#also can i admit all this time i thought u were a sonic fan and u just didnt list it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

umbra-borealis · 7 months ago

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This hit me on a deep, deep personal level, so I'm here to prove a point to the person asking that you can in fact admit that a game or other thing of media has flaws/is not perfect and *still* have a great time or have it mean a lot to you.

SMALL EDIT, put the whole shebang under a read more for those who need to be reminded that it's okay to like things. I went and weeded through this person's absolutely batshit, unhinged responses and I respectfully suggest everyone just block em because h o l y s h i t.

And hey doubleamr9, if you're reading this. I either tip mine hat to you for the commitment to the bit, or hope you get the help you need. Because by acting like a total callous buffoon I have already seen people go 'sigh, sonic fans :/' and that's not because of the games at all, that's because this kinda tomfoolery is making us look bad. GG mate, congration u done it.

Closing words:

Shadow the Hedgehog was a game I was only able to play at my big brother's, shortly before his abusive wife isolated him from my family and I hadn't seen him in YEARS. That game is associated with very happy memories which for a time was all I had of him. I don't care if anyone thinks it's 'bad' but if you have the nerve to shit on it around me we cannot be friends.

Sonic Forces, another game people love to shit on, literally is the reason I'm here today. I was in such a dark place at the point before it's release I legit thought about exiting the server of life. I hung on because my old childhood interest, Sonic, was coming out with a new game and as a child who had a very traumatic childhood I had *one* dream. I legit hoped and prayed for Sonic to be real. I do not care *one bit* if people think that is cringe because I was like 5 years old and if anything it is profoundly sad that a 5 year old has to wish for a blue hedgehog to be real instead of being able to rely on their family for love an attention. So while folks saw a 'deviantart simulator' with 'cringe OCs' what I saw was my dream getting the closest thing to being real I could ever hope for. I made a cute lil hedgehog version of me, watched the characters banter with him and by the end of it when Sonic looks into the camera and calls 'me' his buddy, I sobbed.

I'm sure it's not at all that deep for other people but it is for me. It's the *context* that gave it meaning, that made me feel 'wow, this game is special to me, I don't understand why people hate it THAT much, it's not THAT bad.' but that's probably because their experience is vastly different from mine.

If you have a deep seething hatred for the Sonic games you think are 'bad' then first off that is no way to spend your time and energy and I highly suggest you look into ways to change that mindset and if that fails please make an effort to see the reality that no one experience is universal. What you think is bad or cringe could be very, very dear to someone and for you to come in unprompted and say "That's a bad game and makes us look bad" is incredibly hurtful. And let me be very clear and say that it's okay to not like stuff but it's about how you word it that changes a fine opinion to have, to just being rude out of the blue when nobody asked. When I see you talking about life having taught you to avoid anything 'bad or cringe' that's something YOU were taught and kinda concerns me, because I tried that for a while and it made me MISERABLE. Perfectionism can be incredibly toxic and you need people, not just fans but also devs, writers, etc. to be allowed to make mistakes, to take risks and see if they stick because we're supposed to learn from those thngs.

Cringe however, is something defined soley by *you*. It is soley a *you* problem. Nobody can help you when *you* cringe at something and it certainly isn't anyone's responsibility but your own to make sure you don't cringe at something. I highly suggest you reflect on all that to some degree, idk if I made a lot of sense but I took this personally. TLDR: I thought you ask was a pretty rude thing to say to an industry professional, could potentially scare the shit out of fledgling fans who want to write their own stories if they're going to be held to such high standards as yours, and all around felt like I should lay down a reality check for anyone reading this that no one experience is universal and if you think something sucks but you see someone else say 'I loved it' then maybe it's not their opinion that's incorrect but your kneejerk negative response to that opinion that needs some work. Because that aint healthy, not for you and not for those around you-

ACTUALLY I don't think OP will give two shits and a dime if this is a real thing that happened but your honor I rest my case this is the most delulu thing I've seen in a while and I am concerned.

Can you and the rest of the staff stop making references to the bad games like Shadow, 2006, Black Knight and Forces? This franchise needs to be better, and that can’t happen if critics are constantly reminded of this franchise’s miserable failures.

"Bad" is a relative term. I have a close friend whose favorite game in the whole series is Shadow TH; it was there for them at an important time, and brought immense comfort and strength. Sonic '06 gave me my favorite Sonic character, Silver, who was central to me figuring myself out as I came of age. Black Knight tells one of my favorite Sonic stories, and I can't describe the excitement I felt when I heard a traditional English folk song, one I had been learning in my studies of Celtic music and loved dearly, used in-game. We wouldn't have Whisper the Wolf without Forces. And beyond me and mine, there are countless fans finding wonder and meaning in every single Sonic game, despite their flaws. While I agree that self-reflection and critique is essential to any creative endeavor, it can be done without shame. I would never choose to deny the recognition and celebration of their joy, or ignore the beauty to be found in the imperfect.

Assigning too much value to the judgement of others is self-destructive. Sonic fans don't need the Sonic series to be "good" or "respectable" to love themselves, because they are human beings whose worth is infinitely greater than a video game's metacritic score. Be cringe, be free.

#Cringe is dead be free #But most of all be thoughtful to WHY other people might like something #Nobody has to justify why they like something to you they don't owe you #That's just how life works buddy people are allowed to like things you don't #SEGA is not obligated to make games that adhere perfectly to YOUR standards #Because I can promise you every Sonic fan has different standards and wants to see different things in a Sonic game

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sanstropfremir · 4 years ago

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the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!

this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!

i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.

rap stages

skz + btob + atz

i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???

costume

obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.

i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.

loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.

another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.

set

not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions.

thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.

lighting

i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.

sound

bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong.

staging

i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.

fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.

sf9 + tbz + ikon

nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.

costume

these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.

amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.

set

almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else.

lighting

i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.

i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.

sound

it was indeed a song.

staging

i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.

they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!!

i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.

glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.

performance stages

sf9 + tbz + ikon

ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.

costume

king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing.

costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.

taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.

i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!

set

like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.

i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.

lighting

like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.

the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.

sound

i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style.

staging

like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera

having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.

this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!

i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!

i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.

this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.

skz + btob + atz

this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.

costume

friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!

i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)

i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off.

set

same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.

lighting

there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.

the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.

sound

rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound.

i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.

that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.

i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no

staging

choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was.

the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.

the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???

there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism.

they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves.

i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,’ which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!

me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?

if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.

some conclusions

i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.

this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.

i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.

ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.

i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much.

ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!

not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!

#kingdom #kingdom review #ateez #btob #stray kids #the boyz #sf9 #kpop analysis #if you read this i hope you like fun facts about theatre and swords!#despite having never seen me hanya managed to clock that hongjoong and i are extremely similar #so that might be why ive jumped to this nonsensical conclusion #also tbh i do have an opinion on why the unit breakdowns are like that but its mean so i will keep it to myself #ok im done now #i patiently await my asks #text #lol forgot to tag #ikon

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bobbystompy · 4 years ago

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My Top 88 Songs Of 2020

Previously: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Though we couldn’t get as trim as last year’s 75, still very happy to keep this under 100 for the second year in a row. This was a very difficult year in many ways, but music helped make it more bearable.

As always, criteria and info:

This is a list of what I personally like, not ones I’m saying are the “best” from the year; more subjective than objective

No artist is featured more than once

If it comes down to choosing between two songs, I try to give more weight to a single or featured track

Each song on the list is linked in the title if you wanna check them out for yourself; there is also a Spotify playlist at the bottom that includes the majority of the songs

Usually a pump up video goes here, but 2020 had a different energy, so Michael, take us in.

88) Katy Perry - “Smile”

Even Katy Perry’s good songs are a swirling spiral of maxed out auto-tune. This one is just fine. It’s... fine.

87) All Time Low - “Trouble Is...”

Is All Time Low the Katy Perry of pop punk?

86) Tee Grizzley f/ Payroll Giovanni - “Payroll”

I have never heard of Payroll Giovanni, but I have two questions:

1) Is this his song, and he got Tee to jump on it?

2) Or, did Tee write a song called “Payroll” and think to himself “You know who would be great on this? Payroll Giovanni!”

Favorite stretch:

Listen, we is not the same, you say "door", I say "dough" You say "floor", I say "flow", you say "for sure", I say "fa'sho"

85) Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande - “Rain On Me”

Coming out in 2020 probably hurt this song, because I have no, like, out of the house memories with it. You can only have so much fun with Big Singers Singing over a pulsing beat when it’s coming from the phone in your kitchen as you’re indifferently scrambling eggs.

84) Benjamin Gibbard - “Life In Quarantine”

Now this is a song you can do nothing to; almost feels like it’s reluctant to even exist. It got released in March of 2020, so the outro (“No one is going anywhere soon”) served as a too sad reminder/mantra for what the year was about to be. Second shout out to Gibbard for the many YouTube sets he put together during the early stages of the pandemic (when so many of his peers were trying to figure out the next move).

83) Cardi B f/ Megan Thee Stallion - “WAP”

This felt less like a song and more of a “whoa, did you see the music video?!” and/or a means to relitigate the eternal question “What is the sexual line in music?” And while it was fun to watch people freak the fuck out... the quality itself really needed to be better.

(Note: YouTube video is the edited chorus; explicit version here)

82) McKayla Maroney - “Wake Up Call”

Former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney -- of medals and memes fame -- dips her toe into the music waters. It’s inside-the-box modern pop music. One thing that’s hard to escape: it doesn’t really sound like her.

81) Chelsea Cutler - “Sad Tonight”

He vocals really remind me of Alessia Cara.

80) blink-182 - “Quarantine”

Blink doing a Bad Religion impression. Docked a few points for the very weak chorus lyrics (“Quarantine, fuck this disease”). That said, as serious as the song comes off, there are some clever punchlines to be found.

79) Dave Hause & Brian Fallon - “Long Ride Home”

This is kind of a nothing song, but it’s easy listening. Also, if your guitar leads can’t clear the “Could Bobby have written or performed this?” bar, then said leads are probably pretty weak.

78) Travis Scott & Kid Cudi - “THE SCOTTS”

Two artists who pair so well together, it’s hard to tell who exudes more influence on the track (eh, that’s not true, it’s Travis Scott, but Kid Cudi is more of a roommate than guest). They want you to be high by the time the instrumental outro hits.

77) The Strokes - “Bad Decisions”

The beginning sound feels somewhat evolved, but by the time Julian Casablancas croons “Making bad decisions”, the song feels like it could be on their debut album “Is This It?”. And it goes in and out like that from there.

76) Thundercat - “Dragonball Durag”

Thundercat is one of those artists I wish I liked more, but when the occasional track does hit, it’s a momentary glimpse into what real fans seem to always see.

75) TI f/ Lil Baby - “Pardon”

Standard fare. Lil Baby’s cameo is very meh.

