#and just now i just saw a clearer video and it’s because Taylor was the one doing the harmonies and Gracie was doing melody in last kis lma

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

.

[ilookbehindthewall]

Taylor Swift's new album is about herself

I only hear, "It's about Matty!" "It's about Travis" "She sings about Joe!" No, no... I think she's singing mostly about herself. Who says "he" directly refers to a lover?

I'm pretty sure many songs are about her internal and public identity. I believe none of us can imagine what life must be like as Taylor Swift. The most successful singer currently with probably the largest fan community. She's probably often told she has to pretend.

"They said, 'Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it' and I did" (Song: I Can Do It With a Broken Heart)

I think Taylor's true self has something to hide... something most people won't understand/accept.

Why do I think it's about Taylor herself? There are many clues in her lyrics that I'll list shortly. But first, let me show you something else.

Taylor Swift wrote the following on Tumblr: "When I was writing the Fortnight music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music. Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it."

So, the Fortnight video reflects the stories she tells in TTPD. So, let's take a very close look at the music video 👀

Right at the beginning, you can see Taylor taking a Forget Him pill. The number on the bottle starts on her birthday (December 13, 1989) and ends on the release date of her new album (April 19, 2024). How can people still think it's about specific lovers? She literally tells us it's not about a man here. Did she know Joe/Matty/Travis since birth? No, I don't think so. I think it's about her forgetting "him," her true self.

Because she's Taylor Swift, she has to be perfect as everyone wants her to be without flaws, right?

April 19, 2024, represents the date the album comes out, as she's now telling us the complete story about "him." About her inner true self, because she's not taking the pill anymore. Her last sentence from the whole album in The Manuscript is "But the story isn’t mine anymore."

In fortnight, she sings about how she and he were together for 14 days. So, for 14 days, she was herself, her true self. However, something happened as it's not the case anymore.

In "Down Bad," it becomes even clearer. "For a moment I knew cosmic love. Now I'm down bad crying at the gym"

She briefly found herself but is back to square one, wearing a mask. Another line would be a hint that she's singing about herself.

"They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about the existence of you"

Why would people think she's crazy if she talks about the existence of a lover?

"I loved your hostile takeovers"

That's very literal. She loves it when she's her true self and shows that to the public.

"I'll build you a fort on some planet. Where they can all understand it"

I think Taylor's true self has something to hide... something most people won't understand/accept.

"This cage was once just fine. Am I allowed to cry?I dream of cracking locks. Throwing my life to the wolves. Or the ocean rocks. Crashing into him tonight" (Song: Guilty as Sin?)

She's trapped in a cage; she wants to break free and show her true self to everyone. But showing her true self would have consequences. She describes it very well here. Her true self has something to hide that apparently many people don't acknowledge?

"What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me. Is actually what's holy?If long-suffering propriety. Is what they want from me. They don't know how you've haunted me. So stunningly.I choose you and me... Religiously"

She hints at religion in several songs.It could be that her true self has something to hide in a religious context.

There are more clues that could be interpreted this way.But I believe that would exceed the scope.

Thanks for reading :)

~Hanna

[felassan]

Article: ‘Mass Effect & Dragon Age’s cast members on how BioWare builds dynamics’

I spoke to several figures from BioWare juggernauts Dragon Age and Mass Effect, to get a clearer idea of how those iconic team dynamics we associate with the two titles were created. [interviews]

This article is a really neat read. :) Contains character insights, behind-the-scenes info and some reflections on representation.

Some excerpts under the cut due to length:

A huge theme of these interviews, naturally, was BioWare themselves. As well as general praise for the support, the working environment, and the success of the finished product, many singled out individual directors by name, and credited BioWare’s focused approach with getting the best out of them. Hale even claimed they were “the unsung heroes,” that underpinned the whole Mass Effect trilogy. [...]

“Usually there’s almost always a BioWare writer on the line with us, usually up in Canada, when we’re recording. So you’ll have the director, me and one or two BioWare head honchos up there supervising. That’s the way that’s the way it worked on Inquisition too. There’s a really collaborative vibe.” [...]

This consistency across the recording process is likely why the calibre of performance is so high across both trilogies. “The team of writers of BioWare are extraordinary,” Nick Boulton [Male Hawke] says. “So they keep you on track pretty well. The key was having Caroline Livingston, who was directing most of it – all of it, in fact. She would be there to give context notes, and also keep me on the straight and narrow, as far as characterization went. So we were led through very well by the BioWare team.” [...]

Insight on Jack:

Courtenay Taylor describes Jack as being “a very comfortable pair of old stinky sneakers to step into,” and explains that her connection to Jack’s story was a core way she was able to bring it to life. “[Jack has] a pretty familiar psychology that I had. She was very reminiscent of how I was, to some degree, in high school. She’s putting up a barrier to get people to prove themselves, so you have to run the gauntlet in order to get the good stuff. When you’ve been abused as badly as she has, then psychologically one of the tracks you can take is ‘I will not allow myself to be vulnerable’. And that really resonated with me.”

Taylor also says that this guard Jack puts up meant that, ironically, many of the players found it easier to connect with her. “I got really great feedback from a lot of people about struggles that they had had in their personal lives,” she says.

“I think [Jack’s change between Mass Effect 2 & 3] is a smaller story, but it’s a big story for a lot of people. I have a lot of friends who had addiction problems. And quite a few of my friends give back by going back to the community that they’ve come out of, and finding people that need help. At its core, that’s a big, important through line for Jack – every one of us is worthy of love. And it doesn’t matter how difficult you are or how troubled you are or what has happened to you or what someone has done to you. You are worthy of loving and being loved.” [...]

Taylor also saw something personal in her own performance, especially since there weren’t a lot of women like Jack in popular media when Mass Effect 2 launched. “There was a huge amount of love for her because gender/appearance wise, she is something that I felt at that time had not been explored. And I know that some of the things were cut, but in what we originally recorded [Jack was pansexual], and in 2008 or 2009, there weren’t a tonne of conversations about being pansexual,” she says.

“She was a counterpoint to a lot of the other female characters. She was sort of the far end of the spectrum. You’ve got Miranda who’s beautiful and pulled together, but that only serves a certain population. And there are a lot of people that identify as women who could relate to having these feelings and these emotions – she’s not gender specific. To me, she’s angry. And I don’t know that there had been, at that time, a female character who was so not typically female, who was capable of such a range of emotions. She ended up being the permission to a whole group of people who don’t identify with that kind of woman. Because in entertainment, where did that bald girl with a flat chest who was pansexual go? Where do you fit in? And that really resonated with me. If you don’t relate to Miranda, Jack can be a really nice option.”

Insight on Josie:

It’s a sentiment echoed by Allegra Clark, who used a major tragedy in her own life as motivation for the siege of Haven in Dragon Age: Inquisition. “I think the first time you really start to get to know [Josephine] as a person is when she talks about Haven after the attack. That conversation she has about the first people to jump in and protect people being the workers, and how she’s just watching everything be destroyed. I was actually thinking about 9/11, as a New Yorker. So that was a very personal moment for me. But it was those little moments where she starts to open up and blossom that you get to see her as a person.” [...]

For Clark though, those boundaries were much more personal. “When I was told I had booked Josephine, I was just like, ‘I’m a companion in a BioWare game, and a romanceable companion at that’,” Clark says. “I recognised going in that people were going to connect really hard to this character. People are going to have entire playthroughs that are based around romancing Josephine. She helped me explore my own bisexuality, and that is always the thing that that warms my heart the most when people come to me about my LGBTQ+ characters, and say ‘they helped me understand parts of my own identity’. I actually wasn’t out of the closet publicly, or even to parts of my family when I started recording Inquisition. So it was interesting, getting to tell essentially part of my story as well. Before even being able to say to the world ‘hi, I’m bi’ – though all the signs were there. I was in a relationship with another woman at the time. It’s like ‘oh my God, they were roommates!”

