SPOILERS LTD Remake — It's like New Coke except ... no, it's exactly like New Coke

[thetriplerhyme]

No problem with it being a CA love song, i’m just struggling to see how it fits in where they put it due to my previous explanation. It’s like they thought it would be a great theme song for the game— which I think works— but didn’t put much thought into the song when they decided to make Aerith sing it at the Gold Saucer. Because as I said up until that point have you really had that much lovey dovey and romantic moments between Cloud and Aerith for the song to make sense? Not to mention she doesn’t even know whats going to happen in the last few chapters because she doesn’t have her memories, but she sings and cries like she does.

- exactly she wanted her love to find her.. how in the world that's gonna happened when Cloud completely said Rebirth they're just 'friends' ( honestly the dude needed Tifa to find himself ) the person she trully wanted to see still boils down to Zack and ONE PERSON WHOSE GOING TO FIND HER.

 

[faefolk]

Again I don't have a problem with the song itself, it’s more about how they implemented it, because it doesn’t make sense to me that Aerith would write and sing it at that point in the story if its purely about Cloud, especially also when you consider what she says after this chapter too.

I think it makes sense at this point of the story with the Japanese lyrics. Less so with the English ones. But y'know.. the English lyrics made me think of Zack a lot more so

In the original lyrics for the song she's basically repeating 'let me believe' a lot and 'I want to meet you tomorrow' which reads to me like 'let me think this is love, let me get to know you and stay with you'

And idk how good my translation is but one of the lines is literally 'I don't need logic' if I'm translating correctly which just made me lol

 

[MelodicEnigma]

I think it makes sense at this point of the story with the Japanese lyrics. Less so with the English ones. But y'know.. the English lyrics made me think of Zack a lot more so

In the original lyrics for the song she's basically repeating 'let me believe' a lot and 'I want to meet you tomorrow' which reads to me like 'let me think this is love, let me get to know you and stay with you'

And idk how good my translation is but one of the lines is literally 'I don't need logic' if I'm translating correctly which just made me lol

Yeah both would be reflective of something true contextually, really. Probably why people are so attached to the ENG Midgar Blues too. That's how production of these themes usually work evidently—very intentional and specific attention put into its creation and presentation as the FF/KH series always has done. (Which shows another emphasis of how they regard their ENG production in the company)

 

[shady]

I think it makes sense at this point of the story with the Japanese lyrics. Less so with the English ones. But y'know.. the English lyrics made me think of Zack a lot more so

In the original lyrics for the song she's basically repeating 'let me believe' a lot and 'I want to meet you tomorrow' which reads to me like 'let me think this is love, let me get to know you and stay with you'

And idk how good my translation is but one of the lines is literally 'I don't need logic' if I'm translating correctly which just made me lol

I’m actually reading them now and it reads a lot more like “i like you but I don’t know how much and I would like to be able to keep seeing you beyond tomorrow so that I can work out these things i’m feeling” which tracks way better with the things she says in the Church later on… damn, which also makes it more tragic with what’s gonna happen riiiiiiight okay if that is the case okay I see the vision more with the original Japanese version then

 

[Rose Alive]

I don’t think anybody will ever agree on what “canon” even means

It's frustrating because canon isn't even difficult to understand. All canon means in fictional works is the intent of the original author. So when people play through a game, or read a book, they may interpret something the author didn't intend. Now there's nothing wrong with that until you decide to discuss said work of fiction, and instead of trying/wanting to understand what the writer established, you insist your headcanon is correct. This is where we get comments like this one I saw this morning:

"Yeah the crazy shippers always mold every interaction and scene to what they prefer and think is canon, when clearly Cloud loves them both, the same way Aerith does. Cloud is young boy who never had any relationship, doesnt even know what he wants."

Despite throwing the word canon around, here is someone who clearly didn't pay attention to what the writers gave them. That Cloud's love for Tifa and Aerith are different, that Aerith's love for Cloud is her trying to move on from Zack while she tries to separate her feelings for them both, and that Cloud clearly knows who he wants. If his body language and words and actions didn't show that he wants Tifa, then this person is blind or in denial.

 

[thetriplerhyme]

It's frustrating because canon isn't even difficult to understand.

- nooo believe me we all connect to what " canon " means but those hardcore fans are just projecting their frustrations. True fans certainly accepts right away and just still enjoy whatever still in the game. however to those who needed to lie just to justify their way in.

its a lost cause.. ( thats for me though )

 

[Rin]

Ah there's a Nomura interview/quote about the song? Can we see it here? I wouldn't mind seeing it thank you.

