The song begins with a full minute of lyric-less music. It starts with a simple melody with few layers of instruments then at about 0:33 seconds the music dives into a heavy bass, multi-layered, amplified segment which, I feel, helps amplify the emotions of the listener, and bring the listener into a more dream-like state. This whole minute of introduction is foreshadowing the lyrics and meaning of the song.
When she was just a girl, she expected the world.
But it flew away from her reach.
So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes.
When she was just a girl, she expected the world
But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy, the wheel breaks the butterfly,
Every tear a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night she’ll close her eyes
In the night, the stormy night, away she’d fly
And dream of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
Ooohhhh~~
She’d dream of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
Oooohhh~~
La-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She’d say, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I know the sun must set to rise”
This could be para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
This could be para-para-paradise
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
This could be para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
This could be para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh, oh
This could be para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise
This could be para-para-paradise
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I think the song is saying that as a child, even though we were young, we were not afraid to dream big. Being naive gave us the strength to believe in our ability to live the best life. But as we grew up, life becomes more monotonous, routine-like and overwhelming–Life was compared to a heavy wheel that breaks the butterfly. The butterfly that left its cocoon was supposably allowed to fly freely and lightly (like the young girl who thought she would be able to have the world when she grew up), but life is not like as she expected. Adult life is more routine-like and responsibilities become the center of her life. As long as there is force at any one point of the wheel, the wheel will continue to spin. The only way to stop the wheel is to just disregard the wheel totally. There’s a sense of utopia through renunciation here because she gets to her utopia upon leaving reality and entering her imaginations (the possibility of a better future). Later, when she was “lying underneath those stormy skies” she also reminded herself that “the sun must set to rise”. This hinted that she still believes that her misfortune will cease eventually. Through the change of lyrics from “and dream of paradise” to “This COULD be paradise” the song hints that there’s a chance that this misfortune that she was facing now was the one that will bring her to “paradise”. The end of the song sounds like a girl’s humming portraying the innocence and naiveness of a child, prompting the listener to think about their own inner happy child.
To me, the song was also a form or paradise. The repetition of “every time she close her eyes” makes me think about how I would close my eyes and just listen to music. It’s an instant mini-utopia that I can easily go to.
Hope ya’ll enjoy the song!