Zevran:

While all were full of praise for BioWare’s writing and working environment, the love of actually playing the game was exclusive to Clark. Most others admitted they had never played at all; Curry confessed he had no idea if Zevran was even alive [as he hasn’t played]

Sam Traynor:

“I think Traynor was revolutionary in what she was doing at the time,” Wilton Regan says. “What was so different about Traynor was she wasn’t romanceable for either gender, you had to be playing as FemShep to choose a lesbian love option . And that was so brave of them to do at the time. But it brought us leaps and bounds forwards, because having that inclusivity then makes it just easier for the next game, and for the game today. And now it’s a standard – you should be representative of all sexualities if there are romance options in your games, and increasingly major games pretty much always have some sort of gay, bisexual, lesbian or heterosexual choice. It might not be as fluid as all of the spectrum of sexual choices, but you’ve got a strong variety in comparison to where it was 20 years ago, for example.”

Sam Traynor and Josie:

Part of representing groups that don’t often get representation in video games is that your character gets to become a role model, and that’s something Wilton Regan and Taylor have particularly fond experiences of. “It’s quite flattering and quite lovely to think about,” Wilton Regan says. “I’ve had a lot of lesbians who are coming out of the closet or coming to terms with their sexuality, who’ve come up to me and said that playing FemShep and romancing Traynor was a really big part of that. And lots of bisexual women as well. There’s something just very beautiful about the idea that BioWare has put so much faith and trust in me over the years with these really pivotal roles, and these big, beautiful characters. I feel very humbled by that. Very, very humbled.”

Meanwhile, Taylor wasn’t even sure people would like Jack, so finding out how deeply people related to her was a huge surprise, and she suspects that’s because Mass Effect allows her to be angry without being written off as a stereotypical, hysterical woman. “People didn’t like her when the trailer came out, and I was like, ‘Oh God, everyone’s gonna hate her!” Taylor laughs. “I was really surprised to be at a convention and have someone come up and say, ‘Can I introduce you to my nieces? They’re six and eight, and they love you’. I’m glad they have a good female role model in Jack.”

[stuckinapatriarchalbullshitland]

🙂 - ɟ

Hiii babies and dear Anons 👋🏼🤗 Here’s another post with the answers to the asks Mari sent me. Enjoy 🙃

 Hi @sawwyouuinadream 👋🏼😄 I’ve already talked about how C exaggerated for the sake of the songs in my ‘💭- ɟ’ post (8th question) [click on the #f anon of this post to see all my others]. As for the rest, you need to understand the difference between our normal life and theirs, especially when they were in the group. You can’t compare your life and what you would do with your girlfriend in their place simply because they’re completely different things. Any parent of famous artists who gets the chance to spend time with their child when they can, seizes the opportunity. I saw it with 5H, I saw it and keep seeing it with Ari, I saw it in Taylor’s documentary, and many others. But not all artists have this luck.

5H were far from home, always around the world, without parents most of the time, and with fans who recognized them. Unlike the other parents who didn’t always have the opportunity to be with them because of work, the most present were Sinu, papa H (Jerry, Ally’s dad), and mama Dre (Andrea, Normani’s mom; as much as Sinu and continued as Sinu even after the hiatus). The only difference is that Camila suffers from depression and variants of OCD (diagnosed in 2015) and for these reasons, Sinu has always tried to be as present as possible. She only became a regular presence after C’s explosion in early September 2016. And, honestly? I don’t know where Camila would be without her mom. I don’t think she could have gotten through most of the things. I don’t think she would be in the industry anymore.

Now, I’d like to remind you of something else: we only see 5/10% of their lives. And that 5/10%, is ONLY what they want to show. You said that Sinu always accompanied C on dates? That’s not true. We saw Sinu with them a couple of times when they went shopping, once for dinner at Katsuya’s, and once at the beach in Australia. And these are literally only five times in what, four years that C was in 5H? Do you really think those were their only dates? Or that those can even be called dates and not just spending time with the mother-in-law? Come on. Try to look at it differently. Try to look at it from a broader perspective. Try to look at the big picture.

I send you a hug 🤗

 No, dear Anon. Lauren was together with Camila. That whole conversation was based on Camila teasing Lauren. That episode was another confirmation for me regarding their first kiss. Lauren answering “Kind of” because Camila literally nearly passed out from nervousness is one of the things that amuses me the most.

Oh and, dear Anon? Bread Simplified, aka I don’t know what lips are, was just another one of her PRs. I don’t know how this is still something to doubt about. 75/80% of all Hollywood couples are fake, and as I said earlier, we only see 5/10% of what they want to show us about their lives. I’ve said this before and will write it again: “Any PR relationship involving Camren is simply this: fake, and for publicity and narrative purposes”. Real relationships, dear Anon, are not public ones. They’re the ones we don’t see.

 I’m still a little bit confused about your ask actually if I have to be honest, dear Anon. I’ll answer based on what I understood.

None of the five of them are with Syco Music anymore because it has integrated with Sony Music Entertainment and therefore doesn’t exist anymore.

Only Camila and Lauren are with Syco Entertainment simply because only the two of them were asked to sign. Simon never cared about the group per se. He wanted Lauren and Camila from the start and he got them. He created an opportunity to prepare them for that world and for their eventual solo careers. How? By creating 5H. By creating three products (C, L, and 5H) at once that would make him money.

 Because, dear Anon, as twisted as it sounds, it’s part of their publicity. I’ll explain myself better. Camren sells. From the beginning. A large part of the 5H fans became their fans BECAUSE of Camren. The labels still use them when needed. For labels, it’s okay to get people talking. It’s okay to get them to speculate, take their name out there, create buzz, create gossip, everything’s okay, EXCEPT confirming it. The important thing is the publicity. The important thing is to sell what they want to sell, and many times, they use Camren to do it. And it works. It works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Plus, I think both C&L also had fun doing it to “keep the boat afloat”. More in the past than now tho.

I know about the rest of the pictures because it was said a while back by a guy who said he was yet another ‘insider’, dear Anon. This guy even published an email that was supposed to be from 2017 from TMZ to Roger in which they were supposed to have a meeting to discuss the extension of the agreement made not to publish the dossier. It’s actually old news, and it indeed seems strange to me that you’re only finding out now 🙃 Has anyone ever talked about it here on Tumblr?

But anyway. That he was an insider, I have my serious doubts. That the email picture was specially created, perhaps by him himself, I’m sure of it because it looks more fake than a plastic flower. That TMZ actually has a dossier on them, is very likely because this is another one of the many ways paparazzi agencies make money.

Dear Anon, I guess this ask of yours is due to your reading of my last post. If you’ve read it, then you have also read the sentence that I will now copy: “Everyone’s ready to point the finger when they don’t even know what is really going on behind the scenes”. You’re doing the same thing. You’re doing the same thing because all I see here is Roger did this and Roger did that, but you don’t know that. You don’t know why he did certain things. You don’t know why he didn’t do certain things. You don’t know why he handled some things in one way and some things in another. You know nothing, yet you’re pointing the finger.

I understand that you’re speaking based on what you see, believe me, I understand, but you’re judging without knowing. We know this PR is for Skittles, so what do you know if the deals made were exactly for Roger to promote him more? What do you know if the deals made were exactly for Roger to do or not do certain things? And more importantly, what do you know that Roger no longer has Camila’s best interests at heart? Just because of this show? Come on!

I’ll try to be clearer this time because I’ve noticed that many, like you, didn’t get the big picture of my last post. The labels decide everything. Camila can choose certain things, propose ideas, and be more liberally creative, but she doesn’t have the last word. If Camila comes up with the idea for a video she wants to make, but the labels don’t like it, then she can’t make that video. If Camila wants to perform a song in a certain way, but the labels don’t approve of a thing, then Camila has to change that thing in order to perform it. If the labels say no, then it’s no. Periodt.

Camila accepted the PR. COVID has changed things. She couldn’t expect such a thing. Hell, none of us could have expected a worldwide pandemic. But things turned out this way, and now she’s miserable. The choice she had initially made has backfired on her, and there’s nothing she can do to change that because it’s a legally binding contract. Neither she nor Roger, whom I remind you is also an attorney, can do anything about it.

I made this little scene for you. I hope that with this, you’ll see things a little more clearly.

