Do excuse me as never have I ever tried to expound my feelings for a song before, well, but here we go for the first time. Mostly, those unique consortia of feelings that I associate with each and every song that I listen to, have always been constrained to the bounds of my own mind heretofore, and this would be the first time that I am letting them out in the open. Rock and alternative rock music have appealed to me very much ever since I discovered my love for English songs, and I guess I would never know where my music taste would wander off had I not discovered Coldplay

Discovering Coldplay music was a precious and pleasant landmark and it has intricately interwoven into every single moment of my life ever since, to the point where I cannot go two days straight without listening to Coldplay. Coldplay music is medicine to my heart, mind, and soul. As a lover of the written word, the magic in Coldplay songs, for me, lies in Chris Martin’s lyrical ingenuity. I am certain, the musical facet of their creations could very well be construed in more esoteric musical jargon by the people who are knowledgeable in the subject, but that isn’t me. However, even an amateur in music like myself can identify the unique sounds of Coldplay music with the very best in the genre. Although I could fill pages about how their music speaks to me, I am picking out just one song, for now, to elaborate a bit more about.

‘Amazing day’ is the ninth track of the seventh album of Coldplay, A Head Full of Dreams. I once watched a video of their  performance of this song in 2015 at Belasco Theatre, LA and immediately fell in love with it. The guitar intro into the song along with the initial beat completely mesmerised me, instantly, ascertaining the fact that I am about to be introduced into some real musical magic in the form of what would turn out to be, hands down, my favourite ever Coldplay song. The song, overall, speaks volumes of the ‘now’, appreciating the present moment and simply, how ‘amazing’ each day is. The song has a clear semblance of the theme ‘love’ with the lyrics describing the general actions and moments of a couple in a loving relationship who find utter comfort in each others company. 

"We sat on a roof, named every star,
Shared every bruise and showed every scar"

While this is the case, throughout the entirety of the four and a half minutes, there is a subtle undertone of ‘wish fulfillment’ or of ‘triumph’ as the lyrics unfold. Listening to Amazing day gives the feeling that something wonderful that is beyond belief has somehow ultimately happened. After braving through hardships (after bruises and scars) and endless anticipation(naming and counting stars), a dream had been fulfilled.

"Hope has its proof, your hand in mine”
“ And time seems to say, forget the world and its weight
  And here, I just wanna stay, Amazing day”

Well, isn’t that what we all hope for at the end of the day, to see what we can only visualize in our minds to manifest in reality. For me, that is what this song is all about, to have a glimpse at what it would be like to have your long-awaited dreams and hopes realized, to finally do what you’ve longed to achieve or to finally find the love that you have long desired. All and all, the song gives a very positive vibe that can fill one’s heart with hopefulness and it never fails to lift up my spirits and put me in a good mood if ever I am feeling despondent.

Coldplay has always been a tad heavy-handed when including the universe, stars, milky ways, and other celestial entities in their compositions which gives an overall ethereal quality to their lyrics, and this song definitely amplifies it, which is something that I really adore since I am a bit dreamy myself. There are two particular verses in the song that I really anticipate hearing every time that I play it. The first is in the second verse which goes as;

"The view, the whole milky way. 
In your eyes, I drifted away. 
In your arms, I just wanna sway. 
Amazing day. Amazing day”

These lyrics, along with the overlaying melody and music, for me, form a mystical concoction of feelings that makes me wanna be in that exact situation myself, and I think it can give ultimate mental comfort to whoever listening to that part (Of course, music speaks differently to different persons and your thoughts and mine might not be parallel regarding this verse, but I sure do find something beautiful and special in it). And the second one is the line; 

“ Life has a beautiful crazy design”

I have no explanation to give as to why I am attracted to these amazing words. I don’t know who could argue with the eternal truth that it reflects and it is truly amazing how such a deep universal concept can be compressed into a simple six-word phrase so easily. Can we ever really know how our lives would unfold, what surprises the future would bring or what setbacks are in store for all of us? No matter how negative or positive the things are gonna be, I always prefer to believe that it really is this crazy design of life itself that propels our days and nights forward, through good and bad, finally bringing out the best possible outcome for us all at the correct points in our lives, just as we deserve them and in proportion to the efforts we put in. All we have to do is to have faith in this process and hope for the very best in any given situation because life sure has a crazy way of delivering great things to all of us. This life ideal of mine resonates perfectly with this line and you can even find it in my social media status if ever you get a chance to check. 

“And I asked can the birds in poetry chime,
Can there be breaks in the chaos sometimes
Thank God, must have heard when I prayed,
Cause now I always wanna feel this way”

The song starts out slow and mellow, and toward the end, you can find a very powerful wordless verse, a loud, high-pitched emotional outburst which to my belief sums up all of the emotions, all of the happy energy that runs throughout the song. 

Following this, Chris Martin asks, “ Can there be breaks in the chaos sometimes?”. I believe we come across these kinds of beautiful moments, ever so rarely in life, these occasional moments of pure bliss where no chaos could exist, moments as described in this song when time stops and you wish for nothing else but to completely be immersed in that beautiful moment with the people you care about, those AMAZING DAYS that we could be wholeheartedly grateful for. These are the moments and memories that should be cherished for life through time and time. I guess that is why such an amazing song like this is totally MyCuppaTea.

