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cherrylng · 4 months

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Coldplay Interview - Chris Martin & Jonny Buckland [CROSSBEAT (August 2006)]

“I don't think we've written what we would call our best song yet, so I get up every night in the middle of the night and work on some ideas.”

Coldplay's first tour of Japan, which will be one of the ‘events’ of the year, is about to happen! What did ‘the best-selling album of 2005’ bring them? Where are they headed after completing the first chapter with ‘X&Y’? The latest exclusive interview with Chris Martin and Johnny Buckland takes a closer look at the band now!

Text/Composition: Hidefumi Harima / Interviews: Henrik Tuxen (Chris), Hidefumi Harima (Jonny) / With assistance from Aki Tamura and Yuriko Banno

"I think Coldplay have just finished the first chapter in a way. We've found two people we can trust with all our hearts. From now on it's those two people plus the four of us who are members of the band, and we're not going to listen to any other people's opinions."

Unlike in the 60s and 70s, when a band couldn't come to Japan until they had released a few albums, nowadays you can see them live before they have even released an album. It's just unfortunate that a band like Coldplay has never toured Japan, even if they are not very popular in Japan: the first Summer Sonic in 2000, the special showcase at the release of ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’, and the Fuji Rock Festival in 2003 and last year [2005]. They only came to Japan on these four one-off occasions. But finally, a tour of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, including the Nippon Budokan, is coming soon!

Their latest album ‘X&Y’ was certified as the ‘best-selling album of 2005’ (it was released in early June, which means they sold over 8.3 million copies in about seven months). Hip-hop, R&B and pop idols. This is an astonishing achievement considering the fact that non-rock music is now often at the top of the charts. Needless to say, the number of copies sold is not a direct indication of an album's quality, but it feels good to see something so good sell so well.

It's been almost a year since the release of ‘X&Y’, and the new songs that have been developed on tour should be ripe for the taking. Just imagining ‘Speed of Sound’ echoing through the venue and the hearts of the people there, and ‘What If’ seeping through, is enough to give me goosebumps. And what will we feel at the climax of ‘Fix You’? Of course, it's not just the new songs, but also the many classic songs that have been produced so far, and I can't even begin to imagine how much emotion the chorus will evoke. I feel like I'm going to start crying now (laughs).

Ahead of Coldplay's visit to Japan, which is sure to be one of this year's ‘events’, this magazine has obtained an exclusive interview with Chris Martin, the core of the band, and guitarist Johnny Buckland, who supports Chris in terms of sound and spirit! A close-up look at Coldplay, now ‘the biggest rock band in the world’. We start with Chris, who has just had his second child [Moses].

Looking back on 2005, it sounds like it was a really great year for you guys. From the outside looking in, it seems that you have now firmly established yourselves as a band, but are you aware of this? 「We try to take the great things and the bad things equally, but looking back it's definitely a great feeling of fulfilment. It's been a rollercoaster since we released the album. Today everything seems to be going well, but the next day it's the complete opposite. One day you feel like The Beatles, the next day you feel like Bangles.」

Speaking of the Beatles, you were the first UK band since them [The Beatles] to reach the top 10 of the US Singles Chart with ‘Speed of Sound’, weren't you? In that sense, you became the best-selling British band to break through to the US since the 60s. Do you feel that you have achieved a historic achievement? 「I think all that stuff about us doesn't really matter, to be honest, because it's never true. We're doing good numbers in the US, but for us it was a surprise to hit anywhere. You know, it's the same in America, it's the same in the UK. Anywhere in the world, if people like it, we're just happy. For example, we won a music award in Denmark because we played a great show the last time we played there. We've had a lot of good Danish bands, like Carpark North, Grand Avenue and many others. It means a lot to us, because it's a sign of a good performance.」

At the Danish show, you played a song dedicated not only to Johnny Cash, but also to Carpark North and Grand Avenue. How do you know so many foreign bands? 「Whenever I go anywhere, I like to check out what artists are popular where I'm going and what bands are coming out these days. I always feel like we're being taken advantage of because we're an English-speaking band. So I'm really interested in the local bands that sing in Danish or Spanish or German - in short, the most popular local bands in non-English speaking countries.」

So, when you're on tour, do you try to make as much time as possible to meet the people of the country, check out the bands and see the city? I thought you were so busy you only saw the airport and your hotel room. 「Actually, you're absolutely right. But don't forget, ten years ago we were excited to meet anyone and see any band anyway. Just because we've become a bit better known doesn't mean that part of us has changed.」

How does it feel to meet copies of yourself wherever you go in the world? 「I don't think that assessment is necessarily true, and we ourselves are still in the position of being accused of copying someone else. Basically, we don't take criticisms of copying or stealing too seriously. It's just music after all. I mean, we didn't create any new chords or invent the piano. So we don't have the right to say that we've created our own sound.」

"So far I've put melodies and songs above all else, basically I'm passionate about writing songs. And of course I'm still going to be passionate about writing songs. I think I've gone as far as I can go. So I'm thinking of going in another direction this time."

The album ‘X&Y’ was a huge commercial success, but the album received rather harsh reviews in The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine, which must be depressing to you. 「As I've said before, we're still developing and learning all the time. But people will think it's all right to throw all kinds of opinions at us, but the truth is we don't always know how to deal with that kind of criticism. So there have been a lot of good things that have happened to us in the past year, but we have also had to learn, for example, how to deal with these kinds of people, how to deal with these kinds of opinions, how to choose what to listen to and what to ignore, and so on. And, you know, there was a lot of that.」

You've apparently gone from being a critically acclaimed band to a band for the masses. 「Yeah, I'm sure we'll be ‘everyone's band’ next. But maybe that's a long way off. The next album will be a masterpiece for us.」

Have you already written songs? 「Yes. I'm very motivated at the moment. I get up every night in the middle of the night and come up with ideas for songs, because life is so short and I don't think we've written what I would call our best song yet.」

