'This is not what I had planned'

Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strenght to stand
‘This is not what I had planned’
It’s out of my control

This is not what I had planned.
vs.
This is not what I planned.

Above is an excerpt taken from Linkin’ park’s song - Waiting for the end.
I don’t understand the tense used in the sentence in bold.

Can someone help me out? Thanks.

Hi,

The past perfect is used either when there is another past time indicated in a sentence or that this other past time is suggested. In your sentence:

you have to assume that ‘had planned’ refers to a previous plan before what actually happened.

Alan

Meaning:

Hmm…a previous plan…So, what you mean is that there’s ‘at least’ more than 1 plan? Or it’s just saying a plan made by someone before what actually happened?

I understand it this way:
What is happening now (wating, wishinng, etc.) is not what you expected / planned.
The past perfect is usually used for an action in the past that happened before another action in the past:
I had bought the tickets when Peter called me and said he wouldn’t go to the cinema.

What I don’t understand is why use the past perfect when the second action is not in the past but in the present (This IS not…)
Can I say ‘this is not what I planned’ and what is the difference between ‘this is not what I planned’ and ‘this is not what I had planned’?

Whow do we pronounce the word “Dull”/