hello! for those listening to the name chapter: temptation (esp if you aren't familiar with kpop in general), i recommend looking up the translations of the lyrics (here is a trusted fan translation)! the album, like a lot of kpop albums, is very concept-driven so looking up the lyrics helps a lot with getting the concept / theme of it all!
Need to catch up? The full album can be found here: Strength
Note: Song lyric application may not always correspond with the original meaning / intention of the song’s origins.
Enjoy these breakdowns of the lyrics that influenced and inspired some of the events and imagery used in Strength. All songs are borrowed from Blanco White’s albums On the Other Side, Colder Heavens, and Nocturne EP.
cw: mentions of pregnancy
~ Side B Playlist ~
"Chasing Dials"
"Samara"
"The Lily"
"Colder Heavens"
"El Búho"
"November Rain"
"So Certain"
"Nocturne"
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“Chasing Dials”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Chasing dials, it ain't ever enough / No, no, no, it ain't ever enough
One life, smothering the whispers and sounds / Waiting as the hand comes back around / So seek while you can and run it down / Or the time is lost, forgotten in the crowd / Or the missing time will be lost / And like me, you won't know how
Commentary
“Chasing dials, it ain't ever enough / No, no, no, it ain't ever enough” – Not only do these lines capture the tone and message of this fic, but they also establish one of the major themes in the album. Khleo has been “chasing” her dream of owning a beer garden for most of her adult life. Every year, she’s reminded that no matter how much progress she has made, she’s nowhere close to achieving her goals. The “dials” connect to ideas of endless cycles.
“One life, smothering the whispers and sounds / Waiting as the hand comes back around / So seek while you can and run it down” – Khleo often feels like the struggle/hustle of her position in life makes it hard to pay attention to her goals and dreams. Life has a way of “smothering” the “whispers and sounds” – those small voices in her head telling her to keep going or pursuing her dream. Khleo often feels like she’s caught in this cycle of “waiting as the hand comes back around” but even though it gets exhausting, she always pulls herself back up to go after what she wants “seek while you can and run it down.”
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“Samara”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
I need no rest / In my mind, we're alone / You said, "Life is a long road" / Was I just waiting to arrive / For one day by your side?
Has my time ended to say so? / Has my time ended? Would I know? / Has my time ended to say so? / Has my time ended? Time to let you know
Commentary
“I need no rest” – When asked by the Strength Major Arcana if she wants to have a seat on her throne, Khleo turns her down and keeps running up the hills of her patron’s gate.
“Has my time ended to say so? / Has my time ended? Would I know?” – These lyrics reflect what Lucio’s going through at this stage in his own journey. He’s sort of in a state of limbo and doesn’t really know where or how he fits in the communities that he’s passing through. He’s still trying to figure out if he has a say in what’s going to happen to him or in how his life will play out.
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“The Lily”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Now they tell me she’s just vanished / Some other place by the sea / But to me she was banished / By herself not by me
Lily spoke of a city’s bones / An ancient rubble of time and stone / Where the walls tremor under the sky / Covered day after day by the tide / Could I save them if I tried? / If only I could
Commentary
“Now they tell me she’s just vanished / Some other place by the sea” – These lyrics reflect Samira’s behavior in the chapters leading up to her confiding in Khleo about her pregnancy. She has been keeping it a secret from her coworkers and her boss. One way this is shown is her “vanishing” from social events like the New Year’s Day bar crawl in the “Chasing Dials” chapter, in which her friends were staying up late drinking and partying.
“But to me she was banished / By herself not by me” – Samira has chosen to keep her baby for reasons undisclosed to Khleo or anyone else. She’s determined to pay for her passage across the ocean to get to her sister in Nevivon so she can have and raise the child comfortably. The word “banished” echoes society’s inflexibility when it comes to single parents, especially young ones without an education or a traditional family there to support them. “By herself not by me” once again emphasizes the fact that by choosing to keep her child, Samira is essentially accepting to enter a world of decreased opportunities. No matter how hard she works or how healthy/competent of a parent she is, her current situation will not support her transition to motherhood without significant costs to her and her unborn child’s standard of living.
