Lyrical Dissonance / Vocaloid

Lyrical Dissonance is a very common theme used in numerous Vocaloid songs. In fact, it's harder to find a song which doesn't follow this trope, as Vocaloid music (and electronic music in general) more readily lends itself to upbeat tempos.

Unless you know Japanese, most of these songs are not obvious at first, until you watch the videos with translated subtitles.

The list is sorted alphabetically by producers.

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Examples:

24 P

• "Who?" has pretty electronic sounds and an upbeat tune. It's about continuous war, asking if God could really exist if there was war, and even subtly criticizes religion.

40 Meter-P

• Hatsune Miku's "Left Behind City" song is about a girl who feels left behind in the world.

ATOLS

• Macaron is a mysterious song with almost poetic lyrics about how a singer enjoys eating macarons.

baker

• Beneath the characters being alpacas, the pun in the title and the electro swing of Leave in Summer, yet you're in my Fluffoughts is a story about the main character whose girlfriend only stays with him when 'it's winter'...aka, she only stays him when it's hard and leaves when it's not. Yet he still loves her.

Banana-P

• "Hetarenaide yo!" Listen to the first 1:50 or so, without looking at the lyrics. Sounds like a cute and innocent song, right? Now, listen to it from start to end while looking at the subtitles. And then comes the Sound-Effect Bleep...

Cosmo/Bousou-P

• Many songs from Star Girl and The Illusion Paradise series have shades of this trope.
  • The trope is averted in the first half of The Nun and Idol Girl. In the beginning, it's a happy J-pop song about a nun who wanted to become an idol, and thanks to Dr. Realist, her wish was granted. It didn't end well as the idol got overwhelmed by insults to the point of cutting herself. And then it got much worse. The girl was reminded that such a thing had already happened in reality. After she remembered this, she ran to the church with a knife to kill herself, but she was caught by a priest, who then was accidentally killed by the girl because she forgot to drop the knife and she fatally stabbed him as consequence. She returns to be a nun and constantly pray to God to forgive all her actions, even though she knew he won't.

Buiru-P

• Himitsu Keikatsu is an intense rock song that's about all the punishments that the Secret Police will dole out on you to make you talk.
  In order to force you to confess, we won't hesitate to use any means available.
  We could use relentless interrogation or intravenous injection.
  Or, we could even take hostage the ones closest to you!

Dobu Usagi

• This Vocaloid Kaito song sounds sweet and happy, assuming you ignore the title; even the look on Kaito's face is joyous! Then read the lyrics. Despite that, it's becoming a fan favorite for being so hilarious.

EasyPop

• Girls - a catchy techno track from the viewpoint of an Alpha Bitch who derides men wanting to chat her up. By the end of the song, she ends up sad and lonely.
  • Another interpretation that it's the viewpoint of an aromantic or asexual girl who is simply tired of all the men who try to seduce her, and ends up with the conclusion that there's no people who understand her at all, and she just wants someone who loves her without trying to seduce her pointlessly.
• Heartbreak Disco - an upbeat, 90s-esque eurodance song about someone dealing with the aftermath of a breakup and missing her ex.

Hachi

• Terpsichore Theatric is a very cheery song about... well:
  Become a shadow on the wall,
  Become a puppet
  Dance and dance,
  Spit out words
  Hold the pistol,
  Hold the pistol,
  And shoot out the world
• Christmas Morgue has happy music and depressing lyrics about the agony of lovers.
• In A Rainy Town, Balloons Dance With Devils - The music is upbeat and wavers into creepy territory at points; the lyrics are about a woman being pursued by demons, and getting caught at the end, all juxtaposed with equally creepy/childish lyrics about pretty red balloons. And needles. The accompanying music video is even worse.

Hayakawa-P

• In a corner of Tranquil Sea. It's a chirpy technopop song about a couple watching their home planet crumble because of an apocalypse.

Hinata Haruhana

• Len Kagamine's "Nazotoki", set to a fast, upbeat tune about murder and the potential idea that Len is the killer.

Hoehoe-P

• "(It's not) World's End" is, once again, an upbeat song sung during the singer's last 5 minutes of life, requesting her love only recall her for five minutes on the day every year.

