DIR EN GREY - Behind a vacant image [eng sub] LIVE HD

This song is one of my favorites. The music, the lyrics, everything is beautiful. I also have the performance of it from their Shinsekai18 Tour, but even though that one has value by being brand new, I just find this version to be fitting the song aesthetically so much better, in my humble opinion. It's from the DIR EN GREY x PIERROT Androgynos Live, 2nd Day -A View Of The Acro-.

Translation by me.



Annotations:

"I tell my story" - Please lend me an ear here!
If you have ever seen a translation of this song before, I'd say there's a 90% chance you've seen this line translated as "I make a speech". I want to make very clear that I think that is an absolutely valid and correct translation. Let me elaborate on why I still chose to translate it the way I did.
While the dictionary translation for 語りかける (katari kakeru) is "to make a speech" and you would use it e.g. when you want to say "The president is speaking to his nation.", there is a bit more to it than just the speech element. You would only use this expression when you tell something very important. For example, another context you might use this in, is someone finally unveiling their true intentions for everyone to hear.
So of course, the expression is used in contexts where you would dryly state that a speech is being made. But I personally think we have more context in this case; the song itself. When he starts the chorus with "With wounds I can't hide and a wide smile", I feel like I want to make the emotional nuance his "speech" has to it apparent. "I tell my story" fits very well in my opinion, which is why I chose it. "I speak to you" would have been another good option for me.
I acknowledge I put a little bit more interpretation into this line than I would have put into most others. I hope my reason for doing so is understandable through this annotation!

"The door I locked in order to live" - You might say, but Kaya, this line has the word "key" in it, not "door". Yes. For saying "to lock the door" in Japanese, the word "key" is used instead. "Lock the key" sounds unnatural (or nonsensical) in English though, so I translated the meaning it carries here, rather than word by word. (If you are interested, I elaborated on this expression also under my video of sukekiyo's "hidden one"!)




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I do not own Dir En Grey or any of their music or performances.
I translate for fun and wanted to share this translation.

Thank you for watching!