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“Colder Heavens”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Now we’re so tired by the things we have seen / All we’ve forgotten only visits in dreams / How I misunderstood / Here I stand undressed / Here I confess my doubt
Only once I saw the killer / Once I saw the killer up close
If colder heavens come / Carry me further down / Where our madness rests / Where I’ll have less to doubt
Commentary
“Now we’re so tired by the things we have seen / All we’ve forgotten only visits in dreams” – These lyrics reflect Khleo’s origins as a fighter. In some ways she has grown “tired” of the challenges that cross her path to test her mettle or in which she has to defend her territory. This can be seen in her fight against the raiders. She doesn’t want glory or a title. She just wants them to leave her patrons alone so she can peacefully run her club. “All we’ve forgotten only visits in dreams” echoes the beginning of the chapter that shows a young Khleo who does not even have the strength to lift her arms, let alone pull off the feats of strength that she does later on in the story.
“Only once I saw the killer / Once I saw the killer up close” – These lyrics connect to Khleo giving into the temptation of wrath during her fight with the raiders. Usually, she’s careful about downplaying her abilities to heal and regenerate, but in this moment she is seeing “the killer up close” and embracing the darker side of her nature in order to solve the conflict.
“If colder heavens come / Carry me further down / Where our madness rests / Where I’ll have less to doubt” – I really like this idea of Khleo’s fight club being this sort of “colder heaven” in the sense that she can use it as an escape, but it’s still “cold” in that if word gets out about it, it can lead to dangerous territory. The club also comes with a lot of negative history from when Khleo was a street fighter. “Where our madness rests / Where I’ll have less to doubt” once again emphasizes the fact that Khleo uses fight club to unleash her inner beast in a safe space, so to speak. She doesn’t have to doubt herself as much as she does when she’s working during the day.
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“El Búho”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
In the night I hear them call, Move in the dark, their shapes unfold, In these eyes I quiver, darker still In closed doors / Don’t speak like you were there
This time I’m torn, please wake me if I lose that face / Search in these eyes / There’s still fire in the darkness / And rooms of light
Still I dream in greens and blues / Days that break and skies that move / Memory’s eyes that quiver
Commentary
“In the night I hear them call / Move in the dark, their shapes unfold, In these eyes I quiver, darker still in closed doors / Don’t speak like you were there” – These lyrics are all about Khleo once again getting in touch with the darker parts of herself that are associated with enraged beasts. They also speak to Lucio’s experience with Valdemar, who shows up to claim Lucio and rip him away from the support system that he’s been developing during his time with Khleo.
“This time I’m torn, please wake me if I lose that face / Search in these eyes / There’s still fire in the darkness / And rooms of light” – Khleo is being violently separated from her biggest support system and source of emotional stability – Hefe. Khleo’s familiar has been the one to redirect her when she’s at risking at “losing that face” or giving into her darker side. “There’s still fire in the darkness” connects to the imagery of the fireplace, which serves as the real world equivalent of Khleo’s throne back in Strength’s realm. The imagery and connection between the throne and the hearth play a major role in this chapter.
“Still I dream in greens and blues / Days that break and skies that move / Memory’s eyes that quiver” – When everything has been taken away from Khleo at the end, they still try to return to Strength’s gate, where they know they can rest. But without Hefe, they cannot reach that realm.
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“November Rain”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Don’t you wish it was clear? / I’ve been thinking these thoughts for years now / No not all’s been forgotten / Don’t you wish you were here?