74) Porches - “Do U Wanna”

For a song that repeatedly asks “Do you want to dance?”, it sure makes you feel like you’re moving in slow motion.

73) NOFX - “Thatcher Fucked The Kids”

On the best-named album of the year (“West Coast vs. Wessex”), Frank Turner and NOFX cover each other’s material. To start us off, the legends take a song from 12 years ago about British politics from 40 years ago and, well, very easily apply it to right god damn now in America.

72) The Bombpops - “Dearly Departed”

Ahh, my year’s first cancelled concert. The listed names in V1 always make me want to skip this song -- but patience, grasshopper. Chorus is aight.

71) Ratboys - “Alien With A Sleep Mask On”

This band name will never match what the music sounds like.

70) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - “She’s There”

The vocals in this song channel, like, four completely different singers for me, ranging from Bob Dylan to Cloud Nothings.

69) NOBRO - “Don’t Die”

An anthemic chorus meant to be belted in a room with sweaty strangers.

68) Oliver Tree f/ blink-182 - “Let Me Down”

The original solo version of this song is 1:52, and though the blink cameo pushes it over the dreaded two minute mark, it adds enough diversity to justify the choice (keep an eye out for the quick Green Day lyrical nod in the back half).

67) AJJ - “Normalization Blues”

This dropped in January, and if you thought the year was bad then. Punk News:

I'll admit I do want the album to age badly because I really don't want to have to listen to it years later and still say this is the world we're living in.

Said album being titled “Good Luck Everybody” is straight cryptic.

66) Selena Gomez - “Rare”

Very chill for big pop; triplet rhythm singing in the chorus gets me erry time.

65) Kid Cudi & Eminem - “The Adventures Of Moon Man & Slim Shady”

Cudi’s second split collab yields bigger results than his Travis Scott joint (admittedly with a worse beat here). It rarely ever hurts to let Eminem do the heavy lifting.

64) Alkaline Trio - “Smokestack”

A little cheerier than the average Alk3 song, but Dan Andriano seems like he’s been in a great place for a long time now; confident and in control. For me, the whole song builds up to the “You changed my life” chorus.

63) Frank Turner - “Scavenger Type”

Here, Frank takes on the acoustic closer to NOFX’s legendary 1994 album “Punk In Drublic”. Though the energy boost is most noticeable, my favorite part is how you can hear how much Turner loves this song as his melody bursts on the verses.

62) Mike Posner - “Alone In A Mansion”

Mike Posner, an artist I have a very soft spot for, released a storytelling concept album in 2020. From the intro track:

This album was written, recorded, and produced over a period of two weeks in Detroit, Michigan in my parents' basement. It's meant to be listened to all the way through. At least on the first listen. And it's about 36 minutes long. If you can't devote 36 minutes of undivided attention to this album, I again politely ask that you turn it off and return at a later time. I love you and I thank you for taking the time to listen in the first place. Also, it's important to note that the characters and the stories in this album are completely fictional. In addition, anyone struggling with a mental illness - depression, schizophrenia - should not listen to this album. Turn it off.

So those are the stakes. Pulling this song -- the record’s closer -- feels unfair void of context, but them’s the breaks.

61) Nada Surf - “Just Wait”

Heavy hitting chorus without having to be heavy; this could really work in a movie.

60) Matt Pond PA - “Wild Heart”

This having only 805 views on YouTube is criminal.

59) Liquid Death - “Unnecessary And Unimpressive”

Liquid Death -- in this iteration -- is a punk rock supergroup with members of Rise Against, Anti-Flag, The Lawrence Arms, and The Bombpops. If that didn’t interest you enough, all lyrics in the project (which, I believe, is for charity) come from hateful comments or negative reviews. Of the four artists involved, this sounds most like a Bombpops song, with Jen on lead vocals as others chime in.

58) PUP - “Rot”

Off my silver medalist for album name of the year (“This Place Sucks Ass”), PUP doesn’t do anything new here, but it was relieving to see them still going in 2020 when so many others got roadblocked, both physically and creatively.

57) Paul Harrold and the Nuclear Bandits - “Massanutten”

This reminds me of local Chicago artist Al Scorch. So much earnestness in the vocals, but a little more prairie for Harrold compared to speakeasy for Scorch. This would be a good road trip song. And I’m not talking about singalong... more for the stretch where you want to sit in silence and look out at the sun-kissed land blazing by. The song’s greatest victory is getting me to like something that cracks 6:00.

Note to future me: Massanutten is in Virginia (saved you a Google).

56) Kesha f/ Sturgill Simpson, Brian Wilson & Wrabel - “Resentment”

Kesha has been vulnerable in the past but never this stripped down sonically; the chorus would feel right at home on a country radio station. Love a good bridge, too.

55) Megan Thee Stallion f/ Beyoncé - “Savage (Remix)”

An up-and-comer pairing with a legend rarely lets down when both sides are this locked in. Bey wins. Fav line: “If you don't jump to put jeans on, baby, you don't feel my pain”.

She matches flows with Megan but also brings melody. Her blessing takes this song from pretty damn good to undeniably great.

That beat, too.

54) Red City Radio - “Baby Of The Year”

If all you want to do right now is grab a drink in a bar, here is a video built to troll.

(Also: a Liquid Death cameo?!)

53) Nathaniel Rateliff - “And It’s Still Alright”

The last time Mr. Rateliff had our attention, he just wanted a drink. That hit had a chorus with the very-sad-when-removed-from-the-song “If I can't get clean, I'm gonna drink my life away” lyric. Well, our man got sober since. And when the party is over, the introspection comes.

52) Direct Hit! - “HAVE YOU SEEN IT?”

Listening to slowed down Direct Hit! is like watching Usain Bolt lightly jog. It kinda makes sense because the core action is there, but it also feels sort of incorrect.

51) Hayley Williams - “Dead Horse”

Solo Hayley songs have this feel like they could do anything at any time... but then don’t. This one does the same until a very fun chorus breaks it up.

50) Kid Cudi f/ Phoebe Bridgers - “Lovin’ Me”

Probably the most improbable collab on this list (if 2020 hadn’t repeatedly taught us to not be surprised by anything).

49) The Homeless Gospel Choir - “Don’t Compare”

Listening to The Homeless Gospel Choir is kind of like getting a dedicated pep talk from a good friend... while fire rains down from the sky.

48) Carly Rae Jepsen - “Let’s Sort The Whole Thing Out”

Queen vocals with one prince of a tempo; this chorus is Sour Patch Kids riding Twix logs down a soda pop waterfall -- and it’s a b-side.

47) Green Day - “Meet Me On The Roof”

I like this song because it reminds me of summer and because it doesn’t really sound like Green Day (but still totally does).

46) Broadway Calls - “Meet Me On The Moon”

Promise -- swear -- I was gonna compare this Broadway Calls song to Green Day before realizing they both had titles about meeting in an escalated location. That said, I did put them next together on purpose to more coherently make this point.

45) David Rokos - “Building Bridges”

My buddy Dave wrote this song, and I think I’ve asked him three times what “burning sugar” meant (he says it’s a reference to absinthe). This song will make you want to travel to enjoy not only the places but the people around you.

44) Charli XCX - “claws”

Charli XCX keeps it futuristic in a video that could be described as sexy, cheesy, goofy, and playful-yet-serious.

43) Brian Fallon - “Lonely For You Only”

This is too easy and should not work (and maybe doesn’t). But that chorus... that circular phrasing... it still takes me all the way out. But I’m the same cat who proposed while a Gaslight Anthem cover was playing.

42) Waxahatchee - “Fire”

This song could be in a different language and hit just as hard.

41) Harry Styles - “Adore You”

Purifying pop.

40) Local H - “Hold That Thought”

Hardest rock song thus far. Local H was one of the first artists to play “live” once the lockdown hit (on a simultaneous YouTube/Facebook stream), and watching them attack music in their Chicago practice bunker felt a little bit like taking in the end of the world. New songs, old songs, covers -- it didn’t matter; their cool, unmatched apathy fits a pandemic or peacetime.

Ironically, was able to see them live in 2020, as they played a socially distanced, outdoor drive up concert in a minor league baseball parking lot. It wasn’t the same, but it was still something.

39) Crazy & The Brains - “I Don’t Deliver Pizza Anymore”

This song is just cool*. The verses feel tense and crucial, it starts to unspool in the pre-chorus, and the chorus itself feels like a light comedown more than anything else.

(* - though the lyric video is docked some points for spelling y’all as “ya’ll”)

38) Drake f/ Fivio Foreign & Sosa Geek - “Demons”

Menacing Drizzy can be very fun from time to time. Also more than happy to keep “Toosie Slide” very far away from this list.

37) Hey Dad!!! - “Life’s Alright”

Small band, big song; though summer feels light-years away.

36) insignificant other - “i’m so glad i feel this way about you”

This song lands a big haymaker in the first few seconds, so it was probably a good call to pull back some for the chorus and, eventually, outro.

35) BTS - “Dynamite”

Heard they made the lyrics bad on purpose for their English hit, which makes sense, because they’re bad. That said, if you listen knowing they’re supposed to be bad, it kinda makes them... good? Listen, 771 million views would have me singing nursery rhymes in Pig Latin.

34) DaBaby f/ RODDY RICCH - “ROCKSTAR”

Someone said this could be the song of the summer, but, because there wasn’t really a summer, I feel like I only heard it once all year. Also, are we really pretending Post Malone* didn’t just do a “like a rockstar” song three years ago?

(* - and N.E.R.D. before that and Cypress Hill before that... though N.E.R.D. only waiting a year after Cypress, so maybe DaBaby actually was patient)

33) The Front Bottoms - “the hard way”

Don’t take it easy on the animal / I am the animal

Not quite sure what this line means, but I fixate on the phrasing every single time. This song sounds resigned in a very self-aware way.

32) The 1975 - “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”

For a band called The 1975, they sure sound like they’re on their ‘80s shit here. Also, a real thing that happened:

Me: Is he coercing her to get naked?! I thought this band was woke.

/scans lyrics

/notices “She said” before the “Maybe I would like you better if you took off your clothes” line

Me: Ahh.

Sax solo, take us out.

31) Charly Bliss & PUP - “It’s Christmas And I Fucking Miss You”

A song that is already a forever staple on all my future Xmas playlists.

30) 2 Chainz f/ Ty Dolla $ign & Lil Duval - “Can’t Go For That”

Shorty said she love me / I said “I love me back”

This is a real genre blur; rap at its core, but also soulful, funky, and very danceable. Damn creative.

29) Billie Eilish - “Therefore I Am”

Billie's 2020 gave a few singles -- but no new album -- and a body shaming scandal where the backlash to the backlash probably caused more headlines than the tweet that started it all. Still, she stays on cruise control above the clouds; can all eyes be on you if they can’t even make you out?

Video for this is fun, too. Not sure if her running amok in an empty mall is more of a COVID necessity or commentary on the dying retail industry. As always with her, fill in your own blanks for now.

