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Rather than alternative readings (as seen in manga etc.) I mean deliberate use
of a more complex kanji in place of a simpler one, or use of kanji when kanji
would not normally be used. A few examples:

> 赤く腫れた目 掠れた聲

(Smile by BUMP OF CHICKEN) 聲 used instead of 声; 'hard' kanji used in other
words.

> 微睡みの淵で目蓋に揺蕩う

(空想メソロギヰ by 妖精帝國) Words that the goo.jp dictionary has an 'x' next to the
kanji for...

> 是程多くの眼がバラバラに  
>  何処に行けば良いのですか  
>  此処に居れば良いのですか  
>  此の先も現在(いま)も無いだけなのに…

(アイデンティティ by 椎名林檎) Lots of kanji here, notably for いる、ない、この and それ.

> 日々淡々と腐にふけながら...

(Diabolos by DIR EN GREY) This appears to be a bit of kanji wordplay; 腐 is
read 'ふ’ here, and appears to have no real meaning unless you look at the
lyrics?

* * *

This (in my experience) appears to be ubiquitous, even for songs targeted at
younger audiences (e.g. a 少女時代 song used 侮る, and I know at least one native
speaker who can't read that - maybe a rare case). But of course natives are
exposed to so much kanji, so can it be assumed that they can handle pretty
much any ateji or rare kanji thrown at them?

And what is the effect that the artist is trying to achieve? I have been
taught so far that using kanji unnecessarily comes across as either
pretentious or overly formal (such as 有り難う御座います and the like)
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question
kanji readings song-lyrics
Why do song lyrics frequently include rare kanji or kanji where kana would usually be used?
> what is the effect that the artist is trying to achieve?

The reason they often use complex kanji and ateji is quite simple, they might
think it's cool.

They seem to think they are viewed as better than other people if they appear
to know a lot of complex words and idioms.

People who write this kind of lyrics would say "To express our delicate and
complicated worldview, we had to use many of kanji". But I think this is based
on the same idea.

On the other hand, it looks somewhat juvenile, at least not something
preferred by a learned person. So most people who like this kind of lyrics
could be from younger generations, in their teens or 20s.

> But of course natives are exposed to so much kanji, so can it be assumed
> that they can handle pretty much any ateji or rare kanji thrown at them?

Basically no.

I think "赤く腫れた目 **掠** れた **聲** " or " **微睡み** の淵で目蓋に **揺蕩う** " is too
difficult for most of us to read properly (but we could read depending on its
context) because you know, their kanji and yomigana are rarely used in our
life. We can see this sort of kanji only in novels with ruby(furigana). Yet
about ateji, such like ["Diamond dust (てんしのささやき)", "幻想 (あした)", "音楽
(メロディ)"](http://kittttttan.web.fc2.com/7/glossary/7words), it's hard to
imagine there're people who can read those words except for the lyrics writer.

> using kanji unnecessarily comes across as either pretentious or overly
> formal

Yes.

Unnecessary kanji usage out of [Jo-yo kanji
table](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_j%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji) looks like
self-satisfaction from many people's view.

English, difficult kanji, yomigana, and ateji, we Japanese cannot read lyrics
without help. Karaoke songs are accompanied by readable lyrics.
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answer