*During the meeting*

“And that’s the idea” Roger says as Simon continues to look at the various set designs and documents by nodding

“So.. what do you think?” Camila asks anxiously and with a small hopeful smile

“I think we only need to change a couple of things, but for the rest, everything’s fine” Simon replies

“Really?” Camila asks excitedly

“Yes, really” Simon replies with a chuckle due to her enthusiasm “Good job, Camilla”

“Yay!” Camila cheers towards Roger. She’s too happy to care about the cringe due to the mispronunciation of her name. She’s used to hearing him call her that for years now.

“What are the changes you were referring to?” Roger asks him

“Oh, you know, this and this” Simon replies, turning the set designs towards them “It’s a little too…”   “Gay?” Camila asks with a laugh, finishing his sentence

“We knew, but she wanted to try anyway” Roger says, indicating Camila with his palm “So, by changing those two things, we’re ready to go? We’re gonna shoot the video in a week”

“Yes, I approve. Everything’s all right” Simon says, handing the set designs back

“Thanks, Simon” Camila says, getting up together with Roger ready to leave the room

“Oh and, Camilla? Remember what we talked about” Simon tells her as soon as she gets to the door

“But-”   “Remember what we agreed on” Simon says, interrupting her

With a sigh, Camila nods and turns to look at Roger who smiles at her sympathetically. With another sigh, this time of acceptance and determination, Camila positions herself behind Roger, who’s bending his knees to get down and is bringing his torso forward.

“Um.. what exactly are you two doing?” Simon asks, confused and curious at the same time

“When you tell me to jump, I ask you ‘how high?’, right?” Camila answers him as she climbs on Roger’s back

Simon nods with an even more puzzled expression.

“I’m helping her jump from higher” Roger explains to him

*the end*

This is just a silly example, but I hope it helped you understand the dynamics better. I also copied and pasted another piece of my previous post as a reminder: “If Roger does certain things that you may not like at first glance, before accusing him, please wait. Wait till you see why he’s doing what he’s doing, and then if you really don’t like it, then point the finger. But if you have to do it for no good reason, then don’t. You’d only going to look worse after. Same thing for Camila. They have a reason for doing what they do, so just wait before speaking and judging.”

Have a great day too, dear 😊

 I don’t think you’re gonna like my analysis, dear Anon, but you asked for it, so here it is.

I’d like to start by saying that Thinkin’ Bout One is a half-demo. It’s not a completed song and it’s from ‘The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving.’ era, so even before the album title changed to ‘Camila’. I’m talking about the very beginning. When Havana wasn’t even remotely ready to be complete, or recorded if that’s why. When I Have Questions had just been recorded or was about to be recorded. I’m talking about the end of 2016.

The demo is pretty messed up because there is no intro, verses, pre-chorus, chorus, etc., like in a normal song. The quality and the way the demo is structured reminds me a lot of the GarageBand Camila times. To be honest, I think that’s how it was recorded. I think Camila created the demo on her own and then she abandoned it once she started recording other songs that would adapt and fit in the true direction of the album.

The reason I said I don’t think you’re gonna like my analysis is because this song, it’s not about Lauren. I have reason to think this song is for someone else, but without dwelling on that, I’ll explain why in my opinion it’s not about Lauren through my interpretation.

“Where you at

Come baby show me where you at

Finally got time off work

Tryina disappear off the map with ya

What’s love gotta do with it

This my vacation time

Bathin suits and tan line

Thirst trap for your timeline”

Camila is asking this somebody where they are. Camila was still working with Lauren in 2016. She knew where Lauren was because she was with her, this somebody wasn’t. She’s asking them to meet and spend those days she had free together. She’s asking them to go together to a place where they could be off the radar. A place with a warm climate. And she’s not asking them to see it as a romantic getaway, but just as a vacation. Love was the last of her thoughts given what she was going through with Lauren that year.

“Num num num num num

Pass the henny not the rum

I go num num num num num

If I decide to give you sum

Talkin talkin talkin

All this time that we been rockin

Hey”

“Sip a lil this

Sip a little that

Now this ain’t nothin but a fact

I need you come and take control”

This vacation that Camila proposes also included alcohol and other activities, if you know what I mean. I’ll explain the slang she uses here to indicate those two very things.

In case you didn’t know, num is the slang for making out. Henny is the slang for Hennessy, which is a brand of cognac. It’s used a lot together with coke for a simple two-ingredient cocktail, and indeed, Camila specifies that she prefers henny over rum (rum and coke) in her simple two-ingredient cocktail. Sum is the slang for some. Now that you know, I believe you can put the pieces together and better understand the puns she used here.

And that’s all. There’s nothing about Lauren for me. There’s nothing deep about it. Just another distraction. And for me, for my timeline, this event happened during the 7/27 tour break. The break that lasted from July 6 to 26 before starting the North American part.

Hello to you too dear Anon 😄 No, I personally don’t think those scenes represent her experiences exactly as they happened. I think she and Dave (Meyers) represented her experience in a cinematic and straight way, but with symbols that represented Lauren.

For example, the fact that Dylan plays the piano is to represent an artist, aka music, aka Lauren. The flower on the back of his shirt in the kiss scene: Lauren. The book’s scene you mentioned? The scene is represented in winter with snow, yet in her memory, they’re both represented dressed in a light way, aka ‘In Miami, where winters are hot’ (Sangria Wine’s verse 2) [or even in L.A. since the winter climate is much more similar to the spring one]. They both like to read, so the book was a perfect clue. Alcohol and fights were represented in a much stronger way than I think they happened in reality because we all know that Lauren is not a violent person. The moon? There’s not even the need to explain it. Oh and, the fact that she’s holding hands with herself at the end of the video is also a representation of what we saw in the Havana music video. The “I do love you. But I love me more” that we saw there. With that scene at the end of the Consequences music video, Camila shows us that she has finally managed to love herself.

So dear Anon, to me, that video is just an artistic representation of how things went. And thanks. I hadn’t watched that video in a long time, but I went to re-watch it for you, so thank you, dear 🥰

🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍

Aaand I’m done 😄 I hope I was helpful in this case too. As always, I’m available for those who have questions, so feel free to ask 😊 Thanks once again to you for asking me and Mari for making this exchange possible 😍

As usual, remember to be kind, to others and to yourself. Be a good example. Be patient. Be safe and take care of yourselves. I send you virtual love and hugs 🤗🤗🤗 I love you, babies. Always with love, F ❤️

___

This was awesome, thanks again F. BTW, the marks on the asks is a small detail I couldn’t erase but you can read them anyway, so sorry bout that.

[speaknowslut13]

Evermore First Impressions

Well, well, well, we meet again.  I was so wordy last time around, I’m going to try to contain myself this time.  No promises.  Let’s just dive right in, shall we?

1. Willow (the music video)

So overall I thought this was cute.  It was interesting that it picked up right where cardigan left off.  But what really piqued my interest was the gold, glowing string that I tied right back to Invisible String.  Clever, Ms. Swift.  Clever.I also deduced that the scene where Taylor is locked in the clear box was her metaphor for fame.  She’s untouchable by the person she wants but she can’t escape to be with them.  Tragic. 

On my second run through, I bravely decided to point out that the reflection in the water of her and her lover is interesting.  Why?  Because I associated his face with Joe Alwyn’s features.  Obviously, the actor playing opposite is NOT Mr. Alwyn but I found it interesting that the man cast had similar features to him.  I also think Witchcraft Taylor is an interesting sub plot to this three minute movie.  I want to note that the lyrics “begging for you to take my hand, wreck my plans, that’s my man” seem vaguely familiar and I can’t place why.

This, being Evermore, is a thing now and I’m trying to process it. 

2. Champagne Problems

Taylor had already alluded to this song as being “not bubbly” so I go into this album with trepidation.  Folklore has made me wary, even without Taylor’s hints. I am immediately struck by this beautiful piano.  The background for the lyric video is a champagne glass with a ring in it and since I’ve already read the album prologue I know whats coming.  My take away from this was that the song though pretty was traditionally sad.  I love how she managed to drop yet another poetic ‘Fuck’.  Honestly, Taylor is a great storyteller and is in her truest form as one.  So far the sounds are similar to Folklore with just a touch of difference to separate the two albums.