28) Future f/ Drake - “Life Is Good”

This was my most listened to rap song in the first half of the year, and bumping again now, almost forgot how good it is. Drake just chasing one-liner Instagram captions in the first half:

- “Haven’t done my taxes, I’m too turnt up”

- “N****s caught me slipping once, OK, so what?”

- “B****, this is fame not clout, I don’t even know what that’s about”

And, of course, “Workin’ on the weekend like usual”. The man could make anything glamorous. Let’s hit that H&R Block, bro!

Future’s back half is a totally different song and feels mostly like noise, but the vibe is cool, so I don’t even totally mean that in a bad way. You can even make out a “Got Promethazine in my blood and Percocet” lyric to mark your Future bingo card and immediately move on.

27) I’m Glad It’s You - “The Silver Cord”

This song feels like cold air blowing on the back of your neck.

(Sidebar: thought this band was called The Silver Cord until literally right now)

26) The Spill Canvas - “Mercy”

A dreamy, distorted, at-home version of whatever you remember The Spill Canvas sounding like. This song is confessional and at peace, with the Grade A self-loathing we’ve come to love from this band.

25) 100 gecs f/ Charli XCX, Rico Nasty & Kero Kero Bonito - “ringtone (remix)”

100 gecs first hit my radar with the explosively obnoxious “money machine”, but that’s a 2019er, so this remix to “ringtone” will have to do. It’s catchy like a younger sibling persistently singing a song you’re sick of hearing*.

(* - /only child trying to work in sibling analogies)

24) iann dior f/ Machine Gun Kelly & Travis Barker - “Sick And Tired”

Iann Dior -- ...yeah -- channels Juice WRLD on the hook, and MGK/Travis Barker buoy a track that, honestly, doesn’t really even need the help.

23) Nick Lutsko - “Unleash Your Spirit”

Lutsko hit my radar on Twitter with some legendary political anthems (word to the RNC and Dan Bongino + his Dashboard Trump parody). “Unleash Your Spirit” is the song I most fear hearing (or even thinking of) within a few minutes of going to bed. Not because it’s Halloween theme is scary -- because it’s that god damn catchy. It permeates your brain. True story: a week ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with “Bobbing for apples with the boys” so ingrained in my head, it felt like someone was standing there yelling it through a megaphone.

22) Dogleg - “Kawasaki Backflip”

Bad 2020 robbed many concerts from us, and not getting to see this band live might take the cake. I end the year liking them but could have been *all in* with the right performance and the right venue. Also, Song Title of the Year until further notice.

21) Eminem f/ Juice WRLD - “Godzilla”

Eminem has all of the words and all of the lyrical dexterity, but sometimes it feels like there isn’t anything to ground him. Enter: one of the best beats he’s ever spit on and a Juice WRLD hook to give it pop angle. But let’s not put Slim in the corner -- when he starts accelerating at the end, it’s is a true “holy fuck” moment. It sounds faster than if you actually fast forwarded.

The video ends with a touching audio message from Juice WRLD.

20) Soccer Mommy - “circle the drain”

This song is so gloriously ‘90s; it leans in and does not care.

19) Sam Russo - “Always Lost”

The first time I met you, we were on the last bus You passed me a bottle, and I knew you were one of us

Took 25 words to hook me; I was txting friends before the first chorus even hit.

18) Sincere Engineer - “Trust Me”

Deanna Belos pushes her vocals in this one. I asked about the performance, and she said it was one of the first ones they recorded in the studio, but when they were done and listening back to everything, she re-did this track because her throat was much more used to what the song required.

“That’s why it sounds like I’m on roids lol,” she added.

17) Jay Electronica f/ JAY-Z - “Flux Capacitor”

Jay Electronica signed to Roc Nation in November of 2010. At of the start of 2020, he had still -- STILL HOW FUCKING STILL -- not released a debut album. When he announced it was finally dropping in February, it was met with skeptic eyes. He’d “announced” before. Shit, he’d even posted track lists of albums that never saw the light of day. He was a tease’s tease. It ended up getting a release date of March 12. As the pandemic got really bad in the March 11 zone, he finally had an actual reason to delay the proceedings (the plan: a studio live stream listening party*).

But no -- this is Jay Electronica. Why wouldn’t he drop as the world was ending? The same reason why his costar wouldn’t not have a watch like a Saudi prince. It had to end for it to happen. I wish I saved the memes, because they were fantastic. All I have is my own Twitter memory to prove it happened:

I love this song entirely: the “get the gat” hook (soooo New Orleans), Hov calling out the NFL/acquaintances clout chasing his potential death/rapping forever bars, Jay Elect’s ham-fisted and awkward ass Farrakhan line. Everything is exactly where it should be.

Final verdict on the full album: I don’t know, a B or B+? It had a lot more Jay-Z than expected (wooo), but -- and I rarely say this -- it could have actually been longer.

16) New Found Glory - “Greatest Of All Time”

NFG with a song referencing the Jordan-Rodman-Pippen Bulls only a few months before “The Last Dance” aired. Dare we call it marketing genius? The punk beat does not care; the punk beat is too busy taking souls.

15) Dave Hause f/ Amythyst Kiah & Kam Franklin - “Your Ghost”

“I can’t breathe”

On the heels of the George Floyd/BLM protests came Dave Hause’s somber attempt to capture the moment, desperation, and hurt. On a podcast, he said he was aware he might not ever lead the movement but still wanted to contribute something in an effort to use his platform as a white artist to change someone, anyone’s mind going forward.

14) Taylor Swift - “this me trying”

The chorus makes me feel like the crowd is parting like the Red Sea on a high school -- shit, no, middle school -- dance floor; smoke machine and all. Your crush is waiting for you on the other side. What are you going to say?

13) Phoebe Bridgers - “Kyoto”

Phoebe is one of the best lyricists out because of her specificity, but even though this song is about her dad, you can really fit it to your own narrative.

12) The Lawrence Arms - “Last, Last Words”

The Lawrence Arms wrote their new record (which singer Chris McCaughan described as “this end of the world outpost”) prior to the pandemic, but once you start to process album themes -- and research its namesake -- you do wonder. All of this, combined with some “Catcher In The Rye” references, and we’ve got ourselves a winning formula.

Dressed to kill for oblivion

11) New Lenox - “Fairytale Of Gary, Indiana”

Your boy plays drums and is on the cover art for this one. Dave Rokos wrote the tune, which references The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”. Good news: no slurs in the Gary version. We’ll have you in and out in 90 seconds. Also: say hello to the recording debut of Alisa Caruso (some backup vox at the end).

10) Beach Slang - “Tommy In The 80s”

My most played song of 2020, but it really was more of a byproduct of how early in the year the album dropped. I’m still such a sucker for it, though. Other than forced nostalgia, not totally sure what the track is about. Did learn Beach Slang recruited former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson to play on their LP, which was named -- /deepest of breaths -- “The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City” (so maybe it has something to do with that).

9) Juice WRLD f/ Mashmello - “Come & Go”

The :55 mark. Wait until the :55 mark. When the guitar kicks in and tempo doubles, we have a real “oh, shit!” moment. I knew who Juice was when he passed but only “Liquid Dreams”. His 2020 album (“Legends Never Die”) showed us of what could have been; 55 minutes, loaded with cameos and creativity and experimentation. This song had me in its gravitational pull immediately. By the end of the year, they were using it on sports broadcasts, and it felt like a ubiquitous part of the culture.

One of my favorite days of 2020 was visiting the Juice mural in Chicago with my wife. We went impulsively during the day after someone posted a picture on Twitter.

I snapped one of my own and posted to IG with the Signals Midwest lyric “There is such quiet grace in private moments in public spaces”. The band responded with “RIP JUICE”; the perfect online exchange.

Shortly after, I was out with a different group of friends, and we went back at night. This time, it was protected by a fence you had to squeeze past. When we got through, there were kids in there smoking, taking pictures, just hanging out; empty liquor bottles lined the bottom of the mural. Even though it didn’t take all that long to make it there, it still felt like a journey and total ‘movie moment in real life’; a complete rarity in a year like 2020.

8) Mac Miller - “Good News”

Maybe I’ll lay down for a little...

Sadly continuing the theme of artists gone too soon, we have this reflective Mac Miller single, which feels more like self-eulogy than traditional rap. You feel it the entire time. The song crests with “There’s a whole lot more for me waitin’ on the other side”, and it conveys a readiness for whatever happens next.

7) The Dirty Nil - “Done With Drugs”

I don’t pray to Jesus or even own a suit

We lost the creators of our last two songs to substances, and, if we are to take this song at face value, The Dirty Nil don’t want to go down the same path. Drying out never sounded so cool and defiant... until the IKEA suggestion.

6) The Weeknd - “Blinding Lights”

Uptempo Abel is undefeated. My favorite pop song of 2020 has you feeling like you’re speeding through the empty streets of nighttime Las Vegas in a stolen car; indifferent to your environment, only tuned in to your personal desire.

And, on the lamer side of the spectrum, it spawned a catchy TikTok dance.

5) Spanish Love Songs - “Self-Destruction (As A Sensible Career Choice)”

It won’t be this bleak forever... yeah, right.

SLS has always been over-the-top with their lyrics spotlighting the hopelessness of the human condition -- so it was the *perfect* combo to being locked inside with nothing looking to forward to. Bonus: fun cake video.

Though the song’s core is uncut despair, a random moment I remember from 2020 was my wife telling me “I can hear you smiling as you’re singing” from another room as I belted the despondent chorus.

4) Worst Party Ever - “False Teeth”

This song sounds like The Front Bottoms; insecure yet so full.

3) Run The Jewels - “the ground below”

There were a lot of songs *about* 2020, but I’m not sure any artist soundtracked what being alive now is like more than RTJ. My favorite rap song and rap record of 2020.

Fav Killer Mike line: “Not a holy man, but I'm moral in my perversiveness / So I support the sex workers unionizing their services”

Fav El-P line: “I'll slap a dying child he don't pronounce my name correct”

2) The Menzingers - “America Pt. 2″

The Menzingers unexpectedly released an acoustic, re-done version of 2019′s “America (You’re Freaking Me Out)” single. It dropped on my birthday -- June 5th, 2020 -- as the rage in this country boiled over and protesters took to the streets. Though some of the lyrics remained the same, the new ones were changed with true purpose:

Well George Floyd was murdered by a cop The whole world saw the video and watched Now justice is long overdue Grab your pitchforks, we’re heading to Pennsylvania Avenue

I had nothing left when the first pre-chorus hit: “I hope the Devil and Donald and Mitch McConnell rot in hell for all tomorrows”. Tattoo this on my fucking soul.

All funds from the song were donated to Community Bail Funds (via Act Blue) & Campaign Zero. I purchased the track before hearing a note.

