#always been one of my favorite deep cuts on my FAVORITE britney album. but it's hitting too real right now

[britneyshakespeare]

listening to mannequin by britney spears on loop can be a coping strategy

[setzappersto-pew]

StarKid and Musical Score #2

Pop culture parodies tread fine lines to avoid copyright violations, especially when it comes to music. Some go for a certain mood or genre to evoke the source. Holy Musical B@man! is a great example. Nick Gage and Scott Lamps used strictly synthesizer and an electronic drum kit. They made great use of the standard synthesizer sound, calling to mind ‘80s new wave electronic music; a darker electric guitar sound to capture the gritty Batman from The Dark Knight or The Killing Joke; and light and playful bell tones, representing the innocence of Robin or perhaps the campy silliness of the ‘60s Batman TV show.

When it’s a parody musical of a musical, the challenge is even greater. Enter Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.

There’s not a lot of interstitial music to set the scenes, but what little there is excels with capturing the mood, like the eerie strings and woodwinds coupled with sporadic percussion during Aladdin’s breakdown near the end. Instead, Twisted features a large number of songs to fill its 2.25 hour runtime, so I’m going to focus on the instrumentals of those for this post. The instrumentation for this show includes keyboard, drums, guitar/bass, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and alto/tenor saxophone. It’s a much bigger and more varied band than any StarKid show had before or since.

The endeavor that composer A.J. Holmes, accompanied by incredible lyricist Kaley McMahon, set out on was to evoke not only the source material, Disney’s Aladdin, but also other Disney movies of the same era and the Broadway musical Wicked. The Disney references are all over the place, including the Disney-fied StarKid logo. The latter was accomplished via the title (Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier vs. Wicked: The Untold Story of a Wicked Witch), the album cover, the method of role reversal (a villain posed as the hero of their own story), and even a direct reference to the book. But A.J., along with orchestrator Andrew Fox and music director Justin Fischer, took it a step further with several songs to give the audience a truly immersive and magical experience.

To keep it simple, I’m going to link each song--or most, as some I can’t quite figure out--to another Disney or Wicked song that A.J. was likely, or even obviously, taking influence from. The similarities are often in the instrumentation and tempo; chord progressions and adjacent melodies; or lyrics and character situations.

Not a song, but the opening music evokes the haunting strings and bells in the opening of Beauty and the Beast to a tee. Like...it’s a dead ringer, obviously in purpose.

“Dream a Little Harder”: An opening ensemble number like “Belle” from Beauty and The Beast. Introduces the protagonist and the surrounding characters with a sweet and tremulous flute at the beginning and bouncy strings throughout. Lyrics mirror each other, i.e. “Fuck you” = “Bonjour”...Nick’s favorite line, “Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!”...they all hate Ja’far vs. they all think Belle is weird. Belle is even part of the ensemble, telling Ja’far to keep his “fat face out of the mother fucking book”! It’s a pretty obvious comparison. 

“I Steal Everything”: “One Jump Ahead” from Aladdin is the obvious parallel in orchestration, melody, tempo, lyrics, character situation...everything.

“Everything and More”: Again, an obvious parody of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Same gentle yet sweeping melody, same lilting tempo paired with vocals timid one moment and powerful the next, lyrics exploring desire for more.

“A Thousand and One Nights”: This one was a little harder, as really none of the Disney princesses have duets with their princes. But I think it pairs well with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, at least after Timon and Pumbaa have their moment! The back and forth between lovers talking to themselves about the other has a similar feel. Honestly, this song is pretty original and yet manages to evoke Disney love song perfectly without copying any. The gentle melody, sweeping yet sweet orchestration, and the dialogue really sell it. They knew it was the love song because they went ahead and parodied the cheesy pop covers that ‘90s Disney movies are known for with a true bop performed by Britney Coleman and Carlos Valdes.

“Orphaned at 33″: Perhaps the reprise of “One Jump Ahead”? It’s slower and more melancholy and has similar chord progression and crooning vocals. Maybe “Go the Distance” from Hercules? Both are songs of sadness and longing, but StarKid’s Aladdin is far more pathetic and creepy than Hercules. EDIT: “Proud of Your Boy”, which was cut from Aladdin and put in the stage show, is absolutely the reference here! Again, a song of sadness and longing and self-pity and lamentation of a bad childhood...and StarKid’s Aladdin is still more pathetic. Musical parallels: similar chord progressions, embellishments, instrumentation, time signature, tempo, etc.; starts with delicate notes and Aladdin just talking (this starts at 46 seconds in “Orphaned at 33″, after a prelude); lilting and tiptoeing melody in the middle (1:56 for “Orphaned”, 1:08 for “Proud”); powerful sustained vocals and sweeping winds and strings to finish. I know this song was in the back of my mind, but it just wasn’t coming to me. Thank you @hatchetfieldtheories and @melchron for helping me out! 

“Happy Ending”: The last half, at 1:50, really reminds me of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, specifically at 5:15. The quiet and tense music make way for powerful vocals and are just waiting to burst forth for a showstopping ending. Both songs are also Act 1 closers. I can’t really place the rest of “Happy Ending”, but it all reminds me of Wicked with the powerful rock guitar and drums paired with cinematic strings. Plus, I always love when multiple melodies come together as reprises, most often as Act 1 closers!

“No One Remembers Achmed”: A sillier version of “Gaston” from Beauty and The Beast. The spurned villain’s cohorts are pumping him up and singing his praises! Both melodies are jaunty, though with different instrumentation...Twisted’s featuring sillier sound effects and goofy xylophone.

“Take Off Your Clothes”: A sexier version of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Slightly modified melody, and obviously the lyrics, but it’s exactly the same.

“The Power in Me”: A solemn and sweet farewell duet between friends like “For Good” from Wicked. The delicate woodwinds and strings sound similar to the gentle synth in “For Good”. Vocal performances are cautious and tender at first but quickly become strong and confident. “You are the power in me” and “I have been changed for good” follow almost the exact same rhythm.

The titular song has many facets, so I’ll detail them here:

Opening to 1:03 and 5:55 to the end = “No Good Deed” from Wicked, with the same intense strings and percussion. The whole situation and lyrics match, with both Ja’far and Elphaba deciding to just be antiheroes because no one sees them as heroes anyway. “I’ll be twisted, it’s my turn” matches “No good deed will I do ever again” and “I’m wicked through and through”.

1:10-2:06 = “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid...it’s Ursula, so of course...but also, the woodwinds and keyboard mimicking brass evoke the same bouncy yet menacing rhythm, akin to an evil polka.

2:07-2:50 = “Be Prepared” from The Lion King. Obviously, it’s Scar’s moment...but also, they have similar deep and primitive drums and woodwinds.

The rest of the songs (”Sands of Time”, “Golden Rule”, and “If I Believed”) I couldn’t really place, but they still evoke the source materials. “Golden Rule” has a classic musical theatre ensemble number feel, with fun strings and woodwinds and delightful choruses; the reprise turns it on its head with menacing piano and bass. “If I Believed” is another take on an “I want” song; the flute and cello pair very nicely together to support Dylan’s soulful voice.

My next post in this series will likely be about the Hatchetfield series: The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Black Friday, and Nightmare Time. There’s a lot in between, like the AVP Trilogy, ANI, and Starship, but the music for those stands out less to me. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, but I think that the score is not what makes them special. The Hatchetfield stuff, however...is intense.

Thanks for reading!

[perfectmusicdestiny]

Every Ariana Grande Album Ranked

6. My Everything: There are some great tracks on here, “One Last Time”, “Problem”, “Break Free”, “Love Me Harder”...basically all the singles. Otherwise though, it’s kind of blah and not very memorable to me.

