#and hater's anthem!!!! I love that song and hope more people check out that band

[homosexualslug]

jacob anderson dropped his season two playlist for louis and it has all of the tumblr classics (mitski, phoebe bridgers, orville peck, olivia rodrigo, etc.) and a good amount of oldies/jazz like the last one, but most importantly:

[on-the-shelves]

on my shelf: soundtrack to my fourth year of uni - summer

I’m finally done with my Bachelor’s thesis! I might make a separate, more detailed post about it, since the topic is relevant for what this blog is about (of course it is haha), but for now I can say my topic was an analysis of the use of elements from the “Pop-Star-System” in building up a girlgroup career. I looked at the history of Pop-Stars and analysed the album covers of the Supremes’ first two albums, as well as the Spice Girls and Girls’ Generation’s first albums/physical releases. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed the topic. Oh and if anyone was wondering, I’m doing a Media Studies degree, which is why I could tackle such a cool topic.

Anyway! So working on my thesis took up my entire summer semester because I luckily didn’t have any classes left to attend, so I was thankfully spared the whole online class ordeal. The music I mentioned in my last post (”Quarantunes”) has mostly stayed on repeat in the past few months. Besides an ever steady stream of BTS, there are a couple of new things to add to the list:

Tomorrow X Together: The Dream Chapter: Eternity (2020)

Now THIS is the release I’ve been waiting for from them. Their previous album had one song that had a co-writing credit for one of the members (Hueningkai on “Rollercoaster”), but this album has more! We’re finally starting to hear their writing talents more. “Maze in the Mirror” was written/demo’ed entirely by one member (Beomgyu) and in the process of preparing it for this release the other members also wrote parts. It’s a beautiful, melancholic, and dynamic song that I can highly recommend for listening to before going to sleep. The lyrics talk about how unsure they felt before debuting. I can’t wait to hear more songs where they talk about their personal experiences, because clearly they’re good at it. In general this album is much darker than their previous two releases and they suit them well. The songs are more varied, too: You have the classic TXT style opening song, but the lead single “Can’t You See Me?” is full of angst, which is new for them. “PUMA” is like dark R&B, while “Fairy of Shampoo”, a reworked cover of a popular 1990s Korean song, is more city-pop. And then you have “Eternally” which reminded me of twenty one pilots’ “Ode to Sleep” in the way it completely changes up its style several times throughout the song. It’s all coherent and flows well from top to bottom though, and I think they’re well on their way to carving their own niche in the saturated and often same-same (k-) pop landscape.

Agust D: D-2 (2020)

He finally came back. SUGA of BTS last released a mixtape under his solo moniker Agust D in 2016. That one was very dark, brazen at times, and incredibly open and honest about his struggles, ending on a note of hoping that things will get better. This follow-up release makes it clear that Agust D has become a slightly different person in the past few years. He’s still brazen at times, but he has good reason to be, looking at how incredibly successful BTS has become since 2016. As always, he makes fun of those who decide to be haters but cleverly never gets too specific - if you feel attacked, that’s on you. There is a lot of introspection on this album too. It’s generally much less defeated or dark than on the 2016 self-titled release, but it’s still not all sunshine and rainbows. His problems have morphed -  he has now achieved his dreams, but it’s not quite what he expected it to be. There are a lot of thoughts about dreams, about what it means to grow up, about what his position in the world means and feels like. That sounds like it’s very focused on himself and might be inaccessible to us non-famous people, but that’s absolutely not the case. A lot of it are quite mundane questions that everyone asks themselves in their 20s, like “what am I doing with my life?” and “what kind of person am I really?”. He makes it clear that he doesn’t have the answers, but he somehow makes you feel comforted in that uncertainty. The musical style is more like current hip-hop, where Agust D was more like harder, older hip-hop, but retains his (especially recent) typical, very melodious style, with him even singing some choruses. There are various styles and interesting production choices that make for a varied, but cohesive listening experience. 

Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor (2020)

I mentioned this album in the “Quarantunes” post as well, but the full album was released after that went up, so it deserves another mention here. This album tells a story of an emotional journey towards healing, without ever getting preachy or feeling insincere. In several interviews Hayley mentions her therapy journey and learning to deal with her trauma and how this album helped with that. Listening to all the songs in order, a journey of self-discovery, -acceptance, and -empowerment is laid out. All these things are typically found in little things and learning to change your perspective. It’s Hayley’s most feminine work yet, in the sense that she’s embracing all of her different aspects: the delicate, the powerful, the rage, the love. Everything is wrapped in sounds inspired by Alternative music, but more, as said before, the Björks, Radioheads, and synth-y 80s artists, instead of loud guitar bands. My favourite songs are “Crystal Clear”, “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris”, “Over Yet”, “Cinnamon” and “Simmer”.

