Lyrical Deep Dive: 不埒なCANVAS - Painting the landscape of the trilogy

I managed to finish writing something for once

The 3Chord album series tell a story about a pair of lovers in 3 different perspectives. The concept of the story is the idea of fixing the "time" of the story but instead the story is retold through different people. Drawing from the names of the individual tour stops of 7th live, Comical Pops, Funky Dancing and Glowing Rock, we get our CFG song trilogy in the form of Furachi na CANVAS, Odoru FLAGSHIP and Ikenai GO AHEAD. Furachi na CANVAS is the first perspective, belonging to the male lead in the story.

Keep in mind that this was the first song released in the story, and as such there wasn't that much expectation out of this song and we never really got a good idea of what was coming out of the 3chord albums until Odoru Flagship dropped.

This is the second writeup about the 3chord series. You can find the earlier writeup about Odoru Flagship here: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarlightStage/comments/m8j0rq/lyrical_deep_dive_3chord_series_odoru_flagship/

There isnt nearly as much lore about this song's background as there was no discussion over deresute NIGHT over this. So we didn't get to hear about the concept of the series or any words from the composer until Odoru Flagship came about. Composition wise, I really enjoyed the song actually. The fast piano paired with the polyrhythmic nature of the composition makes a very interesting song. I'm generally a big fan of interesting piano lead songs with memorable progressions (think of stuff like YOASOBI's 夜に駆ける) and thats probably the same reason I also liked the official Hotel Moonside remix (Hotel Moonside -Take me away from Metropolis Remix-) done by the same composer in this very style.

Anyway, let's get started. Canvas is in my opinion, has some of the hardest sections in the 3chord series to interpret. The way things are worded and the large amount of abstractions to weird objects make it very vague and open for interpretation. I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong on this one. There's just quite a number of ways to see things and my Japanese is admittedly not even that good.

Standard fare: Translations are not meant to be perfect English and comprehensible sentences to give the reader who may not understand Japanese a chance to derive meaning from the original literature with the original contextual clues, instead of having someone else already making that interpretation for you. Read the discussion under each section for some suggestion on the interpretations.

What to do What do What do
What do Be my be my baby
What to do What do What do
What do

不埒なCANVASに
気がついたら描いてる
君の顔や　くちびる
つきあえたなら　どうかなって

In the lawless canvas
[I] Started painting [on it] after I noticed
Your face and your lips
If I could get along with you what would that be like?

The start of the song sets the stage for song. There is a lot of metaphors in this song involving canvases and painting. From here on, it can only be assumed that this is either the male lead's profession or interest. He encounters some attractive girl and has a desire to go out with her.

半分は廃墟だ　ガラス細工　高いビル
隙間を突き抜ける飛行機雲が　かっこいいな

Glasswork tall buildings; Half are ruins
[I thought] The vapor trails piercing the crevices is cool

This is where the whole skyscraper aesthetic of the event and the card art come from. The airplane vapor trails also make their debut here, which is one of the iconic major recurring elements in the series.

すりかわっていく時間や街で
ぼんやりすわっていたメリーゴーラウンド
何度も同じ場所だけをまわってた

In the replaced time and streets
The faint, stationary merry go round
Time and time again, [I/it] came around just this same place

This part is pretty open for interpretation. There's something that revolves around the same place. That thing is a faint and stationary merry go round, but the description of stationary/sitting is describing how the merry go round has endured change throughout the time. Considering the theme of the song so far, this is likely also about the male lead being stuck in a conundrum regarding the girl. He wants to make his move but can't get himself to do so.

シュッとして　真剣になって
もっとなんか変えてゆきたいんだ
僕は　ちっぽけなとこで悩んでたねって
笑い飛ばして

Moving quickly, I became serious
[I] Want to go and change something even more
I always get troubled over the tiniest things isn't it?
I laughed it off

This is the part where the male lead greatly considers their decision to make a move on the girl. It's very evident by all the literature so far that this move is deeply troubling for him and that he's stressed out over it.

勇気だして　ぶつかってみる
1回くらいの告白で
世界が塗りかわるとは思わないけど
始めなくちゃ

Gathering courage, [I] tried to meet
With like a single confession
I don't think the world needs to be repainted but
I have to start

The guy finally decides he needs to make his move in the second half of the chorus. It's all about just how much it has taken him to get to this point. Once again we continue to see all the metaphors regarding painting something. The paint in this story largely seems to reflect his influence on the world around him.

What to do What do What do
What do Be my be my baby
What to do What do What do
What do

下心のCANVASにある
絶対見せらんない空中庭園
なぜか君はいつも　真っ赤なトートバックを持ってる
素足の爪が艶かしくて　アジサイの方へと目をそらした
むせかえるほどに　きついサイダーを
飲みほし空をあおいだ

In the canvas of ulterior motives
[there is a] hanging garden that [I] absolutely cannot show [you]
Why do you always carry around that red tote bag
[Your] bare toenails were captivating; I diverted my attention to the hydrangeas
A cider strong enough to choke me
I drink as I look up at the sky

So this is surprisingly a very informative second verse to the song. A couple things to unpack here.

