100% my favorite from her with "Cursed Night" as a close second. She is easily one of the best lyricists out there today. As with all her songs, you can tell she put a lot of herself and her experiences into the song but this one she put a ton of emotion into as well. She did a stream after this released where she broke down the lyrics and in parts she nearly broke down talking about it. It mostly came down to her joining Hololive drove a large wedge between her and a lot of her old Japanese rap scene friends who felt like she'd sold out. You always think your friends will have your back no matter what, but then when some of those friends turn on you because they become jealous of your success, it hurts a lot. Such a good song.

You introduced me to calliope , now i heard all of her songs , but came here to just see your reaction. i may have never knew her , but cause of you she is now in my playlist.

You are also an amazing musicians. I always check your video wheather it is reaction video or music video.

This song hits home for me in so many ways. I'm a musician who chose /not/ to pursue music, so that I could keep taking care of my girlfriend (now my wife) as her health started failing. Yes, I could have chosen to break up with her to go after my own dreams, but the "me" that would have made that decision? No, that's someone I could never be friends with. That was 20 years ago, and while I have a great many regrets about choices I've made since then, that decision is not one of them.

I've watched a lot of reactions to this song, but I have never seen anyone nail the meaning of it the first time around the way you did. You're fast becoming my favorite rap reactor. Like a nuclear reactor, but music is the fuel.

"when the ladder fell and shattered every bar that we had played" is kind of a triple too cause shes mentioned in the past this line is talking about covid shutting everything down

It's also rough because of the Rona, she hasn't been able to see her family in years. And a lot of her friends in the comeup are in another country, in the past.

This is her best song ...as Mori. I think there's clip of her talking about this song breakdown if you're interested.

I think you might like Calli's "Live Again". It's a personal fave of mine from hers. Also, greetings from Scandinavia! Keep up the good works Knox! Love your deep analyzes and the softness of it all.

Another great video man! Just to clarify the meaning of the whole song: so basically that song is all about Calli's past when she was just a foreigner rapper in random clubs with her friends. Life was harsh for them AND for her, most of her friends and idols("heroes" - how she views them) devoted their lives to rap but simply could not achieve success no matter how hard they tried. Calli, inspired by her "heroes", tried just as hard and couldn't achieve success in the same way at the beginning("I'll never find another chance to say "hey thanks for saving my life", I was hopeless.."). But things have turned when someday she actually became famous thanks to sudden hype around her. From that moment on, she began to climb the career ladder. At the same time, her "heroes" began to envy Calli, turn away from her, and she, in turn, began to take the blame on herself(calling herself a "villain"), citing injustice("you watched your heroes fade inti the rear view-mirror of the villain you portrayed"). The last factor was the appearance of the coronavirus, because of which absolutely all the clubs she went to were closed("there's nothing left back there for me"; "I'll never find my way back to you"), and all those "heroes" were simply forced to give up their dreams("And your friends grew tired of fantasy; you're wishing they had stayed?"; "laughing at our own dreams, haha.. just what the hell was so funny?") and look for other jobs. At the end of the song, it becomes clear that Calli overcame all this and stopped blaming herself for what happened, since it was not her fault that only she, having put much less effort into it, unlike others, became popular("Stop the pity party, listen you don't get to be dismayed . You don't get to be emotional, feel blessed you got it made").
I think that's it, I really hope I've helped you with my explanation and I'm waiting for your new videos!!

P.S. Sorry if my English is bad lol