I long for the tide’s straight line / Out on the shore / A bitter line, a solid wall / Never to fall
Commentary
“Don’t you wish it was clear? / I’ve been thinking these thoughts for years now / No, not all’s been forgotten / Don’t you wish you were here?” – This chapter begins with another flashback from Khleo’s past. In this one, Khleo’s adoptive father, Hans, gives some insight into Khleo’s internal conflict. Khleo associates Hans with all the things that she finds nostalgic and things that bring her joy. Her dreams of her childhood are a safe place that she often wishes she could return to, even though the reader doesn’t always explicitly see Khleo reminiscing.
“I long for the tide’s straight line / Out on the shore / A bitter line, a solid wall / Never to fall” – Now that Hefe is gone, Khleo feels like she has even less answers on how to deal with forces that make her life harder. She longs for a “straight line” to get the things she wants. And the promise that she will “never fall” or fail at trying to achieve her dreams.
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“So Certain”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Do we see the world with eyes alone? / Here it feels like there's a house that I've always known / So certain that something reminds me / Of a place and time that were only in my dreams
Is the real world ever known? / Here it feels like I'm an exile who's coming home
Commentary
“Do we see the world with eyes alone? / Here it feels like there's a house that I've always known” – As seen in Khleo’s reading with Asra, it’s clear that she has a very strong, unique connection to the Arcana, but she doesn’t know how to describe it or fully understands her own connection to the Strength card
“So certain that something reminds me / Of a place and time that were only in my dreams” – These lyrics once again echo the familiarity Khleo experiences when they look upon the Strength card. Even though Khleo has been to Strength’s gate many times and was even, in a sense, born there, it’s still a place that they only register as a dream.
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"Nocturne”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
And time fell away with the sound of each step / If the stars align then for us they were meant in the lunar sky
About time for a night away – I never saw the day come / When they dream again
Commentary
“And time fell away with the sound of each step / If the stars align then for us they were meant in the lunar sky” – These lyrics are not so significant in meaning, but rather capture the vibe of what’s going on in Nadia’s vision with the High Priestess. Whenever Nadia or anyone in these fics have interactions with their patrons, time and reality have a way of splitting as the character gets in touch with more cosmic energies.
“About time for a night away – I never saw the day come / When they dream again” – Once again the theme of night is emphasized here, as it is in the title. However, where darkness was regarded as something that one should avoid (Khleo’s rage, the abuse she suffers in the darkness of the basement, Lucio’s imprisonment in the basement of the Lazaret, etc) now it means something more hopeful (night holds darkness, but it also promises the day/dawn). This can be seen at the end of the chapter when Khleo is recovering from a very bloody fight. She has a moment with Kipling, who encourages Khleo to keep going even though she’s totally defeated. In the last lines, Khleo is waking up to the morning light and clings to those feelings of hope after reading the poem that Kip left her.
Need to catch up? The full album can be found here: The Empress
Note: Song lyric application may not always correspond with the original meaning / intention of the song’s origins.
Enjoy these breakdowns of the lyrics that influenced and inspired some of the events and imagery used in The Empress. All songs with the exception of the EP “Depth Over Distance” are borrowed from Ben Howard’s albums Every Kingdom and I Forget Where We Were
cw: mentions of drowning
~ Side A Playlist ~
“Bones”
“Depth Over Distance”
“These Waters”
“Everything”
“Rivers in Your Mouth”
“Promise”
“Keep Your Head Up”
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“Bones”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
And you laugh like you've never been lonely / That's alright honey / That's alright with me
Oh you laugh like I'll be there to hold you always / Always here / I'm always here, always here
Commentary
“And you laugh like you've never been lonely / That's alright honey / That's alright with me” - This chapter is really about bridging what distance has formed between Kip and Asra since she started having her nightmares. The lyrics reflect Asra’s patience and nonjudgmental approach to helping Kip overcome her challenges.
“Oh you laugh like I'll be there to hold you always / Always here / I'm always here, always here” - Asra continues to show Kip that she doesn’t have to face her problems alone. Even when her nightmares were at their worst, Asra was there for her. And he’s here with now after everything has calmed down.
