Pierce The Sky

Pierce The Sky

Song Information

Pierce The Sky's jacket.

Artist: JAKAZiD feat. K.N.
Composition/Arrangement: JAKAZiD
Lyrics/Vocals: K.N.
BPM: 85-170 (DanceDanceRevolution), 170 (jubeat)
Length: 1:45
First Music Game Appearance: DanceDanceRevolution X2
Other Music Game Appearances:

• jubeat (2021)
• jubeat Ave.

Lyrics

For the last time,
For the last time,
Let's go beyond and pierce the sky on high
(×2)

I wonder why, the stars collide; what draws them to meet?
The cosmos in chaos, from forces we can't see
In this vast universe, we can seize the day
Breaking bonds that keep us rooted down and fly away

Let's go beyond and pierce the sky on high

For the last time,
For the last time,
Let's go beyond and pierce the sky on high
(×2)

Song Connections / Remixes

• An extended version of Pierce The Sky, titled Pierce The Sky（フルバージョン）, can be found on the DanceDanceRevolution X2 Original Soundtrack album.

Trivia

• Pierce The Sky is one of the Replicant D-action hidden songs in DanceDanceRevolution X2, representing the color cyan. To play Pierce The Sky as a Replicant D-action song, you must pass 20 or more songs in the DanceDanceRevolution X2 folder.
  • As of February 23rd, 2011, Pierce The Sky has been unlocked for normal play.
• Pierce The Sky is the only Replicant D-action song with sung vocals.
• In the arcade DanceDanceRevolution titles, Pierce The Sky features a unique video. However, it plays in the background of a light blue-colored version of the REPLICANT background dance stage and is not full-screen.
  • In DanceDanceRevolution II/DanceDanceRevolution hottest party5, Pierce The Sky's video removes any on-screen dancers and is played in a tiny monitor on the opposite side of the player on Single and in the center on Double/Versus, due to Nintendo Wii memory limitations.
  • This video reuses eight DDRMAX-EXTREME background movies.
• Pierce The Sky marks Josh McInnes' debut in BEMANI.
• Pierce The Sky is used as background music in a mission on the KONAMI arcade game ROAD FIGHTERS (ロードファイターズ).
• Pierce The Sky received CHALLENGE charts as part of DanceDanceRevolution A20 PLUS' DDR CHALLENGE Carnival PLUS event. They could be unlocked from August 3rd to December 8th, 2020 after obtaining 5 stamps.
  • From DanceDanceRevolution A3 onwards, they are available by default.
• Pierce The Sky was added to jubeat (2021) on June 24th, 2022.
  • Pierce The Sky being crossed over marks Josh McInnes' debut in the jubeat series.
• Pierce The Sky is available in DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX's GRAND PRIX mode from July 20th, 2022, by purchasing the GRAND PRIX music pack vol.8 (グランプリ楽曲パック vol.8).
• Pierce The Sky is one of the FROM DDR-01 unlocks of jubeat Ave.'s LIGHT CHAT unlocking system. It could be unlocked from June 7th to 27th, 2023.
  • In jubeat beyond the Ave., it could be unlocked through LIGHT CHAT from March 6th to 26th, 2024.

Song Production Information

JAKAZiD

I co-wrote the original demo version of "Pierce The Sky" with K.N. during my final year of university.
Between then and now I've remixed it several times,
and it's surreal to think that the final definitive mix has been adopted for use in DDR,
especially as I have been a devoted fan of the series for over a decade now.
Within this track I thought a lot about the rhythm of each musical element
and how they could be translated into an interesting but fun schart for DDR.
Additionally, I included the oldskool-style section with piano and breakbeats
to add some variety and excitement to the track before the final chorus.
An interesting piece of trivia about this song is that K.N. recorded the vocals in my closet
which I had converted into a vocal booth at the time.
Given the circumstances, I think the vocals were actually captured rather well!

K.N.

JAKAZiD gave me the demo track for Pierce The Sky and I had an image of Vic Viper flying through space, 
navigating out of tough spots and being unstoppable. 
The message of the song is related to that; if you have your dreams, 
don't be afraid to reach out for them despite how tough it may be. Let's go beyond and pierce the sky on high~ ♪
I wrote most of the lyrics on a commuter train. 
That's not quite a spaceship zooming through the universe, is it? *laughs*
I've been a Bemani fan for ten years now and it gives me such a thrill to know that my song is in DanceDanceRevolution X2.
I hope DDR players will enjoy the song and maybe one day I'll be good enough to full combo it!

Difficulty & Notecounts

DanceDanceRevolution difficulty rated from 1 to 20 from X onwards.
jubeat difficulty rated from 1 to 10.9 from festo onwards. (Ratings and notecounts obtained from BEMANIWiki 2nd and TexTage.)

DanceDanceRevolution

Game	Single					Double
	Beginner	Basic	Difficult	Expert	Challenge	Basic	Difficult	Expert	Challenge
Notecounts / Freeze Arrows / Shock Arrows	79 / 0	275 / 21	361 / 35	476 / 24	598 / 15 / 0	273 / 19	360 / 33	470 / 17	573 / 15 / 0
DanceDanceRevolution X2→A20	3	8	11	14	-	8	11	14	-
DanceDanceRevolution A20 PLUS→Present	3	8	11	14	16	8	11	14	16
DanceDanceRevolution II / hottest party 5	3	8	11	14	-	8	11	14	-
DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX	3	8	11	14	16	8	11	14	16

jubeat

Game	Level
	Basic	Advanced	Extreme
Notecounts	217	347	688
jubeat (2021)	4	6	9.7
jubeat Ave.→Present	4	6	9.7

Replicant D-action
Medal-unlockable Songs	Anti-Matter (Blue) - New Decade (Orange) - Pierce The Sky (Cyan) - POSSESSION (Purple) - Sakura Sunrise (Green) Shiny World (Yellow)
ENCORE EXTRA STAGE	Valkyrie dimension