This verse introduces the second recurring element in the trilogy, the red tote bag of the female lead of the story. It was this single clue that lead us into the connection of the songs in the 3chord series once FLAGSHIP's preview dropped.

We haven't discussed at all why there's a "lawless canvas" and now there's also a "canvas of ulterior motives". This is where the lore of the story opens up a bit more and is the first hint we have towards the final arc in the story, albeit a very vague one. The verse describes a set of behavior, that while somewhat ordinary individually, when put together allows you to arrive at the intended conclusion. The male lead is in an existing relationship with another girl. We get revealed that there is more to his hesitation than just the inability to get the courage to reveal his feelings. In this case it seems that flower related symbolisms refer to the third character in the story. The whole idea of a lawless canvas is the concept that he is manipulating and navigating a scandalous landscape by involving himself with another girl. Furachi na Canvas is a song that in its entirety, consists of his internal struggle to contend with his moral compass and his desires. This is further emphasized by the last part where he attempts to drink away his sorrows.

曲線だらけで　モノクロの世界
水彩画みたいな雫で
君は無意識に色をつけていく

The monochrome world full of nothing but curves
In a watercolor-like drop
You're unconsciously adding color

This section describes the impact the girl is having on his life, using coloring of a painting as a metaphor for something that brings vibrance and life.

嘘ついて　あきらめたって
心臓の音　誤魔化せないんだ
今は肖像画さえも
残せやしないこの惑星で

I told myself I [had] given up telling lies
The sound of [my] heart won't possibly deceive me
Now even [my] portrait
won't even be left behind in this planet

The second chorus continues the exposition of his internal conflict. One of the most puzzling things in this section is the discussion of the portrait being left behind. It's not an easy section to interpret because it's not necessarily coherent with the rest of it. The first half is about how we wants to come to acceptance to the fact that he wants to be with the girl. The second half sounds like a very roundabout way of saying that he can't face himself to hold himself accountable for his decisions. Possibly his portrait ("face") won't be left behind in the planet ("hidden from the world") . It comes off as an expression that seems to suggest shame.

つきあってみないか僕と
つきあったらどうだろう
そんなんじゃ伝わらないな
まっすぐに言う
つきあってくれ

Would you like to go out with me?
If you go out with me, what will become of it [I wonder]
No way I could transmit [these thoughts]
Say it frankly
Please go out with me

The internal monologue where the male lead is trying to solve a communication problem by mulling over it. As it turns out, the simplest solution is often the most appropriate one.

What to do What do What　どうやって
かなえるかって
そうそれはシンプルで　強い答えなのに
自信がもてなくて　ぐるぐるぐるぐるぐると迷っていた

What to do What do What How do I do [it]?
Can [my wish] be granted?
Yes the answer seems simple and strong yet
I have no confidence. [I keep going] around and around and around and around until I'm lost

It is pretty evident by this point that the male lead hasn't gotten off the merry go round. 6th Live ended in 2018 by the way Not sure what else there is to add by this point since the themes are largely repeating in slightly different ways. At least we get some pretty great piano solos.

シュッとして　真剣になって
もっとなんか変えてゆきたいんだ
僕は　ちっぽけなとこで悩んでたねって
笑い飛ばして

Moving quickly, I became serious
[I] Want to go and change something even more
I always get troubled over the tiniest things isn't it?
I laughed it off

勇気だして　ぶつかってみる
1回くらいの告白で
世界が塗りかわるとは思わないけど
始めなくちゃ

Gathering courage, [I] tried to meet
With like a single confession
I don't think the world needs to be repainted but
I have to start

君が好きだよ
この惑星で

I like you
In this planet

Its probably pretty obvious, but this expression when said this way would mean something that amounts to "I love you more than anything in the world"

What to do What do What do
What do Be my be my baby
What to do What do What do
What do

僕と　つきあって

Go out with me

And thus the song concludes with the confession. Canvas is a song that is relatively straightforward to understand, but has some very convoluted sections where it is very difficult to draw interpretations. This could be a very intentional design as the first song in the series to not give too much information away. Outside of a few select sections of this song, the overall difficulty of the song is not too bad and isn't particularly deep either. It is essentially a very generic pop song woven into the first part of the trilogy story which is precisely the theme of the first stop.

That would be our first perspective in the trilogy covered. Now if I ever get myself to stop being insanely lazy some day I might actually finish the conclusion for the 3chord series (which I actually started work on before this one, just never touched it since Ikenai Go Ahead event actually happened)