With the huge success of X&Y, I think it fulfilled a lot of ambitions you've had. How do you feel about that album at the moment? Playing the whole album live on tour……. 「Well, the only regret I have now is that there are a few songs that I wish we'd had a chance to play live before we recorded them. That way we could have rejected some of them and put in other songs that we were more confident about. Well, metaphorically speaking, you buy a new pair of fashionable trousers, but you don't really know how they feel until you wear them to a party.」

So you've grown to like some of the songs, but you've been disappointed with others? 「It sounds crazy, but the songs we put in there for journalists to like, we don't like them at all anymore. On the other hand, the ones we put in that we thought had soul in it, maybe other people wouldn't like as much, we liked them more and more. But it's been a very good lesson for us. Our fans seem to like the latter songs better. In the end, it's very easy to get over weird ulterior motives.」

This will be your first tour since becoming a father, how do you feel about that? 「Oh, yeah, but the soldiers who are in the army, they're deployed for six months and they don't get to come home once during that time. The same goes for other people who work on oil rigs, or in prisons for that matter. So it wasn't that hard for us.」

Have you ever been bothered by the sort of manic atmosphere that comes with touring? The post-show highs that don't quite subside and you find it hard to come back to a calm state of mind? 「It's hard sometimes, but that's why I always keep the music at hand. If I feel restless, I write a song. That way, you can get those feelings you just mentioned out there. If you don't go that way, you'll be out of your mind by the end of the tour, I'm sure.」

Best moment of 2005? 「That's a tough question, let me think…… Well, we played in London last night. It's a bit of a cliché, but it's a great feeling to come back to your home city and have people come to hear you play, you know? It's a good feeling, you know? Of course I love going out on tour, but there's nothing like coming back home and playing for your family and seeing them welcome you back the same way they used to. So these three days at Earls Court are very special for us.」

What was your personal best album of 2005? 「I can name the singles. Madonna's ‘Hung Up’, Arcade Fire's ‘Wake Up’, Sigur Rós' “Takk”, Grand Avenue's ‘Beautiful Mistake’, ‘B.Y.O.B.’ by System of a Down, ‘Outta Control’ by 50 Cent and Mobb Deep.」

So what was the worst thing that happened to you in 2005? It could be something that happened to you personally or to the world in general. 「Personally I don't have any grievances whatsoever. I don't like to talk about negativity, because there's so much negativity in the world anyway.」

On the film ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ (not released in Japan)… 「I can pretty much guess what you're going to say (in the film, there's an exchange of ‘You're gay, I know you're gay’, ‘Why?’ and ‘Because you're a fan of Coldplay’).」

What did you think when you first heard that line? 「My reaction was, well, I thought it was GREAT, really. I'm happy for whoever it is, whoever they're having sex with, if they listen to our music. I don't mind that at all.」

"The one thing that's never changed is that we're friends, right? Everything else can be whatever you want it to be. It's better for the four of us if we don't mind if the music changes. The important thing is that we're making it together."

One of the peculiar phrases used in the industry is ‘Yes, Paul’, which of course refers to Mr [Paul] McCartney.This suggests that when you're working with someone as big and popular as him, people will reflexively say 'yes', no matter what they are told. Do you ever have the concern that if you get too big, you might miss the chance to have constructive disagreement with them? 「That's an interesting question. We're actually in the middle of a process at the moment where we're trying to work out who we can really trust. I think Coldplay have just finished the first chapter in a way, and we've found two people we really trust. From now on it's those two people plus the four of us who are members of the band, and we're not going to listen to any other people's opinions. And we're going to take their opinions into account, and I'm sure those two people will say 'no' far more often than they say 'yes'.」

What are their names? 「One is the manager and the other is a close friend who gave us the name of the band [i.e Phil Harvey].」

You guys had Richard Ashcroft as a surprise guest at Live 8. What did you think of that? 「We've been involved in the Fair Trade movement for a long time now, and the reason we got involved in it was because we recognised our capacity as a billboard. It's not about ethics, it's not about going around telling people to do good. We just want to promote something we really believe in, rather than promoting deodorant or running shoes. And I thought Live 8 was a great opportunity to spread that kind of goodwill around the world. There's no need to be cynical, and I don't think it's something you have to ask every time you see a musician involved in these activities. I think it's just an opportunity to raise awareness among the general public.」

What about the actual performance, was it any different from your usual gigs? 「There was a special atmosphere, especially when playing with Richard. We played ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ together. It's one of the most enduring songs in history.」

Next, we bring you the latest interview with guitarist Johnny Buckland. His atmospheric guitar work is a key element of Coldplay's music, but he is a shy, unassuming man. Interesting for his humble, yet straight-forward, point of view.

It's been exactly one year since the release of X&Y. What do you think of the album in retrospect? 「I haven't really thought about that album in the last few months. I've been working on new songs and concentrating on that. Of course I still love playing the songs from that album live. But for the last six months or so, we never really thought about it as an album. We were all very happy with it when we finished it, and we still are. But I don't think we're going to revisit it now.」

How did you feel about the fact that X&Y was the best-selling album in the world in 2005? 「I was very happy. I couldn't believe it. I thought that would only happen to Mariah Carey. I was really surprised. I even wondered.」

Why do you think that album was accepted by so many people? 「(With a confused laugh) I really don't know. I'd like to think it's because it was a good album, but it seems that ‘good’ isn't the only reason it sells, because even music you don't like can sell really well…… Is it because we toured a lot? (laughs). I really don't know…… We put everything we had into the songs on the album, but…… I don't know why it worked and why people bought the album…… (getting quieter and quieter).」

(laughs) What did Coldplay get out of making ‘X&Y’? 「Well, I think it allowed us to think that we'd finished a certain chapter of Coldplay. When we finished that album, when we finished recording it, I thought, ‘We've done our first act with this’. After three albums of trying out what the job of being a proper band was all about, we can now do what we want to do without reservation. I think it ended one of our cycles. Up until now, we've put melodies and songs above all else, and basically put our passion into writing songs. Of course we will continue to be passionate about songwriting, but I think we've gone as far as we can go for now. So I'm thinking of going in a different direction this time. We started off small with ‘Parachutes’ too, but then we realised that it was getting more and more……」