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“Depth Over Distance”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Depth over distance was all I asked of you / And I may be foolish to fall as I do / Still there's strength in the blindness you fear / If you're coming too
Commentary
“Depth over distance was all I asked of you” - This chapter really sets the tone for Ozy and Nadia’s relationship. Once Nadia has decided that her feelings towards Ozy are romantic, she immediately wants to know where his level of comfort is / what his boundaries are. Nadia values “depth” in a relationship - growing closer to Ozy as a person, over the “distance” - seeing how far she can get with him physically.
“Still there's strength in the blindness you fear” - these are uncharted waters “blindness” for both Ozy and Nadia. While Ozy isn’t completely inexperienced, none of his romantic relationships prior to this moment have been very meaningful. Usually because they ended in some kind of miscommunication, which has left him very confused in how to navigate romantic connections. Nadia can see where Ozy’s vulnerabilities lie without him being explicit about it, yet she’s still willing to take that risk. These risks and willingness to be vulnerable are where Ozadia draws “strength” but it’s also a source of “fear” in their relationship.
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“These Waters”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
See these waters they'll pull you up / Oh if you're bolder than the darkness / My my, let these songs be an instrument to cut / Oh spaces 'tween the happiness and the hardness
Commentary
“See these waters they’ll pull you up” - reflecting the ocean/sea imagery repeated throughout Kip’s journey. Water plays a significant role in Kip’s magic, her nightmares, and her connection to her childhood.
“Oh spaces ‘tween the happiness and the hardness” - reflects the strained relationship Kipling has with the sea. On one hand it holds positive memories - “happiness”. On the other hand, it’s a constant reminder of everything she has lost - “hardness”
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“Everything”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Seems everything around here / Stays like stone / Seems it's about time, darling / We let this all go
Everything must start again anew / Everything just goes that way, my friend / Every king knows it to be true / That every kingdom must one day come to an end
Commentary
“Seems it's about time, darling / We let this all go” - reflects Ozy’s attitude at this point in the narrative. He feels like his progress with Kipling has stagnated and it might be time to do something drastic in order to move forward.
“Everything just goes that way, my friend / Every king knows it to be true / That every kingdom must one day come to an end” - these lyrics reflect this ah-ha moment Ozy experiences at the end of the chapter when he realizes the pattern in Kipling’s behaviors - “Every king knows it to be true”. Even though he knows that what he needs to do might put some distance between himself and Kip, he accepts that he has to take that step - “Everything just goes that way, my friend”.
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“Rivers In Your Mouth”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Hold it in, the river in your mouth is pouring out / Water takes the shape of all that it surrounds
Hold it in they come at you from both sides of your mind / Thick and thin; these walls you'll always stand behind / I'm sick and tired, oh I begged for the world to change / But it don't, it ain't all you and that's the thing
Commentary
“Hold it in, the river in your mouth is pouring out / Water takes the shape of all that it surrounds” - reinforcing the water imagery. But these lyrics are actually more of foreshadowing for Kip’s full trial with The Empress. The drowning imagery becomes particularly violent in the next chapter. The “river” also reflects the confessions that Kip makes throughout the chapter. Many of them do not come easily, but rather “pour” out of her as a result of the harsh trial she has to endure.
“They come at you from both sides of your mind” - Kip experiences a lot of overstimulation before she comes to an understanding with how she needs to move forward. Taro becomes a satellite, Ozy steals her necklace, she unlocks her third eye, and she enters The Empress’ realm.
“Oh I begged for the world to change / But it don’t...” - More foreshadowing of the next chapter. This line reflects Kip’s relationship with The Empress. Kip’s patron tends to come off as insensitive and matter of fact – much like how “the world” keeps rotating / functioning as normal regardless of the fate of its inhabitants. Throughout Kip’s trial, she tries to appeal to The Empress through pleas and saying what she thinks the Arcana wants to hear - “I begged for the world to change”. However, the patron doesn’t give Kip a pass or any hints on how to survive her trial - “But it don’t…”
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“Promise”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
Meet me there / With bundles of flowers / We'll wade through the hours
Who am I darling to you? / Who am I to tell you stories of mine? / Who am I? / Who am I darling for you? / Who am I to be your burden in time?
