The meaning of the lyrics of the song "Was looking for / Searched for / Looked for" (Iskala) the performer of the song "Zemfira"

I searched for you for long years

I searched for you in dark courtyards

In magazines, in movies, among friends

The day I found you, I went crazy

You are just like in a dream

Just like in albums

Where I painted you with gouache

Then there were more night calls

Tears, nerves, love, and encounters in Poland

Kids, but not mine, and old flames

You smoke every five minutes, we're both tired

You are just like in a dream

Just like in albums

Where I painted you with gouache

For long years

Through dark nights

For long years

You are just like in a dream

Just like in albums

Where I painted you with gouache

You are just like in a dream

Just like in albums

Where I painted you with gouache

I searched for you for long years

I searched for you in dark courtyards

In magazines, in movies, for long years

I searched for you nights and nights and nights

Я искала тебя годами долгими

Искала тебя дворами темными

В журналах, в кино, среди друзей

В день, когда нашла, с ума сошла

Ты совсем как во сне

Совсем как в альбомах

Где я рисовала тебя гуашью

Дальше были звонки ночные больше

Слезы, нервы, любовь и стрелки в Польше

Дети, но не мои, и старые зазнобы

Куришь каждые пять, мы устали оба

Ты совсем как во сне

Совсем как в альбомах

Где я рисовала тебя гуашью

Годами долгими

Ночами темными

Годами долгими

Ты совсем как во сне

Совсем как в альбомах

Где я рисовала тебя гуашью

Ты совсем как во сне

Совсем как в альбомах

Где я рисовала тебя гуашью

Я искала тебя годами долгими

Искала тебя дворами темными

В журналах, в кино годами долгими

Искала тебя ночами-чами-чами

In Zemfira's song "Iskala" (I Was Looking For), the lyrics tell a story of love saturated with conflicting emotions. For many long years, the lyrical heroine has been searching for her ideal, painting his image in her dreams. She found his semblance in magazines, movies, in the faces of passers-by, but it was never quite right. And then, when hope seemed to fade, the long-awaited encounter takes place.

However, reality turns out to be far from fantasy. "You are just like in a dream / Just like in the albums / Where I painted you with gouache" – these lines convey the heroine's disappointment. The man she found doesn't live up to the image she created. He brings with him "endless night calls, / Tears, nerves, love, and showdowns in Poland." His past, "children, but not mine, and old flames," and his habits, "you smoke every five minutes," weigh on the heroine, leading to fatigue and emptiness.

The recurring verse "You are just like in a dream / Just like in the albums / Where I painted you with gouache" emphasizes the gap between dream and reality, between the image created in the imagination and the real person. The heroine seems stuck in her fantasies, unable to accept reality.

The song's ending, built on the repetition of the phrases "For long years / Through dark nights" and "You are just like in a dream...", intensifies the feeling of hopelessness and doom. The heroine cannot let go of her fantasies, continuing to live in a world of illusions, where the main character remains "painted with gouache."