IU: Palette (2017)

When it was announced that IU and SUGA from BTS (two of the most popular artists in Korea) would release a collab song, I decided to check out her (IU’s) music more intensely, because I only knew one or two of her songs from the Dalkom Café playlist on Spotify. One of them is on this album, “Palette (ft. G-Dragon)”. This album, to me, best encapsulates IU’s sound: from heartbreaking ballads to satisfying light K-R&B, to slightly darker, groovy K-R&B (I think that’s the right genre term..), this one has them all. I’m not the biggest fan of ballads, but I enjoy IU’s voice so much that I don’t mind listening to them at all. I really love it, however, when she leaves that style behind for the slightly darker, or at least more pop sounds, like on “Palette”, but especially on “Jam Jam” and “Black Out”. She has a certain attitude on those songs that are slightly opposite of the pure, innocent image I previously had of her. It seems very sincere though, most likely because she writes on all of her songs. She has been utilising this style more often in recent years, on songs like “Bbibbi” and “Blueming” (both certified bops). “Eight”, the collab with SUGA, is an uplifting, yet bittersweet feeling pop anthem that almost feels like it could’ve been just a little bit longer. I’ll probably dive deeper into her lyrics soon and I’m excited for what I will find.

Sunmi: Warning (2018)

Last summer, Sunmi released the single “Lalalay” and I immediately loved it. I learned the choreography pretty much the week after I heard it the first time. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to have much other music on her Spotify page though, just a couple of older singles (which I also immediately loved). This year she released “pporappippam” (which is basically the romanization of the Korean title which translates to Purple Night), a bittersweet, nostalgic, summer pop song, like only Sunmi can do. Seriously, no one else in K-Pop is releasing music like hers, and they probably don’t even dare to try. For those who don’t know, she used to be in one of the historically most popular girlgroups Wonder Girls. But besides that, she has been releasing her own style of pop since she started releasing solo music and Warning (which they must’ve only recently put on Spotify in full) is a pretty good encapsulation of that sound. It’s almost like a mix between K-Pop and K-R&B, but more like IU’s moodier songs for example. It’s not flashy and sparkly, but it’s not full-on groove either. It’s a bit of both and it works perfectly for her. 

--

Special mentions for new albums I haven’t listened to that much but do enjoy a lot: HAIM’s Women in Music Part III, Irene&Seulgi’s Monster, Taylor Swift’s folklore (released like a week before this post is published but it’s undeniably good and will get a longer write-up when I’ve had more time with it), Loona’s discography

[avaliveradio]

3.11 New Music Rap Caviar Generation Next is Here

WELCOME TO AVA LIVE RADIO #RAPCAVIAR FEATURING A WIDE SELECTION OF MUSIC FROM THE HIP HOP CREATORS OF THE WORLD.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW AT 2 PM ET Monday:

The Anchor Fm page: https://anchor.fm/ava-live-radio

iHeartRadio station page : https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-AVA-Live-Radio-Musi-29336730/

The Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2toX0f3dPmI8gmUSOKZicx

FEATURED ARTISTS..

Artist: Jon Hannz

New Release: The Hustle

Genre: Hip Hop

Located in: Atlanta Ga

This song is simply about the Hustle. The get up in the morning, get prepared and go Music! Like a Work Anthem. This music really sets the tone for The type of music you get from Jon Hannz. Right now we are working on the video for "The hustle". We are gonna push this one.

The motivation for me is life… I live my music every story is true. Some of my music is motivational. I feel like I have my own genre of hip hop “reality hip hop” GMS (Grown Man Shit).

The Benefits of hustling is priceless. Completing a project and seeing it flourish from work you put in to me is one of the best feelings in the world but besides that sometimes checks show up in the mail!