5. Sweetener: I feel like this is a controversial position to take. I really do love a lot of the songs on Sweetener, especially in the back half of the album. “Breathin” is actually my favorite Ariana Grande song. I also really love “Goodnight n Go”. Some of the tracks that Pharrell Williams produced kind of lose me though. “Sweetener” is a song that always makes me go “wat..”. I genuinely have no idea what they were going for there. “R.E.M.” starts out beautifully, but goes on a bit too long, something which Ariana admittedly lampshades when she says “does this end?”. It’s a very mixed bag is what I’m trying to say. 

4. Yours Truly: Very solid R&B record. “Honeymoon Avenue” is and will always be a banger. I also like some of the deep cuts on here, like “Tattooed Heart” and “Piano”. That first single, “The Way” is a great song, although it does make me kind of sad now whenever I hear it, for reasons which are probably obvious.

3. Dangerous Woman: Just a big, loud, fun pop album. Max Martin’s fingerprints are all over this. If you don’t know who Max Martin is, he’s a guy who’s written a huge number of pop hits over the past 20+ years, starting with songs like “...Baby, One More Time” for Britney Spears and “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. He’s collaborated with artists such as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and The Weeknd. In fact, “Save Your Tears” was actually co-written and co-produced by him. Anyway, any album that has “Into You”, “Greedy”, “Leave Me Lonely” and “Thinking Bout You” on it deserves to be in the top 3.  Periodt. 

2. Positions: I know that this album isn’t very musically diverse. It’s a lot of trap. Even with that though, I just think that it’s gorgeous. It’s an album about someone who has lost love in the past and who is scared of it, finding love again. Songs like “My Hair” and “POV” are just beautiful in terms of their sentiment. I loved this album. 

1. Thank U Next: Of course, it was going to be Thank U Next. TUN was written during the time that Ariana was grieving the death of her ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller, and breaking up with her fiance, Pete Davidson. It is a powerful and cohesive work about grief, love, and loss. The only song that I’m tempted to skip whenever I listen to it is “Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.” It’s just not a very good song, and I really do feel that “Thank U Next” would have been a perfect album closer. Otherwise though, this is a nearly perfect album. My favorites are “Imagine, “Fake Smile”, “Ghostin”, “In My Head”, and “Thank U Next”. 

[queenofcrystaltokyo]

My Spotify got DELETED this year so no Spotify Wrapped. Instead I’m just going to list all of the albums I bought on iTunes and go over my thoughts on them. No ratings; ratings are lame.

Cape God - Allie X

It’s no surprise I’ve been following Allie since Collxtion I. This year’s album from her is a natural evolution and a wonderful maturation of her music up to this point. Her previous work was already developed but I find this album just strikes to the center of your person. I feel like telling you there’s a collab with Mitski on here puts that into good perspective.

Personal Standout: Sarah Come Home

Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa

I haven’t listened to this one much since the week I bought it. It’s a good pop album though with a lot of disco influence which was fun and was definitely a trend in pop music this year. That and metal.

Personal Standout: Don’t Start Now or Physical

SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama

I’ve been a fan of hers since we were orange hair sisters in 2017. But oh boy. This album. In many ways album of the year (although I can name three other albums on this list that also vie for that spot). Her use of rock music and the variety of topics (compare Comme Des Garçons and XS) shows the depth of her talent. Still upset I didn’t get to see her and Allie in April.

Personal Standout: Who’s Gonna Save U Now?

Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple

When I first head The Idler Wheel when I was 15, I think my world changed a little. It’s like when you hear The Hounds of Love for the first time. So it was no surprise her next album would be phenomenal. But it should be illegal for an album to be this perfect. Cutting to the core of every possible emotion in a way that only Fiona could do. Flawless is selling it short.

Personal Standout: Drumset

I Disagree - Poppy

I followed Poppy for a bit when she was that one girl who made weird experimental Youtube videos and had one EP. I remember getting 3:36 on her Bandcamp. But I sort of fell off. But THEN I was made aware of this album, gave it a listen, and bought it immediately. I love good, rich rock music and deeply miss it in the pop scene I’ve stationed myself in. This scratches that itch in abundance.

Personal Standout: I Disagree

Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams

Paramore is maybe the most important rock band of the last 20 years. After Laughter is probably my actual favorite album of all time even though I still say Miley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz. But Hayley’s solo work has proven itself to be a separate entity. It’s very deep and personal and is refined in a way that could only come from years of being deeply ingrained in music and understanding it thoroughly.

Personal Standout: Cinnamon

Flamboyant (Deluxe) - Dorian Electra

I was initially hesitant to get into Dorian Electra. I think I thought it was trying too hard. But I warmed up a little and found it speaking to my queer masculine side, which I often ignored in favor of the liberation of femininity.

Personal Standout: Adam & Steve

how i’m feeling now - Charli XCX

How Charli managed to make a no-skip in two months during quarantine is completely beyond me.

Personal Standout: anthems

spice²world - Spice Girls

Now I’m sure you saw this and thought “Wait, what’s that? I’ve never heard of that album.” Well this is actually related to the Spotify deletion. It’s literally just Spice and Spiceworld stuck together. I had it as a playlist on my Spotify and decided to recreate it in my iTunes.

Personal Standout: It’s the Spice Girls. Love Thing is my favorite.

Smile - Katy Perry

I’ve loved Katy Perry since fucking meanplastic posted a soundcloud post of International Smile. From there I delved into her back catalog and learned that One of the Boys is and will always be her best album, which is somewhat unfortunate because, presumably after Lady Gaga blew up, she shifted to pop music and we’ll never get 2008 pop rock goddess Katy back again. But don’t let that deter you. Her music has been evolving since Teenage Dream, which was written by God according to people on here who jump through hoops to hate her. And though Witness was like Artpop in that it sort of broke the facade of infallibility, Smile took what worked from Witness and refined it into a more introspective album that’s trying less hard to be commercial. I hate to admit that that post comparing Katy to Cyndi Lauper as a relic of her decade was right, but I’m okay with that because I feel like Katy is gearing up to be, in the words of Britney Spears, an underground star.

Personal Standout: Tucked

Chromatica - Lady Gaga

I’ve been a little monster since the very beginning. I remember preordering Born This Way at Hot Topic when I was 14. Since then I’ve always held that it’s her best album (though Joanne didn’t make that hard to argue). But Lady Gaga did the impossible. Yes, Chromatica is now Lady Gaga’s best album. The club pop with elements of disco is sheer perfection.

Personal Standout: Replay

Pang - Caroline Polachek

I know I really hyped this album up when it came out last year, but I only got around to actually buying it this year after my Spotify got deleted. But yeah, of course this album is great.

Personal Standout: Pang

Spirit Phone - Lemon Demon

A striking departure from the previous listings. Calling it meme music would not be incorrect. But it’s fun and it’s good. I listened to it all day Halloween but I’m still listening to it right now.

Personal Standout: I Earn My Life

Dreamland - Black Box

Do y’all like house music? If you do, then this album needs no introduction. It is THE house album. Stan Martha Wash.

Personal Standout: I Don’t Know Anybody Else. But you should definitely listen to Ride on Time first.

BONUS:

apathy + Vacuum Noises - Astrophysics

I didn’t buy these albums on iTunes. I got them off of Astrophysics’ Bandcamp. So that’s why they’re bonuses. But I love these albums so much. I only started following Astrophysics this year. You might know them for doing synthwave remixes of anime songs like Connect from PMMM or Komm Süsser Todd from NGE. But their music has evolved into more glitchcore/shoegaze (with a Soviet aesthetic that I love). It’s some of the best music I’ve heard in that field.

Personal Standout: The remix of Sometimes by My Bloody Valentine from Vacuum Noises. Listen to it here!

ベノマ - かいりきベア (Venomer - Kairiki Bear)

This one I also did not buy on iTunes. But I didn’t get it on Bandcamp either. I got it on mikudb, which is my go-to website for Vocaloid music. Venomer is a remix collab album by Kairiki Bear where he invited several other Vocaloid producers to remix his most popular songs. It’s a real who’s-who of the hottest Vocaloid producers right now.