Commentary
“Meet me there / With bundles of flowers / We'll wade through the hours” - combined imagery of both Strength and The Empress’ realms. Kip ultimately wants to reunite with Khleo and return to a time when they would escape into nature. Throughout the album, flowers have been one of the clear links between Kip and Khleo, such as the daisies that magically bloom whenever Kip is trying to reconnect with Khleo.
“Who am I darling to you? / Who am I to be your burden in time?” - The Empress is really putting Kip’s bond with Khleo to the test. The Arcana’s trial makes Kip reevaluate what her love for Khleo really means - “Who am I… to you?” She must understand that if she truly loves Khleo, she has to let them go (in her heart) or else she will never be able to fully grow from her mistakes. By holding onto the memory of Khleo “burden in time”, she’s at risk of mistaking love for obsession, which then negatively affects any of the relationships she develops going forward.
***
“Keep Your Head Up”
Lyrics that had the most impact on the chapter:
I spent my time watchin’ / The spaces that have grown between us / And I cut my mind on second best / The scars that come with the greenness / And I gave my eyes to the bottom / Still the seabed wouldn't let me in / And I tried my best to embrace the darkness / In which I swim
Keep your head up, keep your heart strong / Keep your mind set, keep your hair long / Keep your head up, keep your heart strong / Keep your mind set in your ways / But keep your heart strong
'Cause I'll always remember you the same / Eyes like wild flowers with your demons of change
Commentary
“I spent my time watchin’ / The spaces that have grown between us” - this line applies to both Ozy and Kipling, who have had to look back on the physical and emotional gaps that developed over time within the trio.
“And I gave my eyes to the bottom / still the seabed wouldn’t let me in” - reflects the frustration that Kip experienced as she wrestled with her magic. Reinforces the ocean imagery throughout Kip’s journey.
“And I tried my best to embrace the darkness / in which I swim” - more of that ocean imagery + sense of directionlessness that both Kip and Ozy experienced before coming together.
“Keep your head up, keep your heart strong / Keep your mind set, keep your hair long” - these lyrics reflect the hopeful tone of the chapter. Also reinforces the heart/mind metaphors connected to Kip and Ozy.
“'Cause I'll always remember you the same / Eyes like wild flowers with your demons of change” - these lyrics clearly point to Khleo, who still exists as a childhood memory for Kip and Ozy. Khleo’s gate is full of “wild flowers” and her “demons of change” includes all the things she’s had to struggle with on her own since her separation from Kip and Ozy.
Need to catch up? The full album can be found here: The Empress
Taken from the journals of Kipling Sophia Bronne
~ VIXEN ~
Coarse fur and soft steps
Both prey and predator
Mother of stealth,
She stalks the night,
the day,
and twilight
She pounces on her target
Slinks away from the challenger
She rips into any nest
Left Unattended
She swallows the spoiled parts, the guts and that
Cleans off the prime meat
Saves it for her cubs to eat
Need to catch up? The full album can be foudn here: Strength
Taken from the journals of Kipling Sophia Bronne
~ Rogue ~
Tattoos latch and spiral around deeply tanned biceps
As he swings his oar to the left,
then right
His feet are firmly planted on the back of a sea turtle
Driver, they call him
Until day falls and a pink moon is born.
Then he takes to the streets as a Fire Dancer,
when i do white face for a show that’s a clear but not constant or exclusive indicator that S the character is cosplaying what he thinks star nymph looks like based on bits and pieces of history and (at times involuntary) channeled missing pages of books purposely censored by the institution within the ???? years it has been since SN’s disappearance from surveillance