LINKS:  https://www.reverbnation.com/jhannz https://twitter.com/Jon_Hannz https://www.facebook.com/jhannz1 Instagram @JonHannz https://soundcloud.com/jon_hannz

Artist: Popichil`O 

New Release: Don’t Stop Me Now

Genre: Hiphop

The music I am creating is... This is real life music. Real thoughts, real emotions, real life moments. Reality not fantasy. Music that can inspire or help someone. Teach and reach. It’s ok to have a balance. We are human and sometimes I do feel like partying and sometimes I do feel like thinking. Don't take my choice away. I'm in a great place musically in my life and you can hear it and feel it threw the music.

"I'm really excited because I just finished my first EP titled "Don't Stop Me now". I am currently working on my first studio album which I'm almost halfway done with so stay in tune. This has been an exciting year for me and there's more to come. I feel truly blessed🙏🏼 Thank you for the love and support....1~Luv"

https://twitter.com/popichi https://www.instagram.com/popichilo https://www.facebook.com/popichilo https://soundcloud.com/reallyfe-muzic

Artist: ArealLifeRebel

New Release: Delusional

Genre: Hiphop, Pop

Located in: Washington DC

This song is... I started recording my EP ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ in December 2016, I finished recording it in March 2017. I had 5 songs done at the time Delusional was not one of them. I lost my father in February 2017 during the recording process. My heart was very heavy at the time, I was lost. I’m always looking for new music and May 2017 I ran into the beat for ‘Delusional.’ https://open.spotify.com/track/6k0NDKcz3aJosobt9YOmGw?si=hUYp2yfwSrui073BVX66dQ

The first time I heard it it felt like the was sun rising to me. It had so much love and beauty in it that I had to just started writing to it. I wrote the song, recorded it, and didn’t like it. After a few days I just left the song alone because the melody did not feel right. On a Friday in May 2017 I went out with a friend to grab a few drinks. My heart was still heavy from losing my pops, but something happened while I was out. I met some one, and she blew me away. When I saw her I felt the sun shine, it was the same feeling the I felt when I heard the beat for Delusional.

We talked for a few and she told me about her struggle and her dreams, from that conversation I was in awe and inspired. That Saturday I re-wrote the song about this girl I met. In it, I put her and my dreams in the lyrics, I put the impossible to possible in the song because I felt we were at the bottom at the time. It’s a song about us, and how we were going to make it. The melody you hear in the song is all love, the love I felt for her. Delusional is dreams coming true making something out of nothing and pure love. My last song became my first song.

Right now.. I’m excited because I see that sky is not my limit. I started with nothing recording this song and making this project. All my dreams are becoming reality. I’m excited that slowly my music is getting on larger platforms and finally getting heard by the masses. I’m filled with excitement when I wake up because im doing what I love. I just have to keep my eyes on the prize and keep it about the art.

LINKS: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arealrebelmusic Twitter: www.twitter.com/Arealliferebel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6k0NDKcz3aJosobt9YOmGw?si=BJHpGaz-SYKuUhKDyeuUyQ Revebnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/arealliferebel6/song/30516013-delusional

Artist: Intellect

New Release: Daily Maneuvers

Genre: Hip Hop

Located in: Los Angeles, California

This song is... jazz fusion mixed with hip hop. My musical influences are Nas, Rakim, KRS-One, The Losy Boyz. These artist are the influencers that lead me to re-introduce my version of storytelling in hip hop music. The creative appeal of an artist that draws people in to want to know more is what I hone in on when I write. I want listeners to hear my heart and soul when talking about the harshness in my life, which the song touches base on and how I overcame them, even still trying to learn the lessons of the past to evolve now. Being a US veteran gives you training in focus and clarity on who you are as a person, you then become a person of intense action and when I perform I bring that, when I write people feel that and so does the producer I work with. People will find this song relatable, honest, raw but inspirational because my entire album is the essence on how hip hop can save you and give you hope where there may not be any.

Right now we are... Premiering on The Enemy Within on NBC on Feb 25th, working on a new EP that releases soon, performing at a few events in Washington,D.C, traveling to Miami on April 26th to perform at Miami Live at 9pm and on June 7-9 will be performing at Crime Con in New Orleans, Louisianna.

LINKS:  Reverbnation Link:https://www.reverbnation.com/intellectmusic1 Spotify link:https://open.spotify.com/artist/2O3YsbvnDo3F2o8IOPm56q?si=v6pvtJvfQxKfsQEY-o8WVg Twitter:https://twitter.com/intellectmusic1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Intellectmusic1 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/intellectmusic1

Band Name: D The Lyricist

Person Interviewing: Devon Shaw

Song name: Inbetween The Sheets ft. D The Lyricist

Music Genre:: Hip Hop/R&B

I live in... Alaska

Alaskan Hip Hop artist D The Lyricist releases New Single  Inbetween The Sheets. In Alaska we have to constantly be reinventing ourselves and try to catch up with the music business so the struggle is trying to use social media to make an impact today in the business.