Was it getting bigger? 「(Laughs) Yes, it was getting bigger. So now I want to do something new.」

Having played the songs from that album live, did you feel that there was anything different about them from the songs on the previous two albums? 「No. To be honest, I have a good feel for all the songs now. When we first started playing them live, we weren't used to doing them, so of course they had a completely different feel to them. Songs like ‘Yellow’ were definitely more familiar, more ingrained in my body. But after touring for over a year, I feel that way about all the songs. Like they're all part of the same thing. There's no difference. Well, of course there are songs that I personally like to play live and songs that I don't like to play live, but now that we have more songs, we don't have to play them all anymore [laughs].」

What is the most significant thing you have gained from your success? 「I don't know……. We have the freedom to do what we want to do. I think that's the most important thing. It feels like we've gone back to our roots again, fresh and new.」

So what, if anything, has been lost with success? 「That's difficult to say……. I don't think there's anything in particular. Basically, I'm positive. The band is more united now…… We get a lot more attention than we used to, but I don't think things are that bad.」

How long have you been together? 「It's been eight and a half years since we played our first show.」

What has changed most between when you formed the band and now? 「Guy's accent (laughs). I was watching a video of ourselves the other night that we took ages ago, and Guy had a weird accent back then. Everyone's look has changed quite a bit too. And also the sound. Now the sound is much louder.」

What has been the same since the beginning and what seems to be the same for the foreseeable future? 「That we’re still friends? Everything else can be taken care of. The most important thing is that we can make music together. It doesn't matter if the music changes, the important thing is that we are making music together.」

It could be said that your music has been accepted by so many people because it is so universal, but what do you think about the balance between universality and uniqueness when you make music? 「It's difficult. When I'm making music, I don't think about whether it's universal or not. I write songs based on my own experiences and views, and if I'm honest, there's a good chance that quite a lot of people will agree with me (laughs). I don't think we write songs to be universal, and in fact I don't think they are. There are actually people who don't like our music. But if we write based on our own experiences, or if we write honestly about how we feel, I think someone will relate to it and like it.」

Talking about some people not liking you, for example Liam from Oasis, he often says bad things about you guys, but that kind of thing doesn't bother you at all? Like a fame tax? 「Yes, it is. The more successful you are, the more bad things people write about you (laughs). In the beginning, people only wrote good things about us. But when people start praising you, someone will start saying bad things about you. It's nothing to make a fuss about.」

What would you say is Coldplay's greatest achievement in the music scene so far? 「Wow, that's a tough question…… I don't know…… The biggest show would be Glastonbury or something like that…… I don't know if there's one that I would call the greatest achievement. I don't think we've done it yet, although we're making every album with the idea of ‘the best album ever’. But what excites me the most is when I'm writing the songs, when they start to take shape.」

"The last time we played in Japan, at Fuji Rock, the crowd was really great. Even if the crowd is half as big as it was then, it's still going to be a great show. We've been perfecting the show over the last year or so, so I think we'll be able to put on our best show when we go to Japan."

Coldplay's songwriting credit goes to all four of you. Of course there are many different patterns, but what is the most typical way a song is born? 「First Chris writes the lyrics and melody, then we all get together and play it, sometimes a whole song is ready, sometimes only part of a song is ready. Then we play it together for a few hours and listen to how it sounds. Then we keep the parts we like and gradually work it into a song. That's basically how it works. Someone will come up with an idea for drums or bass or something along the way, and we just keep playing until we're happy with it.」

What kind of songwriter is Chris Martin in your opinion? 「He's brilliant. I think he's the best songwriter [laughs].」

(laughs) When you're in a band with him, at what point do you think, ‘This guy's great!’? 「It happens all the time. Especially when he comes up with a new song or a new idea… Sometimes I think it's the best song I've ever heard.」

Which song, for example, did you think so? 「Recently, because people haven't heard it yet. Well, for example, I still remember the first time I heard ‘Yellow’. He played it for me on acoustic guitar. I also remember ‘Clocks’. Chris was still trying it out.」

What new songs are in the works at the moment? 「At this stage, I can't really predict what direction we're going to go in. There's quite a lot of different material and we haven't decided which one we're going to go with yet. The earliest we can start recording is after we go to Japan. Probably next year. So I don't know yet. Well, as long as it's different from what we're doing now, I don't really care what direction we go in (laughs).」

Chris seems to like Timbaland a lot, but could it turn out to be a hip-hop album in the extreme case? (laughs) 「I don't think we'll ever make a complete hip-hop album (laughs). But there are so many elements we could use.」

What have you always wanted to do but never got round to it? 「I've always wanted to do a proper tour of Japan (laughs). Even four shows is better than none, but I'd like to go to more cities. I also want to go to…… I've always wanted to go to India. That hasn't happened yet. Also…… I want to tour all over Japan and make a masterpiece album. That hasn't happened yet.」

Are there any producers, co-writers or collaborators you would like to work with? 「There's a lot of people I'd like to work with, co-write with or play with. It would be great to play in Bob Dylan's backing band. But to be honest, I can't wait more than anything to get in the studio with Coldplay again.」

Who is your favourite guitarist? 「I think my biggest hero was Kevin Shields. Also Graham Coxon, who I liked tremendously.」

You've interacted with a lot of different artists, including R.E.M., Richard Ashcroft and Elton John, what have you learnt most and what lessons have you found most useful? 「Hmmm…… Edge from U2 once told me to ‘act nice to people’ (laughs). That helped a lot. I think that's an attitude I should learn from. Because nobody likes a jerk, right?」

Hahaha, indeed. You played a show at the KOKO club (1,000 capacity) on the day of the release of X&Y, didn't you? How was it playing to a smaller venue? Do you prefer playing to big audiences now? 「It's good to start a tour in smaller venues. You can fake it because there's less people listening to you if you're wrong. But I actually prefer playing in bigger venues now. You can bring in big light sets and stuff. Of course, there's something great about playing in a smaller venue. There's an intimacy that you get to touch everyone who comes. But there's a certain atmosphere at an arena show that you can't get at a smaller venue.」

What kind of shows should we expect on your Japan tour in July? 「A big show (laughs). It's going to be a great show. I think it's going to be one of the best shows people have ever seen in Japan (laughs).」

What do you expect from the audience? 「The last time we played in Japan at Fuji Rock, the crowd was so great we couldn't believe it ourselves. Even if the crowd is half as big as it was then, it will be a great show. No, we're really looking forward to playing in Japan. We've been working on the show for about a year now, so we're looking forward to giving it our best when we get to Japan.」

Translator's Note: Finally got around to having this interview extracted from the scan and translated! Since I got more magazines that have arrived now, I decided to post more and just let people enjoy their day reading these old interviews and articles.

