Tender & Elusive :
Meet The Shadow Lover

Family and friendships are the center of the shadow lover who is searching for the one true love who will ultimately accept them. Staring with How to Train Your Dragon:

Legend says that when the ground quakes or lava spews from the earth,

it’s the dragons letting us know they’re still here,

waiting for us to figure out how to get along.

The Shadow Lover’s CIAB switches to the Les Miserables’ song One More Day, representing the value of remaining hopeful while emphasizing the consequences of actions.

One day more,

Another day, another destiny.

This never-ending road to Calvary

(hope) ends with

These men who seem to know my crime

Will surely come a second time,

One day more

One day more

One day more

One day more

This hopefulness is likely installed from family, perhaps a song that has stuck with the teen for a long time. The teen further emphasizes their values, using a reverb on the phrase “one day more.” 

The Shadow Lover’s CIAB continues with an old fairytale about a pair of red shoes that a girl desired, but the shoes were cursed when she put them on (Red Shoe Girl).

街上的行人都在注視她～～ (Pedestrians on the street are looking at her)

卻忘了～ (But, I forgot) 

自己在做什麼 她幽幽帶來一絲絲微笑 (What am I doing? She says with a faint smile)

紅鞋女孩 (Red Shoe Girl) The Girl in the Red Shoes).

At first glance, this story tells the poignant tale of a young girl who is cursed to dance endlessly, forever trapped in the spotlight. However, underneath this surface narrative, the song also depicts her being whisked away to a distant land by an unknown foreigner. It happens so quickly—almost out of control, as if she’s been jolted away. This raises the question: does the teenager long to embrace the unknown and dive headfirst into a whirlwind of possibilities, knowing that her life will change instantly?

This dream continues with the song “乾杯“ (Cheers) by Mayday, where the teenager looks back on this love and yearns for just one more drink.

有一天 時間真的能倒退 (One day time will really go back)

退回 你的我的 回不去的 悠悠的歲月 (to yours and mine, the long years can never return)

也許會 有一天 世界真的有終點 (Maybe one day the world will really end)

也要和你舉起回憶釀的甜 (I also want to think about the sweet memories of you.

和你再乾一杯 (And, have another drink with you)

A reverb technique is used, perhaps to emphasize wanting the past to continue forever and for eternity (or of slipping away). 

Could this be the shadow lover’s yearning fantasy about what might someday become of them? The song embodies a boyband’s dream, upbeat and reminiscent of a joyful run toward each other, like two people holding hands. Can you envision a vibrant and lively world filled with possibilities for the teen and their future lover? In “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, the dream shatters the illusion, suggesting that magic can indeed happen—that their most passionate visions can come to life and that one day, the teen will have it all.The past ends by returning to the retelling of the French Revolution with Viva La Vida by Coldplay. It bookends the beginning from Les Miserable

(a song that bookends the beginning song Les Miserables as it, too, was written about the French Revolution). Starting with:

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning, I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes

Listen as the crowd would sing

Now the old king is dead, long live the king

The song intentionally bookends the French Revolution. Viva de vida is about the downfall of a King. Does the teen know this, or is the teen wrapped up in the fantasy that is the irony? Whichever the case maybe, the crowd singing in unison during this live song can’t help but whisk the listener away into the present.