There's this as well-

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1768433672997482849

 

[Stiggie]

People have definitely said "It's about Zack" and "she's singing it about Zack" I see these comments alot.

I am not a casual and to me the song 100% screams Zack so. Honestly I wouldn't even know how to make sense of it being about Cloud, I just don't get how it could be since nothing about it seems to match anything about her situation with Cloud, outside of the how it matches Cloud, THROUGH his connection with Zack.

 

[Rin]

People were already discussing the song so why are you yelling at me. I'm not allowed to defend it when others are discussing it but I want to say something different?

I won't be bullied or shut down over this.

Wait who's yelling at you? I think people just have different interpretations of the song.

Overall, NTPK was never meant to be sung by Aerith originally anyway but people just always have diff interpretations of songs, that's the beauty of music as a whole.

 

[MelodicEnigma]

It's frustrating because canon isn't even difficult to understand. All canon means in fictional works is the intent of the original author. So when people play through a game, or read a book, they may interpret something the author didn't intend. Now there's nothing wrong with that until you decide to discuss said work of fiction, and instead of trying/wanting to understand what the writer established, you insist your headcanon is correct. This is where we get comments like this one I saw this morning:

"Yeah the crazy shippers always mold every interaction and scene to what they prefer and think is canon, when clearly Cloud loves them both, the same way Aerith does. Cloud is young boy who never had any relationship, doesnt even know what he wants."

Despite throwing the word canon around, here is someone who clearly didn't pay attention to what the writers gave them. That Cloud's love for Tifa and Aerith are different, that Aerith's love for Cloud is her trying to move on from Zack while she tries to separate her feelings for them both, and that Cloud clearly knows who he wants. If his body language and words and actions didn't show that he wants Tifa, then this person is blind or in denial.

Lol As someone who practically wrote a while dissertation over it, it's definitely made complicated by how people understand it or how they, to be honest, conveniently want to use it. There are some variances depending on what people are talking about, on what is canonical or not.

 

[Eerie]

Since it's the game's theme song, what it tells me essentially is that Aerith's feelings are important in this game, and I think that's true. You need to understand them to understand what's going on with Zack's world (which is hers, as per her own admission) and you need to understand her feelings for Cloud to understand this game's ending.

People are looking too hard at the lyrics, a mistake made with Hollow too. But as I said, shippers are gonna ship.

 

[Rin]

Just because the song keeps coming up and I like dissecting lyrics, I'm going to go through it verse by verse and give my personal thoughts and insights just in case anyone's interested.

Spoiler

VERSE 1:
Walking city streets with worn cobblestones
Listening to people rushing past to rhythms all their own
Life passing me by, not thinking how the years have flown
Until I met you

Aerith is living her life in a monotonous routine. She's a florist from the slums who makes her way to the upper city to sell flowers--a dream she started with Zack and has been carrying out on her own w/o him. She's gotten into such a routine that she doesn't even think about how much time has passed until she meets Cloud.

VERSE 2:
I won't say that it was fate
I won't say that it was destiny
But if not, what could it be
That drew you towards me?
Could it be chance?

Aerith has no idea what drew Cloud toward her (except she does lol) and she muses on whether or not it's fate, destiny, or chance. We know from a meta / narrative POV that it was indeed fate/destiny thanks to the existence of the whispers. Still, Aerith is waxing poetic here about her fated meeting w/ Cloud on the street and wondering if it means and something and if it does... what does it mean, exactly?

VERSE 3:
Till the day that we meet again
Where or when I wish I could say
But believe—know that you'll find me
Promises to keep, we won't ever need

Cloud and Aerith go their separate ways after their first meeting. Of course, she was initially intrigued/knew of him before he knew of her, etc. so she's wondering when they'll meet again. She knows that he'll find her somehow, probably, and he does when he falls through the church at Sector 5.

Alternatively, this verse can also be read as her thinking about Zack as meeting Cloud was a reminder of how much time has passed as she said in verse 1.

VERSE 4:
If only I'd never known
All the burdens I was born to bear
Lived a life without a care
In the world save for you...but that won't do

This verse is about Aerith's loneliness and how she's burdened with the responsibility of being the last Cetra. She wishes she could've lived her life w/o caring about anything except for romance/falling in love. This is not her reality though, as she plainly states here.

VERSE 5:
Till the day that we meet again
On our street, I want to believe
In the chance that we'll share a glance
Promises to keep, we won't ever need

Aerith hopes that one day she and Cloud will meet again on Loveless street and that they'll at least be friendly enough to share a glance. They won't need to speak to each other, or have a relationship for her to be happy with their connection so long as they can acknowledge one another.