I was surprised to find that Chris liked SOTD back in 2006, more than enough to recommend B.Y.O.B., even. As for Jonny, you can tell that he was still quite shy and giggly during interviews just from the transcripts alone.

I'm still learning how to use the scanner, with the constant challenge on how to keep the pages straight. But it does mean seeing pictures that are both new and familiar to me. And also those beautiful blue eyes...

And also! This same magazine just happens to have more to give. I'll tackle the Muse interview that is available in this magazine as well at a later time.

Do support me on my Ko-fi!

#Chris Martin #Jonny Buckland #Guy Berryman #Will Champion #Coldplay #X&Y era #CROSSBEAT #CROSSBEAT August 2006 #my scan #translation #interview

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alarrytale · 7 months

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Liam's new single didn't chart on the UK Top 100 😥 Same thing happened to Zayn's last single and to all Louis' singles since Two of Us. Seems like the British public are only interested in Harry and Niall these days 😥

Hi, anon!

I wasn't expecting Teardrops to chart. No matter how good the song may or may not be. Liam's reputation isn't great overall. People haven't forgiven him for what he's done over the years. So he can't afford to drop a picsart album cover like he did and treat his fans like they're 14 years old with the targeted promo. He is endlessly mocked. His current image is all over the place, the way he uses his fake relationship as PR is off putting and i don't think he has recovered enough from his addiction issues to be ready to throw himself back into the grind again. He just can't get people hyped and on his side. I feel sorry for him, because no matter what he does he can't get it right. I want him to do well, but i keep observing him do things and going "Oh no, Liam".

The thing with Zayn is that he just drops a song and vanishes. No promo, appearances or performances. I think he's doing well despite the little effort he puts into it. The last song wasn't good in my opinion. I have more faith in the song coming next friday and his coming album. He needs to make an effort to promote it though if he wants it to chart. Going on tour would also help.

Louis can't pick singles for shit. That's all on him. He's also chosen to move away from pure pop. Mr. I hate tiktok didn’t take advantage of the hype around waoyf. Bar BTM, his music videos are also low effort and, pardon the language, bad. He's also got the fakest lad image known to man and treats his fans like shit. Apart from also being sabotaged by radio stations and getting no radio play, i think all of this explains his no charting pretty well.

I think Niall is doing well because he's making easy listening pop music, is not problematic, is drama free and he's got a good reputation. He's authentically himself and pretty happy- go-lucky. He's able to draw in directioners and solo h/l/l and z stans. He's a safe haven with little ambition, but that also means he's not able to break the internet. He's got more monthly listeners than Louis, but i don't think he's got a bigger fanbase. I think they're on par when it comes to tour size and sold tickets. Did his latest singles chart in the UK (or just Ireland?).

Harry is Sony's golden goose and he gets everything he points at. So...

#they need to up their game if they want to chart #i don't think liam's got a shot but the other three does #onedee #solo louis #solo harry #liam #solo niall #niall #zayn

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secretdestinypainter · 6 months

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Creating Celebratory Events: Discover the Top Artists for Concerts and Party Music in 2024

Top Music Artist of 2024

As of March 2024, Taylor Swift reigns as the most popular music artist globally, according to Chartmetric's cross-platform performance analysis. Following her success in overthrowing Drake last year and her record-breaking Eras Tour, Swift continues to dominate the music scene.

Justin Bieber has ascended to second place, earning the title of 'the biggest male artist.' Ariana Grande has also moved up in the rankings, following the release of her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine. Beyoncé makes a notable entry at number seven with two new singles released in February.

Meanwhile, artists like Drake, Eminem, and Bad Bunny have experienced a decline in their rankings, and Nicki Minaj has dropped out of the top ten.

These rankings are based on a comprehensive analysis of artists' overall reach with listeners, including listens, views, and consumption, as well as the size of their fanbase across various platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Deezer, SoundCloud, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

As an avid music enthusiast, the anticipation for the top artist of 2024 is palpable. Reflecting on the past year, Spotify's statistics revealed the global top artists: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Drake, and Peso Pluma. The chart-topping songs included Miley Cyrus's "Flowers," SZA's "Kill Bill," and Harry Styles's "As It Was."

The musical preferences of Roxbury High School students provide a microcosm of diverse tastes. While some, like Junior Enzo Bianchi Olivera, remain steadfast in their loyalty to artists like Eminem, others like Sophomore Avery Shluker predict changes in their top artists due to evolving musical interests or concert experiences.

As we edge closer to 2024, the landscape of popular music is set to shift. Elizabeth Riccui, for instance, predicts Taylor Swift will maintain her top spot on her personal playlist. The release of new albums plays a significant role in an artist's popularity. Notable upcoming releases include J. Cole's "The Fall Off," Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's "Vultures," Usher's "Coming Home," Jennifer Lopez's "This Is Me…Now," and Tyla's self-titled album. The Weeknd's cryptic Instagram post has also sparked speculation about a new album in 2024.

While the future top artist of 2024 remains uncertain, the anticipation builds as we consider past favorites, upcoming releases, and the ever-evolving tastes of music lovers worldwide.

