#Sillygomania

[darling]

six albums I've been listening to lately (tagged by @prairiedeath, thank you, darling!! ❣)

‎You Look Like You Can't Swim (Matilda mann)

Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Lana Del Rey)

Motordrome (MØ)

Sillygomania (Loïc Nottet)

Good Riddance (Gracie Abrams)

So Sad So Sexy (Lykke Li)

I'll tag @genericplantgay, @marcuscolouranalysis4, @indirectly, @echobeach2002, @unbelt, @stremplerart, @spiritual-delights, @memoreek , @random-jot (tag game whore* 😆!! hahaha), @an-imaginary-place, @like-a-lovesickfool, @hobosenpai8, @marji0, @brontephilia, @simonmoholt, @flaccidatron, @sacred-portal, @sharp-ft, @vyva-melinkolya, @dollhandinfection, @michaelnordeman, @undimmed, @myacisbroken, @trigg-3-r, @b-acd, @goreseeex, @barbietrailerpark, @fellxthecat & @violently-average. (Sorry if I forgot to tag anyone interested) if you want, you can say that I tagged you.* 🤍

[monannee2016etc]

[aijamisespava]

Loïc Nottet Overview

While the past few days, I've been putting out pieces that are sort of like reviews for albums by Eurovision artists. However, today, I'm going to do quickie reviews for one artist since he has 3 albums out. That artist being Loïc Nottet (Belgium 2015).

To begin, none of his albums have his Eurovision song, "Rhythm Inside." And as I give my review, I will also note my favorite tracks at the end.

Selfocracy (2017): His debut album came out just under 2 years after his 4th place run in Vienna. While the songs kept the experimental nature that "Rhythm Inside" held, it also stood out on their own as Loïc's own style. There is some danceability factor (of course his IS a dancer too). The lyrics focus a lot on themes of bullying as well, talking about its effects on people. Favorite tracks: Mud Blood, Mirror, Poison

Sillygomania (2020): Likely produced before the COVID-19 pandemic, Loïc followed up the smash hit Selfocracy would become with his second album. The songs seem to turn from the darker pop tones of Selfocracy, while still holding the danceability factor and serious themes (this time holding mental health undertones). And together, I could only imagine what listening to this album would have been like in 2020 (I listened to it for the first time in 2021). Favorite Tracks: 29, Mr/Mme, The One

Addictocrate (2023): Wrapping up the list is Loïc's most recent album. While the two previous albums, and his Eurovision song, AND his Candy EP, AND single "Go To Sleep" have all been in English (with the exception of Mr/Mme), he took a turn and created an album entirely in French. And it worked. His style translated very well and produced incredibly beautiful songs and a wonderfully put together album. Favorite Tracks: Mélodrame, Révérence, Cygne

Well, that should do it for now for albums by my favorite Eurovision artists (again, I'm waiting on Sudden Lights to release their 4th album before doing theirs so I can do all 4 at once). If there is an album by a Eurovision artist you really want me to write about, feel free to put in the request!

[kiratoshii]

Cancel every other album this year, this one is the only one I care about,

[newobsessionweekly]

Loïc Nottet handsome man 😍

[lifeispopculture]

[fidjiefidjie]

Belle matinée 🆕️🕺💙

Loïc Nottet 🎶 Heartbreaker

[noctunemo]

Loïc (2020)

[riverrspond]

This is my 2020′s anthem.

[awinterstales]

Listening to Mr/mme from Loïc Nottet for the first time & he literally just tore my heart out of my chest 😭

[crazybutgood]

URL + songs

Thank you for the tag @lumosatnight and @vivantesopales ❤️❤️ Also @whataboutmyfries omg I think you tagged me in this too quite a while ago hdjhdh sorry I took so long to get to it, but thank you for the tag too jaan ❤️

Ok here we go,, sorry most are not in English 😅:

Coke Studio (I'm obsessed and none of my URL letters have any song I've been listening to :') so I'm linking the playlist to the Coke Studio songs I've had on repeat, mostly from season 14)

Roobaroo

Ae husn zara jaag (the lyrics are literal poetry)

Zara zara

Yeh din kya aaye

Bashbo Bhalo

Uff

Tarkeebein

Gubbare (I couldn't choose between this and Gulaabo actually)

Offo

O mere dil ke chain

Dil diyan gallan. And bonus English song Doctor by Loïc Nottet. Actually I'll rec his whole Sillygomania album to make up for the lack of English songs fhhshj I'm sorry

Tagging @getawayfox @basicallyahedgehog @makeitp1nk @teacup-tai @curlyy-hair-dont-care @purplehotmess @awesomedig @sleepstxtic if you'd like to do this, and anyone else who wants to as well 💕

[aijamisespava]

Favorite Song From Each Country! Part 23/37: Belgium!