1) Machine Gun Kelly - “My Bloody Valentine”

Going into the year, I couldn’t tell you the difference between Machine Gun Kelly and Mac Miller -- now they’re both fixtures in this Top 10. All I really knew about MGK involved tattoos and a rap battle lost to Eminem (not that anyone ever beats Eminem).

In 2020, he took a punk/emo turn, with the services of GOAT drummer Travis Barker and new squeeze Megan Fox at his side. This song’s lyrics could potentially be cheesy but aren’t -- they all land. From the simulation going bad to not wanting “fake love” to all the damn second guessing and the earnestness that just won’t let you off the mat.

Every piece to the puzzle adds something: the messy hair, the Ken doll build, the forced iconic pink guitar that now feels actually iconic. It was almost like no one had any fun this year so he could have all of it on our behalf. There’s a half second shot of him sticking his tongue our during the pre-chorus, a joy 99.99% of us never got to feel.

The album itself was just as fantastic*; a 2000′s pop punk throwback with a Halsey duet, horrible skits (hi, Pete Davidson FaceTime), OpIvy lyrical nod (complete with a royalty check), a warp speed punk track that doesn’t even crack the minute mark, your token 6/8 ballad, acoustic closer (about his daughter), and some experimentation that leaves the new genre but still stays nearby; shades of Lil Peep, if he had Blink-182 as his backing band. Speaking of, please do not miss Travis’ fill at the 2:30 mark.

(* - named “Tickets To My Downfall”... woof)

MGK could get cancelled tomorrow, but we’ll always have this year in a bottle. The acoustic version of the song (sung in a lower resister), the 10 minute making of video (that I watched, uh, twice)... shit, he even turned it into a medley at the start of 2021.

It might be cliche to say “stay winning”, but when someone stacks this many W’s with no end in sight, what the fuck else do you call it? Real love.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading. Here is the Spotify playlist (includes 87 of the 88 songs).

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garrettsthings · 6 years ago

Text

My Reaction to the 9-13-2018 Nintendo Direct

Like I did with the E3 presentation, I plan on going through each individual game showcased here and posting my thoughts on each. Then I’ll summarize with my thoughts about the entire thing. So without further ado:

Luigi’s Mansion 3: Back from the dead, Luigi has sworn to destroy the monsters that were briefly his brothers. In all seriousness though, this game was completely unexpected and I think it looks great. I like the fact that it seems to be hotel setting this time.

Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn: I did not own the original game, though I did play it and I loved how stress-free and charming it was. I might even get this one.

Mario and Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story: I’m a little salty they skipped Partners in Time. That one was one of my favorite Mario and Luigi games. This one looks good though, and I like the idea of a Bowser Jr. focused mode.

Luigi’s Mansion 3DS: I actually can’t wait for this one. I only very briefly played the original one, but I loved its creepy atmosphere and sometimes legitimately scary moments. I’m absolutely getting this version.

Yo-Kai Watch Blasters Moon Rabbit Crew: I actually got this game a little while ago on a whim, and while it hasn’t wowed me yet I also haven’t gotten super far. I’m still not 100% sure what Moon Rabbit Crew even IS yet, but if its a free update there’s no harm in getting it.

Splatoon 2 Ver. 4: I don’t play Splatoon anymore, so this trailer didn’t really mean anything to me, but I loved how they went full anime with it, and I absolutely adore the effort and creativity that Nintendo is putting into this franchise.

Mega Man 11: I’ll admit that I was never a fan of old-school Mega Man due to its difficulty (yes, I know. I’m the worst), but this was my first time seeing any footage of Mega Man 11 and I liked what I saw. I might need to try out the demo.

Mario Tennis Aces Ver. 2: I didn’t wind up getting this game, but I’m happy it’s getting tons of post-launch content. I just hope the Switch eventually gets a Mario Golf game with the same treatment.

Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle: This is probably one of the highlights of this Direct for me. I did not grow up near an Arcade so I never played any of these games, but I was aware of a few of them. So this bundle will be my first time playing any of them and for $20 that’s a steal. I just hope there’s a physical release.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe: I might skip this one since I prefer modern Mario games to the classic side scrollers (I know. I’m the worst.).

Katamri Damacy Reroll: Oh boy! I have never played a Katamari game, though I have always been aware of how delightfully bizarre they are. And now you’re telling me I get to play the original? Oh you better believe I am getting this.

Nintendo Switch Online: I’ve seen a lot of people upset by this and I get why, but this isn’t something Nintendo just sprung on us. They’ve made it very clear before the Switch even launched that a paid online service was coming just like what Xbox and Playstation have. So while it does suck that we have to pay for something that has been free for over a year now, the jaw-droppingly low price of $20 a year (I’m an unemployed student and even I can afford that!) and bonus NES games are enough to make me be alright with it.

Pokemon Let’s Go: Already got my copy pre-ordered (Amazon had a price error so I got it for $20 less), so Nintendo doesn’t need to sell me on this game, but I’m still excited for it. I don’t care how kiddy or easy it looks, the game looks absolutely charming and I love it! I do hope those Pikachu and Eevee Joycons are sold separately though, because I want them.

Diablo III Eternal Edition: I’m not a huge Diablo fan, so I don’t know if I’ll get this game, but I just want to bring everyone’s attention to the upbeat Nintendo Announcer saying “The Burning Hells”.

Super Mario Party: I’m getting this. I am making my friends play it with me. We will never speak again. It will be glorious.

Town: To quote the best character in Monster Prom: YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSS!!! I am a huge Pokemon fan, so Game Freak has my loyalty 100%. Especially after how addicting Pocket Card Jockey was. This trailer only showed us a little bit about the game, but I am already all in.

Cities Skylines: This game isn’t really the kind of game I usually go for but I’m happy for people who enjoy city simulators.

Daemon X Machina: This clip didn’t give us any info we didn’t already know from E3, but the game still looks great and I have every intention of getting it.

Yoshi’s Crafted World: I don’t know what Nintendo’s obsession with handicrafts is, but if it keeps resulting in charming, clever looking games like this, I hope it never stops.

Asmodee Digital Board Games: I’m all for digital board games, especially since they’ll likely be more affordable and less reliant on human deck-shuffling than regular board games. I would love to play Pandemic, but since that would probably work best online and since I refuse to use voice chat when playing online (see my above comments regarding my being the worst), I doubt that’ll work out well for me since Pandemic kind of requires a lot of coordination and strategy between players. That Munchkin Dungeon Crawler sounds great though!

Civilization VI: The only Civ game I played was Civ Revolution and I was absolutely enamored by it. I would love to play Civ VI on my Switch, since my PC is not even close to Civilization capable.

Starlink: I don’t know if I’ll get this game, but I do like the Star Fox content. I especially love Wolf’s voice in this trailer. It reminds me of Beast Wars’ Megatron.

The World Ends With You and Xenoblade DLC: My excitement for TWEWY dwindled considerably when I found out the game relies on touch and motion controls, but I still kind of want to get it. And the Xenoblade DLC looks great, but I need to get back in to Xenoblade.

Normies Showcase: Out of the third party games shown here, the only ones I feel like I NEED to get (and definitely on Switch) are Team Sonic Racing and LEGO DC Villains.

SO MANY FINAL FANTASIES: GOOD LORD. I’m not going to go through every single game shown here but... damn. Way to justify putting Cloud in Smash. And yes, I am very tempted to get all of them. Especially Crystal Chronicles.

Isabelle for Smash: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

New Animal Crossing: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

So in conclusion, I was very, very happy with today’s Direct. There were so many games that I wanted that I can hear my bank account actively weeping right now. If I have one complaint though, it would be the lack of information about Fire Emblem Three Houses. Nintendo has been so quiet about that game since announcing it that I’m beginning to think that all of us collectively imagined it at E3.

Jokes aside, I’m sure they’ll reveal more information soon, and we have plenty to tide us over until then! Now, to play Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon until the 3DS version of the original comes out.

#Nintendo #Nintendo Direct #nintendo direct 9-13-2018 #Nintendo Switch #Nintendo 3DS #reactions

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cutegirlmayra · 7 years ago

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Hi!! I'm not someone who usually reads fanfics but then I got into sonamy and I read one of yours and hoo boy you are wonderful. Also, could you please write a fic where Amy tells Sonic that it's okay to cry?? He certainly seems like the type to bottle up his feelings...

(x)

Thank you so much!!! :3c I hope you enjoy my fanfiction as well! these little prompts are only a snippet of those feels xD Good luck on your journey and be careful! *waves you off like a parent* make a good choices!

Oh, and he most definitely is. :’)

Prompt:

Sonic held up his hands, looking away from her and trying to hold his eyes open as to not let anything…

Slip…

“This isn’t a good time..” he was really holding it in… really smacking his mouth open and closed to try and keep whatever was choking his words at bay.

“Sonic… you’ve gotta stop holding it in like this…” Amy took his arms and held them for a second, seeing his eyes shift up to her and then down again… his ears moving back as his mouth remained opened to try and breath in a way that kept him calm.

Kept him sane.

She lingered her hands… before slipping them up and gently taking his own hands.

Surprisingly, he didn’t fidget, but just shook his head and closed his eyes.

He leaned his head up and started breathing more like he ran a marathon.

“I’m okay.” she admitted, as her own eyes got glossy.

“So are all those people you just saved.”

He closed his eyes, head still raised to the sky.

“The wives… the children… all those families are saved, Sonic. All because of you.”

“I can’t, Amy… Amy, I can’t.” he lowered his head and shook it again, moving her away.

“I need to be alone right now. Just give me a moment and I’ll-”

“Sonic! You can’t just push it all down!”

“It needs to stay down!”

“…”

She flinched back, letting go of his hands as he burst out a rather sharp comment.

He looked away, suddenly realizing in what seemed to be horror and shock that he had shouted at her.

“Amy… I-… Gah.” he looked apologetic, maybe was even going to reach out to her hands that quivered to her chest, holding the other tightly…

But he swung his head and squinted his eyes shut, zipping away like gust in the wind far away from her.

She teared up… turning her body and gaze away from his direction…

He had never lost it on her before…

It was… strange.

—–

A little while later, Eggman was up to his old tricks again.

“You could have killed people, Eggman!”

The wind was howling uncontrollably. Sonic’s voice broke through a sonic wave piercing up to Eggman’s machine where he laid at the center control panel…

His mouth curled downward… before curving into what appeared to be apathy.

He shrugged, “So they got in the way of my shot… Am I to be blamed because they refused to move?”

He then leaned over the top of his controls, looming over and down at Sonic as the wind struck at his face and fanned his mustache to the side.

“Or because you refused to take it in their place?”

His grin was more sinister than Sonic had ever witnessed it before.

He moved a hand over himself and clutched his fist, continuing to hold it in.

“Eggman…” he let some anger slip, his hand twitching…

“You’ve gone too far!!!”

“Prove it, you blue sausage can!”