3. Gold Rush

The story of daydreamed love set to the background of gold silk background.  The visual, as well as the composition is ethereal much like the lyrics.  I feel that there is meaning deeper to this particular song, but its too deep for a first listen.

4. ‘Tis the Damn Season

I was curious about this one when I saw it on the track listing.  It couldn’t possibly be a holiday song, so what could it be?  The wintry scenery is equally confusing.  But once I start listening I immediately piece it to the story of Dorothea, the girl who comes back from LA for the holidays.  Its a pretty story about reconnecting with people lost in transition to adulthood.  But what I’m really marveling at so far is the arrangements of the songs. They work with the story lines really well. 

5.  Tolerate It

I saw the clouds and vivid Folklore flashbacks started.  I was right to be wary. I don’t want to talk about it.

6. No body No Crime (Feat. Haim)

She had mentioned earlier in the evening that she borrowed a best friend’s name for the character of this song.  I wondered who?  I was delighted to hear she named the woman “Este” for two reasons: one, she sings this with the very same Haim sisters, and two, I now know how to properly pronounce her name.  I loved the subtle country flavor with the overtly country plot.  Very nice.  This was a really good one.  I loved it.  I also would like to note that...there’s nothing like a mad woman, now is there?

7. Happiness

Yet another one Taylor hinted at during her Q and A.  I know that this one is misleading.  I had one take away.  It was beautiful but sad, so very sad. 

8.  Dorothea

A reply to ‘Tis the Damn Season from the other party’s perspective.  Once again though, its wistfully sad and I am still in emotional turmoil from that track 5.  I have nothing to say but that it had a really pretty sound. 

9. Coney Island (feat. The National)

This arrangement really sounded experimental to me.  I had no thoughts about this track other than one: Is this the broken hearts club that I have some how stumbled upon? Most of these are so sad. This one struck me as about a dead spouse but I’m just not sure. (Jane the Virgin Vibes)

10. Ivy

This one is cute.  However, I felt that this particular affair song romanticizes affairs more than Illicit Affairs did and I don’t know how to feel about that.  Its beautiful though.  I noticed that Ivy and Illicit Affairs could be related and from perspectives in different timing. Ivy before Illicit Affairs.

11. Cowboy Like Me

I loved this background for this one. But also that country blues sound.  Its the twang of the guitar for me. Its once again, more subtle than overt but clearer in this one than others.  Its a sweet song.  Nice to not be wallowing right now.

12. Long Story Short

Mostly, thus far, the songs have seemed to take on Taylor’s fictional abilities.  However this one seemed to call upon her autobiographical talents.  I really liked this one.  “Long Story Short, I survived” is a line I want tattooed on my face.  Dramatic? Why yes, I am!

13. Marjorie

The picture of her grandma gave me the idea that she didn’t just borrow the name of her late grandmother but wrote a song about her.  And yes, this is the second song I’ve cried to on this album.  It was a really pretty song.

14. Closure

This was another arrangement that caught my attention.  And I noted that the feeling of seeing someone’s name and feeling pain was familiar.  This one, could be a story.  Taylor Swift if a talented story teller after all, but this one felt pointed. Very pointed.  I liked it though.

15. Evermore (feat. Bon Iver)

This song-- was a journey.  A damn journey.  That time signature switch up in the middle only to return to the calm, slower tempo was fire.  It was a more hopeful feeling than Hoax.  That only makes me wary of the last two bonus tracks. 

Honestly, the album was good.  I think it’ll grow on me.  So that is Evermore.  A wistful, sad album with happier notes thrown in.  As for track five, I’m not ready to...wait for it...tolerate it yet.  I’m cheesy, what can I say?

What did ya’ll think? 

Love, Lauren

[moveswiftly-blog1]

...Ready For It - a not so brief meditation on reputation.

Hi! Long time listener, first time caller. 

A few things to introduce. - I’ve been a huge Taylor Swift fan for a long time. She’s great. 

I’m also really bad at brevity, and currently, I’m obsessed with the ...Ready For It video and the whole concept behind reputation. I think she’s doing some extremely interesting things and it’s got me massively excited for the album.

A warning before I get going - this might ramble and go on different tangents, but I’m trying to make somewhat of a coherent point, I promise!

Like anything else Taylor Swift does, there’s been a lot of discussion about the ‘...Ready for It’ video. While the general consensus is that it’s awesome, I’ve seen been a number of comments saying that it doesn’t fit the song, or that it’s a nice looking video that doesn’t mean much. And I completely see where they’re coming from.

That said, I absolutely and wholeheartedly disagree. Maybe it only makes sense in the wider context of reputation, but I feel like it is massively important. I think the story of the video adds huge credence to the visual album theory; it really does feel like the start of something, especially when you link to it to the LWYMMD video. This is the genesis of the Taylor Swift we see in LWYMMD. This is the moment where Taylor Swift “dies.”

But more on that later.

Imagine you're Taylor Swift. After the massively successful 1989 era, which towered over everything around it and left you on top of the world, it all comes crashing down. Not only does your personal life go through some considerable turmoil, but your name is dragged through the mud publicly. The reputation that you had worked hard to build, and were smart and diligent about, not out of spite but out of savvy, is stained. The reputation that you used to give back to your fans, to inspire people, to stand up against Apple; besmirched. 

Now, the same people who just months earlier were praising you as the Joni Mitchell and Madonna hybrid the world has always longed for, have turned on you. Everything you do is being contorted into the worst possible "O M G - LOOK WHAT SHE DID" story. You can't even speak out against it, because every time you do, some thinkpiece writer [n.b.: irony noted] has something to say about it. You're a serial dater. You’re a serial victim. Your entire life is a manufactured PR power-play. You hate women. You’re a racist. You're a Trump supporter. "Taylor Swift is over" they say, but they still won't stop talking about how terrible you are for doing...whatever it was you did. Even if you made mistakes or did people wrong (that debate has been had a million times and isn’t really relevant to this), even if most of the terrible and cruel rumours are true; does it really warrant that level of vitriol?

If I was Taylor Swift, I would be tired. I would have little desire to deal with it anymore. In fairness, even if you disagree with her on everything she has said or done, could you blame her? I mean, this is exhausting. Why bother with the endless interviews, the endless promo, the endless fake award shows, when they are all just opportunities to subject yourself to people who want to hate you. So she goes away for a bit. She writes. She meets someone gorgeous. And while she won't let mean people get in the way of her passion, she knows she can't come back as "the old Taylor Swift" - her reputation precedes her. They want the old Taylor Swift back, so they can continue to throw rocks at her. It makes sense for the old Taylor Swift to play that role in the bible of celebrity. But that's not a fun role. She's a person too, and it's fair to ask whether this is a crossroads for Taylor Swift. Whether Taylor Swift can even be Taylor Swift anymore, or if it's unfair of us as an audience to expect that.

So that’s the background.

That brings us to '...Ready For It', and lady-in-white-android Taylor. We’ll start here, as potentially-exciting-album-hints-that-everybody-has-already-analysed aside, this is where it really gets interesting to me.

She's a shapeshifting, master-of-all-trades pop assassin, the likes of which you've never seen before. There are no rules for her. She can be savage and sexy, but guess what: the curls are back too, bitch. She's every type of Taylor, turned up to 11. 

Meanwhile, Hooded Taylor plays the role of Dr. Frankenstein, inspecting her creation, putting it through the motions, each of which is a someone's version of Swift pushed to the extreme. 

Taylor Swift was a snake? No, that's robot Medusa now.

Remember the Bad Blood video? Yeah, she's got a giant lightning sword now too. 

Did she ever say something about a White Horse? Well that’s HER horse now.

And it's ready for WAR.

I’ll give you a moment to think of another time where we saw a bunch of different Taylors from over the years featured in the same video. More on that later.

Just as her creation is showing its creative, naive, whimsical side, Dr. Swift - while obviously fascinated - prods her creation instead of encouraging it, asking that all important question: “Are you ready for it?”. 