VERSE 6-7:
Till the day that we meet again
At our place, just let me believe
In the chance that you'll come
Take my hand and never let me go

Take my hand
And believe
We can be
Together evermore

This is in direct contrast to verse 5, which makes me believe that this verse and verse 3 are NOT about Cloud. She just said in verse 5 that she would be happy if she and Cloud met again on the street and 'shared a glance'. So then why would she be expecting him to show up at 'their place'? The song quite literally separates Loveless Street from 'our place', so these are not the same location otherwise she'd just say 'our street' again.

VERSE 8:
Walking city streets with worn cobblestones
Struggling against the crowds and finding ourselves all alone
Fate and destiny are no guarantee
Still I hope someday you'll come and find me
Still I know someday you'll come and find me

This is where the song kind of becomes meta commentary on the whole multiverse/alternate timeline thing as Aerith goes "back" to her monotonous life of selling flowers on Loveless Street. She knows that what's destined isn't always promised to be a happy ending, still she maintains hope that she'll be found and her journey will start anew.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

NPTK is undoubtedly a love ballad.

Whether it’s about Aerith’s feelings for Cloud, her feelings for Zack, or both, it’s worth remembering that in the expansive and long history of the love ballad, not all are ones about a true love that ends in happiness and perfect bliss.

Many famous iconic love ballads can be about an unrequited love. Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, Linda Ronstadt’s Long Long Time, to name a few, there are many more.

Or a love that was never meant to be, but one that was still important enough that it has a place in one’s heart. Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On for example.

Another famous unrequited love ballad interestingly is Never Enough, sung by Loren Allred, and from the Greatest Showman which was a huge inspiration for the way they chose to depict elements of the Gold Saucer.

Someone else here showed the very overt parallels between NPTK with Never Enough, not just the singing, but the perspective of members of the audience.

All this is to say that a love song is as complex and intricate as the emotions that compel the singing of them. Uematsu touched on this, that Aerith’s complex feelings and emotions are conveyed in the song.

But some take it being a love song to mean that this confirms Cloud and Aerith’s mutual love for one another, when this is just Aerith singing her feelings, in front of Cloud in every date scenario. He would have to know it’s about him in part, and if he felt the same way as Aerith does, he would do something, anything, to show for it after the Gold Saucer.

But he doesn’t. He reaffirms just how important Aerith is to him. He doesn’t want to envision a future where she isn’t a part of it.

But he doesn’t reciprocate the romantic love that Aerith professes for him in song.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

One more thing I’ll add.

Aerith sings No Promises to Keep, a love ballad that professes her love for him, yet it doesn’t yield a romantically reciprocal response from Cloud.

All Tifa does is anxiously wonder if she is getting ahead of herself again about her and Cloud being closer than ever before, and this is what yields a reciprocal response from Cloud, that not only reciprocates her feelings through words (“Not one bit”) but also to fully confirm that this is how he feels for her, through actions (the kiss).

This adds an extra dimension to No Promises to Keep that also seals it for me as being an unrequited love ballad. If it was to convey a soaring triumph of the discovery of mutual feelings with the one she loved, then Aerith would not be bursting into tears at the end of it.

Ultimately it emphasises the tragedy of Aerith’s story in Rebirth, but this is not confirmation of her ending being a sad, depressing one that forever confines her to being alone.

We’re forgetting Zack’s role in her story, the feelings she still has for him in his heart, and the building up to a payoff that will likely culminate in their reunion, in whatever form, in Part 3.

 

[Stiggie]

oh something else I haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer to that someone here might know, what does Aerith mouth to Tifa?
I am guessing it's something supportive, and not "I'll cut you bitch, he's mine" or something, which would also mean that if Aerith is actively trying to make a pass at Cloud later on that would make her....well.... not cool.

 

[luminous03]

Just because the song keeps coming up and I like dissecting lyrics, I'm going to go through it verse by verse and give my personal thoughts and insights just in case anyone's interested.

Spoiler

VERSE 1:
Walking city streets with worn cobblestones
Listening to people rushing past to rhythms all their own
Life passing me by, not thinking how the years have flown
Until I met you

Aerith is living her life in a monotonous routine. She's a florist from the slums who makes her way to the upper city to sell flowers--a dream she started with Zack and has been carrying out on her own w/o him. She's gotten into such a routine that she doesn't even think about how much time has passed until she meets Cloud.

VERSE 2:
I won't say that it was fate
I won't say that it was destiny
But if not, what could it be
That drew you towards me?
Could it be chance?