Eggman leaned his controllers back as the machine flared and ripped through the earth with his machine gun hand.

Sonic bit hard down on his jaw, and raced forward.

There was no mercy left in his eyes…

The robot did a beating on Sonic, smashing him down and firing at him before Sonic curled and waited for it to check under it’s hand…

When it did, he spiraled up, unhooking all the knots and bolts to really wreck havoc on it before it’s metal shell came tumbling down.

The gears now exposed, the robot covered itself as if naked, and Eggman weakly looked up to Sonic, slightly chuckling in nervous tension, before seeing the fire of revenge and justice in Sonic’s eyes.

He stood firm on the robot’s shoulders… and Eggman’s mustache drooped down.

There was a hit as Eggman came tumbling down, hitting the robot’s exposed framework a few times before smashing to the mud below.

Now there were storm clouds… rain was slightly pouring down…

The start of a storm as Sonic landed to the ground, walking.. threateningly over to Eggman…

Just enraged.

“N-now, Sonic. Let’s be reasonable!” Eggman began to scoot back, panicking at how firm Sonic’s face was. How intensely serious this became…

He felt his life at stake now.

Was it?

“Sonic!” he slipped in the mud, before growling at Sonic’s red, shiny, but mud-soaked feet.

He tilted his head.

“You know I don’t delight in bloodshed! U-Unless it’s yours, of course. I was only playing…” he spread his begger’s hands out a moment before Sonic smashed a fist down in front of him.

His face was covered in mud as he used his fingers to ‘window-shield wipe’ his glasses.

As he did so, Sonic’s nose and his became apparently close, and he freaked out, trying to move back but Sonic’s hand gripped his bald head; keeping him still and almost pushing him down to keep him bowing he as was.

“Get…” his teeth seemed to hiss out the words… considering his mouth didn’t move from the snarl it was in…

The wrinkles on his muzzle only showed the true feelings being withheld from within.

“Sonic… now, remember your temper… heh heh…” Eggman’s eyes widened, realizing his jokes weren’t going to save him now…

“Out.”

Sonic shoved his head away, getting up as Eggman ran for his life, shouting out in fright.

As he comically ran off, Amy walked up to the battlefield, seeing Sonic watch Eggman leave, before racing to the Robot and tearing it to shreds.

She held her hands even tighter, realizing he couldn’t.. he couldn’t keep it down anymore.

“Sonic… SONIC!!” she bolted forward.

He pulled individual wires and let them snap through his raw power, the oil spraying everywhere as he continued to strip the machine apart.

It’s eyes flickered off, falling down as it wasn’t able to do anything to stop him.

“Sonic! SOONNICC!” Amy gripped his back, trying to shake him out of it.

Instinctively, he threw her off, and she crashed into the mud.

“Huh..?” he turned around, the white’s of his eyes revealing to her that he had finally snapped out of it… and suddenly regretted his implusive decision.

“Amy…I…” he moved back… looking at his hands and then back to the ground.

He turned around.

“Sonic…” Amy got up, holding her arm that was slightly bruised, but nothing serious.

His shoulders bounced but he threw them down, and you could tell he was trying to ‘keep it together’ so to speak.

A small noise escaped his lips and he slapped his hand to his mouth, before wiping his nose and shaking out his hands.

“…Sonic, let it go.” Amy moved towards him again, but stopped…

Her own eyes filled with compassion, as she saw through the light rain. “They’re all safe… they’re all alright… you saved them… let it out…”

He looked up in the rain,…

“Let it go.”

He turned to her.

“I don’t want too.” he admitted, his mouth quivering slightly before he turned his head away again, hand to his mouth to try and keep it down even more…

Finally….

He turned with tears in his eyes.

“What if I had been too late? What if I hadn’t thought of what I did? What if I… what if I lost you too?”

Seeing the slow surrender… her eyes watched for indication that she could come into this moment…

He looked away, beginning to vent as he threw his hand from his mouth down.

He started to…

“Amy...”

It was almost a plea.

She came charging over to him, jumping into his arms as if unable to refuse the cry for help.

He embraced her as he fell to his knees, his back arched and as the rain poured heavily down.

As he cried, he clung to her, covering his face from everything… even her own sight.

The remained there, sitting in the rain, covered in mud and oil… until the sun shed through and-

The oil made the place shine anew… and the villagers came to offer food and shelter for Sonic and Amy, hoisting a feast in his heroic honor.

He had quietly asked Amy to never speak of it, and threw an arm around her.

In her joy at the gesture, she wasn’t sure what to think of his request…. but never spoke of it to him or anyone else again.

Her diary… on the other hand…

#sonamy #sonic #sonic prompt #sonamy prompt #amy rose #sad sonic #if you know where the picture is from alert me plz #couldn't find original

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jolienjoyswriting · 5 years ago

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Sonic CD - Shake the Planets, Ch. II

The final chapter of "Shake the Planets," a Sonic the Hedgehog CD fan fiction story.

As I said, this isn't the story I wanted to write. But, you know something? I'm glad things turned out this way. I like this so much that I may, in fact, write some more stories in this "timeline," later on. … Tails, you did keep Robotnik from getting those Time Stones… right?

Word count: 4,258 – Character count: 24,077 Originally written: October 5th, 2019

Tails and Amy continue to entertain each other as they wait out the horrible storm outside.

Amy Rose/Rosy the Rascal created by Naoto Ohshima and touched-up by Kazuyuki Hoshino Miles "Tails" Prower created by Yasushi Yamaguchi, Sonic the Hedgehog created by Naoto Ohshima "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Sonic the Hedgehog CD," and aforementioned/related characters and concepts © Sega Games Co., Ltd.

[ ← Prev. Chapter | Next Chapter → ]

“Amy… please… have mercy…!”

In a fire-lit cave somewhere in the rocky plains near Never Lake, a two-tailed fox found himself being tortured by a crazy, pink hedgehog girl.

“I’m not stopping ‘til I find what I’m looking for…!”

The fox whined and squirmed, his ears pinned to his head and his eyes watering. Even with those big, white gloves of hers… the girl’s hands were doing a number on him.

“I-I’m sorry about your c… car…!” he gasped. “J-just… s-stop and I’ll–” “And you’ll what?” she asked, the grin on her face staying in place. “N-no… not there… Not there…!” “What will you do, Mister Hero?” “I… I… ah…!”

The girl giggled as the fox jolted from her touch. Her original idea was to poke around in his tails and try to find what he was carrying. However… when he seemed afraid of her, she decided she’d give that orange-furred boy something to be afraid of!

“S-stop-stop…!” he begged. His voice was cracking and his eyes were showing actual tears… She was wearing him down. “No way, Miles! Not until you–” “H-hee-hee…!” “There it is…!” Tails tensed, realizing what a mistake it was to let that laugh slip. Before he could try and convince the devilish girl not to… she made her move. “Aaaaah-ha ha ha ha haaa…!!” And started tickling him all over.

“What’cha gonna do, now, Mister Hero?” she teased as her gloved hands poked, prodded, rubbed, and teased him under his arms, around his tails, and behind his ears – all very ticklish spots on his body. “I… I… I…!” he panted as his howling laughter echoed in the cave. Even if he’d had a response to that question… it would have been impossible to give, considering.

“Kitchy-kitchy-coo!” Amy had been tickling the fox for a good three minutes. In that time, he’d collapsed into a laughing, crying, red-faced ball-of-fluff, barely even putting up a fight as he resigned himself to his fate. The girl had him completely overpowered. That is… “Ahh…!!” Until he heard a bolt of lightning.

“M… Miles…?” the girl nervously asked. “Wh-what’s gotten into you…?!” Her companion was shaking like a leaf, his body trembling and his arms, legs, and tails wrapped around her. He whimpered a little, keeping his eyes closed until he felt something run along his head. “There there…” she quietly told him. “It’s okay…” He blinked a couple of times. The tone of Amy’s voice had changed dramatically. She’d gone from scary to soothing… Between that and the gentle strokes along his hairline and down his head, he found himself rapidly calming down… It wasn’t long after that he untangled himself from the girl, then looked away with a shamed blush.

“It’s okay, Miles,” she repeated as she continued petting him. “It’s okay…” “S… stop that…!” She giggled as he batted her hand away. “I… I-I’m sorry…” was the next thing he said. “I just… I hate lightning…!” “There there–” “Stop that!” Amy couldn’t help but laugh a little more. He’d stopped her from petting him, again. “It really is okay, though,” she said as she returned to the fire, sitting with her legs resting at an angle. “Lots’a people are scared of lots’a things!” “I-it’s… it’s embarrassing, though…” Tails sighed, sitting next to her and closing his eyes. “I wanna be brave, like Mister Sonic… b-but–” Another crack boomed across the plains and into the cave. And, just like before… Amy found herself “wearing” her friend.

“It’s okay,” she said in that same calming tone. “I mean it.” “S-sorry…” he apologized, letting her go. When he tried to pull away, though… “U-um… Amy…? She wouldn’t let him. “It’s okay to be scared, sometimes…” she whispered as she held the fox in her arms. “We can’t all be brave all-the-time… I heard it’s not good to do that.” “But…” “Say, Miles…” She looked at him. “I never did thank you for saving me, did I?” “Wh-what?” The fox blinked a couple of times. “I-it’s okay. I–” “Maybe… maybe the cards didn’t lie…” The girl hummed. “Maybe… I misread them?” “What…?” He was starting to sound like a broken record. “I thought they said I’d meet Mister Sonic on that planet… but, the cards I drew…” She paused. “What they really said was if I traveled somewhere, I’d meet someone. Miracle Planet was definitely that ‘somewhere…’ so, maybe that someone was… you?” She warmly smiled, leaning in. “Either way… here’s my ‘thank you…’”

The fox practically turned to stone. Without much any warning, Amy kissed him on the nose. No one had ever done that to him, before… much less a girl. He had no idea how to react to it… or if he even should.

“Miles…?” Amy blinked as she leaned back. Tails was staring off into space, mouth hanging open and body completely still. It was kind of adorable, in a way… but also kind of worrying. “Miles…?” she repeated, giving him a nudge. “Are you okay?” “You kissed me…!” he squeaked, almost inaudible. “Of course, I did!” She covered her mouth with one hand and giggled. “You’re a hero and heroes get kisses from pretty girls!” His face became visibly red, causing her to laugh. “Guess you liked it, huh?” She sighed… “You’re no Mister Sonic… but I’m glad you saved me.” Her eyes closed and she snuggled up against the fox-boy’s side. “Thank you… Mister Hero…” “Uwah…”

Amy’s eyes went wide and she gave a surprised yelp. When she sat back up and looked down, she noticed something… that made her grin. “Did you really just faint?” The fox’s eyes had rolled back and he’d fallen over, completely limp and red-faced. “Gosh…” she said with a giggle. “I wonder if I can get Mister Sonic to do that?” She happily hummed to herself, her eyes looking the young fox over. She had to admit… he was kind of cute. Plus, she liked how soft his fur felt. Which got her wondering…

“Hmm…” Another mischievous grin spread across her face. “He… shouldn’t wake up if I do this… right?” The girl looked one way, then the other, before scooting up beside him. Without any more delay, she laid down perpendicular to him and rested her head on his belly. “Sooooo soft…” she cooed before giggling. As she lay there, enjoying her new “pillow,” she reached up and ran a hand over his chest while she nuzzled into his stomach, treating herself to all that super-plush fox fur. She was in absolute heaven. However… “I wonder…” She soon got another idea…

As much fun as getting lost in that fox’s pelt was, she thought it could be even more fun if he joined in! Instead of waking him up, though, she took him by the wrist and brought his arm around her side, making him limply hug her. She smiled and faintly blushed… There was something super-cozy about what they were doing.