Personal Standout: The Niru Kajitsu remix of Ángel (I have an audio post of it here!)

[jessejostark]

10 Questions w/ Jesse Jo Stark About Cool Parents, the Awesomeness of Cher + Still Believing in Rock & Roll

Other than maybe Sean Lennon and Jakob Dylan, Jesse Jo Stark grew up with surely the most inspirational people a future musician could possibly hope for. Indeed, her parents Richard Stark and Laurie Lynn Stark are the founders of rock & roll jewelry studio-turned-empire Chrome Hearts—whose clientele includes the likes of Bono, Elton John and Slash. And her Godmother is none other than the goddess of stage, screen and song Cher, who has been a continuing influence on her very talented niece.

Not just that, but she was sort of mentored from the start of her music career by Sex Pistol Steve Jones, who hosts the now legendary radio show Jonesy’s Jukebox in Los Angeles, where Jesse Jo also resides. And most recently, she appeared in the video for Brit punker YUNGBLUD’s new single “Strawberry Lipstick,” while corona had stranded him in LA.

But for all they may have rubbed off on her, the young Ms. Stark makes music that surely comes from somewhere deep within herself. Each song seems a little piece of her that she allows out into the world, revealing the inner intensity and intimacy that belie a very public persona.

Her previous single, a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” was a languid, fuzzed-out country gem of a ballad. But new track “Tangerine” is a mini-masterpiece of sorts, exhibiting her ease with crossing genres and weaving them seamlessly together. The twangy guitars are back, but there’s a little Beatles, a little widescreen Britpop, and just a hint of retro Cali dreaming as well. With its lush strings, and Stark’s haunted voice so full of longing, it vividly evokes so many life memories of love’s powerful pull.

For the video, she reached out to fans to create their own vision for the visual accompaniment to the song, and they were then edited together—a way of crossing the quarantine divide via the power of art. She describes it thusly:

“What I’ve missed most in this new way of livin’ has been the live shows and hanging out with everyone every night. So along with the ‘Tangerine’ track release, we thought it would be super sweet to get everyone involved in the video, so it’s almost like we’re all having this one big party together, no matter where we are in the world, physically we are together in heart. i’ve been at home watching everyone’s videos in full tears with the biggest smile wrapped around my face. everyone’s creativity and love for this song has been overwhelming. It makes my heart beat knowing that they can take away a little piece of ‘Tangerine’ and make it their own. it’s fucking beautiful. it’s art.”

We hit Jesse Jo with ten questions about all of the above, and as it turned out, even her answers were uniquely stylish.

Your influences are distinctly 1960s + ’70s. Do you feel a bit out of place in the current musical zeitgeist of hip-hop preeminence and so much over-glossed pop? my influences are not only 60’s and 70’s

and the thing about the current state of music right now is that there is nothing out of place. hip hop artists pull samples from old soul, country, and r&b records and it’s all turning into a place you can do anything you want. the only thing that pisses me off is when people chase chart positions by making the same shit over and over.

there is a difference between being out of place and making a place for yourself. so to answer. no i do not feel out of place. i feel like i’m right where i should be

What was some of the music you grew up listening to? my dad was always my go-to with music. he always played the clash, merle, john lennon, brian eno, david bowie on the way to school. with the occasional britney n christina.

i remember this one time,i think i was about 7 years old, he picked me up at my friend sasha’s house and i was throwing a fit because i didn’t want to leave. as we pulled out of the drive way he turned on “should i stay or should i go” by the clash. i had never heard it before. he looked at me and smiled and i felt my bad mood melt away. i remember thinking, as i tried my best to keep scowling at him, “i wanna make something this cool” . n i’m still tryin

What was it like growing up with rocker parents? Did that imprint on your personal aesthetic? are they rocker !? i mean i know they are pretty damn cool. everything about them has left a huge beautiful mark all over me. they are my favorite legends and they inspire me completely and truly .

On “Tangerine,” one can detect references to the The Beatles, Oasis, Patsy Cline, Mazzy Star…what has been your musical state of mind of late? what a major line up i wanna go to that show.

my musical state of mind has been to make more.

Image by Laurie Lynn Stark

Your music is very raw and seemingly unfussed over. Does inspiration find you in a mostly spontaneous fashion? oh it’s fussed . i am fussy . music for me is never just one thing. sometimes a song comes easy like it was layin on my night stand when i woke up. other times i feel like i have to cut my body open, drown in my tears and claw at the floor just to get one word out. inspiration is endless when you show up for it.

How did you come to work with YUNGBLUD? he called me n asked for me to be in his video . he said there’d be lips n latex. and so…

Cher is your godmother – has she been a mentor and influence? in every single way. i am in awe of her.

As opposed to those with batteries of stylists, you seem to really own your sense of style. Who are your fashion inspirations? my brother n sister, the cramps, cher, audrey hepburn, hands, animal print, love n london. i want to dress up like my favorite singers voices.

just like in every medium, i have people i’ve worked with forever. they’re my family. we understand each other. challenge each other and force each other to be brutally honest in the things we make.

i also love fresh eyes and ears and people that find new ways to look at the same things.

Is a full Jesse Jo Stark album on the horizon? it is n soon

Rock & roll as we know it seems to be on life support. What do you think is left for it? only if you aren’t lookin. there are so many insane bands in the world. some of my favorite bands now are kids my age. it isn’t dead. you just gotta find it.

[szopenhauer]

Are there any lights on in the room you’re in? just turned the lights on 

Do you ever have to do yard work? yes

Is your school close to your house? besides high school 

Did/do you listen to Britney Spears songs? nah

Is it a windy day? nope

In the past week, have you ridden in a taxi? nooooo

What album is the current song you’re listening to off of? Progress

In your opinion, what song is the most overplayed right now? some tik tok songs

How clean is your bedroom? :x

Is there a pen within reaching distance of you? there is indeed

Are you sitting at a desk? I am

Do you normally shut your bedroom door before you go to sleep? yep

Have you seen the movie Moulin Rouge? just fragments, I know what it’s about :(

Do you prefer group or individual work? dunno, depends?

Do you have a key to anything besides your house? I am the key :P

Are you wearing anything with stripes? not currently

What time did you go to sleep last night? ugh...

Do you think you’ll do anymore surveys today? possibly

Could you ever complete a 500-piece puzzle? I did

If you could run a red light and not get caught, would you? it’s not about getting caught!

Do you like to listen to music as you do your homework? I did sometimes

Do any bands annoy you? obvi, slightly

Do you still make Christmas lists? mhm

Do you watch the show Dexter? hell no

What’s the background on your phone? jigsaw puzzles

Are you scared of any animals? mostly sloths and dead bugs, also maggots, I find kangaroos creepy too

Which song did you last listen to on repeat? KIDZ by Take That

Are you currently using a blanket? no

Are there any songs that make you cry? of course

What are you doing this weekend? we shall see ;)

When was the last time you had a haircut? oh well... I chopped my hair at night few days ago or smth because I was annoyed

Do you know what you want for Christmas? yasss

Do you watch fireworks on New Year’s Eve? always <3

Is your birthday within the next three months? it’s in February

How long is the song you’re listening to? 4.54

Is your mom or dad the older parent? mom is older than my father

Are you going to get off the computer now that you’ve finished this? ha ha ha...

Do you feel guilty? if yes, why so? many reasons :(

Does your tongue hurt? it did in the morning 

Are you sad? that’s just who I am

Does your tummy hurt? kinda

Who do you sit with at lunch? in school I was alone, home - parents if they’re home and hungry at the same time

Were you wrong all along? about what? don’t feed my paranoia 

I fucking hate Rihanna, do you? why?