Hello hello everyone! Today we have Belgium to talk about and I'm super excited! They've brought some favorites (or even some late growers) to the contest over time (and brag the youngest winner ever unless they change the rules which I don't see happening now that we have Junior Eurovision). However, the one highlight of Belgium is that they boast a representative that became one of my favorite artists ever, which you will see in my favorite entry.

Favorite Entry: Anyone who read some of my Tumblr posts pre-series would probably recognize the name I'm about to say right now: Loïc Nottet. His song "Rhythm Inside" from 2015 boasts another one of my favorite entries of all time. It was a great start to a great music career for him and it helps that the song is good. Plus, if you like the song, he has three albums out! Selfocracy (2017), Sillygomania (2020), and Addictocrate which came out a little under a month ago. His music outside of Eurovision hits a rather personal note with me, making me feel validated without him really knowing about my existence (aside from a few Instagram story mentions on my side). And through "Rhythm Inside" I was able to open up a box that I never thought I'd open. RANK: 4th in 2015 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 1st of 40 Countries

Thoughts on 2023 Entry: Someone go to March 2023 me (the one who ranked these songs) and SLAP HER ON THE HEAD! I ranked Gustaph's "Because of You" WAAAAY too low where it will be embarrassing when I reveal where I ranked it, so disregard it. It's so fun, and even if I was "okay" with it when it first came out (okay, a lot of it was that I was manifesting a Loïc return which by the looks of it will not be happening...which fine at least I get great music out of it anyways), I noted that the beat was absolutely CONTAGIOUS and may be a force in the contest. I couldn't have been more right. I remember showing my mom a recap of SF2 and was like "Belgium is SO qualifying" and they did! RANK: 7th in 2023 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 32nd of 37 Countries (DISREGARD!)

[not-saying-revolution-but]

on the artistry of Loïc Nottet's "Mr/Mme"

We open to a cobbled, deserted Brussels intersection. The title appears in old-timey yellow against the grayscale. A white-clad Loïc Nottet enters as a piano teases the opening, and it starts.

I have a lot of emotions about "Mr/Mme," the last track on Nottet's second studio album (Sillygomania) and, to my knowledge, his first song fully en français. "Mr/Mme" dropped in April of 2020, which was still near the start of the pandemic in Europe and North America. I, for one, did not anticipate what the next year would hold. And yet when this song appeared in Spotify’s suggestions (as the algorithm knows my weakness for Nottet's vocal range and off-pop sound), it touched a nerve that has pulsed for the last 12 months.

To be clear, I'm not going to present any new revelations about this song. Nottet is indisputably a phenomenal artist, "Mr/Mme" is a perfect example of his skill, and that's that on that. I'm more interested in the raw emotions that this song explores and how the piece indicates a radical departure from Nottet's previous body of work. Or does it?

Born in 1996, Loïc Nottet is a Belgian singer/songwriter/dancer who made a name for himself on The Voice Belgique and ESC 2015. You can look up his Wikipedia page if you like. His first album, "Selfocracy," is entirely in English and handles themes of bullying, selfishness, the corruptibility of society, and related. I don't know what the Belgian and French reviewers said, but the album was fairly well received in the English-speaking places I inhabit. The songs are punchy and get stuck in your head. The lyrics feel clever but maybe a little strained. A Youtube star dropping his first studio album.

And then "Mr/Mme" came out. Nottet greets his audience with a "bonsoir Monsieur, Madame / aujourd'hui, j'te dis tout" (good evening sir, madame / today, I'll tell you everything). He proceeds to do just that. Nottet describes a living hell, a world that "m'étrangle, m'écrase et me brûle" (strangles me, crushes me, and burns me). The ensuing musical monologue swivels from individual anguish to a broader critique of humanity, described as nothing but a bully without love. Those who cannot afford morphine are refused the moon. Children turn into monsters and the rest of us pay rent.

About halfway through the song (which lacks a chorus), Nottet tells the listener how alone he feels while walking the glorious road to fame. He copes by drinking, poking fun at his youth, and grappling in the darkness for any sense of meaning (he's in his 20s after all). Despite living out his childhood dreams, Nottet admits to his own unhappiness.

While Nottet sings all of this, alternating between confessional and belting tones, the camera tracks his wanderings through the streets of Brussels. It looks utterly empty until we see another figure walking past. They look over their shoulder as they pass this strange young man who sings, skips, and spreads his arms in the way of music videos. With a bitter twinge of irony, his oversized white dress shirt has "enjoy yourself" written on the breast pocket.

Nottet takes us down the narrow, shuttered, and graffitied alleyways that spread out from La Grand-Place. He carefully avoids the Baroque square, though, taking rapid turns just when you think you're nearing it. The camera follows in its shaky way. The crowds increase as the song swells, now showing other young people in their sparkling little groups. Nottet breaks through, and everything stops as he sings "je n'sais plus qui je suis, j'suis perdu" (I no longer know who I am, I am lost).