Honey Works

• Despite its cutesy melody, "Rockbell" has a rather depressing lyric about a cat whose "parents" constantly fight and is either ignored or bullied by the local kids. The only person who loves him is his "mother", but one day she fell sick but the cat can't do anything to save her. In the end, he left the town, knowing that nothing will change whether or not he's around.
• Downplayed in "Confession Rival Declaration" from the Confession Executive Committee ~Love Series~ . The song has a very upbeat tune, but the theme is more of a bittersweet heartbreak. It's about a shy boy who tries really hard to change himself (both inside and outside) to become more appealing to his crush, even though he knows that the girl likes someone else and that nothing he can do would change that.
  • "Little Lion" is presented as a whimsical and bombastic song about a cat falling in love with a human girl, but it actually concerns how he can never tell her who he is or else everyone's memories of his human life get erased, and in the end cannot romantically be with the human he loves because he decides to try (emphasis on try) to tell her anyway.

Iroha (sasaki)

• The song "Meltdown", sung by Rin Kagamine, is a happy upbeat song about a nuclear accident and a suicide attempt.

Jakkan-P

• "Cactus and Mirage", a cute, upbeat-sounding song about a nurse that eventually falls in love with her infatuated, dying patient when it's already too late.

Kairiki Bear

• Bakusai Pudding/Pudding Annihilation. It's an alternative metal song with heavy guitars and melancholic lyrics... about spilled pudding.

Kobayashi Onyx

• "Saihate", another upbeat song that acts as a farewell message to a lover who has died.

Kikuo

• And Then You Became The Moon sounds very happy, but the song itself is about dying from hypothermia or a double suicide.
• Breaking Things into Pieces is a happy song about a person, who has a bee in his bonnet about destroying everything, because he believes they are granted a piece of their soul when people become attached to them. It's worth it to add that said things in the title isn't confined only to inanimate objects.
• Don't look at me in that way – a gentle, twinkly song about a child who dies in a bike accident and whose ghost addresses his parents as they mourn him.
• Love me, love me, love me — the song about Golden Child Syndrome.^note A situation where parents want their kid to be absolutely perfect at everything. If not, then to them their child is useless.
• You're a Useless Child - an upbeat-sounding song about an emotionally abusive mother and her relationship with her son, which ends with her son either killing himself or running away. In any case, the child isn't here and no longer can be held (by the mother at least), resulting in the mother having a crisis of conscience.
• Let's Go To Heaven - the song about a pair of lovers committing suicide so that they can be together forever in Heaven.
• Kikuo's songs in general have a reputation for having upbeat lyrics to depressing topics. In addition to most of the entries on this page, "Into the Water" is about suicide by drowning. "XXX Cat" appears to be about either actual or metaphorical horrific, disfiguring abuse. "Missing Missing" is about doing what one is told to and getting absolutely nothing as a reward (it was missing). "Good Child and Fox Spirit" has the fox luring the child into living with it via tricks, illusions, and ("fun") lies, and the fox encouraging and eventually convincing the child to do the same. All to upbeat music.
• An unusually positive example from Kikuo, "Yesterday, Everything Returns" sounds like music from Earthbound mixed with noise, with distorted lyrics barely heard over the rest of the track, but seems to be about slowly forgetting about a traumatic school life and growing away from it.

Kurousa-P

• Senbonzakura is a peppy and energetic song about the tension and loss of identity caused by the Meiji Restoration, the subsequent "westernization" of Japan in the 20th century, and the rise and fall of Imperial Japan.

Machigerita

• Affection-expanding Chocolate-holic has an aggressive, intense sound like a lot of Machigerita's other works. Unlike most of his other works, however, the meaning is rather lighthearted - it's about girls competing to make chocolate for their crush, in hopes he'll accept their feelings.

Madaco

• "Ren'ai Shikkan" (Love Disease) starts off as a cheerful jazz song about Luka going out with some guy. Things seem to be going well. The song takes a turn when it's revealed that the guy doesn't know her, and she's actually been stalking him. Then Luka catches him going out with someone else. Things get...nasty, to put it nicely. And this is without the song or her voice changing to reflect this.

Maretu

• As the title suggests, “Coin Locker Baby” is about the abuse phenomenon of the same name in which parents in Asia who are unable to take care of newborn children abandon them in coin-operated lockers.