Are you the only person awake right now? my mother is awake as well

Do you feel alone? I like to be 

Are you itchy? sorta

Do you need to wash your face? meh

Do you want animals when you grow up? . doubt it

Do you have an annoying old grandmother? no comment

Do you like llamas? I LOVE LLAMAS! yeah

How would you like to kill someone? oh my

Do you like to wear clothes? yep

When’s the last time you pooped? today

Pencils or markers? markers

What’s your favorite pattern? can’t decide

How long is your penis? I don’t have one lol

Do your boobs hang low? getting old

Do you ever replace the lyrics in songs to make them inappropriate? what for?

What’s your opinion on Miley Cyrus? I don’t care about her

Can i have your number? you can’t

What’s your gender? ... my brain got blank and I wanted to type my name lmfao - female tho 

What did you call your privates when you were little? I don’t recall

Do you cut yourself? nothing deep

What’s your favorite name? I like several

What’s your current mood? not good enough 

Are you awkward? very

Can you joke about rape? no way

Do you have good eye sight? it seems, for now

Are you good at English? pretty good

Have you ever seen a penis? not that I wanted to

Do you have dandruff? sadly

When your watching a video, does it bother if you can see the cursor? not really?

is your computer slow? : it’s shit

Do you want to puke? tiny bit

Are what age did you realize that knees was spelt with a k? when I learned the world

Do you live with your grandparents? parents

Do you hate your family? some of the members 

Do you use smiley faces? yeah

Do you like to see it snowing outside? no thx

Whoever you are dating, could you see yourself being with them forever? it’s complicated

Do you like eating soup in the winter? season doesn’t matter

Do you like getting jewelry or do you not wear any? not wear any usually

Did/Do you get school cancellations because of snow? not even when we had massive snow days

Have you ever used the word ‘lame’? yes

Do you eat dinner with your family every night? not every single night

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have a baby right now? ewwww

Do you like Taylor Swift, or do you think she’s overrated? overrated but don’t hate her

Do you like to draw? rarely

Do you take long walks very often? maybe

What would you do if you heard pebbles being tossed at your window at 3 AM? no idea :o

Do you read books that are ‘for little kids’? might

Are fingerless gloves awesome? :3

Would you rather be cannibalistic or die in the wilderness? die, yuk

How many middle names do you have? 0

What color is your favorite pair of shoes? black?

Does your best friend have a driver’s license? they don’t

Is ice cream one of your favorite desserts? could say so

What size drink do you usually get at fast food restaurants? I don’t get drinks there 

How many syllables does your name have? 3 + 4

How often do you actually wake up in a good mood? pfft

What is the funniest thing a child has ever said to you? I don’t remember, can’t choose

Do you let your pets on your furniture? no

Can you usually tell when someone has feelings for you? I assume they lie to gain

Do you believe in fairies, gnomes, or elves? gnomes, maybe fairies, elves could exist in the past like medieval times

What is your favorite thing to cook for someone else? I hate cooking

Have you ever bought underwear simply because it made your underwear drawer look nice? wait what?

Opinions on cold pizza? yum

What’s been on your mind lately? lots

When you drive - if you do - how do you hold the wheel? not applicable

Who was the last person to turn you on? my gf

[herefortayloronly]

Rare First Impressions

Sooooo I’m a Selena fan. Out of all the Disney/Nick act that came out (Miley/Demi/Ariana/Jonas Brothers/Selena), Selena is my favorite. People give her a lot of crap for not having a strong voice but some things I always praise Selena for is knowing when to use her voice and partnering with good writers and producers to make the best songs.

I want to do a quick first impressions of Rare because why not? It’s my blog, I can do what I want.

Rare: This song is an example of Selena picking the right people to make this song, the right song, the right message to put out. It’s a very smart message to put out especially going through such a difficult few years. And then building an entire album around it. Again smart!

Dance Again: Just a feel good song. Definitely a fun song to put on when I wanna feel good about myself.

Look At Her Now: I really like the everything about this song but the chorus. It’s honestly so lazy and completely wasted on such amazing verses. But again another fun, feel good song. 

Lose You To Love Me: Something about this song feels a little bit off to me for some reason. It’s such a minor thing so I’m gonna let it go lol. But I think it’s a beautiful song. I’m just tremendously proud of Selena. She’s been a part of my life just as much as Taylor’s so to see those two support each other makes me feel like a proud parent. This song is such a great transformation for Selena and I hope to see her grow as an artist.

Ring: On the first listen, I thought this was gonna be one of my top favorites but after listening to the album a few more times, it’s definitely a little more in the middle if I had to rank these. I really like the melody. I love the style. But something is missing. It feels kinda out of place compares to the other songs.

Vulnerable: Love!! As of right now, I think this song has the best lyrics. I love the questions asked in the verses. I think it’s exactly what the song is about. Those questions are exactly what we feel or think in our heads but we never really ask out loud because we’re too scare to be vulnerable. But this song is like, you have to be vulnerable.

People You Know: I like it. I don’t know why but for some reason this song remind me so much of early 2000s pop lol. I feel like Britney Spears can sing this song. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s a good song. 

Let Me Get Me: Probably one of my top favorites!! My favorite type of songs are really upbeat fun songs but they’re actually deep, sad songs. This is a good example of that. It’s fun but the message of the song is you won’t let you get yourself down and cherish every little happy moment and not being in your head.

Crowded Room: It’s alright. It’s probably my least favorite. It feels a little bland and nothing super special.

Kinda Crazy: Pretty good. Enjoyable. Kinda a filler in my opinion but I think it’s a grower and maybe if I listen to this outside of the album it’d be good.

Fun: I think this is another song that feels kinda out of place for me. It’s a fun song but doesn’t really do much for me in the context of the album. But it could definitely be a grower. 

Cut You Off: I mean guitar (bass guitar I think?) solo is my weakness. This is a style I never thought Selena would explore. I like it.

A Sweeter Place: I love this song!! Such a good song to wrap up the album.

Overall, I think this is Selena’s strongest album, in terms of message, lyrics and just the overall feel. She seems to be in such a better place and more stable place in her life and you can really feel that throughout the album. However, between Rare and Revival, I’d have to say I love Revival more, just based on first impressions. I think Rare has a lot of highs, there are a few songs that I would say is the best of Selena but it’s not consistent for me. There are a few songs that feel off for the album but are great on their own. But as a whole I think it’s a strong album. 

Ranking (after first impressions):

Rare 

Let Me Get Me 

A Sweeter Place 

Dance Again 

Vulnerable 

Look At Her Now 

Lose You To Love Me 

Cut You Off 

Ring 

People You Know 

Fun 

Kinda Crazy 

Crowded Room

[fucknfurter]

Top Ten Favorite Album Covers

Tagged by: @britneyshakespeare (thank you so much! <333)

Okay, so I was tagged in a meme that asks you to list your top ten favorite album covers and why, so that’s what this is below the cut. Some of them aren’t even included in my favorite albums list; the reasons why they’re included will be listed in the ‘why’ parts.

1. Guns N’ Roses “Appetite For Destruction” album

This is an album that is in the list of favorites, and I think it’s been there since I was eleven years old. The reason why it’s first on this list is because of how much of an influence it’s had on my life since I was three or four years old. My mother had the album, and the first Christmas I can actually remember helping her set up the tree, this was the album playing in the background as we strung up lights and hung ornaments. I also remember my mom having a window decal of the Appetite cross in her window, and I can remember all the times I’d raise her blinds so I could stare at the little skulls and trace the outline of their shape with my finger. And I wasn’t even a hardcore fan yet, much less a casual fan.

I didn’t become an actual fan of Guns N’ Roses until I was eleven, but those are memories that have stuck with me my entire life. The album cover itself is fucking ICONIC, with other fandoms and bands copying the design many, many times throughout the years. Pretty well known fact: The second album pictured is what Appetite was originally meant to look like, but Geffen saw it going over badly, so they had the boys change it before releasing. The Appetite cross was made the cover, instead, and it’s actually based on the same tattoo Axl has on his forearm.