After enjoying that fox’s fluffy for a little while longer, she sighed, then cuddled up beside him. One arm wrapped around his shoulders while the other reached up and played with one of his ears. “I should stop…” she told herself. “I could get used to this!” Despite that… she didn’t.

With Tails’ unconscious body as her disposal, the girl got a wild idea… Without so much as a word, she slipped from his side and climbed atop him. “Oh, Mister Sonic…” she whispered as she formulated a fantasy scenario. Her hands pulled the fox’s arms around her, again, and she snuggled closer. “I love you so much…” Her face warmed and she grinned before asking, “You… want to what? A-are you sure? Goodness… I… o-okay…!”

The redness in her face increased as she quietly leaned inward, keeping Tails’ nose pointed her way. Her eyes slipped shut, her lips puckered, and she kept moving closer to that unaware vulpine… Then, as she drew to within a breath’s distance of kissing him… “Ah… ah– ah!!” The sleeping fox woke with a start and shoved her away!

Amy blinked, watching as Tails sat up, rubbing his mouth with one hand and excitedly panting. His face was bright red and he seemed a little upset… When his eyes eventually pointed her way, she shrunk down, blushed, and nervously giggled… “Wh-wh-what did you do…?” he suspiciously asked with folded ears. “Nothing…” she lied, trying her best to sound innocent. The fox somehow got redder. “What do you do…?” “Nothing!” she repeated with a huff. “Amy!” he called, his face breaking into anger. “What. Did you. Do?” She bit her lower lip. Then, all-at-once, she blurted out her response. “I-I didn’t kiss you– I was gonna, but you woke up– I saw you faint and I got curious and thought– I cuddled you and used you as a pillow– I wanted to kiss you to practice for Mister Sonic and… and… a-and…!” She whimpered… then, just as quickly as she’d started talking… “Waaaaah…!!” She started crying!

Tails’ eyes shot open. Almost immediately after the girl covered her face to sob, he stood up and walked over to her just to sit nearby. As he reached out to touch her… he ended up going rigid, again. Without warning, she’d buried her face into his chest and hugged onto him, just like that! Not knowing what else to do, he cautiously reached up, and… “Th… there-there…?” He started stroking her head from the red scarf behind her ears to the tips of her quills.

Amy must have cried for a good few minutes before calming down. When she finally quieted, she sat up, rubbing her eyes with an arm, then shyly looked his way with a warm face. “S… sorry…” she sighed. “I…” “You’re such a crybaby…” “Wha–” The girl opened her eyes, staring in shock. “I am not!” she yelled. When she crossed her arms and pulled away, the fox just grinned.

“It’s okay, Amy,” he said in a reassuring voice. “I’m scared of lightning and you cry a lot. We’re not so different, huh?” She shot him a dirty look… When she noticed him smiling, she sighed and nodded. “I still think you’re brave, though,” the fox added. “Th-thank… ah… ah…” He tilted his head… only to wince as she sneezed right in his face. “Oh, gosh!” She gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. “I-I’m so sorry!” “Ick… Girl germs,” was his response to that. For some reason… that just made her giggle. However… “Hey… are you okay?” Tails noticed… Amy was starting to shiver. “I-I’m a little cold…” she said before sneezing away from him. “I’ll be fine!” The fox wasn’t sure why… The cave was pretty warm, to him. Then again… “Oh!” The girl blinked. Her friend had spoken up, all-of-a-sudden. “No wonder you’re cold, Amy! Your clothes are soaked!” “What?” She blinked, again, then looked at herself. He was right… Her green blouse and orange skirt were still very heavy with water. Even the red scarf she used as a hairband was still wet. “You should take ‘em off and let ‘em dry!” For once, it was the hedgehog’s turn to imitate a statue. Her eyes locked wide open and she tensely looked right at the fox. Then, as her brain finally processed what he’d said… “Kyaaaaa…!!” She slapped him and curled against the nearest wall.

“Ah…! Wh-wh-what was that f–” “Pervert…!!” she screamed, her face red and her body trembling in fear. “P… pervert…?” Tails blushed, letting his ears droop. “No… No, I–” “I was warned about people like you…!” Amy screamed, cutting him off. “You want to see me naked…! Y-you want to touch me in ways or places that make me uncomfortable! You want to… want to…!” She paused, blinking. “W… well…” she said in a calmer voice. “I dunno what, exactly… B-but…!” Her voice raised back up and she hugged herself, screaming… “Y-you’re a pervert…!!” “I-I’m not a pervert…!” Tails protested. “I just want you to take your clothes off!” “Kyaaaaa…!!” He winced, then. That was clearly the wrong thing to say…

“L-look, Amy–” “Stay away from me, you pervert…!” she immediately snapped. “Amy…” “Keep your hands off me…!” she shouted… despite the fox not being anywhere near her. “Amy.” “That’s my purse!” she cried, sounding somewhat confused. “I don’t know you…!” “Amy Rose!!” The girl flinched before looking up. Tails was glaring at her, again… but, something was off. He didn’t seem particularly angry. In fact… he almost looked ready to cry…! Why? “I’m not a pervert, darn it…!” he huffed, sounding hurt. “I j-just don’t want you to catch a cold and get sick! I-I’m sorry for caring, okay?!” With that, he spun around and walked over to the campfire, angrily plunking and keeping his back turned away from the dumb girl. If she’s gonna be like that, who cares if she catches a cold? Hmph!

Things felt tense in that cave… Tails had gotten so upset with Amy, and Amy… didn’t know what to think. He told me to take my clothes off… she thought as she shivered from the cold dampness of her outfit. H-he’s a pervert… B-but… but… She whimpered. But, who was the one playing with his fur while he slept…? Who… who wanted to use him for kissing practice…? “I’m the pervert…” the girl quietly said. When she heard Tails give an unconcerned “What?” she shuffled over toward him. “I… I said…” she shakily started, “I’m the pervert…” “I… what?” The fox blinked in confusion. “That’s not what I–” “I… I played with you like a doll, after you fainted…” As she sighed, Tails just blushed and folded his ears. He wanted to accept the apology… but something kept him from saying anything. “Y-you’re right, though…” she continued. “I-If I stay like this… I-I’ll get sick. So…” His blush brightened as she softly… shyly whispered… “N-no peeking… ‘kay…?”

Tails felt his heart pound against his chest. His ears flicked and his tails twitched… He could hear something behind him. It sounded an awful lot like wet fabric being rustled… then discarded on the ground. A couple of moments later… he felt something press against his back. “S-sorry, if my quills hurt…” he heard the girl say. “B-but, if we sit back-to-back…” “N-no, no, I get it…” he said after she trailed off. “I-it’s less likely I’ll accidentally see something you don’t want me to. Right?” She hesitated before telling him, “R-right…” “Good thinking.” He smiled to himself. “Your quills aren’t hurting me, by the way…” “G-good… I… tried to push them down… and…” She trailed off, again. The girl wasn’t in much of a mood for talk, anymore, it seemed.

The storm outside raged on, water crashing to the ground, thunder rumbling, and lightning cracking. To Amy’s surprise, Tails kept to himself during the course… though, after three-or-four flashes of lightning, he was shaking kind of hard. She felt so bad… “Gimme your hands.” “W-w-w-wha’…?” “Your hands, Miles,” she repeated. “Lemme see them.” He wanted to ask why… but he decided to leave it be and just do as she asked. “I can’t hug you with us back-to-back,” she whispered as she gently slid her fingers between his, “so just hold my hands… Hold them as tight as you want! We’ll face this dumb storm together and laugh! Ha ha ha haaah!” The fox stopped shivering… Hearing her be so brave when he felt so afraid inspired him to try a little harder. Despite that… he took her up on her offer, squeezing her hands tight.

“Amy?” “Yeah, Miles?” she called after he spoke her name. “I’m sorry…” “About what?” “I’m sorry for putting you through this dumb stuff… for making you think I was a pervert… for not being very nice when I met you… I’m sorry for breaking your car, I’m sorry for m-making you sit in this stupid cave… I… I…” “Miles…?” The fox whimpered… then, after a short delay… he broke.

“There, there, Miles…” Amy gently rubbed her thumbs over his hands and leaned against him. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear him quietly crying behind her. It made her feel bad, but… “Once this whole thing is over,” she told him, “we’ll get outta this cave, fix my car, and go find Mister Sonic! How dare he make us… wait… for…” The girl blinked as she slowed. She had every intention of saying something inspirational, again… However, something stopped her. For some reason… she just couldn’t muster the energy for it. In fact… she realized that, at that moment, she didn’t even care about Sonic. Just about the only thing she wanted, right then… was to make her friend feel better.

Tails’ jolted, his face suddenly warming. He looked down, noticing a pair of tan-colored arms wrapping around his chest. The next thing he noticed was something warm brushing against his face. He glanced to his right only to blush a little more. “A… Amy…?” he called. “Wh… what are you…?” “Hush,” she said in a calm voice as she affectionately rubbed cheeks with him. “I wanna tell you something.” He quieted, listening… “When I set out on this dumb adventure, I hoped I’d meet Mister Sonic. I hoped he’d find me and we’d fall in love. He never came… but you did.

“Right now? You’re a better hero than Mister Sonic, Miles. Know why?” She tightened her grip on him. “‘cause… you’re my hero.”

The fox blinked a couple of times as she kissed his cheek before going back to rubbing. He didn’t feel tense or even particularly embarrassed… He just felt kind of… warm. That girl hugging him didn’t care that he wasn’t Sonic… It almost sounded like she was glad he wasn’t, in some way. He was her hero… and that made him feel really special.