Master Yoda

• "Can't Live Without" is a bouncy EDM song about an abusive relationship.

Mothy

• Evillious Chronicles:
  • "Evil Food Eater Conchita", an upbeat rock song about a noblewoman who becomes obsessed with eating and eats everything in her castle, including dishware, her servants, and by the end, herself.
  • "Judgment of Corruption", a fast-paced song full of triumphant sounding horns that's about a greedy, corrupt judge who openly allows himself to be paid off by rich criminals in exchange for letting them go free.
  • "The Madness of Duke Venomania", yet another fast-paced song about a man who makes a deal with the devil to have all women be drawn to him against their will the moment they lay eyes on him.
  • "The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka", a slow, gentle sounding song about a woman who, believing that her husband is cheating on her, kills all of the women she sees him with and uses various parts from their clothing to assemble a new kimono to impress him with.
• The song "Red Shoe Parade" is a cheerful, upbeat melody about a group of four red-shod traveling bandits who steal from, rape, and kill people who they deem to be "bad thieves", all in the name of "grand justice".
• "Wendy", a peppy song wherein even most of the lyrics are cheerful, with references to Peter Pan and flying. Then comes the end of the song, which reveals the story to actually be about a girl who commits suicide by jumping out a window, and the whole song suddenly becomes several minutes of fridge horror.

Nekomushi-P

• "One Of Repetition" is renowned for its catchiness and beat, but the lyrics are written from the perspective of a girl who was betrayed by a boy who merely used her like a tool. Although it is hinted that she is okay with the break-away, she still carries the sorrow with her forever and can't believe in love anymore.

Neru

• "Whatever~Whatever~Whatever~" on the surface is a fun party song, but the lyrics deal with the singer telling their audience how burnt out and depressed they are, even mentioning that they would have killed themselves if they weren't so afraid of dying — Neru is infamous for his depressing lyrics, after all.

Nori-P

• Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder is a vibrant, electric disco song about someone in a loveless, emotionally abusive relationship.

nulut

• Fixer is a fun electro swing tune about a depressed person unable to fit in with society.

Owata-P

Though Owata-P rarely uses this trope, he has some songs following this theme:

• "The End" sung by Yuzuki Yukari. This song, in terms of the level of melancholy, is probably the worst of all his songs. It has an upbeat and light melody, however, the lyrics talk about a depressed singer who can't stand commercialization and the greed of mankind to this point. At the end of the song he decides to take his own life.
  • This trope may be averted. Other interpretations of the song say that the main singer is an internet addict trying to socialize online, but his mind is slowly corrupted by it. However, he finally tackled how imperfect the virtual world is, so he decided to leave it and start a new life in reality. In this case, the lyrics relate to the virtual world instead.

Pepoyo

It's easier to count examples of Pepoyo songs with no lyrical dissonance than songs with it.

• Easy-Peasy Euthanasia is a song about wanting to die, but not by suicide, as that would be too painful and messy—hence the the desire for an "Easy-Peasy Euthanasia" as the title describes. Even among other examples of lyrical dissonance, it is shocking the extent it plainly expresses how it feels to be suicidal.
• ±0 is about a person at rock bottom expressing just how worthless they are and how much they've failed at every possible turn—all to a ragtime ditty. It ends with them dying by suicide, declaring that if there's no point in adding or subtracting from their life's equation, they might as well erase it altogether.
  If there’s no meaning in adding or subtracting
  then just erase the entire problem.
  I will rest in peace.
• Menheramen is a frenetic denpa song like any other, but it drops the pure nonsense lyrics to create a creepy and sometimes nauseating stream of consciousness intended to represent the unfiltered thoughts of a manic episode.
• Amedama sounds like a children's song, but based on just the first few lines alone, you can tell something is very wrong with it.