2. Britney Spears “Britney” album

You may ask me, “Why not the BOMT cover? Or the Oops cover?” Well, there’s many reasons. The biggest is the Britney album, her third release, was when I officially became a stan. This was also a huge shift in Britney’s career, as she went from being a bubblegum pop crusader to a more hip hop sort of sound and being a complete sex kitten.

I was fifteen when this album was released, and apart of Britney’s main demographic-- which, back then, was pre-teen and teenage girls. A lot of my friends were forced to leave Britney behind because their parents thought what she was doing was too sexual, too risque: but not my mom. My mom hated pop altogether, but she would never censor what I wanted to watch or listen to. 

I adored every song on this album, and I even still have my original copy; though, since I’ve had it since fecking 2001, it tends to skip on several songs now.

3. Guns N’ Roses “Use Your Illusion I/II” album(s)

If you know me at all, you know that Use Your Illusion II is cited as my favorite album of all time: and with good reason. But seeing as both albums embody the amazingness that is Guns N’ Roses, in all their glory, I felt both should be included. (Not to mention, my all-time favorite Guns song is “Coma”, which can be found on Use Your Illusion I.)

I’m one of those fans who can imitate the Axl falsetto, and I know every Guns N’ Roses song by heart-- I even know Axl’s ad-libs by heart, every waver in his voice, every spoken word, and every growl, screech, and pant: And if you want to see something REALLY funny, play any of their albums to watch me try to imitate ALL the extra noises while also trying to sing the verses and the chorus/bridge. It’s great fun.

But the reason why both are here is because I will be quick to cite this as Guns best album(s)/best work, with deep, thought-provoking lyrics and songs you can really relate to: and so I associate both covers and their paintings with masterpieces.

4. Hole’s “Live Through This” album

I was eight years old when this album was released, and my mom was a huge rock fan: it was inevitable that she was going to buy it. At some point I overheard her listening to it, and I liked it so much that I went and snagged it from her room when she wasn’t looking one afternoon. I was shocked that a woman could have just as much fury and disdain for the world as the male rockers I so often heard, and I was mesmerized. I got my best friend at the time, Penny, into the album as well, and every weekend we could be found in my bedroom dancing along to the whole of this album, and screaming out every snarled “FUCK” at the top of our lungs because it was a WOMAN CURSING AND IT WAS COOL.

This still remains one of my favorite albums to this day, though its meaning to me has quite obviously changed over time.

5. Marilyn Manson’s “Portrait of an American Family/Smells Like Children” album(s)

First off, these are both included in my top ten list because the covers are just fucking cool. They’re also both included because these are my favorite Marilyn albums, uncontested even by Antichrist Superstar or Mechanical Animals. These are also the two albums I had the full length posters from in my room when I was a pre-teen, with the first’s poster on one of my closet doors, and the second’s poster on the wall near the door frame to my bedroom.

Both covers leave me feeling some kind of way, which is usually being hit by waves of nostalgia and urge to listen to either one, or both.

6. Alice In Chain’s “Facelift” album

This is another album that was an impressionable part of my childhood. I remember when this album cover alone used to scare the piss out of me: but I also adored just how brightly colored it was, at the same time. It was one of my mom’s favorites to listen to on the way to work, which meant that I typically heard it on the way to school. I spent my first and second grade years always getting into trouble for singing the lyrics to Man in the Box and We Die Young.

7. The original Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack

Over the years, there’s been a LOT of Rocky Horror official albums. It seems like a new one comes out every big anniversary -- though they still have yet to actually put BOTH Planet Schmanet Janet AND Planet Hot Dog on one of them, after over forty years.

This one, however, happens to be the original soundtrack. If you have a Rocky Horror album, this is probably the one you also have. By the time I bought this album I was well into both the movie and the stage show, but the cover itself was still every bit as strange to me as the story had been during my first (and second) watch. Even the back cover of the album is pretty memorable to me, which looks something like this:

Frankly, this is one of the absolute MUST HAVE Rocky albums to me. I have three of them: this one, the 1973 London RHS official cast recording (it looks like this), and the 1974 Roxy RHS official cast recording (looks like this). Other Rocky albums tend to come and go with me -- meaning I’ve lost them over time -- and while the 25th anniversary soundtrack is memorable to me because it was the first to FINALLY include Planet Schmanet Janet, this is one I absolutely have to keep up with.

(And I have, for the record, just as I have all of my quintessential three.)

8. Guns N’ Roses “GN’R Lies” album

For anyone who knows Guns, you probably already know that this is just the Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide demo in its first four tracks, with four others tacked on. It’s also the album that houses the popular “Patience”. A mock up of tabloids, the little short pieces are actually humorous to read, if you ever get the chance. There’s even a section that’s called, “Can Axl Help You?”, where you’re encouraged to ask Axl Rose for life advice-- a Geffen address is even given.

It simply had to make the list simply because its an album that was a big part of my growing up.

9. Danzig’s 1988 self-titled album

Y’all have no idea how much of a role this man played in my life, despite me not exactly being a fan of him. My mother was, and there’s also something else I can’t mention here: but parts of it include me having conversations with Glenn himself, one of which where he asked me, “Does your mom make you eat your vegetables?”, and my reply being a cocky, “My mama doesn’t make me eat anything I don’t wanna eat, Mister Danzig.” So yes, this one’s kind of personal to me, but it’s also not my story to tell. Make sense? No? Cool.

Danzig was one of the first concerts I went to. I think it was my mom’s way of testing the waters with me and concerts, because I started going to them at an early age. I was seven when I was brought to my first Danzig show, and I distinctly remember seeing him and his band every two years or more after that up until I was sixteen. I saw Marilyn Manson for the first time because of him, and was exposed to Marilyn as such-- same with KoЯn and Six Feet Under. The dude introduced me to some really kickass bands, because he’d always feature new metal acts on his tours.

My childhood is intertwined with this album, Lucifuge, Satan’s Child, and every other Danzig album and Misfits album in between. As a result, this is a band and a man I know without having to actually be a fan; because of this, if I’m ever freaking out about something unfamiliar, this is one of the best things to play to help me calm my nerves: and this album in particular. Just put on Soul on Fire on and give me a few minutes to stop freaking out.

10. Type O Negative’s “Bloody Kisses” album

Another album my mother introduced me to as a little kidlet, and also one of my favorite albums of all-time: this one was dodgy when I was younger, because from the very first song, this is a fucking experience. This is goth metal at its finest-- and Machine Screw is one HELL of an introduction to the band/the album. With all of the orgasmic moans and it unforgivingly launching into Christian Woman right after, a song about a religious chick being down with the thought of... I can’t even say it because I know it’s going to offend one of you motherfuckers (go listen to the song if you want to know what she’s down with, lmfao): I was sure my mom would overhear me playing this album and chew my ass out, because this wasn’t just profanities being screamed at the top of someone’s lungs, or angry lyrics. This was pure gothic sex, and Peter’s voice only further stresses that point.

Hell, I was even scared I’d get in trouble for eyeing the cover art for too long: for an album that belonged to my mother, that she’d seen before.

Tagging: @watermelonbabytea, @kessho, @ilovetacos, @danascullys, @lovelovelovedeluxe, @clockworkfigures, @lucifersmcrningstar, @isitabluewhale, I have cursed enough of y’all.

[raefill]

For the identity ask. Prepare yourself. -deep breath- 1-3, 8, 11, 18, 20, 24, and 29 (so i can listen to them) ❤❤

This got a little long so I’m going to put it under the cut ^^;

1. if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to? Hmm, I’m not sure you’d understand me afterwards but my favourite film is Girl, Interrupted. My favorite TV show is probably True Blood, I don’t watch much TV and that’s the last thing I was really suckered into. You’d have to read a hell of a lot of books because I have an entire bookcase of favorites. But right now I’m reading The Raven King which is pretty good. Then listen to a lot of classic rock. Although right now I’m listening to a lot of Porter Robinson, which is a very different sound lmao. Also you would have to watch so so much anime. SO MUCH. I’ve spent thousands of hours watching anime.