If this is going to work, then she needs to be able to deal with this. Any good Taylor Swift needs to be able to deal with being prodded at, especially when they’re in a moment of happiness. 

This sets off the extravagant, indulgent display of power we see next. 

We get some really interesting moments with the lyrics here, with the video shedding a different light on the song. As Swift-via-Motoko becomes Thor-incarnate, the "let the games begin" part of the bridge starts, as Dr. Swift realises that her work is complete. She’s alive.

As the two Taylors approach each other, we get the rest of the bridge (which, as a sidenote, I think has one of Swift's most amazing harmonies, I absolutely adore this moment musically). It's here that the "touch me and you'll never be alone" line gains a new significance; it sounds a lot like Dr. Swift is warning Swift-Prime of the consequences.

The next thing that happens is where everything starts to become clearer. Dr. Swift (aka "the old Taylor") is replaced with this new, omnipotent ultra-Swift. There's no stopping her. She will obliterate everything in her path. If 1989 was Swift's skyscraper, this is a nuclear weapon. Not even Taylor Swift herself can stand in her way, and Dr. Swift knows this; she built it, after all. She willingly sacrifices herself for the cause of reputation. Taylor Swift is dead, long live Taylor Swift.

As an aside, there are more interesting lyrical bits here too, as you can read the chorus as a conversation between the two Taylors. In this context, "In the middle of the night, in my dreams/you should see the things we do, baby" reads less as a plea to a lover and more as a promise to herself, that they're going to be free from all of this one day. This works especially well if you read the subject of the song, the killer and the jailer, to be the pressures of fame rather than a particular individual (which is it's own kettle of fish, and not to say that the song isn't about a person - just an interesting perspective when tied in with the video!).

But this is also the moment when the proverbial ish hits the fan, and we get hit with the twist, as it's revealed to us that Dr. Swift IS A ROBOT TOO. WHAT IS GOING ON?! 

But before our minds even have time blow, as Dr. Swift's skin melts away from the sheer fierceness radiating from Swift-Prime, we can see that the other robots are being destroyed too and SOME OF THEM ARE HALF-FINISHED TAYLORS.

Swift-Prime stands triumphant at the end as the last Taylor standing, asking us if we're ready for her. A single tear trickles down her face; happy to be free or sad in understanding her purpose? 

I’m not sure, but, while we haven't heard the rest of the album or seen any more videos, I think it's a fair assumption (read: at best a solid theory, at worst a really, really fun thought) that this is the same Taylor Swift who goes onto slay the entire universe in the LWYMMD video. So, spoiler alert: WE WEREN'T READY.

Alright, wrapping up on the gist of what happens in this video: in this world, *someone* has been building robot Taylor Swifts to take the place of the real Taylor Swift, and it took many, many iterations to get here - even to the point that the robot Taylors took over the role of creator.

That leads us to the question of "who on earth is behind all of this?" Logically, I'd say there are a couple of options presented to us. The first is "the real Taylor Swift" - who has been conspicuously absent from all of this. The idea here is that Taylor needed someone who can take it to a level of shadiness, savagery, and literally-dying-ness that people could never have imagined. Why? There could be any of number of motivations behind it, which I'm sure will become clear after the album drops. Maybe she has sacrificed her previous reputation and taken ownership of her new one in order to continue doing what she loves. Maybe she just wanted to give everyone the most powerful response possible, and badass Terminator Swift is one big middle finger to the rest of the world. Maybe she just wants to get away from it all, but wants to continue to give us music, so creates this caricature version of herself to take the heat - a Ziggy Stardust popstar messiah that gives her a hard psychological split between public and private life. There are a million different ways you can read this (and it's getting kind of too deep), but I'm not sure I quite agree with any of them.

The other possible perpetrator, and the one I lean towards, is the outside world. With Swift having shied away from the public eye, there was nobody to give her take on things. This has a number of consequences; first of which is that she didn't defend herself from the endless accusations that were thrown her way. Another is that other people will speak up and give the other side of the story - but while they may have an understanding of who Taylor Swift is, there's no replacement for actually *being Taylor Swift*. The result of that is that all of these different opinions pile on top of each other, and snowball into creating an image of Swift she had no say in. Whether photos came out of her doing charity work, or it was another article about the Kardashian-West incident, what went ignored is that "the real Taylor Swift" was just living her life and didn't engage in any of this - and she seems to be okay with that; "There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation."

To me, that sounds a lot like her letting go of any control she might have over these mirror universe versions of herself. She removed herself from every narrative, and just kinda did the stuff that she wanted to do. All the while, Taylor Swift as a concept continued to exist and evolve in gossip columns, tweets, candids, tumblr praise essays [n.b.: again, irony, I know], internet speculation and gif collections. It makes "Look what you made me do" look less like an "Oops! I Did It Again" moment, and more of a "no, literally, you did this. LOOK."

Swift-Prime is the culmination of that. She's the critical mass of every clap and clapback. She's the ultimate, and logical, conclusion to all of this. She is reputation - the armageddon of celebrity culture. Whether she's a false prophet or the second coming probably depends on who you follow. The key thing is that she isn't real, because the real Taylor Swift can't come to the phone right now. Why? Well, we don't know. Yet, at least. Some Taylor Swifts are dead - we know that much from the RFI video - but all of the above creates another very interesting parallel to the LWYMMD video (which is genius in its own right). If we know that someone has been building all of these different Taylor Swifts, then what does that mean for this scene?

Are any of these Taylor Swifts real? Are they all man-made (or Taylor-made) robot Swifts? Is Swift-Prime in this picture somewhere? AND WHO IS ON THE WING OF THE PLANE?! 

I’m sure we’ll find out, but there's a theme here, and through everything else in this era, of only being shown what someone wants to show us. The story of reputation so far is that it's a narrative about the narrative of Taylor Swift. It picks up where Blank Space left off, in that it's not actually about Taylor Swift. Put simply, LWYMMD parodies and comments on all of these different versions of Swift that are portrayed in a certain way for whatever reason, only focusing in on one singular aspect of her personality or identity, and RFI gives us an origin story of sorts for how we got there. Whoever is behind these robot-Swifts is literally building a reputation.

Now, Taylor Swift is the author of the work, so at some point she's the person pulling the strings behind all of it. But whether she's the one narrating of reputation is a completely different story. There could be a LOT going on here. Could Swift channeling Cervantes, while simultaneously casting herself as Don Quioxte. I don't wanna be the "look at me I'm referring to a classic 17th century novel" guy, but if you're familiar with Don Quioxte then you're aware that that is completely insane and awesome!

But enough of that, there's an elephant in the room.

All of this begs the question: where exactly is the real Taylor Swift? Because if any of this is anything to go by, she might not just absent from this video; we might not even have seen her this whole era. It's a question that remains unanswered no matter what stance you take - because there's certainly no real, human Taylor Swift in the RFI video. Maybe she's somewhere with an island breeze and the lights down low. Maybe she finally picked a rose garden over Madison Square. However -  to bring it back to RFI as a song - maybe, just maybe, the bigger question here is, "is it really any of our business?"  

While '...Ready for It' as a music video sets the scene perfectly for the world of reputation (and I hope I'm right on that and hopefully more will become clear), I've skipped over the fact that, at it's core, '...Ready For It' is a song about wanting to be left alone. It's a song about the constant pressure that fame brings along with it, and the risk of subjecting someone you love to that. Swift has always had a gift for hiding sadness in happy packages. There's no doubting that RFI is a bona fide banger, and it certainly has its fair share of funny, snarling, exciting moments. But there's a longing underscoring it, from the sheer lust in the second verse to the genuinely melancholy bridge.

At some point it just hit me that it's actually quite strikingly sad. It made me feel that, after all that, I can't really blame her for wanting to be somewhere else for a bit. To be someone else for a bit. I would too. It makes sense that, for all intents and purposes, she isn’t here.

Maybe that is where reputation comes in. I'm in no position to magically guarantee that this is going to be some high-concept album, and that this idea resonates throughout the whole thing. I could be way, way off the mark. But if I was Taylor Swift, I'd sure want to show people exactly what they made me do: kill Taylor Swift, and turn out to be pretty damn proud of it.

