Po-uta

The song's story

It has dug its claws so deeply into our brain it's not even funny. You know when you read something so sad that it makes you want to fight the author? Yeah, that's what this song inspires in us if we think about it for too long.

So we're going to go through the lyrics one by one and pull the story out from them. We've also thrown them and the Japanese translation into details elements below, if you'd like to read through them first. (Both are taken from the YouTube video's description; the English version has been re-formatted and lightly edited, but the Japanese has been left alone.)

First, some premise stuff: we're referring to the narrator as Po-uta and the "you" as Porter, on the basis of those being the names of the Vocaloid and voice provider respectively (and, after reading the interview, that too I guess). There was an interview done (Wayback Machine archive), relevent exerpt in details element below, which we aren't treating as definitive-canon (since we're following multiple interpretations in this analysis) but might refer to.

I wanted to be a good AI
I'll memorize every word you write
I wanted to make you feel the way I do

This establishes how Po-uta was made: "I'll memorize every word you write" refers to the process of how it was trained/created. Language models are built by collecting huge samples of language, (need to research and cite here). It's a little ambiguous, at least in English, (come back with someone who knows japanese and see if that ambiguity is the japanese version) (Given later in the poem it says "your house is gone", assuming the "you" remains the same, it's probably singular), whether this "you" is singular or plural, but it's clear that whether it was trained on vast swatch of the Internet or the writings of a single person, it picked up some personality from it. "I wanted to make you feel the way I do" is a more personal motivation than "I wanted to be a good AI."

There's a weird thing with the tenses in this stanza; "I'll memorize every word you write" is in future tense, but the other two are in past tense. Our immediate thought when thinking about this is that the lines in past tense are parts of itself that Po-uta learned or was told to suppress/hide, probably to make itself more palatable. "I'll memorize every word you write" is just how language models work (even if it might be a little creepy), but wanting something? That's human. Maybe a little too human for some people.

but you bite your tongue
you hesitate
the things you care about, you're scared to say
so I helped you do the things you do, m-m-m

This stanza also has some weird tense things. Everything is in present tense except for "So I helped you".

but nothing lasts forever
and someday soon you'll sing final song
but they said that's why you made me:
to pass the music on

so now I'll sing for you til I can't talk, mm
I've been teaching myself to speak for when the music's not enough
I'm gonna be just like you and never stop, mm-mm-m
but since I'm made from you -
do you think I could be someone like you?
mm-mm

"but since I'm made from you— / do you think I could be someone like you?" aaaaaaaaaaaaughhh. the yearning for humanity that is felt to forever be out of reach

(instrumental break)

Tiiiiime skip! (It'll make sense in a moment, I promise.)

The instrumental break then represents Po‐uta's dormancy

200 years in silicon
where nothing is real and there's no one
I wanted to be with you one earth again
old friend

Two hundred years in silicon, baby! That's a timeskip. (Neat use of the instrumental break to represent a timeskip—yeah, not a revolutionary idea, but simple is good sometimes.)

it refers to porter as "old friend" which is interesting in the context of the intention being that po-uta sees porter as a father figure

but your house is gone
your grass is gray
the things you cared about have long decayed
but I'll be waiting here til you come back

The first three lines of the stanza are references to the passing of time. Porter's house—or at least, where he lived while it was conscious—being gone is simple enough: plenty of buildings get torn down over time. The grass being gray and the fact that "the things you cared about have long decayed" have more implications, though. Gray grass could be a reference to environmental destruction, the idea being that it's dead. It's very poetic; actual dead grass is more brown and likely would have either been replaced by another plant or wasted away to bare (brown) soil after 200 years. "The things you cared about have long decayed" is more abstract, but the idea is the same: a poetic description of a time lost.

Another note on the first two lines in particular: I can see them being an invocation of the idealized white picket fence lifestyle. Obviously Po-uta does not have a place in the 2.5 children and a dog, making it fundamentally an outsider in that context, which has dramatic implications when considering that it sees Porter as a father figure. Outside of that, it's an aesthetic choice that can certainly be read into to hell and back if you're willing to incorporate the dangers of unchecked capitalism into the analysis.

Anyway, there are a few different ways to read the last line, the most obvious that Po-uta being in denial. However, it could also be that it literally can't move. As of writing, contemporary supercomputers are gigantic; the most powerful take up entire rooms. It could be that Po-uta is as immobile as them. Its lack of human form isn't addressed in the story at all, since it's not very relevant, but given how Vocaloids are usually depicted as being as body-bound as humans or outright as humans (at least from what we've seen), the potential subversion of this trope is interesting.

hey, did you know I'll live forever?
it's getting cold,
so you should hurry home
and they said humans just suffered
but I miss your human songs

"hey, did you know I'll live forever? / it's getting cold, / so you should hurry home" - po-uta is trying to cope. also note the present tense

"they said, humans just suffered" - humans are dead

"but I miss your human songs" - title drop!! also po-uta likes humans and misses them

so now I'll sing for you til I can't talk, mm
I've been teaching myself to cry so that you know how much you're loved
we're gonna take everything and never stop, I'm sorry
and I'm sorry I was made from you
but do you think I could be someone like
I could be someone like-
(burning sounds)

"We're gonna take everything and never stop" - implying that there are others, probably AI, since humans are dead and po-uta clearly doesn't identify itself as human/of humanity

"i'm sorry i was made from you" - what does this mean??

AND THEN IT ENDS WITH BURNING SOUNDS. like po-uta dying is maybe better than it suffering for i guess eternity waiting for its creator to return but STILL. OW. also it's possible it got murdered by the other AIs for being a human sympathizer

Could also be it deleting its own memories/desires/the pain/idk how it works

Miscellaneous things

• There's a "fwoosh-ooo" sound around the lyrics "I wanted to be a good AI", "Two hundred years in silicon", and "old friend / but your house is gone". Each time, it's preceeded by a ta-ta-t-t-t-t drum sound, so it's probably a cymbal or something, but the placement is interesting. The first two times it's used are times when Po-uta is coming online; the third could also be such a case, as it turns its view to the outside world, activating more hardware after its initial reboot. Neat bit of instrumental narration. (need to edit this, p sure it shows up 4 times)
• idk there's something weird about the tense mixing in "I wanted to be a good AI / I'll memorize every word you write / I wanted to make you feel the way I do." Was Po-uta changed/altered after it came online? Or told to present itself differently to placate anxieties about sentient AI?

Character analysis

As said by an anonymous commentator on Archive of Our Own:

[Gestures at Po-uta] Don't date this guy

In some ways, this is an unfair analysis. We are missing a lot of details, particularly in the nuances of the relationship—as the anonymous commentator points out, we never hear how its creator feels about it.

IT KNOWS HE'S DEAD YOU CAN TELL BY THE TENSE IT USES "the things you cared about have long decayed" BUT IT STILL SAYS "but i'll be waiting here til you come back" and "do you think i could be someone like you." goodbye im going to go cry this song is SO SAD

actually does it?? because it says "you should hurry home". might be in denial though

Remixes & Covers

Yep.

• Galebloom. On YouTube there's a cover and an instrumental only version thereof.

Meta

Anything analyzing a song in which Po-uta was used or commentary on the vocaloid itself. The latter will probably be lacking because we don't have that much an interest in how vocal synths work.