2. have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who? I’m not sure about thinking like me but there’s been so many incidents where I’ve been thinking/talking about writing something in private and then @sciencefictioness pops up with the same idea. Sometimes you don’t even post it on tumblr and i see you mention it in the group chat and i just???? We seem to vibe with the same kinds of pairings and kinks, which is probably why this keeps happening to me T_T lolol

3. list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with. SnK: it’s v difficult to vibe with a character from snk bc theyre all pushed to their absolute mental and emotional limits. But maybe Levi. No time for your shit and doesn’t want to talk about it. That’s very me, i guess. Haikyuu!!: Akaashi, not super noticeable or special, surrounded by idiots, doing his best anyway. Fairy Tail:  Erza! I’m not very much like her but I do want to be her, omg, she’s GOALS. Free!: Haru. I also suffer from silent syndrome. Especially in group settings. I think people find me hard to read bc I struggle to just say so sometimes. Also I have the resting bitch face of the century.

8. what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime? Not many. I never listened to much music as a kid because all me and my mum had for a while was a radio and she only ever listened to music from her generation. Obviously my Dad was listening to bands like Meatloaf, Guns n’ Roses and Queen - who i do genuinely love. And then all I had of my own were hand me down Kylie Minogue, Pink and Britney Spears CDs from my stepsisters so I was late to that party too. I didn’t really discover a way to listen to whatever I wanted until I was 14 and my Dad gave his old computer to my Mum and then I was listening to a lot of Avenged Sevenfold, Young Guns, All Time Low, You Me at Six, Paramore, Slipknot, 30 Seconds to Mars, Lady Gaga, and strangely enough, Christina Aguilera lolol I’ve ended up with a very eclectic music taste bc I still listen to a lot of my Mum’s favourites too.

11. describe your ideal day. Wake up without an alarm. That’s always satisfying. But preferably still in the early am. Get up, shower, put on a little makeup, yknow~ look cute af. Go somewhere. Maybe a park, or if I was in my hometown I’d go to the beach. Meet a friend there or something. Hang out for a bit. Eat nice food, go home. Take off all makeup and get into my pajamas. Read for as long as I want to. Eat some more nice food. Maybe watch some anime if there’s anything I’m liking at the moment. Get in bed. Get snuggly. Fall asleep happy.

18. what’s your patronus? Pottermore says my patronus is a leopard, which is probably correct since I’m basically a cat.

20. would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else? Narnia. I love those books so much. I’ve read all seven about seven times.

24. have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone? Like the thing in Star Trek? I mean yeah, I guess. But I’m a very empathetic person so it’s not really strange for me to be upset just because someone else is etc.

29. three songs that you connect with right now. Divinity and Years of War - Porter Robinson. And I keep listening to Shape of You by Ed Sheeran for some reason. There’s actually a lot of OTP songs on his new album so >.>

[britneyshakespeare]

i was tagged a few days ago by @real-pain-for-my-sham-friends to do my top 10 favorite album covers, and i’m finally gettin’ around to doin it now. here we go.

(these aren’t really in any order by the way)

1. Blondie’s Autoamerican (1980)

Blondie’s not a band I’ve ever been sure about my favorite album by. Parallel Lines (1978) is easily their most iconic, and I think it deserves to be because it has some of the best singles of their career. But I think Eat to the Beat (1979) has some of their best punk rock songs, and Blondie (1976) flows the best together as one consolidated piece of work. But Autoamerican is easily their most glamorous, stylized album. It was Blondie’s entrance to the 1980s, seemingly already aware of what the zeitgeist of that decade would be. It meshes the nostalgia for the jazzier early 20th century nostalgia that pervaded the decade with songs like “Here’s Looking At You” and manages to be utterly modern with the unparalleled hit single off the album, “Rapture” which infuses elements of jazz, disco, hip hop, and ska, and also managed to be the first music video featuring a rap to make it to MTV. And I really feel like the album cover really is as 1980s in aesthetic as the rest of the album. It, I think, is Blondie’s most well-representative album cover.

2. Britney Spears’ Circus (2008)

I love Radar (2007) as much as everyone else, and think it gets the credit it’s due by fans and critics alike, but I’ve always preferred Circus. I think of it like the Kill Bill vol. 2 of Britney albums. Part one being Radar was epic and action-packed in terms of aesthetic, promotion, and Britney’s unfortunately unraveling personal life at the time of release. But part two is easily just as good and there’s a lot that’s unique about it that doesn’t always get pointed out. I feel like the songs on Circus, singles and non-single tracks alike, have more word play, are catchier, and they stay with, well, at least me, in a different way than Radar. I also love the aesthetic of the promotions and performances of the era, I feel like the theme of it is such a defining piece of culture from the late 2000s.

3. The Beatles’ The Beatles (1968)

If I’ve ever talked to you about the Beatles, you probably know that this is my favorite album of theirs, and probably always has been. It was the one I loved and listened to the most as a kid, as much as a lot of qualities that made the Beatles as great as they were went over my head. For that, I’ll always have that sentimental attachment to it the most. In retrospect, I don’t think it’s as great as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) or Abbey Road (1969), and a lot has been said about why those albums are the near-perfect masterpieces that they’re generally considered to be. I don’t need to say my part on that, my opinion on those albums are well-represented. But I feel like my opinion on the White Album just isn’t. Not many people hate this album per se, but it gets a lot of criticism for not being easily the least clear-cut and concise album. But, ya see, that’s the thing I just love about it. The White Album goes from parody (”Back in the USSR”), to ska (”Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”), to music hall (”Martha My Dear”), to jazz (”Honey Pie”), to heavy metal (”Helter Skelter”), to blues rock (”Revolution 1″), to avant-garde (”Revolution 9″), to country (”Rocky Raccoon”), to whatever the hell proto-Queen-esque genre you would consider “Happiness is a Warm Gun” to be. And no, obviously not every song on this album is not equal in quality. But what it demonstrates to me is just how versatile the Beatles had the ability to be. In that respect, I still don’t think they’ve been matched by any other band since or before them. Given, after they stopped touring in 1966, they had a lot more creative freedom by not having to worry about being able to perform a song live (which is also part of the reason why Sgt. Pepper’s and Abbey Road could be so cutting edge), which isn’t a privilege that many groups share. The White Album really is just the Beatles being the Beatles. The album cover goes the right way in not representing an image other than the name of the band. It’s the Beatles doing what they do best. You’ll get what you come for.

4. Panic! at the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005)

Let me just start off by saying Panic! at the Disco is easily one of if not my favorite band to debut in the twenty-first century so far. And one of their skills that remarkably hasn’t gone away even with the changes the band has gone through in terms of member line up and musical style is that they always know how to fill a fuckin’ album. Fever is probably tied with Pretty. Odd. (2008) as my favorite album by them (it really depends on the day, I go back and forth between them, they’re both remarkable in completely different ways), simply just because it’s 2017 and I’m still not over Ryan Ross. This album in particular is just one-of-a-kind, no matter how many bands Panic! has been compared to since their very beginning. I listened to this album in full for the first time when I was 13 or 14 years old and was just astounded because I hadn’t heard anything like it. I was deep into pop-punk at the time and more than any other band I think Panic! helped me get out of that by being so different and much artsier and more interesting than any other band that could be called pop-punk. And it still blows my mind that this album was put together by just a few kids who recently graduated high school. The lyrics, imagery, and themes are so mature and unique, with a good mix of Ross’ personal life and pure ingenuity in every piece. And immediately the band was so stylized, which they still manage today. Just, the way the album seemlessly switches from techno-dance-influenced rock to orchestral, theatrical songs still amazes me. And I think the abstract, unforgettable artwork on the album cover represents the lyrics, music, and style of Panic! at the time very, very well.