So on November 10, we are getting a Taylor Swift album, with Taylor Swift songs that are written and performed by Taylor Swift. Some of which might be about Taylor Swift's life. It's going to have Taylor Swift on the cover, and Taylor Swift will tour in support of it. But is this really an album about Taylor Swift? Is this an album about what we think about Taylor Swift? Or is this an album that Taylor Swift wants us to think is about Taylor Swift?

Maybe it isn't about Taylor Swift at all.

Maybe it's just reputation.

Are you ready for it?

[thesilasgrimm]

Second Chances | Script

[A woman (ELENA) in business attire stands on top of a roof alone. It is raining, and no one else is in sight. She is recording a video of herself on her phone as the rain washes the reminiscence of makeup off of her face.]

ELENA: My name is Elena Taylor. If you’re watching this video, that means you’re amongst the last to ever see me alive. Today was officially my last day of working. You devote three years of your life to a business firm, then suddenly a younger, hotter girl comes along and you’re disregarded like an old newspaper. “We’re overstaffed and you’re just not performing to our standards.” Bullshit! I was the most qualified person in that firm! You’ll see, once I’m gone. You’ll be sorry, you’ll all be sorry!

[She stops recording and is ready to jump. A bolt of lightning comes down and the screen blacks out. ELENA is then seen laying down on the roof. It is no longer raining, but her hair and clothes are still wet. As she opens her eyes, the feint sound of a guitar can be heard.]

ELENA: Wha-- Where is that coming from? [sits up and looks around until she finds the source of the noise]

[The camera pans to a man (JIM). He appears to be around the same age as ELENA with long blond hair sitting on the same roof, playing “All Apologies” by Nirvana.]

ELENA: What the...  

JIM: [stops playing and looks up at her] Well it’s about time you woke up.

ELENA: About time I woke up? Who are you?

JIM: My name’s Jim Hulsen. I was sent here, from [points up at the sky] up there. You catch my drift?

ELENA: That is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard. I’m supposed to believe you’re some sort of angel?

JIM: I was told you weren’t a believer in the supernatural. [he stands up and snaps his fingers; the guitar he was holding vanishes into smoke]

ELENA: How the hell did you do that? [jumps back]

JIM: That’s not important. [snaps again and disappears, reappearing next to her; he grabs her hand] Now it’s time to go.

ELENA: [tries to retract her arm, struggling to get away from him] Let go of me!

[As she speaks her last word, a white light flashes and the two are transported to a funeral parlor full of people. There’s a dull roar of chatter amongst the people. An older woman in all black is sitting right in front of the closed casket bawling her eyes out as a man, presumably her husband, comforts her.] 

JIM: Well, here we are. 

ELENA: [hyperventilating] What... the fuck... was that? Where the fuck are we?!

JIM: You’ll get used to it. Anyways, this is your wake.

ELENA: My... wake?

JIM: Yes, you know, the thing that typically happens before a funeral. Loved ones gather to say their goodbyes before the dead person’s buried underground. You do know that’s what happens when people die, right?

ELENA: [looks at the people around her] I didn’t think that this many people would show up... Coworkers, friends from college, my cousins from Alabama... and my parents are here too? 

JIM: Just because you never call them doesn’t mean they stopped loving you. 

ELENA: Wait, who’s that guy? [points a tall blond man]

JIM: His name is Brian. He’s the EMT who found you. He felt bad he couldn’t save you so he came here to pay respects. 

ELENA: Hmm, he kind of looks like you... Exactly like you, now that I really look at him...

[The mystery man disappears. Chatter becomes clearer, and low mumbles of things such as “I can’t believe she would do something like this,” “I wish I could’ve done something,” and “She died too young” can be heard. ELENA is frozen in place, but she looks around at all of the people talking about her. JIM is nowhere to be found. The camera zooms in on the older couple sitting in front of the casket.]

MRS. TAYLOR: [through sobs] How could we let this happen?!

MR. TAYLOR: [rubbing MRS. TAYLOR’s back, not saying a word]

ELENA: [in a whisper] Shit... [rushes over to her parents, frantically waving her arms in their faces] Mom, Dad, I’m here! I’m not dead! This is all some weird hallucination! Please, just look up at me [face falls] No... I... I’m sorry. I love you, I really do. [sniffles] I’m sorry. [falls to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest, tears falling out of her eyes] So this is it? [starts looking around the room, still no sight of JIM] You bring me here to watch my own wake pan out and then you disappear? [her words become angrier in tone] The fuck kind of sick, twisted game are you playing here, huh? 

[The attendees of the wake all vanish and ELENA is left alone in the funeral parlor, staring at a closed wooden casket. The lights dim and the only thing in view is the casket. She mutters, “this must be a fucking joke,” then approaches the casket and slowly pulls it open. A white light flashes and she’s laying on the roof once more. Her eyes open and she immediately sits up, gasping for air] 

ELENA: Fuck you, Jim!

[A woman in a pantsuit (DEATH) steps out of the shadows. Her hair is in a tight bun and she’s carrying a clipboard.] 

DEATH: Hello, Elena. 

ELENA: Jackie? 

DEATH: No, not quite. I have many names, but to make it simple, you can refer to me as Death. I’ve taken the form of the person you were last thinking about before you died, who, in your case, was--

ELENA: [interrupting] -- Was the girl who stole my job. Fucking--

DEATH: [interrupts her] Jacqueline Marshall, yes. You know, it’s rude to interrupt people. 

ELENA: Jeez, sorry. But can you tell me why I keep coming back to this roof? Is this supposed to be Purgatory?

DEATH: It’s the place where you died, smart one. 

ELENA: Are you always this sarcastic?

DEATH: You would be too if you had my job. But let’s discuss the matter at hand. 

ELENA: Right, me, being dead. Also what about that guy? Jim? Is he an angel? Because if so, he’s a pretty shitty one.

DEATH: Jim Hulsen is one of my assistants. Not an angel, but a ghost. He was once a person like you, but then he passed. Death by hanging. He didn’t quite fit in Heaven or Hell so he was assigned to me, as someone to bring people into the afterlife. 

ELENA: And you bring people into the afterlife through psychological torture?

DEATH: The reason you saw what you saw was not by chance, Elena Taylor. 

ELENA: You know, you can just call me Elena. You don’t have to pull out the last name too. 

DEATH: I will use whatever form of your name I please, Elena Jessica Taylor. 

ELENA: And now we’ve got the middle name too. You might as well shape-shift into my mother while you’re at it. 

DEATH: ... Can I continue?

ELENA: Sure. Sorry...

DEATH: You are in a unique situation, Elena. You’ve died, but not fully. 

ELENA: What do you mean not fully?

DEATH: I’m getting to that. What I’m trying to say is that you can have another chance at life.

ELENA: Wait... I can? You really mean that?

DEATH: Yes, but not without a price. I’m going to give you a riddle. If you answer the riddle correctly, your soul shall return to your body and you will live on for however many more years. But if you get it wrong, your soul is mine right now. 

ELENA: Fuck, I hate riddles. I guess it’s worth a shot though.

DEATH: That’s the spirit. Now, answer me this. You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, But the future can never taint me. What am I? 

ELENA: What?

DEATH: Do you need me to repeat myself?

ELENA: No, no... I just... don’t get it... find me in the past, created in the present, but the future can never-- wait. I think I got it. 

DEATH: Well?

ELENA: A memory. 

DEATH: Is that your final answer?

ELENA: [takes a deep breath] Yes.

DEATH: Very well. 

[DEATH snaps her fingers, and ELENA is instantly transported into a bedroom, hers. ELENA wakes up to the sound of an alarm clock]

ELENA: [rubs her eyes] That was such a weird dream... I should call my mom later... [gets out of bed and walks into the bathroom]

[JIM appears in the bedroom, standing by the window, he begins talking, as if he’s talking to someone but no one is in sight]

JIM: So that’s it? She’s just going to go about her life as if nothing ever happened? 

[A tall, short-haired figure stands in the shadows]

JIM: What kind of a game are you playing here, Death?

DEATH: [with a new, masculine voice that sounds nearly identical to JIM’s] I don’t need any more assistants, Jim. 