And finally, finally. We reach La Grand-Place, and the lyrics shift. Nottet tells us how he feels when he’s on stage, which is far from the horrific picture he just described:

Car j'écris quand j'me plante

Et je ris quand je danse

Et je vis quand je chante

Et pour tout ça, j'te dis :

Merci

(Because I write when I mess up, and I laugh when I dance, and I live when I sing. And for all of that, I say to you: Thank you.)

Nottet’s figure paints a bright absence on the darkened Grand-Place. The song is officially over but Nottet launches into a series of ethereal "oohs" that transcend this mortal realm. He now shows off his dancing and spreads himself open as the "oohs" reach their highest pitch. Nottet looks like a broken bird, splayed open in La Grand-Place and suspended by his rib cage. The video ends with a few more leg kicks and spins before Nottet wanders out of frame. Everything was done in one take.

So what makes this song and music video so special? Is it not another artsy, indie production about a young singer struggling with fame?

I say to that nay. In "Mr/Mme," Nottet uses his extraordinary voice to access an emotion that is often trivialized. “A young man makes it big and then feels lonely, so what,” we could say. “Life is hard.” This is both true and not. Nottet's struggles are different from most of ours, but he speaks in terms that feel familiar. How many of us realize too late that success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? "Mr/Mme" holds extremes that more often coexist than contradict in real life, including "humanity is fucked and we should burn everything to the ground" and "there are moments when life is worth living." I know of few other songs that capture both emotions in such a poignant way.

Moreover, the video is carefully done. Directed by Hugo Jouxtel, it seems almost self-conscious about its artsy look. The passersby may be hired extras, I don't know, but they react organically. It's almost embarrassing to see them hastily cross the street and give the singer funny looks. There’s a bit of self-recognition through the other, if you will, particularly if you’ve ever had a breakdown in public (hands, anyone? just me?). It is one thing to sing about feeling alone and quite another to be alone amid the crowds of La Grand-Place. La Grand-Place, a tourist attraction with very few things to do. A place that is good for milling about, snapping a picture, and then hurrying on with your life, oblivious.

Besides the video being aesthetically pleasing, it feels real. Nottet cannot step beyond the gated storefronts as he laments. Sometimes the camera captures an unflattering angle as he tilts up his chin in anguish. It's pretty but gritty. Like the song. Like fame. Like life.

The view from my chair is this: "Mr/Mme" signals a new moment of maturity for an artist who (I am convinced) will one day be known worldwide. It acknowledges the darker threads present in "Selfocracy" (the darkness inside us, the ever-watching “million eyes”) but strips it all down to the bare essentials. The song is honest. And for a popular artist like Nottet, who has already proven himself many times over, honesty might be the rarest thing.

*All translations are from yours truly. Any errors are, of course, my own.

[valkrist]

Tommy x Alfie Masterlist

Canon divergence

Margate (Somehow we make it back again) (English and German) - Tommy visits Alfie in Margate

Birds fly in different directions (I hope to see you again) (English and German) - first and the last time they saw each other, kissed and word they said to each other

Oh feel our bodies grow (and our souls they play) - they have angry make up sex instead of shooting each other at the beach

Cuts and bruises, soothing and warming - Alfie comes home with bruises

L'amour est un oiseau rebelle que nul ne peut apprivoiser - they dance

The Gypsy king of Birmingham - they meet at a brothel

We are troubling, we’re disturbing - series

They irritate, they infuriate, they inflame, they chafe (English and German)

Between the space in the city lights - series

Beyond the bones (goes deep inside your soul)

Drabble collections

Selfocracy (We’re gonna break what held us back)

Sillygomania (The past is a fragile creature)

AUs

On special occasions - Alfie writes Tommy

Playing with fire - Alfie warms Tommy’s hands

Where worlds collide and days are dark - James Bond Skyfall au

What you see may be deceiving (truth lies underneath the skin) - Barbie Princess and Pauper au

But will you trust me when I say that I'll make it up to you? - Alfie creates playlists on Tommy’s Spotify after they break up

It’s a small world - Grace makes fun of Tommy being single, Alfie helps

Already a big boy - Tommy and Alfie raise Charlie together

Fuel Romance Rumors With A Kiss - Tommy and Alfie act a little bit too intense

[mare-sanguis]

All my Zalex related fanarts.

I drew 4 out of 5 before S4 aired and the one with the flowers in the bottle after.

It's like a comping mechanism for me 😭

The last one is kinda metaphorical. The alcohol for Zach's feelings and the flowers for Alex. (The lyrics are from Sillygomania by Loic Nottet)