I hope that so far you have learned what music you can play at your party or even prepare in advance to send out a party event invitation. We have discovered that sending an event in advance helps your friends plan in advance making sure that your event has the maximum number of guests. Since, we know that 2024 has been pretty busy for all of us already.

As the 2024 Grammy Awards draw near, the music industry is abuzz with anticipation, and it appears that this year's ceremony might just be a celebration of female talent. Billie Eilish, a favorite of the Recording Academy and already a proud owner of seven Grammy awards at the tender age of 22, is once again in the spotlight. Her haunting ballad "What Was I Made For?" from the "Barbie" soundtrack has captivated audiences and critics alike, earning her five Grammy nominations, including two in the highly coveted Big Four categories: Record of the Year (ROTY) and Song of the Year (SOTY).

Eilish's poignant exploration of identity and self-reflection in "What Was I Made For?" has resonated deeply with listeners, making her a strong contender for both ROTY and SOTY. The song's introspective lyrics, combined with Eilish's emotive delivery, have once again showcased her ability to connect with audiences on a profound level.

But Eilish is not the only female artist poised for a triumphant night. Taylor Swift, a twelve-time Grammy winner, is also expected to shine brightly at the ceremony. Swift has been nominated for ROTY and SOTY for her hit "Anti-Hero," a track that has dominated charts and captured the zeitgeist with its candid exploration of self-doubt and vulnerability. The song's relatable lyrics and catchy melody have solidified its place as a standout track of the year.

In addition to her nominations for ROTY and SOTY, Swift is also in the running for Album of the Year with her critically acclaimed album "Midnights." The album, which marks a return to Swift's pop roots, has been praised for its introspective storytelling and lush production. With its commercial success and critical acclaim, "Midnights" is a strong contender for the night's top honor, and many industry insiders believe it could very well be Swift's moment to shine.

As we look ahead to the 2024 Grammys, it's clear that female artists are leading the charge, with Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift at the forefront. Their nominations reflect not only their immense talent and artistic vision but also the evolving landscape of the music industry, where diverse voices and perspectives are increasingly being celebrated. As a professional music journalist based in Chicago, I've witnessed the city's vibrant music scene embrace and champion female artists across genres. It's heartening to see this trend reflected on the global stage at the Grammy Awards.

In conclusion, the 2024 Grammys are shaping up to be a night to remember, with Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift poised to take center stage. Their nominations are a testament to their artistry and the impact of their music. As we eagerly await the ceremony, one thing is clear: it's a great time to be a fan of female musicians.

Who’s your number one artist in 2024?

#new music #music video #top artists #top music chart #create a concert event

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vitaminwaterreviews · 10 months

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Sugar - Shine

I’m not too sure what to think about this album. Parts of it felt kind of SNSD, but most of all it just felt … old? Or maybe boring? Not old in the kind-of-endearing retro way, but old in the just … really boring way. Then other parts felt weird, and also not weird in a good way, but weird in an annoying way. It was synthy, but not Gee synthy; more like … boring synthy. The average score is 6.2 which is fair enough, it really wasn’t bad as an album, and I did learn from it. But ultimately I probably won’t save a single song from this album – not that I could anyway, they aren’t on Spotify haha

I just wanna say, it was surprisingly difficult to find this album. Not only was it not on Spotify, it looked at first like it wasn’t on YouTube either! But I found a playlist. This album apparently didn’t chart in Korea, sooo make of that what you will.

Let’s Feel The Music

Alright, nice disco feel

I’m gonna be comparing this album to SNSD because I just listened to a ton of SNSD yesterday

And this does actually feel like something that SNSD might release – not as a title, but as a b-side. And this is a b-side for this album, so maybe that bodes well

Nothing too interesting musically yet. I’ve heard a bunch of songs with similar vibes

(Now all we need is some unnamed male rapper to make an appearance!)

Bridge slows down for a few precious seconds, just to immediately speed right back up to where we were

Could’ve used a bit more dramatic effect personally

6/10

Summer Sunset

Oh this is interesting

Unnamed male vocalist, appears a decent amount in harmonies but doesn’t seem to have his own lines

This seems less SNSD to me. It’s a bit lower-energy, if SNSD did this song then it would be Louder

Actually, just having the male vocalist there for the harmonies is a pretty cool addition, more songs should try that

6/10

Shine

Kind of an artsy MV in the intro at least

Unfortunately this song appears to be a slow jam

I love the aesthetic though. White background and outfits with bits of saturated color around the environment

Oh ok, this isn’t like, true slow jam, it’s more slow jam plus

The vocals sound kind of jpop to me

The instrumental / dance break was kinda fun

I’m starting to buy into the chorus, the “lalala” section really helped

Oh god the outro though with those smiles

7/10, why not

Hang on one sec I have a sudden urge to watch the Cherry Bomb dance practice

Okay I’m back

두번째 사랑 (Second Love)

Oh that’s interesting, we don’t usually hear songs about second loves

Unfortunately this song is in a very similar slightly-upbeat-rnb synthy space as the rest of the album

This synth feels like it’s trying to put me to sleep haha

Yeah sorry but I just could not get into this song because of that

5/10

Unpretty

Slow intro, group chorus

The default sound of this album is like, “music to listen to while lying down in a meadow on a sunny day” and unfortunately that type of music happens to put me to sleep

5/10

Hold on Harry Kane just scored against North Macedonia let me go watch the replay

Wow that was a terrible goal, very much worth putting off the next song

Just For My Love

How much are we gonna skirt with slow jam vibes without actually having a proper slow jam?

What even is the name of this genre? Is it just like, early 2000’s pop?

The guitar at least is cute

The outro is nice too

6/10

레인보우 (Rainbow)

The thing is – could we have gone from this album to SNSD in 3 years? Yes, absolutely. Gee is not a million miles away from this album, and Into The New World was apparently pitched for M.I.L.K., so this sound definitely carries over

Wow, random electric guitar hit

Also I do appreciate the piano, vocal harmonies too

6/10

선물 (Gift)

Is it finally slow jam time?