JIM: But she got the riddle wrong. “You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, But the future can never taint me. What am I?” It’s history, not memories. 

DEATH: Exactly. She’ll go about her day, thinking our encounter was nothing more than a dream, then it’ll all happen again, and again, and again. [steps out of the shadows, this new body exactly resembling Jim but with a shorter haircut and an EMT jacket with the name “Brian” stitched onto it] That’s Hell, after all. 

[liam-fr33man]

Lunchtime Gig/film recordings Debreif task

Process evaluation

1.the best part from the research we conducted and the most helpful was seeing how they made their music back in the 1960-70 because it was all very interesting as to how even though there was feedback you could still enjoy the music and get a feel for its rough vibe which definitely helped us by giving us and example of what we would play to and what kinda songs we have lined up for us.

2. The most important of the research would I have to say be the origins and what gave British Invasion it’s well known factors, seeing how the Beatles were such a huge factor not just music wise but style and how their music affected others and made people do different things, how they had so much power over just them playing their music was what really put the British Invasion in full swing and that’s what was so important.

3. In hindsight I think research that could’ve helped would’ve been me looking into different videos of tech and my areas I focused on for the presentation and if we could find a document to make our points clearer and could’ve swayed our points a little more.

4. We did have problems with some people hitting deadlines of our work, especially me included but discipline was probably the main issue there because at home we might not get any work done but in college we would get a lot done, I did get backlash from Emily and Kassia so I knew I did wrong haha.

5. I am honestly really excited to see new genres and styles and trying it out with different people, I wanna see what different skills people can bring to the table and what their like in a working environment and personally I would love to try different genres and styles so I can widen my variety and find things I never thought I could play.

6. From this project I have slowly gained more knowledge of keyboard chords and can now kind of say what key I’m playing in and what the chords might be but I still need a lot of work on memorising them and also I find my teamwork and team synergy has really improved after working with lots of new people it’s made me more confident and ready to work with others.

7. I feel one would again be strengthening my chord knowledge and making sure I know more and more about what I want and need to know, I think another is learning a different instrument or a different role when it comes to music and all my friends want me to start taking up some singing roles within the music course so I wouldn’t mind giving that a go to give my areas a widen (I have sung before infront of them and they liked it and I’m not brand new to singing I do it a lot at home) and a final thing would be I need to develop my self discipline because I constantly forget or can never be bothered to do my college work which puts me far behind or not where I wanna be at least which I do not like but I find it hard to stop myself so that’s something I really need to change within myself.

Gig evaluation

I would rate it a 6.5 out of 10

I think what went well with our performance was our stage presence and how we didn’t look scared while performing and was moving our bodies along with the beat and also emily who got up on stage and sang even with a bad throat so we had the confidence there aswell along with strong performances which is all around really good.

One problem that we encountered was purely my fault in the case that I didn’t learn one of the songs and I thought I was playing the right part for the song, so I was in a really rough spot trying to learn the song in like 2-3 days which was really difficult but I managed to pull through but I feel bad for putting my group at such a detriment. Other then that we didn’t really have any problems.

I think the audience quite enjoyed it, you saw them all watching closely to our songs which was good because they weren’t really some get up and dance songs they were more calmer more focused songs which was good because we bring out the right reaction in our audience and overall they reacted how we wanted them to react which was great.

I think our groups positioning on stage was good other then maybe rendel who might have got pushed to the back but he was able to look over everyone, all the singers were in a line so everyone could see them and Phil could be seen on the keys when he was playing them and you could always see our guitar and bass players with them moving out the way for our drummers so so our positioning was I think very good.

The sound was good coming out of my monitor I could hear myself a little bit over everyone else so I knew what I was playing the right thing and everyone else came in at the same volume, no one was overpowering anyone else and it was all smooth through all four songs.

I think I enjoyed bottom of the barrel more then the lunchtime gig because there was more people and the songs were what people actually made themselves which I thought was amazing but that’s when everyone wasn’t very experienced with each other and getting on stage so defiantly the lunchtime gig was more organised and better worked but the bottom of the barrel was a lot more fun.

I just need to get my timings down for the rescue me song and make sure I’m playing the right parts and I should be ok for the next evening gig.

Film clip composing/recording evaluation

The things that were most useful research wise was watching the films back and getting the vibe of what kind of music was going into the movie clips and what kinda feeling it gave off and then we listen to music that we think was like the music within our film and then we jammed everything out and made everything from there so honestly the research was really smooth and simple to get us working on the little song clips.

The difference between playing in the recording studio and playing live is that it feels much more intense in the studio because you feel like you have to get it perfect and if you mess up you ruin everything so there was defiantly a lot more stress and pressure in the studio but at the same time it was also cooler to see how everything was done and recorded separately with the vocals and different instruments.

I think the only problem we encountered was me struggling a tiny bit to play my part because I had been off for two days but that took like a couple of mins for me to remember and fix things and other then that I don’t think there were any other problems.

Areas for development would defiantly be working on my discipline so that’s work in college and work at home but also to respect the working environment more and not mess and around because it’s not professional.

In retrospect to the original film clip I think we matched the boat clip where we wanted it to be a juxtaposition to the what the actual clip was portraying and I think we had that done well but it could’ve been tailored more to the song that was actually used in the film and what kinda genre and style that song is and I think smokestack lightning went and fitted well with the song having every part all set and all vocals really good on the final recording which was very good, so overall I have no complaints except for the boat scene song could’ve been taylored a little more to the original song and it’s genre and style.

Assessment of skills

Things that have changed since my initial assessment is that I am a lot more confident at playing the piano knowing chords and learning new songs to play but also working on my stage presence and my interaction with my other band mates to make me a stronger and more confident musician too.

My rhythmic accuracy I think is very good because I always am able to keep the best within the song but at the same time I sometimes have struggled recently at trying to find the beat. My knowledge of scales is honestly quite bad considering I don’t understand what it means. I would think my technical security is honestly quite strong and always quite safe. My dynamic control I’m not too sure about because I’ve never actually tested that. My knowledge of chords is getting a lot better but still needs work on memorisings all the chords now and playing them without looking up what they are. My stage presence is quite good because I can now slightly move around on stage where I wasn’t able to do that before so I have improved in that aspect. My communication with my fellow musicians is good when I’m near them but usually I’m not near many musicians and I don’t usually react with the audience that’s the singers job most of the time. My physical expression isn’t the best because I focus too much and have a dead face while trying to play my chords. My ear is terrible, I am never able to learn chords just from ear and never have. I still can’t read sheet music and still haven’t practised and researched and tried reading sheet music so I need to get around to that soon.

My music rehearsal skills

I think my warm ups are quite good, I run through my songs each once at home then once when I get in the music department just so I know I’m prepared for my work for the day. My physical preparation doesn’t really take much all I do is stretch my fingers along the keys to loosen them up so their ready to play and move better. My rehearsing with my band is quite good because I’m always ready to play and I am one of the ones that always wants to get down to work and get our songs finished. My musical interaction with others could be improved on because I’m stuck behind a piano most of the time so I need to try and figure out how I can interact with the singers and the other musicians. I can receive and give constructive and positive feedback to others quite well I just never do it when I’m in with everyone because I feel like others will have better and smarter points. When we have problems we either try and solve them straight away or we don’t let it get on the way of our work and push on, like Joe going on holiday we just addressed the problem straight away and found a solution.

Management skills

My independent practise has improved a lot, I’m practising all the time and home and even trying to strengthen my skills as a keyboard player. My attendance has been very good, I’ve only missed two days because I was ill and I’ve been in every other day. My time management is quite good I always turn up to rehearsals on relative good time other then a few days where I was still trying to find my feet and get ready for the new feeling of college. My readiness to work is good because I loveto learnt he songs because I’m always impressed with what my group can create and how good everything will sound so I’m always ready to put in the work to get to that point. My listening to instructions isn’t bad but it could be better, sometimes I do say dream and come off task and I need to stop doing that. I never interrupt practises because I know how much that would annoy me if that happened to me s I refrain from doing it. I’m always willing to try things out if ant ever wants me to because I wanna learn everything and it be able to play really well. My concentration in the task is good because when it comes to playing the music I am always focused and ready to play for when we need to and to fulfil the task at hand. I have appropriate interaction with everyone, I feel like I’m either friends or am on everyone’s good side that’s in the music department. My rehearsal discipline is very good I am always one that wants to work and get everything done and ask when things are a bit tough for me. I haven’t really had a situation where I have had to show sensitivity but when a time like that does come around I will try and be sensitive towards the one that’s in distraught.