“Miles…?” The fox sighed, leaning back as his two tails curled around his friend’s body. “Sorry for not warning you,” he said in a calm voice. “I just… really wanted to hug you! You’re… really amazing, Amy…” The girl softly giggled. before whispering, “Ditto…”

After a great many moments of Amy holding Tails while his tails hugged her, the former turned back around. Once she found his hands, again, she happily sighed… “This isn’t so bad…” “There’s worse places to be during a bad storm than in a cave with a friend, I guess,” he said with a soft laugh. “No, I mean… the whole failed adventure.” “Yeah…?” He squirmed as he felt her do the same. He didn’t want to say anything, but… she’d finally jabbed him with a couple of her spines. “I didn’t meet Mister Sonic, but…” The girl beamed. “I got to meet a cute boy, anyway!” “A-and… I got to meet a cute girl…?” the fox replied, sounding unsure. Said girl giggled before saying, “Hey, Miles…” “Yeah?” She hesitated, nibbling on her lower lip. “If… if you wanted to peek…” she shyly told him. “I… I wouldn’t be mad. Promise!” Tails delayed before replying, “Amy?” “Y… yes, Miles?” “I… still wanna hug you.” He paused before asking, “Do you, um…” “O-okay…!” He blinked as he got an answer before he even finished asking his question. He chuckled and heard Amy giggle. Shortly after, they pulled away from each other, releasing one another’s hands. Slowly, they turned to their sides. Before they could face each other, though… “Huh?” Tails did something clever.

“M… Miles…?” The fox grinned, still blushing. “I… I know you said I could peek, but…” He squirmed, his thick, bushy tails shuffling as they pressed against the girl’s front. The only part of her that was clearly visible, then, was her head. “You’re so sweet…” she said with a bright smile. Then, not a second later… “Ack…!” She tackled him, reaching through the twin tales and snuggling that adorable fox-boy for all he was worth!

Eventually, the two realized that the storm wouldn’t be breaking anytime soon and Tails suggested they get some sleep. When he tried to set up a place for himself… “Amy?” He found the sweet girl hugging him from behind, again. “I don’t wanna sleep by myself…” she shyly told him. “It’s cold, and I’m scared. Can… can I sleep with you? Pretty please…?” “Well…” Though he was blushing from the idea, he tried to rationalize it. “I-if we sleep close together, we can stay warmer for longer–” The girl cut him off with a sudden sneeze. She gasped, then, before rubbing the back of his newly-moistened head. “S-sorry…!”

“As… I was saying,” he continued, “if we sleep close together, we can stay warmer for longer… share body heat, and stuff. So… so… i-if you’re okay with it…” She giggled a little before squeezing him. “O-okay, then. U-um… you can use my tails as a blanket, or a pillow, or–” He blinked, again. She’d pushed him down, then pressed her body against his, tucking her head against his chest. Curiously… she brought one of his tails between her legs, kind of using it as a blanket, as he’d suggested. “This is good,” she said as she looked at the fox. “A-are you comfy, though…?” He continued to blush. That smile of hers was so disarming… “Y… yeah…” he said with a smile of his own. “L-let’s get some sleep.” She giggled, then she hummed… “G’night, my hero…” His face warmed a little more. “G’night…” Then, the two fell into a quiet, calm rest.

Sun burst into the cavern the following morning, waking Tails from his sleep. When his eyes fluttered open, he looked around… “Amy…?” he called. “Miles!” He was glad he was already laying down when the perky girl tackled him. As she hugged, though, he noticed she’d already gotten dressed. That made him far less shy about returning the tight hug she gave. “You’re up, early,” he said with a yawn. “What time is it, anyway?” “Dunno,” she said as she cuddled him. “Well, we should probably head out…” He blinked as he found himself unable to sit up. “Amy…?” “Do… do we have to?” He blushed as she ran her finger in a circle through his chest fluff. “Can we just… stay here? Just a little longer? You and me…?” “Y… yeah…?” he nervously asked. “Good boy…” With that, the girl smiled and tucked her head under his chin. She really liked cuddling that fox and, honestly? He was starting to like cuddling her, too.

A small part of the morning was spent just lying in that cave, the two kids quietly enjoying each other’s company and casually chatting. Neither one of them seemed in too much of a hurry to leave the cave, much less the other’s arms. Eventually, though… they did.

“Hey, Amy! I found your car! Or… w-what’s left of it…” As the sun made its way overhead, Amy and Tails left the cave and began the search for the broken vehicle – Amy from the ground and Tails from the air. It didn’t take too long before the latter found it and called the former over.

“Oh, my car…!” The girl’s face fell. There wasn’t much left of her little blue joyrider. It had practically been smashed flat by the ovular hunk of metal laying on top of it! “It’ll be alright, Amy!” “How is this going to be alright?!” she yelled as she gestured to what was once a car. “I… I’ll make you a new one?” was the fox’s hesitant response. “Hmph!” She turned away. “I wouldn’t need a one if you hadn’t been so reckless!” “H-hey, this wasn’t my fault! Not… not entirely, I mean… Besides!” Tails offered a a smile. “I’ll make your new one even better!” The girl looked over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah…?” “I’ll see what I can do!” he assured her. “Well… okay!” She spun back around, brightly smiling. “I trust you, Mister Hero!”

With the car situation sorted, Amy and Tails decided to head out of the area. The former gathered a couple of Sonic souvenirs from her destroyed vehicle – a “mirror buddy” and a gearshift knob in the shape of his head – and the two went on their way.

The trip back to civilization was a long one. Amy didn’t have super speed and Tails couldn’t fly fast enough with a passenger to make it worth the effort, so they had to walk. Along the way, the latter got to show off his combat skills by busting a few Badniks, impressing the lady in the process. Once they found a town, Tails called Sonic via the Tornado’s satellite phone, and a while later, he arrived to pick the fox up.

“Sonic? This is my new friend, Amy Rose!” The pink hedgehog deeply blushed, nervously waving as she tapped the toe of her foot against the ground. “H-h-hello, Mister Sonic…!” she greeted, feeling nervous-beyond-belief. “Hey, kid,” the blue hedgehog greeted from his biplane. “Ready to go, Tails?” “Not yet.” He turned his attention to Amy. “I guess this is ‘goodbye,’ huh…?” She hummed, staying otherwise silent. Then, all-of-a-sudden… “Ah…!” She threw her arms around him and kissed his nose. “Thanks for everything, Mi– Tails,” the girl said in a sad tone. “It was fun!” Sonic winked and gave a thumbs-up as the young fox blushed and flustered. He couldn’t believe she’d done that in front of him… Shortly after, everyone went their separate ways. But, as Amy called to get a ride back to her home, she had a feeling, someday, they’d all meet again. Hopefully, sooner than later…

#fan fiction #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic the Hedgehog CD #Shake the Planets #commercial characters #Amy Rose #Rosy the Rascal #Miles Tails Prower #slice of life #drama #romance

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dippedanddripped · 6 years ago

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A skinny, gap-toothed kid gesticulates wildly in the parking lot of Mike’s Drive-In in Oregon City. Short dreads stick up on either side of his head, like antennae to some alien planet. His friends, in the deep background, hang out of a silver Honda, goofing on one another. But it’s nearly impossible to take your eyes off the skinny kid, with his awkward dance moves and urgent facial expressions. He commands your attention. He needs it.

This is the video for Aminé’s persistently catchy “Caroline,” a half-sung, half-rapped summer anthem that went viral in 2016—the video has more than 200 million YouTube views, and the kid front and center is the artist himself. It’s Aminé’s best-known song, and for most music fans both within his home city of Portland and beyond, it represented the MC/singer/director’s colorful first impression.

Aminé—born Adam Amine Daniel, son of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants to Portland and a graduate of Benson High—had been around awhile before “Caroline” hit. His debut album, Odyssey to Me, appeared in 2014, though it has long been expunged from the commercial internet. It begins with a low-key prophecy: “I’m headed to my next show / I gotta go / Headed to that Madison Square / 25,000 fans in the air.” Then an accented female voice repeats “Adam, wake up.” It’s Aminé’s mother, coaxing him back to Portland obscurity. But it’s too late. The dream has taken root.

Aminé hasn’t played Madison Square Garden just yet, but he has definitely found a bigger stage. In 2017, the hip-hop magazine XXL included him in its influential Freshman Class, which functions as a sort of critical watchlist of stars in the making. Billboard and the New York Times both weighed in favorably, the latter calling his major-label debut, Good for You, “one of this year’s most intriguing hip-hop albums and also a bold statement of left-field pop.” The album sold 13,000 copies in its first week, debuting at no. 34 on Billboard’s US charts. After a set at Lollapalooza, Daniel posed for photographs with his arm around a new fan, Malia Obama.

Through sheer will and a catchy song, a colorful dream world became Aminé’s reality. From the outside, it’s like he came out of nowhere. That’s intentional. To become the next big thing in the music world of the late 2010s, you have to let the world in on the ground floor. That can sometimes mean recalibrating, or even erasing, your pre-fame history. All the way along, Aminé—who, through manager Justin Lehmann, declined to be interviewed for this piece and did not respond to requests for comment on this story—had boosters and collaborators. Some have come along for the ride. Some were left in the dust. This is the years-long story of Aminé’s overnight success.

Born in 1994, Aminé grew up in Northeast Portland. He’s said his biggest aspiration back then was “to be Kobe Bryant,” a dream dashed when he was cut from the Benson basketball team as a freshman. But he also grew up in a musical environment—he’s told interviewers his parents listened to everything from Ethiopian music to John Mayer—and music eventually became an obsession. In his first recorded performance, he told Vice in August, he rapped about girls and rival high schools over Waka Flocka Flame’s “O Let’s Do It.”

Josh Hickman, a thoughtful and soft-spoken 26-year-old, is three years Aminé’s senior. He also went to Benson and both ran track, but the two barely knew each other then. Three years after high school graduation, as Hickman began his senior year at Portland State University, he connected with Daniel, a PSU freshman, who messaged him about music.

“My first impression of Adam was that he seemed older than he was,” says Hickman, who spent his college years composing and producing rap music under the name Jahosh. “There was a determination, or a focus, that resonated with me. It probably goes back to track and field at Benson. We would work out six days a week. It really instilled me with this work ethic and discipline. So when I met Adam, I was just like, ‘Man this is dope. He’s just like me.’”

I was screaming to the moon, ‘Check out Aminé! He’s doing the thing! Are you guys paying attention?’

Daniel loaned Hickman money to buy a microphone and portable vocal booth, and they began writing and recording on a relentless schedule. “He would come over in the morning and he wouldn’t leave till night,” Hickman says. “But it didn’t even feel like work.” Daniel would give Hickman input on the beats; Hickman says he helped with song concepts and even lyrics. Together they created the first DIY Aminé release, a mixtape called Genuine Thoughts.

With help from PSU music students whom the charismatic Daniel had recruited along the way—including multi-instrumentalist Irvin Mejia, who would go on to produce “Caroline” and other songs on Aminé’s major-label debut—Hickman went on to produce the bulk of Odyssey to Mein his windowless recording studio in East Portland in late 2013. The album’s songs run from vulnerable, confessional slow-burners (“My Emotions”) to explicit sex jams (“Feelin’ Like”). It’s ambitious both sonically and conceptually: The cover art adapts the poster from Richard Ayoade’s 2010 cult film Submarine, about a small-town 15-year-old named Oliver looking to lose his virginity. The album echoes the film’s plot in places, and references its protagonist throughout.