The electric piano suggests it

The violins suggest it

The drums suggest it

The vocals suggest it

Well, you know what they say. If it sounds like a slow jam, and it sounds like a slow jam, it’s probably a slow jam

Actually though I kinda like this. It feels way prettier than the other slow jams we’ve heard. Maybe meadow jams are more my thing

Oh that ending totally got me

6/10

비치 (Beach)

Spoken intro, very quiet, not quite whispered

And now it’s all bouncy and synthy

Some horns here and there, alright

Kind of excited for the chorus if they stick around

Lol

Okay, I like it, it’s not bad at least

Very curious about the lyrics, let’s see what we can find

Okay, I see

Wtf with the harmonies

Y’know what? This is good

8/10

굿나잇 (Goodnight)

Wait this isn’t the last song on the album, why are they telling me goodnight?

Bells? Chimes? Harmonies? What is this, christmas music?

And then, as is par for the course on this album, it suddenly gets groovy

Group chorus, very SM

That’s something I’ll have to do, go back and figure out when all the group choruses started

Honestly I should’ve been paying attention to that from the start, silly me

6/10

Winter Dream

More christmas music then?

This one definitely sounds – oh they’re literally sampling Jingle Bells haha

And now it gets all excited

“Everybody scream” followed by cheers haha

Why does this sound so AKB to me

Idk why but these synths really annoy me haha

I do hear the guitars, not a big fan of the instrumentation in general though

Like this sounds Nothing like a winter dream

This group chanting part is kind of fun, not sure if that’s the chorus or what

7/10 I guess?

From Sugar

Ending on a slow jam, fineee

Does make me wonder if it’s a fan song

And also if the members have writing credits

Wikipedia doesn’t have an individual page for this album unfortunately

6/10, not bad

#album #kpop #Sugar

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chartshow88 · 1 year

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THIS IS JUST MY VIEW OF STUFF PLAYED ON CHART SHOW DONT TAKE IT SERRIOUS SOME OF ITS GOOD SOME OF IT BAD SOME OF IT REAL GOOD U WILL KNOW thanks to archive.org sort of full year minus one Febuary one from 19th and most of June to final episode in September JJanuarys dates are 8th 15th 22nd 29th introduction Ok chart show had specialist charts Dance Album Heavy metal and indie and a top ten on a Friday night starting with two half hour shows to start with screaming blue messiahs i wanna be Fred Finstone by the band name total cack EXCLUSIVE Yabba dabba do time with this bald you know what {bill carter} telling u its the 2nd song from there album bikini red and be in U K in February on info First ever special chart DANCE p=played n v no video 10 mau jocks and jock rmaster jock mix 1 n v 9 public enemy bring n v 8 jellybean elissia fiorillo who found who 7 sinita gto 6 wally jump jnr tighten up 5 rick astley when i fall inlove 4 jellybean jingo p rewind too 1st 3 michel jackson way u make me feel 2 krush house arrest 1 joyce sims come into p what about number 5 not even dance or RNB best song top ten jelly bean who found who number 4 is just worst one they did cos its start of song u can tell there gonna play number 4 Krush house arrest {N2} avoided like the plauge and the number one was first time it was shown not EXCLUSIVE though Info Joyce sims was discovered in a hamburger joint on her lunch break info said and for the songs coming to top ten jellybean Jingo joyce sims Krush {where already there top ten with M J} too Dance new release Gladys Knight Love over board info said she started singing at age of four in a baptist church and won a Talent contest aged 7 and with latest album the band been together for 35 years my fave from her is out 89 her bond movie theme for sure AND YOU KNOW AM GOING STRAIGHT FOR YOUR HEART LICENCE TO KILL that's I T V chart show years 1989 went off channel four end of September 88 after march 86 till September 88 on C 4 and had to come off tv 86 as music video people where not getting no moneys {the artists themselves} {nothing like I T V Roxy going off tv between 87 November to December but yeah} but the Knight song not too bad either Then a Pause in show EXCLUSIVE BANANARAMA I CANT HELP IT After Siobhan Fahey from Shakespeare sister left to have a baby they added Jacquie o Sullivan joined them {after love in the first degree left cos she was with baby Mrs Fahay} and wouldn't have a hit till 1989 august with your history with said band {Shakespeare sister} bit too much like the rest of there 1988 stuff {i want u back} and 1987's {love in the first degree} they use the same guys they black up in video too {i want u back} anyway the best of the two of 88 for me my fave one I T V chart show years with help of the 3 comedians French Saunders And Burke {Help} Listed as Lananeeneenoonoo {french and saunders where already in top ten this week with moyets song too Loveletters} and with this song captivated by your Honey and where in in Guinness book of records for most successful female group at the time taken from there album wow back to back 3 songs one artist Pretenders Stop your sobbing never heard this one before i saw this show so lets move along done by the Kinks and there debut record INFO Chrissie quit her job at N M E and sung different bands in 1974 none of them made any impact till the pretenders came along Back on the chain gang now this one I do know performed it when radio 2 did COVID concert's and at Glastonbury this year avoided Brass in pocket too Info there only number one was brass in pocket {third single and she wasn't keen on it at the time}and there debut album the pretenders was also a number one