My tumblr blog skills

I have made every action plan that was required of me but some missed their deadline so it’ll be better if I get those in on time. My research has gotten better since I got here and I’m slowly improving but I still think there’s a ways to go. I apply my research to my work in terms of making music and seeing how different genres are played so that I’m ready to play. I am good at describing problems and making strategies to resolve them, I’ve been doing it a lot recently. Meeting deadlines for me has to improve drastically, I have been late on posting a lot of work and also some songs were late which is definitely not good enough. I haven’t taken responsibility of posting rehearsal footage only one I have is the radio videos and I did get them up, I just don’t find myself reliable enough to post the videos when their needed. My presentation I think is good, it’s nicely set out and my spelling punctuation and grammer is all quite good so I think it all looks very nice and presentable.

[americanahighways]

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Words & Photos by Chris Bickford

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“It’s hard getting to the States” says singer/guitarist/mandolinist Scott Pringle of Saskatchewan-based band The Dead South. 

We are downstairs in the green room of Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom, chatting while Pringle and his bandmates writhe out of sweat-soaked white shirts and black trousers, and bandleader Nate Hilts’s mother collects the boys’ dirty laundry, beaming with pride.

At first Pringle’s comment seems like a typical Dead South joke: What’s so hard about getting to the States from Canada? Just about any southbound highway should do it, right? But as he continues, his meaning becomes clearer.

“We’ve played Europe like eight times. They love us over there. We’re huge in Germany. But it’s been a lot harder to break in here. Lot of dive bars and half-empty rooms.”

Well, mom may still be doing their laundry, but there’s no question that The Dead South have arrived on this, their first full-scale US tour. From the moment they took the stage of the Ballroom, they held the near-capacity crowd in their clutches and didn’t let go until the last encore. Their high-energy mix of folk-punk-bluegrass came off more like a rock show than a pickers’ jam, thanks both to their larger-than-life stage presence, and to a precision-timed light show, replete with vintage Edison lightbulbs in front of each bandmember’s microphone and old Hollywood fresnels pulsating through silk backdrop screens embroidered with the band’s signature antler/tree-branch motif.

“Technically he’s called a production designer,” says Pringle. “But yeah, our lighting guy is pretty sick.”

It was more than just clever set design, though, that made the show feel so big. The band’s furious attack on their acoustic instruments and growling vocal harmonies infused the set with a wall-of-sound vibe that belied the minimalism of their setup. Driven only occasionally by a steer-horn-adorned kick-drum at the feet of banjoist Colton “Crawdaddy” Crawford, the Dead South conjured up an unholy racket out of wooden soundboards and steel strings that filled the Ballroom to the rafters and sent the notoriously indifferent Nashville audience into fits of hooting, hollering, and hand-waving. They closed to two encores, each member finally walking off the stage separately, leaving Crawford alone under a single spotlight to drive his frenetic banjo playing into the crowd’s ears for another 60 seconds or so before he too set down his instrument and exited stage left.

When, downstairs, I ask about the band’s history, Nate’s mom pipes up. “They’ve been doing this since they were kids!” But cello-bassist Danny Kenyon is quick to correct her. “Scott and Nate and I grew up together, but we’ve only been playing together as a band for about five years.”

As the legend goes, Crawford showed up at Hilts’ university flop-house sporting a banjo, which he had just recently bought and barely knew how to play. The introduction of the banjo kicked off a house jam, and in the spirit of the night, Hilts jotted down a few lyrics, which eventually found their way into the song “Every Man Needs a Chew”. A few months of woodshedding and open mics later, Kenyon and Pringle joined the band, and the Dead South was born.

Since then the band has earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working acts on the indie scene, touring incessantly and racking up over a thousand club and festival dates, as well as countless informal jams with other bands on the circuit. And as their reputation has grown, so has their command of their craft, their command of the stage, and the iconoclastic nature of their look and sound. Critics have started to pay attention, and in the viral wake of director Zach Wilson’s ingenious video for their song “In Hell I’ll be in Good Company” (which at the time of this writing has racked up over 83 million views), their fan base has been multiplying exponentially. 

As to exactly what to call the Dead South’s music, that discussion could fill the rest of this article, and remains a favorite topic of argument among their social media followers. “We call it bluegrass, but it’s definitely got some punk in it” says Hilt. “And some other stuff. We weren’t raised playing bluegrass, so it’s not exactly traditional.”

To say the least. The Dead South are about as far from bluegrass as you can get while still being categorized as such, and their outlier status has been part of the secret to their success, as fans of the genre love nothing more than to debate whether a band like TDS is really bluegrass — and that debate has only fueled the fire of their notoriety. Trolls aside, the band have earned their membership in the club with their latest album Illusion and Doubt (Curve Music), which peaked at #5 on the Billboard US Bluegrass charts, and also placed respectably on the iTunes Country charts.

As with any great musical act, though, what sets these boys apart from the the pack is the hold they take on the imagination. Stepping out in wide-brimmed hats, snap suspenders, and turn-of-the-century neckwear, and proceeding to sing surreal and raucous tales replete with references to whiskey, murder, the Devil, the Civil War, and all the usual tropes of old-time music, the Dead South manage to simultaneously butcher American history and lampoon the old-school posturing of so much of the Americana scene, while at the same time making you feel like you are witnessing one of the most authentically American bands on the indie stage. It’s an ingenious sleight-of-hand work of performance art, one that hearkens back to minstrel shows of yore, where satire and earnestness went hand in hand, often indistinguishable from each other. Punctuating their act with the occasional finger-snapping dance routine, the passing-around of an old bottle of whiskey, and the cracking-open of red-white-and-blue beer cans, the band have developed a sense of comic timing that only adds to their Through-the-Looking-Glass take on American folk music and culture.

Who’s in charge of this madcap revival troupe? While Hilts definitely comes off as a bandleader, alternating lead vocals with Pringle and occasionally Kenyon, the fact that the members of the band perform side-by-side, each with their own Edison bulb, speaks volumes to their egalitarian spirit. “It’s a pretty collaborative process,” says Kenyon. “We  write the songs together, and work out the instruments and harmonies together. The wardrobe thing has evolved over the years but it’s definitely something we’ve agreed on. We just like having fun with it.”

However you describe them, and however you categorize their music, one thing is for sure: The Dead South are on the rise, and they are engaging fiercely loyal fans around the world. Clutching a set list thrown from the stage after the show was one Robbie Watson, bearded and bedecked as if he could be a member of the band himself. In certain East Nashville circles, Watson’s turn-of-the-century attire probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but his turning up at a show dressed like the band speaks to a new level of fandom, the kind enjoyed by acts like the Avett Brothers, Taylor Swift, and the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

“We love Nashville” says Hilts. “We’ve played AmericanaFest a couple of times and at first we were completely unknown, but now we’ve got people coming back because they saw us at those early shows. And the crowds keep getting bigger, which is cool.”

Cool indeed. Though their home might be thousands of miles away in Canada’s Great White North, The Dead South seemed very much at ease — and in command — this October night in downtown Nashville. It’s not easy making an impression in Music City, but the Dead South, after five years of hard touring —  and countless hours honing their craft, their aesthetic, and their surrealist American mythos — walked off the stage of the Cannery Ballroom as conquerors. And politely handed their sweaty dress shirts to Nate’s mom for cleaning.

Find music and tour dates, here: https://www.thedeadsouth.com/

Show Review: In Good Company Indeed: The Dead South at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville Words & Photos by Chris Bickford ____ “It’s hard getting to the States” says singer/guitarist/mandolinist Scott Pringle of Saskatchewan-based band The Dead South.