Asymptotic
Louie Zong Lyrics

The song "Asymptotic" by Louie Zong is a playful and clever metaphorical exploration of unrequited love. The title itself, "asymptotic," refers to a mathematical concept where two lines continually approach each other but never actually intersect. In the song, the singer is using this concept to describe their relationship with another person - they are always getting closer, but never quite reaching that point of connection.

The opening stanza sets up the extended metaphor: the singer compares their crush to a "curvilinear" graph (that is, a graph with a smooth, continuous curve rather than a series of straight lines). They describe the person as a "cutie face in x-y space" - in other words, someone who looks good on a two-dimensional graph. However, the complexity of the situation is acknowledged with the line "But it's complex! / The limits are infinitely great." The singer wishes they could "cosign" - essentially, find some common ground - but it seems like an impossible task.

The chorus repeats the title line, "we're asymptotic," followed by the phrase "til the end of linear time." This reinforces the idea that the two people in question will always be approaching each other but never actually connecting. They are "divided by the smallest, slimmest line" - again, the metaphor of the mathematical graph is used to describe the distance between them. It's interesting to note that the chorus features a slightly different line in the second half each time it's repeated ("obliquely, here's the point of this speech," "as close as we could ever get, you'll be just out of reach," etc.) - this keeps the repetition from becoming monotonous and creates a sense of progression as the song goes on.

The final stanza of the song brings in even more mathematical language: the singer compares their tangential relationship to their crush to a mathematical tangent line, which represents the slope of a curve at a given point. They acknowledge that they're "off on our own tangents" - in other words, pursuing different paths - and fading away from each other. The comparison to calculus ("I'll forget / Like my college calc") gives the song a sense of wistful nostalgia, as if the singer is looking back on a time when things seemed more possible.

Overall, "Asymptotic" is a creative and fun exploration of a common human experience - unrequited love - through the lens of mathematical concepts. Louie Zong uses clever wordplay and metaphors to create a song that's both lighthearted and emotionally resonant.