Aerith has no idea what drew Cloud toward her (except she does lol) and she muses on whether or not it's fate, destiny, or chance. We know from a meta / narrative POV that it was indeed fate/destiny thanks to the existence of the whispers. Still, Aerith is waxing poetic here about her fated meeting w/ Cloud on the street and wondering if it means and something and if it does... what does it mean, exactly?

VERSE 3:
Till the day that we meet again
Where or when I wish I could say
But believe—know that you'll find me
Promises to keep, we won't ever need

Cloud and Aerith go their separate ways after their first meeting. Of course, she was initially intrigued/knew of him before he knew of her, etc. so she's wondering when they'll meet again. She knows that he'll find her somehow, probably, and he does when he falls through the church at Sector 5.

Alternatively, this verse can also be read as her thinking about Zack as meeting Cloud was a reminder of how much time has passed as she said in verse 1.

VERSE 4:
If only I'd never known
All the burdens I was born to bear
Lived a life without a care
In the world save for you...but that won't do

This verse is about Aerith's loneliness and how she's burdened with the responsibility of being the last Cetra. She wishes she could've lived her life w/o caring about anything except for romance/falling in love. This is not her reality though, as she plainly states here.

VERSE 5:
Till the day that we meet again
On our street, I want to believe
In the chance that we'll share a glance
Promises to keep, we won't ever need

Aerith hopes that one day she and Cloud will meet again on Loveless street and that they'll at least be friendly enough to share a glance. They won't need to speak to each other, or have a relationship for her to be happy with their connection so long as they can acknowledge one another.

VERSE 6-7:
Till the day that we meet again
At our place, just let me believe
In the chance that you'll come
Take my hand and never let me go

Take my hand
And believe
We can be
Together evermore

This is in direct contrast to verse 5, which makes me believe that this verse and verse 3 are NOT about Cloud. She just said in verse 5 that she would be happy if she and Cloud met again on the street and 'shared a glance'. So then why would she be expecting him to show up at 'their place'? The song quite literally separates Loveless Street from 'our place', so these are not the same location otherwise she'd just say 'our street' again.

VERSE 8:
Walking city streets with worn cobblestones
Struggling against the crowds and finding ourselves all alone
Fate and destiny are no guarantee
Still I hope someday you'll come and find me
Still I know someday you'll come and find me

This is where the song kind of becomes meta commentary on the whole multiverse/alternate timeline thing as Aerith goes "back" to her monotonous life of selling flowers on Loveless Street. She knows that what's destined isn't always promised to be a happy ending, still she maintains hope that she'll be found and her journey will start anew.

U cooked and served 🫡🫡 well done

 

[Rin]

Since it's the game's theme song, what it tells me essentially is that Aerith's feelings are important in this game, and I think that's true. You need to understand them to understand what's going on with Zack's world (which is hers, as per her own admission) and you need to understand her feelings for Cloud to understand this game's ending.

People are looking too hard at the lyrics, a mistake made with Hollow too. But as I said, shippers are gonna ship.

TBH the Hollow thing pissed me off because they plainly said the inspiration for writing it was Cloud dragging himself through a barren wasteland/desert like we didn't need anything else to understand the inspo behind the song. I wish people had spent more time talking about how it's a song that encompasses Aerith and Clouds feelings in regards to losing Zack and how the song can apply to the entire cast losing something/someone at the hands of Shinra.

 

[GamerSkull]

Likely Uematsu wrote the song intending for multiple interpretations of the song to be able to coexist…

Which is why he would like a tweet that says it’s a love song because he would be a proponent of all interpretations.

 

[luminous03]

For me, i thought each verse of hollow is about something or someone he cherishs, not necessarily aerith but also zack and tifa and his self. I always listened to it because it was my favorite soundtrack from remake, and i thought it was kinda subjective to analyse it ( heck at one point i look at it as zack's feeling towards aerith) but after the confirmation of the song being about cloud's feeling, it kinda makes sense if we look at every verse and connected it to cloud's whole life, not just his connection with aerith.



English isn't my first language, i understand it perfectly but i can't express with it well, so apologies in advance

 

[AncientGrimoire]

All of Final Fantasy’s love ballads have far more to them than just being a song about the couples in the respective games.

Eyes on Me isn’t just a love song about Squall and Rinoa’s love story. If anything the song is more tied to Laguna and the love that was never meant to be with Julia.

Melodies of Life is a song that captures the entire essence of the story and philosophy of IX, like honestly it always felt more to me a song about Vivi’s experiences, story and his journey than it just being a love song about Zidane and Dagger.