Pinocchio-P

• Crappy Fantasy Days is about living through a "nothing" period of one's life—living each day unfulfilled and bored, unsure of when the nothingness will ever end.
• Motivation is Dead is, unsurprisingly, about being completely bereft of motivation, to the point of feeling completely empty inside.
  I lack any motivation, even enough to say I'm unmotivated,
  So little I can't even feel motivated
• Apple Dot Com is a cheerfully peppy tune, complete with slightly-off-key recorder, about feeling imprisoned by one's own depression.
  I’m rotting away as I neglect myself.
  My face’s smiling, but there’s a dart piercing it.
  It’s such a pain, so I’m not doing anything.
  I’ve got all kinds of debts lumped together haphazardly.
• The song God-ish is about this trope. It's from the POV of a fan who doesn't understand how sad their favorite music is, but who grasps it by the end of the song and realizes they will never hear it the same way again.

Powapowa-P

• Regrets and Floatage. It's an upbeat synthpop song set to lyrics about grieving the loss of a loved one.
• City Lights is very peppy and has a cutesy melody. It appears to be about a delusional love with one partner being unresponsive.

Puffihn

• Blue. It has a calm, upbeat sound, but it's in the point of view of a depressed person unable to step out of their comfort zone.

sasakure.UK

• "The (Week)End is Coming!" is an adorable pop song about how war shatters a young schoolgirl's heart by taking her crush away.
• "The WANDERLAST" is a serene chiptune about an android who is about to meet her end.
• "*Hello, Planet." begins with a robot waking up after the apocalypse and wanders through a deserted wasteland to find her master. The music video ends with a happy closing melody in a scene where the robot dies in front of her master's grave.
• "Our 16Bit EndZ Trigger" is a bright-sounding song about disillusioned young soldiers in a war who have been so thoroughly beaten down by how far the world has fallen that they're actively wishing for the apocalypse to come, yet retain their defiant attitude nonetheless and rise up against their unfeeling superiors.

Steven Wagenheim

• Hang Me At Noon sounds like a fun rock song, and is about a man suicidal with regret over cheating on his lover.
• Nuclear Fallout, a song with a perky 80s sound about anticipating the aftermath of, well, a nuclear fallout.

Storiku-P

• We lost Again sounds happy... it's about your favorite baseball team losing due to player's and manager's shortcomings. and the fan cheering for them anyway.

Takotsubo-P

• Cross-Scissors, featuring MAYU, has a cute French pop-esque sound... then it turns out to be about MAYU killing her cheating lover.

Team Hurihuri

• Alone is a very jazzy sounding song about a girl with loneliness no one notices.

Tetsu.

• Shizuoka Oden. It's a powerful, orchestral masterpiece with an intense, emotional and sometimes ominous melody. The only line in the entire song is about wanting to eat Shizuoka Oden. Yum.

Tohma

• Skeleton Orchestra and Lilia, an energetic jazz song about how a lonely girl's obsession with a mysterious song leads to her untimely death.

Utata-P

• Numerous songs from the Happiness series. Every one of them has an electronic melody you could dance to, but the lyrics expose its morbid meaning.
  • "This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee" is about Miku, who brainwashes everyone by her singing in order to create a dystopia where happiness is a duty. The last line of the song even lampshades this: "If you're not happy...you die."
  • "It looks like there is hidden cheat code for happiness" is about Yukari, who tried to escape through playing games. However, she gets so overwhelmed by events in real life, she shoots herself at the end of the song.
  • "Hop! Step! Instant Death! Happiness Dance Deathtrap" averts this trope for the most of the song... and then we get the happy chorus with lines such as the eponymous "Hop! Step! Instant death!"
  • "A Joyful, Fun, Happiness Carnival" is a cheerful, upbeat song about ... cannibalism. The video even makes use of Pixellation.
  • Then there's I've Found It! A Way to Become Happy Forever, an alternatively sweet-sounding then upbeat song about a young bride who gains immortality in exchange for being eternally separated from her new husband and later becomes a zombie.
• In fact, all of Utata P's troll songs count:
  • In, "An Earnest Unrequited Love, Wanting to Make it Bear a Little Happiness": The song starts with a happy chirpy romantic tune, until Mayu reveals part way that she knows everything about the guy she's crushing on and who's he's dating. Mayu then proceeds to sing about killing her rivals by physically and psychologically maiming them. In the end, she decides to kill her crush as well.
  • Mayu's story seems to be connected to: "You're Seriously Mad? I'm not mistaken here", Where again it starts out in a lovey-dovey whimsical tune until again she sings about stalking then killing her crush, apparently dumping his body in the pool, then quietly clearing off the evidence. Surprisingly! Mayu is not a Karma Houdini, because she also sings about getting caught at the start and in the end.
  • In, "I'm Sorry for Liking You": the tune is an uplifting romance song that is reminiscent of a comedy love genre. It doesn't turn out to be anything but that. IA apparently bought a pair of contact lenses, that can give you laser eyes. When she failed to read the manual, it gets stuck in her eyes. She panics all the while she burns everything she sees to the ground including her crush. However, unlike most examples, it ends in a Surprisingly Happy Ending.
  • The only exception is in: Not a dream, Not a Lie, A Happy Scene Before My Eyes. The tune makes it sound like you're in a traditional tragic Japanese drama, only to invert it halfway and Genre Shift it into a comedy.