Hymn to her my fave so sweet the words too it not played though went for Don't get me wrong out in 86 top ten few weeks info recording there fifth studio album and January 15th back to back Echo and the bunny man boo stand by for the stranglers the chart file update shinade o conner inxterrence t trent d erby fergal sharkey morris minor and the majors end of part one part two half an hour later the stranglers all day and all the night info covering the kinks of course in 1964 13 years together and there 28th consecutive hit new album called all live and all of the night released on valentines day absolute rubbish top ten next few weeks though chart file update good luck with these ones AJ they give u top tens and then play one song for 40 seconds nm non mover d down u up p played u up n new entry rock Indie album 10 nm Gaye bikers on acid all hung up d Nina Simone my baby d paul mc all the best 9 d def leopard hysteria n the smiths William n the christians self titled album 8 nm foreigner say u will n j a m m down d t pau bridge of spy's 7 d Whitesnake here i go nm Barmy army sharp n wet wet wet popped in 6 n acdc heatseaker p n cookie crew rock n fleetwood tango 5 d megadeath wake up dead d g clail reality n psb actually 4 d heart theres the girl u suger cubes Birthday d v a hits 7 3 d antrhax i'm the man d the smithes last night nm m j bad 2 nm kiss reason to live n dpeche mode behind the wheel p n rick whenever 1 u cher I found someone nmnew order touched by the hand of god n va now 10 play squeze hour glass few dance songs indie chart PN6} and the rnb Nina simone done the album chart as first one 88 new release Indie Shinade o conner MANDEKA Info from Dublin and her second single from album the lion and the cobra and shaved her hair cos the record company told her to keep it long Another star we lost too soon prob my fave song played this week here but her number one was the best {Nothing compares to you} the chart show singles chart the fastest chart on your screens 4 hours from release comes up new release Fergal sharkey new love from undertones to this band his biggest hit was a good heart and two month later start 87 you little thief sung it on a plane on tv no noise at all lol this offering not so good info recording new album for 18 months in USA and rolling stones Keith Richards plays guitar on this New release Inxs new sensation my fave inxs one is never tear us apart quite good this one though Info the band love skate boarding in america and christian hossi american board champ wanted tickets new release TTD sign your name the only time they play this one even though in top ten a lot maybe him nude top half getting beat up gang style end video or what the songs about fave song wishing well was 87 info tipped to win B P I award for best international artist top ten they 5 or ten seconds of song then rewind to one or more songs 10 d m j way you 9 d pouges fairy 8 n jellybean jingo 7 d a moyet loveletters 6 n wet angel eyes 5 u morris minor p 4 n cher found 3 n Krush house 2 d psb always 1 u belinda heaven info n 5 causing a stir in america 3 comedians been round for years absolute dog u know what should have gone n 4 n 6 or n 3 and kinda played in full just absolute dog meat Ok the number 1 after the go go's her debut single was heaven is a place on earth pretty good tune and iconic 80's for sure would go onb to be there for a while {most January too} Info video directed by Diane keaten and features morgen mason her husband son of actor James Mason the go go's had ten top ten hits in america ok it just said the chart show was 530 and 630 back in day {very nice} and to vote for your fave song in number 1 magazine all about eves cold hearted women was last one played in full next week more indie for ones that forgot on totp they where live {marthas harbour} credits and played for 2 mins brought to u by video visuals stop and eject first show done yay will post more reviews in time hope u enjoyed it if u didn't good https://archive.org/details/the-chart-show-s-3e-01-1988-01-08 theres the link

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90363462 · 2 years

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10. “Jack,” Hardy

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Country music has a rich history of drinking songs, from breezy celebrations (Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup”) to despondent confessionals (Merle Haggard’s “Misery and Gin”). “Jack,” a new single from the fast-rising country star Hardy, sits somewhere in the middle, and provides several compelling twists on the well-explored subgenre.

First, it’s written from the perspective of the bottle itself, as it tries to win over a new convert. Second, its metal influences lend it a bracing forcefulness akin to slamming an empty shot glass onto a wooden bar. Third, it engages in none of the blind devotion, self-pity, or moralizing that plagues many drinking songs, instead telling a straightforward and true story about both the heroic and demonic aspects wrought forth by liquid courage. Hardy isn’t afraid to find the gray within difficult topics—see his murder ballad “Wait In the Truck”—and “Jack” is a prime example of his developing craftsmanship.—Andrew R. Chow

9. “Kind of Girl,” MUNA

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Though the indie pop group MUNA scored plenty of buzz this year for their Phoebe Bridgers collaboration, the queer love anthem “Silk Chiffon,” it’s their plaintive rumination on self-love, “Kind of Girl,” that’s the glittering crown jewel of their self-titled third studio album. Fresh off a new deal with Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records after an unceremonious break with RCA, the trio’s hope for the future shines bright on the song, an acoustic track rippling with emotion that evokes a heartfelt country ballad.

Teeming with tender vulnerability and radical kindness, the song is an earnest ode to the power of love, both given and received over the course of a lifetime, where change is not only inevitable but necessary. Amidst growing pains, the song is a missive to be gentle with everyone, especially ourselves: “Yeah, I like telling stories/ But I don’t have to write them in ink/ I could still change the end/ at least I’m the kind of girl who thinks I can.”—Cady Lang

Read more: The Best Songs of 2022 So Far

8. “Unholy,” Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras

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Sam Smith and Kim Petras both scored their first no. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Unholy,” a lusty, sinuous song about the forbidden fruit of a married man’s illicit affair. Smith and Petras’ history-making feat at the top of the charts (they’re the first openly nonbinary and trans artists to nab the peak spot) has also translated to TikTok, where the certifiably provocative chorus (“Mummy don’t know daddy’s getting hot/ At the body shop, doing something unholy/ He lucky, lucky”) has become a viral soundbite. The song’s commercial success is absolutely well-deserved—anchored by a haunting Arabic scale progression and a throbbing bass, the synth-heavy track is a little dark, a little campy, and 100% a very good time, whether you’re sweating it out on a dance floor or giving it a casual listen.—C.L.

7. “Finesse,” Pheelz ft. BNXN

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There’s a reason “Finesse” became a TikTok sensation in February: its chorus is one of the catchiest of the year, an unfiltered ray of sunshine. Pheelz, a sought-after Nigerian producer who has worked with Afrobeats superstars like Olamide and Tiwa Savage, trades effortlessly cool verses with the rising singer BNXN. And the song isn’t played out yet: expect to hear it plenty during the World Cup, as the song made the FIFA 23 soundtrack and name-drops the footballers Joseph Yobo, Daniel Owefin Amokachi, and Mo Salah.—A.R.C.