Same with Suteki da ne, there’s a lot more depth to the songs and their lyrical quality

I’d argue it’s the same with NPTK. It’s doesn’t just speak to Aerith’s love for Cloud.

It captures so much of Aerith’s character, her loneliness, the burdens she must carry, her strong desires for a life that has been denied her, her fervent hopes for another chance, a future where she has no burdens to bear, no promises to keep, a life where she is truly truly free.

It deserves to be mentioned in the same reverence as all the other ballads of Final Fantasy.

It confirms once again that Uematsu is a musical genius bar none who had a deep and intrinsic understanding of the characters and stories he composes music for.

 

[Stiggie]

All of Final Fantasy’s love ballads have far more to them than just being a song about the couples in the respective games.

Eyes on Me isn’t just a love song about Squall and Rinoa’s love story. If anything the song is more tied to Laguna and the love that was never meant to be with Julia.

Melodies of Life is a song that captures the entire essence of the story and philosophy of IX, like honestly it always felt more to me a song about Vivi’s experiences, story and his journey than it just being a love song about Zidane and Dagger.

Same with Suteki da ne, there’s a lot more depth to the songs and their lyrical quality

I’d argue it’s the same with NPTK. It’s doesn’t just speak to Aerith’s love for Cloud.

It captures so much of Aerith’s character, her loneliness, the burdens she must carry, her strong desires for a life that has been denied her, her fervent hopes for another chance, a future where she has no burdens to bear, no promises to keep, a life where she is truly truly free.

It deserves to be mentioned in the same reverence as all the other ballads of Final Fantasy.

It confirms once again that Uematsu is a musical genius bar none who had a deep and intrinsic understanding of the characters and stories he composes music for.

To be honest, I dislike almost all final fantasy songs with Lyrics. Of those I only like Melodies of life and Suteki da Ne. I think Melodies of life because the only time you hear the lyrics its in the end credits, and Suteki da Ne because it's japanese and I can't understand most of it. The rest I thoroughly dislike, they never feel fantasy to me and I find them out of place.

 

[Rin]

All of Final Fantasy’s love ballads have far more to them than just being a song about the couples in the respective games.

Eyes on Me isn’t just a love song about Squall and Rinoa’s love story. If anything the song is more tied to Laguna and the love that was never meant to be with Julia.

Melodies of Life is a song that captures the entire essence of the story and philosophy of IX, like honestly it always felt more to me a song about Vivi’s experiences, story and his journey than it just being a love song about Zidane and Dagger.

Same with Suteki da ne, there’s a lot more depth to the songs and their lyrical quality

I’d argue it’s the same with NPTK. It’s doesn’t just speak to Aerith’s love for Cloud.

It captures so much of Aerith’s character, her loneliness, the burdens she must carry, her strong desires for a life that has been denied her, her fervent hopes for another chance, a future where she has no burdens to bear, no promises to keep, a life where she is truly truly free.

It deserves to be mentioned in the same reverence as all the other ballads of Final Fantasy.

It confirms once again that Uematsu is a musical genius bar none who had a deep and intrinsic understanding of the characters and stories he composes music for.

Yup, same goes for Kiss Me Goodbye from FF12. I can't even think of a romantic storyline in FF12 other than Ashe/Rassler and yet Kiss Me Goodbye is the games whole theme song.

We’re forgetting Zack’s role in her story, the feelings she still has for him in his heart, and the building up to a payoff that will likely culminate in their reunion, in whatever form, in Part 3.

Also, this is what annoys me most. I can't stand Zack erasure, especially when discussing CA because the entire reason Aerith likes Cloud is because he reminds her of Zack. She says this herself!! This was true in 1997 and it's true now. I need people to start being realistic about it.

 

[starcape91]

I feel Eyes On Me is also about Laguna and Raine. I am such a sucker for those two even with their limited screen time.

 

[Eerie]

TBH the Hollow thing pissed me off because they plainly said the inspiration for writing it was Cloud dragging himself through a barren wasteland/desert like we didn't need anything else to understand the inspo behind the song. I wish people had spent more time talking about how it's a song that encompasses Aerith and Clouds feelings in regards to losing Zack and how the song can apply to the entire cast losing something/someone at the hands of Shinra.

Well I kept saying Hollow was about Zack and Cloud's self, and the reason why it plays in sector 5 is because Aerith misses Zack, too. Zack is a big big link between Cloud and Aerith, he connects them.

 

[GamerSkull]

I feel Eyes On Me is also about Laguna and Raine. I am such a sucker for those two even with their limited screen time.

Laguna and Raine > Squall and Rinoa

Don’t @ me.

As an aside, Zack and Laguna would totally be best friends.