“Beneath the Mask” composed by Shoji Meguro and sung by Lyn Inazumi is an acid jazz, a form of jazz music that contains hip hop and funk elements, from the hit JRPG ‘Persona 5’. It’s one of the many songs sung by her in the game and is a part of the game’s main album, ‘Persona 5 the Original’, which came out on January 17, 2017.

The song starts off instrumental, with pianos and organs, creating a relaxing and calm beat for listeners. The same beat repeats throughout the whole song, which helps reinforce the calming nature of the song as there are no sudden changes to the tone of the song. The only thing that changes is when a hint of percussion is added towards the start of the chorus, but it’s able to blend in with the existing instruments Lyn then comes in with vocals, her voice like a soothing melody as she sings lyrics that have deeper meanings than what they show.

A line that Lyn repeats throughout the song is “I’m a shapeshifter, at Poe’s masquerade,” which is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, ‘The Masque of the Red Death’. In Poe’s work a prince and his friends are desperately trying to escape death from the Red Death, a dangerous plague, and they decide to hold a masquerade for entertainment. At the masquerade there are many rooms with different colors, each representing different human personalities. This relates back to the lyrics because with context you now know that Lyn is singing about shifting through different personalities, which relates to the theme of identity in the song and the game.

“Beneath the Mask” is a song that’s perfect for calm, quiet evenings while having a deeper message to it.