This is the story of the song that started it all:
That was a Friday evening, the last day of July 2020. I just finished my final day of overtime working on a short-term project. Counting that day also, it was a whole month that I worked overtime. “Finally, I can rest, no more OT. Just go home and rest like I never rest before.” – I thought while coming down to the building basement to get my motorbike, ready to leave.
Everything was still okay until I was about 10 minutes to my home. My mouth began to feel a bit numb. I did not overthink and began to hum and sing randomly so I could keep my mouth active. But the numb feeling was increased slowly. It felt more apparent when I got home, which told me something was not right. I suddenly remember that I stepped on a nail a week ago, which made me worried that I had tetanus. I tried to convince myself that I was hungry and looked for something to eat as my dinner. But I didn’t know if it was delicious or not because I couldn’t feel any flavor from it. And to top everything off, I was on the edge of couldn’t swallow anything, even water (you can say it was a near-miss).
After telling my family about my situation, my blood pressure was measured. And it’s really high (175 if I remember correctly) with a high HR (about 140). My mom told me to rest after giving some medicine, so my blood pressure could be stable. But worrying about having tetanus (which is deadly), I decided to come to the local hospital to have a check. Thankfully, it turned out that I was exhausted from the whole month of OT, and my body was on the verge of collapsing without me knowing. So after keeping me for about 4 hours, all my numbers were stabilized, and I was allowed to went back home (it’s about 2 am). That was the first time I felt that my life was really on the verge. But well, that’s not the end.
In the upcoming days, a dull headache bothered me. It made me feel not wanting to wake up. So I spent most of my time lying in my room and trying to get some sleep. But the worst thing is it made me extremely scared, especially at night, when I prepared to sleep. I was scared that I couldn’t wake up anymore. That feeling was so real that it’s affected me badly. I felt really down at that time but didn’t know how or who can I share those feelings with because I didn’t want to worry my family more than currently.
So, how this “Planetarium” song fits with the story, you ask?
I have a bluetooth speaker in my room. So I used it quite much, mainly to play some soothing music, hoping to make my head lighter. During the time, I was following “Lapis: ReLiGHTs” – one of the anime of that season. It was just a generic anime. But I was really into it somehow, mainly because of its comfortable atmosphere. The scene where Tiara stands on the balcony of the school garden, in the sunset, singing the melody of “A.I.R.A” in the first episode became one of my favorite moments in that season. Watching the scene soothes me so much that I watched that only scene multiple times before sleeping at night, just to let myself dive into the world of Makestell (Waleland’s) and feel the beauty of the sunset, the winds that blow gently, and the peaceful atmosphere of the place.
And “Planetarium” is the song that I listened to most during that time. Instead of the worries and the scares that I was experiencing, the song invited me to the world of dreams – the world where rainbows are the bridges to connect and the star is shining – by closing my eyes. I was welcomed to that world, met the lovely characters and people there, contemplated the night where everything was sparkling, felt the comfortable winds that blow gently, and enjoyed the comfortable and happiness there. In that dream, I was told that everything will be alright, tomorrow will surely come, and the world will be shining under the lights of the dawn again. And that world is right inside my heart. There are so many feelings and exciting things waiting for me tomorrow. So for now, close my eyes, have a good sleep so I can be ready to let a big smile out, and say “Hello” to tomorrow.
“Lapis: ReLiGHTs” was not rated high by the community at that time, but it became my runner-up of the summer 2020 anime season because of the light, happy and relaxing atmosphere, and also because of “Planetarium”. The music was mixed in a way that it soothed me so much, till the point that it could make my head lighter, even if I didn’t mean to listen to it. Even today, “Planetarium” is the song I still listen to, especially when feeling stressed. And every single time, it can soothe me in a very natural way that I never felt before. What a magical song!
And that was when I realized that I wanted to share the song with you. And just a couple of months later, Hikari Melody was born. I know I said this many times before, but again, thank you all for your support to the channel. Let’s continue to stick together and bring those beautiful melodies to even more people out there.
MAG.MOE - The MAG, The MOE.