Dj Deckstream - Tumblr Posts
Reflecting back on ATLUSxP5
How often do you listen to playlists?
Not official soundtracks but rather a selection of songs to fit a certain mood or theme. Maybe you wonder what kind of music the next game in your favorite game series will have and one day you stumble upon a playlist that answers that question.
That's the scenario many persona fans found themselves in when they discovered the persona 5 imagining project by atlusxp5. The playlist in question was made a while before Persona 5 was officially announced so some fans thought it was a genuine look into what Atlus had in store for the future. There were even cryptic hints of a story hidden in long-since deleted videos. What atlusxp5's intentions were are ambiguous since they have never confirmed nor denied the several theories surrounding the project. Some people have said the playlist has inspired them to make a persona fangame but nothing came out of it. That's one thing that Danganronpa fans have over persona fans: when someone says they're gonna make a fan game, they typically follow through with it.
My memories of how exactly I stumbled upon the project are a bit fuzzy but I'm pretty sure it happened from listening to a jet set radio fan playlist. Yeah, that's right. I discovered a playlist by listening to a completely unrelated playlist. Playlistception! I've been a huge fan of the Jet Set radio soundtrack since 9th grade despite never playing the game so it's no surprise I'd want to listen to music similar to it. I literally typed in " music similar to jet set radio" on YouTube one day and was met with an evergrowing YouTube list of eclectic songs.
I hardly knew anything about persona at the time but that didn't matter. The mesmerizing psychedelic pop music had my ears completely captivated. It was easy to see why considering it was a fusion of all my favorite genres. It even introduced me to an obscure genre called Shibuya kei that deserves a post of its own.
Some of my favorite tracks include Rockin' My Way and Rising Core by the band COPTER4016882. The lyrics are jabberwocky nonsense just like the band's name but both songs have this upbeat electronic sound fused with high-tempo guitar work. They certainly fit the tone of persona 4 rather than p5. Another valuable mention is Freak by MEG, an energetic pop song that invokes the vibe of a girls' night out in the big city.
Talalala by dj deckstream has all the hallmarks of being a glorious final boss theme. It begins with a somber piano tune before shifting to a triumphant melody about preserving and overcoming hard times. The lyrics also do a good job of reflecting the themes of the persona franchise as a whole.
" Don't close your eyes, don't wave good-bye, just take a chance
And take a look inside your heart
Then you will find that down beneath there's a dream you've always had, so
Don't close your eyes, don't wave good-bye, just take a chance
And take a look inside your heart
See that therе is more to life than what you've been through before"
That isn't Deckstream's only noteworthy contribution. His cover of Tom's Diner is a chill jazzy tune that invokes the vibe of exploring the city while his Whatever cover by Oasis has a calming atmosphere that's perfect for the end of a long journey.
The p5 imagining project is a prime example of how important music curation can be. Even if the songs aren't original pieces, they still do wonders to solidify the vision crafted by the project's creator. It's intriguing how a well crafted playlist can create such a vivid image of what Persona 5 theoretically could've been. I've always envisioned p5 as an experimental psychedelic acid trip type of game. Imagine an alternate universe where Studio Shaft was a videogame developer that made a JRPG with Kunihiko Ikuhara as the director and suda51 as co-writer that combined the aesthetics of the world ends with you, the Monogatari series, punk rock dadaism, and panty and stocking. That's the kind of atmosphere atlusxp5 laid out in my mind. It's the kind of game that's sadly far too ambitious to exist in real life. Maybe. One can only dream.
For additional info, I suggest going to the Imagining Project Tumblr page and watching Youtuber Blue's video on the matter.
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