By Odyssey to Me’s 2014 release, Aminé had picked up a few key supporters in Portland, including Fahiym Acuay, an MC and writer (under the name Mac Smiff) for the popular regional hip-hop blog We Out Here. Meeting Aminé for a video interview, Acuay remembers a funny, slightly shy kid who seemed unusually driven. “He knew that he was a little bit different,” Acuay says. “He had a really different sound—kind of playful—but he also had these really deep melodies.” Acuay became an evangelist for the young artist: “I was screaming to the moon, ‘Check out Aminé! He’s doing the thing! Are you guys paying attention?’”

IMAGE: COURTESY MARCUS HYDE AND REPUBLIC RECORDS

While local acts like U-Krew, Five Fingers of Funk, Lifesavas, and Cool Nutz have made some waves, Portland has never spawned a true national hip-hop star. Instead, we have a closed rap ecosystem with its own set of references, stylistic tendencies, and small-town kingpins. Portland rap artists tend to be judged more on their lyricism and verbal ability than on their melodic instincts or pop savvy. And on those fronts, Acuay notes, Aminé is no match for local mainstays like Illmaculate and Rasheed Jamal—battle-tested MCs with dense, intricate rhyme delivery. In fact, if Aminé had emerged a decade earlier, there’s a good chance he’d figure in the Portland hip-hop story as an eccentric side character, selling mixtapes out of his trunk at rap shows. But Aminé was born in a new era, where the home-burned CD has been replaced by lightly curated “mixtape” download websites that connect artists directly to a national audience, with no middleman and no local-cred hurdles to clear.

And Daniel knew how to work that system. He spent $1,000 of his student loan money to secure Odyssey to Me a spot in the featured albums section of Datpiff.com, a popular hip-hop mixtape-sharing blog that has served as a bellwether for artists like Drake and Chance the Rapper. By the end of summer 2014, Odyssey had reached 20,000 downloads. Daniel and Hickman found a promoter to take a punt on them—Ibeth Hernandez, who offered them a show at Peter’s Room in the Roseland, opening for critically acclaimed California hip-hop trio Pac Div. “It was so sweet,” Hernandez remembers of Daniel and Hickman. “They got me a thank-you card afterward, and it had, like, a Starbucks gift card inside.”

But the biggest payoffs came from shows Aminé and Jahosh booked for themselves. A few days after Christmas 2013, they threw a show marking Odyssey’s imminent release, hit social media hard, and drew 250. A party the next year drew 400, among them Blazers star Damian Lillard. His presence alone hinted that Daniel and Hickman had sidestepped most Portland hip-hop rites of passage. Not everybody would be happy about it.

But Daniel was making connections outside of Portland, too. In summer 2014, after landing internships with Complex magazine and Def Jam Records, he connected with a young, unestablished New York City manager named Justin Lehmann. To Hickman, something about the new arrangement set off alarm bells.

“I was with Adam from day one,” he says, “thinking, his success is my success and my success is his success.” Though he won’t dive into specifics—and allows for miscommunications—Hickman says he decided to get his handshake deal with Daniel into writing. Daniel refused. Hickman “got even more weirded out.” The partnership slowly unraveled, taking the pair’s friendship with it, and Hickman would later pull Aminé’s first album and the subsequent En Vogue EP from the internet, asking social media outlets and blogs to do the same. “It was my assumption that he would have most likely taken the music down himself, had I not,” says Hickman.

He was building this full package for himself. He didn’t just focus on Portland.

Aminé’s second full-length album—the excellent, world-music-inspired collection Calling Brio—proved that he was capable of making great music without Hickman. That too has been scrubbed from the web post-“Caroline,” along with videos and articles from 2014 and 2015, as has become standard practice for many indie artists who take on a major-label rebrand. Around the same time, Daniel texted Acuay to ask him to remove all the pieces We Out Here had written about Aminé from the site. Acuay reluctantly agreed. Later, when he saw a national piece on Aminé billed as “the first interview” with the young artist behind “Caroline,” Acuay admits, “I was kind of salty for a second. I had the first interview.”

Two years after Josh Hickman and Adam Daniel parted ways, Aminé struck gold with “Caroline.” The single and video led to a deal with Republic Records, a Universal subsidiary home to artists from Ariana Grande to Black Sabbath. While Daniel moved to Los Angeles in 2016, his official label bio still begins with “Now, Portland isn’t traditionally referred to as a hotbed of hip-hop like Brooklyn or Compton is, but Aminé could very well change that perception.”

For a moment, it appeared that Aminé might force the issue. In November 2016 on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, Aminé performed a striking and minimal version of “Caroline” with a string section. At the end of the performance, the yellow stage lights switched to red, white, and blue, and he delivered a message to the incoming president elected just days before. “You can never make America great again / All you ever did was make this country hate again.” It was a bold choice, one the Times and other outlets focused on. But Portland music fans noticed something else: two vocalists backing up Aminé were established players in the Portland scene, earthy R&B artist Blossom and inventive MC the Last Artful, Dodgr.

Acuay was watching that night. “It was so very Aminé. ‘I’m not going to do what everyone expects me to do.’ I was really proud of him. I remember thinking, he’s making us look good. He’s really holding it down for Portland right now.”

Publicly, “Go Aminé” is the party line in the Portland hip-hop scene, as well. But there is grumbling behind closed doors. A handful of artists and music scene staples contacted for this story declined to be interviewed about Aminé, or did not respond to requests. One artist formerly associated with Aminé indicated a reluctance to be seen as a hanger-on. A polite decline came from Nikolaus Popp, the prolific Portland director credited as the cinematographer and editor behind the “Caroline” video. Popp sent a somewhat cryptic statement: “Respect is everything in this world and that really goes for any human being. People will try to minimize you, but you always have to know your worth. Money doesn’t pay for respect, no matter the amount. It’s about how you treat people.”

In his first big national profile in the New York Times, Daniel used the phrase “super depressing” to describe his path through the Portland music scene, which the article’s author further characterized as “dead.” Aminé’s lyrical take on Portland has been bittersweet since his earliest songs. And on Good for You, he raps about coming home to find kids who bullied him calling him a hero. In the song “Turf,” he details the city’s gentrification in a mournful chorus: “I look around and I see nothing in my neighborhood / Not satisfied, don’t think I’ll ever wanna stay for good.” Another lyric speaks to those mixed emotions with even more clarity, and perhaps provides an explanation for the artist’s systematic eradication of the old Aminé: “I used to have dreams / Now I dream.”

I asked Vursatyl, one-third of the Portland crew Lifesavas—they released their debut, Spirit in Stone in 2003—if his group experienced a Portland backlash when they surfaced on the national radar. “The difference is we were really trudging it out in the local scene for a long time,” he says. “There were a lot of us trying hard to make it. Some of it was friendly competition, and some wasn’t. But everybody wanted to be the guy to put the city on the map.”

That city—before the gentrification of its North and Northeast quadrants—was a place where the black community was still somewhat centralized, and Aminé’s family home, off NE MLK and Dekum, sat at its heart. “There’s less of a sense of community now,” Vursatyl says. “And I think that, in the long term, Aminé would have benefited from what was the black community still being fully intact. He’s had an awesome journey and he’s doing great, but I feel like there’s a disconnect in terms of local pride in him. And you want that groundswell. You want to play to your base.”

But for Hernandez—who also booked Aminé’s first South by Southwest performance (“The whole showcase fell apart. It was a disaster, actually.”)—the fact that Aminé’s dreams were bigger than his hometown is exactly what made him stand out. “He didn’t make the rounds like other artists, but that’s OK,” she says. “He was building this full package for himself. He didn’t just focus on Portland. A lot of artists put themselves in a box, and that’s cool, but at some point you have to expand. I saw him expand at such an early point, and he’s still expanding.”

Where Aminé is expanding to is an open question. In interviews, he’s low-key and likable—the right mix of confident, humble, and self-deprecating. Critics praised Good for You as “honest” and “carefree.” Its impressive breadth spans from the floaty Frank Ocean-esque Auto-Tune ballad “Hero” to a curious diss track laid out over progressive, minimal electronic music, “STFU.” If anything, the album seems built—albeit on a solid pop-rap foundation—as a showcase for Aminé’s versatility in both sonic approach and personality. He’s a sensitive, brutally honest outcast on the molasses-slow “Sunday,” and a bitter ex-boyfriend on “Wedding Crashers.” Album closer “Beach Boy” spells out the MC’s thoughts on his own mutability: “Who knows what the future holds / I don’t, if the truth be told / They say play it safe, young soul / Fuck that, I’mma take control.”

Two years ago, taking control meant parting ways with Josh Hickman, now studying software development in Los Angeles and making music as a hobby. When he won an $18,000 scholarship for making a tutorial video about sampling, Hickman used a song he built for Aminé as the video’s source material. “I took it as a message from the universe or God that, hey, I got what I needed out of that situation,” he says. He hasn’t spoken to Daniel in years, he says, but he’s not bitter about the experience. “We had all these doubts,” he remembers. “We’d be in the studio just talking, saying, ‘Man, are we crazy?’ And it’s dope to see those doubts were unfounded.”

In October, Aminé posted a new video to YouTube, this time for his playful song “Spice Girl.” It hit one million views in three days. The video features a cameo from a childhood hero, from the first concert he ever attended: the Spice Girls’ Mel B. Like every artifact of Aminé’s newly rebooted career, the video is colorful, cinematic, and dreamlike.

The video also makes obvious what should have been clear all along: Aminé never had Portland dreams. He saw himself, a first-generation American-born citizen living in an unlikely corner of the country, playing Madison Square Garden. He saw himself in the company of stars.

Something familiar about the particular inflection Daniel gave the titular “Caroline” suggests she’s the same character André 3000 sang about 15 years ago, on Outkast’s smash-hit “Roses.” In Aminé’s later song “Veggies,” from his 2017 so-called “debut” album Good for You, he refers to himself as “André’s prodigy.” These tributes to the eccentric vocal genius and fashion icon who got every wedding party in America dancing to “Hey Ya” are rare signposts from an artist who seemed, to most fans, to “come out of nowhere.”

Just one year after he uploaded the “Caroline” video to YouTube, Daniel posted a street-corner selfie to Instagram. On the left, wide-eyed with his mouth forming a stunned “ooh,” is Aminé. On the right, Outkast’s André 3000.

Adam Daniel used to have dreams—now he dreams. And his most compelling characteristic seems to be that he’s living out his fantasies in the public sphere. But dreams, by their nature, are not collaborative. They are personal. One dream lived is always another deferred. It’s been clear from the moment “Caroline” hit YouTube that the skinny, gap-toothed kid in the front was going to stay there. It’s still anybody’s guess whom he’ll take with him.

#amine #music blog #pdxhiphop

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