5. Led Zeppelin’s Untitled (often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV) (1971)

Boy, do I love me some Zeppelin. IV is actually, in my unpopular opinion, not the best Led Zeppelin album, but a very close and honorable second to Houses of the Holy (1973), and I get it. I get why everyone thinks this is their best album. It’s not just because “Stairway to Heaven” is in its track-listing, although, let’s not act like that’s not one of the most iconic rock songs of the last 50 years for good reason. IV as a novel would read like epic poetry. Frontman and songwriter Robert Plant and the rest of the band took a lot of creative influence in their music from author J. R. R. Tolkien and it shows even if you’re not familiar with Tolkien’s work firsthand but only from pop culture references to Lord of the Rings. The destitute country man on the cover just looks like a character out of one of Tolkien’s novels. The characters described in the songs on this album, which flows naturally from hard rock, folk, and heavy metal, give you great mental pictures of what Plant had in mind when he would work as a songwriter, and this album definitely was when he proved he wasn’t just a pretty boy fronting a band with three of the best instrumentalists in rock and roll then, and ever. Led Zeppelin was always a powerhouse from the year they formed and debuted, and guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones were well-respected studio musicians, and John Bonham broke down barriers of conventional percussion in rock and roll by taking influence from many early twentieth century jazz drummers. But as a band, their fourth album is where it felt like they finally all fit together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle. The promotional artwork represents the themes of the album quite well.

6. Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock and Roll (2013)

First things first: Fall Out Boy is probably never, ever gonna top how this album made me feel when it first came out. Their comeback is the kind of lightning-in-a-bottle miracle that doesn’t happen to a band twice. Though my favorite album by them has always been Folie a Deux (2008), and this album didn’t change that, I just lost my 14-year-old shit when “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” came out. One of my favorite bands was back. It was a awe-inspiring, so many people honestly thought we would never hear from them again, myself included. I still get goosebumps whenever I listen to “Save Rock and Roll” feat. Elton John and it gets to the part: “Oh, no, we won’t go, ‘cause we don’t know when to quit.” But, personal experiences and embarrassing fangirling aside, this album is still worth the recognition it got when it came out. And I remember when Pete Wentz first leaked this album cover and explained it as non-conformity vs. tradition standing side-by-side. It’s an image that stays with you. And even though strictly speaking this isn’t even Fall Out Boy’s most pure rock album, I still remember the day when they leaked all their own songs a week before it was put on sale, and watching them, they’d put homages to their influences in the eyes of the skeleton on the promotional artwork:

and it reminded me a lot of the faces on the Sgt. Pepper’s cover that I purposely didn’t talk about earlier... But it was just. It was so fucking cool. They worked with Elton John. Okay. Wow. This is my least eloquent explanation because uhhhm like I said I lost all my shit when this album was released and haven’t gotten it back in these four and a half years since and can’t take the time to separate my smart-ha-I’m-so-intellectual raving commentary from my deep, emotional attachment to Fall Out Boy, okay? Forgive me.

7. Get Set Go’s So You’ve Ruined Your Life (2003)

Get Set Go is one of my favorite tragically-underrated bands. If you like indie rock with upbeat music and lyrics about clinical depression, they’re the new band for you. So You’ve Ruined Your Life is their first album, and I think the title of the album sums up Get Set Go’s outlook on the world. Most of their songs are pessimistic, with very cynical, blunt lyrics. Their main songwriter (and only remaining member) Mike TV explores themes of the inevitability of death and sexual frustration... a lot. On pretty much every album of theirs, actually. Dude should probably be seeing a therapist but that’s beside the point. The artwork on the cover of this album is very, very early 2000s and has a certain charm to it. Thinking about it, it actually reminds me of the aesthetic of Gorillaz, appropriately. But it fits the feel of the punk-influenced songs on this album which very much belong to the year it came out. They’ve branched out a lot artistically since 2003 but of all their album covers, I think this is probably my favorite for the images it invokes in my mind when I listen to it. It gives the songs characters and a setting, and a color scheme like a movie set to music.

8. Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English (1979)

I’m only very recently getting into Marianne Faithfull’s music, so I haven’t listened to this album as much as I have the other ones on this list, but she’s just becoming a new favorite figure of mine so quickly that I can’t not talk about this to the extent that I feel like I know. Faithfull got her start in the early-mid 1960′s as one of the leading female acts during the British Invasion. By 1966 she was in a very public relationship with Mick Jagger and had an influence on some of the Rolling Stones’ early music. She had a beautiful, bird-like, airy soprano voice. But in the 1970s her personal life nearly collapsed. She was struggling with alcoholism, heroin addiction, and anorexia nervosa, living on the streets of London. She was starting to pull herself back together by the time she made this album (though those problems were still present after its release, they didn’t just magically poof away), but the voice that she had when she was just a teenager wasn’t there anymore. Years of drug use and consistent cigarette-smoking caught up with her voice and she wasn’t able to sing in the same high register that made her famous. It was rougher, deeper, and what some critics would refer to as “whisky-soaked”. And unlike the mostly acoustic, folk and blues-inspired work that she was doing in the 60s, Broken English was very much an exceptional new wave album, with obvious punk roots. I listened to “Why D’ya Do It” for the first time and thought one thing to myself: The Clash. And what I love about the album cover is it’s different from the much softer pictures on her earlier albums, which were also mostly of her. By sticking to the personality cover formula but making a dim-lit, gritty image of her just says: “This isn’t the little girl who dated Mick Jagger. This is a woman who’s been through hell and back. This is a changed Marianne Faithfull.” And I love how she was forced to reinvent herself out of necessity, and she managed to be maybe even more exceptional than she was before.

9. No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom (1995)

I just love this album. It’s No Doubt’s definitive album with good reason. I prefer Return of Saturn (2000) just slightly, but just like Led Zeppelin IV I really have no qualms with this being their biggest. I love everything about it. Hard punk tracks like “Excuse Me Mr.” and the Queen-esque “The Climb” and the absolutely unforgettable “Just a Girl” and of course, “Don’t Speak”, easily their most well-known song. There are so many different vibes from song to song but it manages to feel so densely-packed into what definitely feels like one solid album with no filler. And the album cover is just delightfully strange. I love seeing Gwen standing up front with those ridiculous Ronald McDonald shoes. The dead vegetation surrounding the band in the center of the picture. It and of course Gwen’s Wonder Woman-like power stance like it’s just absolutely glorious. It’s a piece of art in itself that the album, if it had been nameless, would just scream to be called something like “Tragic Kingdom”. And it fits the vibe of No Doubt’s ska-punk being at its peak on this album.

10. Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)

Ah, yes, Bob Dylan. Every high school English teacher’s favorite singer. I’m also a more recent Dylan fan (not as recent as Faithfull but considering how much there is of his still-continuing discography, there’s a great amount of his work I’m still yet to listen to). I didn’t start listening to him until this year actually. This was the first album of his I chose to listen to in full, in part because I was familiar with the title track. I really dig the album cover because of how present-to-its-time it was. The newspaper typeface being emulated works as a good visual for the very 1964 poetry Dylan includes on the tracks. And let’s not get confused: Dylan’s a poet first and foremost, and then a musician. He’s not the giant he is for his music but for his contemporary prose he delivers in his songs. It’s why Chuck Berry, great as he was, wasn’t rewarded the Nobel Poetry Prize, but Dylan was. And this is, I think, the most irreplaceable album cover in his discography. A vital visual for him in his early career, definitely.