This song is about... Passion, Grown folks music, Sexually explicit https://open.spotify.com/track/6AoUlsUSVWMhfdiz3pGpSE?si=oTHW2GxwSQSAIOMIwCh56A

Website & social media links: https://www.facebook.com/devon.shaw.108 my facebook https://www.reverbnation.com/dthelyricist5 my reverb

Artist: MrYoa

New Release: In Love with You (prod.Jay White)

Genre: Trap music, new hiphop

Located in: : OTTAWA CANADA

This song is... MrYoa cantante y Productor musical , videoclips editor This song is about to tell your wife or girlfriend after how much you feel for them even if you haven’t been together for that long.

I created my song for her, “ MrYoa “ after she be part of my inspiration to write this song. Jay White is an excellent music producer. He had the beat for my song and made it possible. No as a result of this song, I have a beautiful family and have keep writing even more songs through this vein of motivation.

Right now we are... I’m working on my extra albums, recording music in the studio , after to work on videoclips and promotions, extra albums cause after years to create music and lírica , I have project to not stop for long time, is important to be sure you are following me and to be sure too, to all my new music, videos I will start to post there very soon, be sure thank...

LINKS:  https://open.spotify.com/track/0hU695CwmAdpIRcwg2skyU?si=ivd_ThQ8T8WNwi3j7Vek6Q https://mobile.twitter.com/mryoacuba https://m.facebook.com/yoandrysoto?refid=8 https://www.instagram.com/mryoamusica

Artist: Q.R.B The Lame Kid

New Release: TBH

Genre: HIPHOP

Located in: : BARBADOS

This song is... mostly about heartbreak, the struggle, and haters. These are the few things that impact me in life. The reason I got into hiphop is mostly to talk about the things that bother me. No one wanted to hear me speak before the mic but when I pick it up, they had no choice. J Cole and Em were mostly the ones who inspired me to do hiphop. The first time I heard their music I knew I had to do the same.

The music we are creating… Tbh focuses on my life story which is the drive I'm willing to push in my journey in hiphop. Motivation, forget about the haters and become what you want to be. Not to many people believe in a hiphop artist from Barbados, but look what I created with a low income job.

Right now we are.. What I'm most excited about is exposure, people playing my music and listening to me. I'm also dropping a music video today and hopefully I will be able to perform for big events in Barbados once I connect with the people.

LINKS:  https://www.instagram.com/q.r.b_the_lame_kid_official/?hl=en https://m.facebook.com/quivon1?ref=bookmarks https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5lQCe8ZSY https://mobile.twitter.com/Quivonbrewster

PLAYLISTS:

[circlesandsoundwaves]

“There's an exciting kind of fear that kinda gets your adrenaline pumping”:  Email interview with VISTA

Interview by Molly Louise Hudelson.

Photo credit: Holly Turner.

If you’re not already familiar with New York / New Jersey-based trio VISTA, you should be. The anthemic rock group formed after frontwoman Hope Vista ended a decade-long solo career, and in just under a year, they’ve released an EP, VERSUS, and have begun making serious waves with an impressive live show.

This Friday, January 13, VISTA will be releasing a new single “Henchmen” (check out a preview of the song here). They’ll be debuting the song live at their biggest show to date that night, where they’ll be opening for Against the Current, Beach Weather, and CRUISR at Irving Plaza in New York City.

Read on for our interview with VISTA, where we talked about “Henchmen”, the show with Against the Current, and what else we can expect from the band this year!

CIRCLES & SOUNDWAVES: For the record, could you please state your name, your role (what you play) in VISTA and a random fact about yourself?

Hope Vista: Hiiiii, I'm Hope. Lead vocalist of VISTA! I collect all different shapes and forms of Toy Story aliens :-) Matt Vlosak: I'm Matt, I'm the drummer and I'm a sucker for peanut butter and pizza. Greg Almeida: Hi, I'm Greg, some call me Groogles, and I am also a sucker for peanut butter and pizza. Too bad Hope is allergic to one of those! I can twist my tongue upside down too.