wowaka

• Two-Faced Lovers, a fast-paced, upbeat song about a girl who gets an abortion after being impregnated by a man she loved who rejected her, and how she, in turn, becomes obsessed with sex and begins to use others the way that she was used.
• World's End Dance Hall is another fast rock song about two girls who fall in love and the harassment and homophobia they experience as a result. They make the decision to continue in their relationship anyway, and, depending how one looks at it, the song may end with the two girls committing suicide together.

Yasuha.

• Brain Crusher is a happy sounding glitch hop, EDM-styled song, but with pensive, melancholic lyrics. Not helping matters is that even the cover art looks like something from a much more aggressive song.

Yuzuhico

• "The Game of Life" is a catchy little tune... about how we're all helpless Cosmic Playthings.
  See how the game of life is never won, you only play
  Bore him and you will find you're crumpled up and thrown away

Other

• Calc. by Jimmy Thumb-P is a concert favorite, with Miku's on-stage hologram rocking a Les Paul and performing Ted Nugent-style jumps whilst playing said guitar. The song itself is about a person trying to move on from an especially painful breakup. This English cover by Lizz Robinett features what some would say is a more fitting bluegrass sound.
• Lowbrow Party by Steampianist gets pretty weird. It might sound like a peppy (if a little unhinged) pop song, but it's about an orgy filled with insane-sounding people.
• Kurage-P's Chururira Chururira Daddadda! is a catchy and cheery rock song that has an MV with high meme-exploitation potential, but the lyrics are about a student council president played by Yuzuki Yukari, who abuses her authority to manipulate the school board to get expelled from school just so she could become the top student. Once every other student is expelled from school, she eventually turns against the teacher, getting rid of them as well.
• Mitchie M's Bad Girl A is an up-tempo rock and roll song...about a girl who becomes a delinquent to escape her abusive father, only for her to end up stabbing him to death when he tries to take her back before engaging in a Game of Chicken with a fellow biker, where she plans to go out in a blaze of glory by driving off the cliff.
• EZFG's Totemo Itai Itagaritai (unofficially translated to Hurting for a Very Hurtful Pain) is a pulse-pounding, catchy electro beat that's about an excruciating (implied to be mental) pain that the singer is experiencing.
• OPA's Lover's Suicide Oblivion is a jazzy and bombastic rock song about a woman who loses her partner and (after an existential crisis where she wonders about the nature of death) commits suicide so she can see them again, only to realize that by doing so she has condemned herself to being forgotten by the world.
• DECO*27's Mono Poisoner has a stylish and catchy funk rock beat with a roaring chorus... complete with lyrics about a Destructive Romance from the perspective of an abusive boyfriend, who wants to maintain gripping and exclusive control on his girlfriend to the point he takes pleasure in physically abusing her and demonizing her.
• xi-onP's Laika is a cheery, upbeat and light pop song from the perspective of Laika, the Russian dog who was sent into space aboard the satellite Sputnik 2 in 1957. The lyrics and video don't show Laika's final fate (but heavily imply it): the satellite wasn't built to return to Earth because the Russian scientists were under orders to design and build it in less than a month, and she died in space shortly after launch.
• Sweet Float Flats by Manbo-P is a cutesy and upbeat song about an apartment complex full of hopeless people, including a hardcore masochist, a woman in an abusive relationship, a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl and a man who grows hallucinogenic mushrooms for the Yakuza (who are heavily implied to have killed him for accidentally letting the mushrooms loose in the apartments).

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