Oh boy, I didn’t mean to ramble on as much as I did in this. I tag @lovelyeojin, @feeblepeony, @adzbrandmusic, @whatsol, @alfrdopacino, @fucknfurter and @jisoox. You guys totally don’t have to go as in-depth as I did here laskdjfalsidf I just like being a music dork I’m really an album person at heart.

[tinymixtapes]

Music Review: Taylor Swift - Reputation

Taylor Swift Reputation [Big Machine; 2017] Rating: 3/5 “Here’s something I’ve learned about people.” 1 We talk like there’s only one thing. We assume the inevitability of the world the way it is. We maintain that we are singulars existing linearly in line with a reality that is already dictated, long ago and unchangeably so. Things that have been remain forever as are echos of were; the bottom line is the bottom. Things are their reputations, more or less all over again and always: “Hold onto the memories/ They will hold onto you.” It sucks sometimes, this reliance on reputation. It helps sometimes, like when you have to drag legs out of bed to get on the road to get on the clock, to get goods and achieve and survive. Some confidence in an unmoving reality is a comfort. It helps, it hurts. We wind up wrenching dissatisfaction back into reassurance. I am my me, and this oh-well world is the way things are. I don’t feel good, but maybe just enough can really actually be enough. Except if you slip once or squint a little, there’s room to glitch and wiggle. Can you see you look two ways? Can you break2 your reputation’s reflection? There’s a lot more to you than there is to you. “We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us.” We think we know the world, but we just know the version everyone’s told us is. If we could peel back some of the inevitables, we might get something better than just enough. Are you ready for it? “…Ready For It?” is track one on Taylor Swift’s sixth studio release, Reputation. It’s a scattered and fried slab of poached sounds: some trap drums that thrum, some liberally-dropped bass gristles. Taylor Swift waxes puns (“We’ll move to an island/ And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor”) and lobs lust at the object of her attentions, “Younger than my exes, but he act like such a man, so.” The Joseph Kahn-helmed video, an unpinnable and unwinnable sci-fi slop, pits black-hooded maybe-replicant Taylor Swift against captive probably-real/sometimes-on-a-horse Taylor Swift. “…Ready For It?” is impossibly stupid, a wheeling stab at a pop snarl that’s mostly burnt marshmallows. Sometimes I’m really bored by it. Sometimes I feel like dancing. There are plenty of reasons to not listen to Reputation. It’s an assertion of privileged desires (the dreary and overstuffed “King Of My Heart”) and a defense of bad choices (“I Did Something Bad,” flatulating baroque dubstep) made by Taylor Swift, who doesn’t exist, not like we do in our days and jobs and loves and dog walks. Taylor Swift Co. broke after Kanye West Inc. won, and neither of those things are real people and there’s nothing to win or lose except time and patience and maybe hope in pop music. Reputation is the boring screaming gesture on behalf of a marketing fleet, an advertisement reaching out expecting your righteous empathy. Except if Taylor Swift could be a person (she is, somewhere), she could break a little; Reputation is what those shards might sound like, little slivers swept up and chipping into each other. Reputation applied to pop’s mythological (and imaginary) narrative is part marketing strategy and part public fanfic: Britney Spears, an American Dream rotted in incubus; Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, goddess fixture birthing futures; Mariah Carey, the renewed every new year train wreck. It’s nearly always our divas who we wall up and scrutinize. And that’s on us, a failure we’re still trying to right. Even in the phantasm field of pop music (supposedly dreams, supposedly forever), we’re all too content to script and restrict the narrative. “The point being, despite our need to simplify and generalize absolutely everyone and everything in this life, humans are intrinsically impossible to simplify.” The point being, there’s a next you for you to be, if you want it. Over the sirens and clomps of her broken Reputation, Taylor Swift sings, “This is why we can’t have nice things darling/ Because you break them, I had to take them away.” It’s the sound of an anxious and confident artist striving and trying to, like on her soundest victories, connect. But where past Taylor Swifts have sheened in cohesion, Reputation is all jagged edge. It’s not edgy, to be sure: the shapes of these songs (admirably co-fashioned by Jack Antonoff and Max Martin and Shellback) welcome accessibility and the abundant, and occasionally redundant hooks are like a shark’s dermal scales, interlocked rows of teeth that sink and hit in waves. You’ll all chomp the shouted chorus of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” when you’re waiting for that Black Friday night table at the hometown Denny’s; “Getaway Car” has at least five spots you’ll hum when you’re shopping for a partner’s bathrobe or a cat’s favorite holiday-shaped crunchies. You’ll be in Target. Like listening to Reputation, you’ll feel engaged and a little let down. But you might dance, too. That first single “Look What You Made Me Do” has a no-chorus that’s pretty dynamite. I swore there was nothing there until it wouldn’t go away. Taylor Swift’s care for craft remains, even if some of the flourishes are frantic. The good pop stuff (the kind that isn’t there until it won’t go away) looks like , a less-than/greater-than ballet: the artist has a single detail that gets blown up into a universal that resounds everywhere, only to re-narrow down to another individual. And for all the exhausting and eye-rolling album-roll out, the goddamn trucks, the perilously (and nearly damningly) apolitical hedging, Reputation is a testament to pop’s plastic doubling time. Taylor Swift broke some. Instead of Miley’s apologetic retreat into self-reducing nostalgia mode or Katy Perry’s cover band fart stab at #midtempo #weird, Taylor Swift and every single one of her problems doubles down on an exploratory pop mode, winked at on Red, exploded into on 1989. Taylor Swift broke some and didn’t apologize for breaking the reality we set for her. “Look what you just made me do.” And that pronoun might as well be about us. It’s Kanye and Kim, for sure and stupidly. But at its highest points, Reputation lobs pop responsibility back at the only party that matters: us. “All eyes on you, my magician/ All eyes on us/ You make everyone disappear, and/ Cut me into pieces.” Without a public willing to eviscerate and fandomize and tweet for, reputations vanish. “So it goes/ I’m yours to keep/ and I’m yours to lose.” Taylor Swift is willing to endure the idolatry and the idiocy; she’ll kill her one self dead in order to be the next new one in conversation with us (already immortal, never not cringe-worthy but also the most I’ve laughed in a pop song this year): “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh. Because she’s dead.” She’ll point us in a new direction, one different from how things look now. Like anything intrepid, it might be way off course of where we thought we were headed. But pop’s premise is plasticity, a precedent set when The Beatles and Stevie Wonder and Kate Bush promised with each next thing that the next next thing would be different and changed in some way. It would react to the world, but not without a vision to change it: “So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to” It’s still icky. It’s important not to forget the icky stuff. Corporatizing forces will see how we like to dance and change and move forward, and they’ll sniff a buck. Part rumination on engaging with the pop icon and part deep end even after eating the meal, Reputation keeps the ball in the air, argues for moving forward, even if it’s herky jerky. It’s infuriating, how coached some of these flows are. It’s baffling how “End Game” spots guest verses from Future (!) and Ed Sheeran (!!) and manages to be a song fit snug in the part of our brains that makes us sway in the face of a world’s despairing. It’s joyous to barely see the invisible pulleys pulling my heart in on the hemi-clap of “Getaway Car;” those same pulleys almost undo the singer’s beating heart on “New Year’s Day.” Reputation is a bad idea, but it’s still an idea, the voice of a stranger I’d (want to) recognize anywhere. Reputation, almost utopia and frustrated icon splaying every direction, wishes the world in the new year will be a better place. Reputation has the ill-founded gall to actually envision what that world might look and sound like, even if it’s not this. 1. Bold text in this review is taken from Taylor Swift’s introduction to the Reputation, CD + Target Exclusive Magazine Vol. 2. (I bought this at the same Target where I bought my CD copy of Yeezus.) 2. Susan Sontag: “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.” Reputation does not seem to be a statement about the world so much as pieces of it, refractions that shine some of our part in the pop story back on the artifact.” http://j.mp/2jMSMTN