Here’s another live performance of the song. Enjoy!!!

https://youtu.be/WFOppC1hkSI

Here are the lyrics to the song…

We sat on a roof
Named every star
Shared every bruise and
Showed every scar
Hope has its proof
Your hand in mine, singing
Life has a beautiful, crazy design

And time seemed to say
Forget the world and its weight
And here I just want to stay
Amazing day
Amazing day

We sat on a roof
Named every star and
You showed me a place
Where you can be what you are

And the view
The whole Milky Way
In your eyes
I drifted away
And in your arms
I just want to sway
Amazing day
Amazing day
Amazing day
Amazing day

Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, ooh

And I asked can the birds in poetry chime?
Can there be breaks in the chaos sometimes?
Oh, thanks God
Must have heard when I prayed
'Cause now I always want to feel this way
Amazing day
Amazing day
Amazing day
Amazing day
Yeah, today

It’s of absolute no question that the movie ‘Spirited Away’ is stocked with some amazing characters; very cryptic characters that the viewers have to scratch their heads, A LOT, to comprehend what they actually mean or rather what elements in the society they represent. As true as that may be, this one particular pitch black translucent figure-among many other spirits in the movie- simply just glued my attention to the storyline just as it materialized out of nowhere on top of the bridge.

First I must state that despite being an avid movie fan, I have never ever watched a single anime (I avoided them deliberately for some reason) and “Spirited Away” was the first of its kind that I have ever tried (courtesy of a suggestion I took from a crazy anime fan). So naturally, I was deemed to judge the whole anime universe from this particular movie and it’s accurate to say that “No Face” saved the day. So, since its first appearance on the bridge, I immediately understood that this was not just a childhood adventure story of Chihiro, but some real deep thing! The demeanor of No Face there was quite striking to me and quite shocking in a very pleasant way. He definitely had this air of unexplainable mystery (I think there’s no better way to introduce this enigmatic figure) and helplessness all blended in together, which immediately made me wonder “where would this guy fit in?”. And the truth is, I think No Face narrates a sub storyline of his own within this movie with his limited vocabulary of “ahh”s and lots of adorable staring.

On a deeper level, I personally believe No Face represents every single one of us, simply human beings with a most fundamental human trait, i.e. hiding what we truly are. For one, he’s MASKED, and what else would a mask do but hide? So what really is the deal with this mask; this first, most obvious, iconic thing you notice on his person? No Face is a black ghost, wearing a white mask. Wouldn’t that fact naturally hint at the good and the bad that makes people who they are and their constant struggle to subdue the black and exaggerate the white? How handy would a metaphorical white mask be if people are so keen on hiding the blackness within? As we later witness, No Face actually does stay true to his blackness when he starts to wreak havoc in the bathhouse, with his perfectly masked calmer self nowhere to be seen.

On the other hand, No Face exudes loneliness and you can almost sense the raw, tangible sadness of a lost soul disgorging from his aura. In No Face, I see a man without a purpose, a soul without a spark and simply someone who’s utterly lost in life who is in dire need of finding his way back to sanity. In an attempt to escape from this misery, he seeks the warmth of Chihiro, probably the only good and trustworthy person he might have encountered. Chihiro never prejudices No Face and we see how she keeps the bathhouse door open for him to come in and she seems about the only one who actually notices No Face. This dire need to escape is evident from the way he thrusts all the bath house tokens and gold on Chihiro, trying to befriend her, the only one he can be sure would save him.

Another example of the lostness that I am emphasizing here is No Face’s lack of identity. In this whole purgatory like reality, we encounter different forms of spirits (there are pigs and mostly frogs), most with a well-defined face or a form except for a few like No Face, who we can also assume are lost souls. To put it simply, a face defines a person’s identity and “No Face“ could simply mean “no identity”. As formless as he may be, to counter his “facelessness”, he constantly tries to steal the identities of the others around him, and assume their form (we see this with three bathhouse attendants). If you have no firm purpose in life to stabilize yourself and to keep you on track, it is more than easy to get pushed around and to be easily manipulated by the people around you, just like No Face getting manipulated by all of the people he gobbles up and getting aggravated simultaneously reflecting the qualities of his victims who are probably bad and greedy.

One of the absolutely best scenes of the movie for me was the dinner table scene at Zeniba’s place where Chihiro and Zeniba engage in conversation. While they do so, we get (I think the shot focuses on No Face there deliberately) a very amazing shot of a happy, peaceful No Face for the first time, enjoying his tea. He seems no longer confused, lonely or lost, but seems at peace with all the things that made him “No Face” in the first place. I absolutely LOVE how he finishes his tea, puts the cup down, takes the cake, cuts it in half with the knife, puts the knife down, eats one half with his fork, unhurried and very calming with unfazed focus. Watching this whole tea routine of his, carried out very comfortably surrounded by the people he chose to trust, made me really happy and satisfied about the ultimate fate of No Face.

The movie itself is so cryptic, that there could be myriad ways to interpret its characters, which is why the above is only how I feel about No Face and why it could totally mean something else according to the creator’s point of view. And maybe the reason why my heart sort of melted toward this many tiered, peculiar apparition is because of certain similarities in certain instances that I felt in No Face’s life and mine. Maybe that’s why No Face is totally MyCuppaTea