C&S: You're about to release your new single "Henchmen". What's on your mind right now leading up to the release? HV: Fear :) I'm really excited though, there's an exciting kind of fear that kinda gets your adrenaline pumping. I work off of that. I'm super stoked to hear what others think of this track, we've kept it under wraps for a while now! MV: EXCITEMENT. Mainly pertaining to the show with Against the Current and performing the actual single live at said show haha. GA: Stoked to hear what people think. I think our fans really care about us and we care about them too so we will have some nice dialogue over the song.

C&S: Can you talk about the writing process for "Henchmen"? What inspired the song? GA: Hope had this type of post-apocalyptic sounding voice memo on her phone. I took it home one day and put some cool chords behind it, and then we all tried jamming on it basically. World events/the crazy world we live in inspired this song.

C&S: What do you hope people get out of listening to VISTA or coming to see you live? HV: I always say that when people come out to shows, I hope that they're able to leave life at the door for a night and just get lost in the show. MV: I hope we send them home going, “Holy F*! Now THAT was a show!” I want to give that kid a show they've never seen before. An experience to wow them. GA: Yeah, I definitely want them to feel something emotionally. Just like that feeling of being blown away/stoked. It's hard to convey that sometimes, but we try our best!

C&S: You'll be playing with Against the Current, Beach Weather, and CRUISR at Irving Plaza in New York on Friday. How did you react when you found out you'd be playing the show? MV: I stared at my phone for a while. Put it away and came back to make sure I wasn't dreaming! GA: It was a Christmas Eve miracle!

C&S: This is VISTA's biggest show to date. What are you doing to get ready? MV: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Haha, seriously. Trying not to overthink and to stay positive. Drinking lots of water too. GA: Yeah I've been practicing all my odd lead parts and stuff, haha. Singing it together, stuff like that. Getting a bass drum head with our logo on it. HV: I've changed up my eating habits a lot the past two weeks. I've cut out a loooootttt of junk. And I eat a LOT of junk to begin with. But I cut out a lot of foods, am eating healthier, working out more, the whole thiiiiiing.

C&S: Describe your music- without using genre words like "pop" or "rock". HV: BIG BANGER ANTHEMS. MV: Bombastic drums, driving guitars and bass, catchy lyrics and melodies and ambience. GA: So far, we've been trying to get big with things. Sometimes the energy can change from song to song. But “Henchmen” is very “catastrophic” in my opinion. We have to make more stuff with each other in general, but I feel like we like big sounding records and songs across the board.

C&S: Who are your biggest musical influences? MV: For me, Angels and Airwaves, Brand New, LIGHTS, 30 Seconds to Mars. I listen to all types of music (minus country and EDM). I grew up in concert and jazz band and am a sucker for anything on the radio too. HV: My influences have a wide range. They go from 90's pop, what I grew up listening to, all the way back to 70's classic rock and ish, and then back again to today's Warped Tour-esque scene. I'm more influenced by life in general, though- things I see happening around me and anything I'm experiencing personally! GA: Musically, I really like super poppy stuff, super mathy-rock type stuff, and lots of rap, it honestly depends. If it makes me feel something, I'll probably like it. I like a lot of instrumental music too.

C&S: What else can we expect from VISTA this year? MV: Writing and touring! HV: Def a new EP! We're gonna get on the road ASAP and keep playin' a ton of shows, writing, tryna to some big shtuff! GA: Shtuff is not an actual word. HV: Double SHTUFF Oreos.

C&S: What's your response to haters or anyone who doubts your band? MV: It's all noise to me. I don't worry about anyone saying negative things unless it's constructive criticism. There's much more important things to worry about like animals dying, kids suffering from depression or starving, and war happening every day. GA: Da haterz can see me laterz. HV: Ooh boy.

C&S: Is there anything else you'd like to say? MV: Thank you for taking the time to read this and checking it VISTA! We hope to see you soon! Much love. HV: Thank you for the interview, Molly! Hope everyone enjoys “Henchmen” :-) GA: Thanks a bunch for the opportunity! We really appreciate anyone who takes the time out to interview us. And to the fans, spread “Henchmen” around a bit if you can. Thank you!

Thanks Hope, Matt, and Greg! Be sure to keep up with VISTA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’re in the NYC area, pick up tickets for their show with Against the Current at Irving Plaza this Friday, January 13 here.