6. “ChevyS10,” Sudan Archives

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The main hook of Sudan Archive’s “ChevyS10” doesn’t drop until three minutes and forty-five seconds into the song. Up to that point, a whole lot has happened: a journey from the Bronx to the ‘burbs; some pointed class commentary; autotuned harmonic fireworks; a little tri-state drag racing. But not until the hook hits does the song really kick into high gear, and become an avant-garde dance-pop treatise for the ages. As Sudan Archives—real name Brittney Denise Parks—chants the deceptively simple refrain (“cruising in a Chevy S-10”), the musical walls start to move around her: there’s a springy bass line, then a vicious kick drum made only for the sweatiest of nightclubs, then a cranking violin. It’s a living, breathing, flow state; a passage of sweet, unhinged release.—A.R.C.

5. “Bad Habit,” Steve Lacy

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Steve Lacy’s quiet ascent to the top of the charts with “Bad Habit” this year evoked the same feelings that the song did: pure, euphoric joy. The track, a single from his second studio album, the aptly named Gemini Rights, is a soulful, mellow melange of wistful longing, playful flirtation, and straight-up vibes. While the lyrics sound like cheeky ad-libs, tailor-made for TikTok soundbites, Lacy’s songwriting packs a deeply emotional impact, musing on both yearning (“I wish I knew, I wish I knew you wanted me”) and boyish desire (“Can I bite your tongue like my bad habit?/ Would you mind if I made a pass at it?”). Though the song is lo-fi easy listening at its best, don’t be surprised if it gets at your feelings with each listen.—C.L.

4. “FNF,” Glorilla

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On the streets, the undeniable song of the summer was “F.N.F (Let’s Go)”—and for good reason. The track, a breakout single from Memphis rapper Glorilla and producer Hitkidd, is a boisterous and thrilling crunk anthem for single ladies everywhere and a sparkling addition to the Southern rap canon. Over a menacing beat, Glorilla, a former church girl (she was born Gloria Hallelujah Woods) turned gangsta rap darling, offers a bombastic and unabashed celebration of the newly single life, her husky voice reaching a barking timbre when she talks about her newfound liberation.

While it’s no doubt a breakup song, “FNF” is also an ode to female friendship; indeed, the song’s most exhilarating moments come when Glorilla gives a shoutout to her girls during a spelling lesson in the song’s now-TikTok viral hook: “I’m F-R-E-E, f-ck n-gga free/ That mean I ain’t gotta worry ’bout no f-ck n-gga cheating/ And I’m S-I-N-G-L-E again/ Outside hanging out the window with my ratchet-ass friends.”—C.L.

Read more: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2022

3. “Part of the Band,” the 1975

“Part of the Band,” the gorgeous, lush lead single from the 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language, marks the band’s return to music following 2020’s Notes on a Conditional Form. Frontman Matty Healy sings this self-aware, stream-of-consciousness track with the help of some background vocals from producer Jack Antonoff. The song features a sweeping string section and Healy’s charming vocals, which propel the listener forward even if the lyrics don’t always make sense. Even Healy admitted he barely knows what it means: “As a narrative, I don’t know what the song is about,” he told Apple Music. “It was just this belief that I could talk, and that was OK, and it made sense, and I didn’t have to qualify it that much.” Whatever it means, it sounds great.—Moises Mendez II

2. “Delincuente,” Tokischa

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While the thundering beat and the raunchy lyrics are enough to get your heart racing, the real star of “Delincuente” is the unabashed and fully assured confidence of Tokischa, the Dominican dembow artist who’s been making waves as a queer, sex-positive provocateur disrupting her genre, one hit at a time, respectability politics be damned. The track, which also prominently features Anuel AA and Ñengo Flow, is filled with racy and at times ludicrous double entendres which create an intoxicating romp, driven in turn by a bouncing and infectious rhythm. But it’s Tokischa’s irrepressible, irresistible energy and powerful, rock-influenced vocals that make the song a standout, the liberated anthem of an artist who answers to no one but herself and her pleasure.—C.L.

1. “Titi Me Pregunto,” Bad Bunny

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For the four years I’ve been writing TIME’s year-end music roundups, my colleagues and I have enforced a self-imposed rule to never feature the same artist in both the song and album categories. To do so felt narrow-minded and redundant, and we felt it important to spread the love around with the few slots we have.

But we had to break tradition for Bad Bunny, who lands on the top of both our albums and songs lists. Un Verano Sin Ti is an unimpeachable collection top to bottom, and “Titi Me Pregunto” is its crown jewel: a speaker-rattling, tightly-coiled whoop-ass can of boisterous exuberance. Bad Bunny wields his malleable, magnificent voice in all of its forms, through dextrous rapidfire verses and sludgy singalongs; he makes even his gasps for breath sound sexy. The song’s aesthetics alone pushed it toward complete cultural domination. It hit the top 10 in 13 countries, and when I went to see a concert by the DJ Sofia Kourtesis, all she wanted to do, instead of play her own songs, was sing “Titi Me Pregunto.”

But like all great songs, “Titi Me Pregunto” is much more than its sheer sonic brilliance. While the first two verses show Bad Bunnyplaying the carefree, chauvinist playboy, he eventually confesses that it’s all a shield for his emotional fragility. “I’d like to fall in love but I can’t… I don’t even trust myself,” he sings despondently. “I don’t want to be like that anymore.” Just another day in the office for the biggest pop star in the world—A.R.C.

Correction, Nov. 22

The original version of this story misstated the name of a Hardy song. It is “Wait in the Truck,” not “Wait in the Car.”

Write to Cady Lang at [email protected] and Moises Mendez II at [email protected].

Sent from my iPhone

#Youtube

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natromanxoff · 2 years

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Smash Hits (November 18 - December 1, 1987): 106/?

Credits to Michael Kane.

Freddie Mercury: Man Of A Thousand Faces!

Freddie Mercury is in the charts once more this time alongside the mighty Monster Rat Caballe. (I think you'll find that's Montserrat, actually — Ed.) Bitz takes this opportunity to glance over the many chameleon-like changes of image which Freddie has toyed with over his long years in pop, and pauses to think "Golly, what an odd dress sense Sir Frederick has got."

• In the early '70s: Freddie's classic rock couture.

• Even that early in his career, Freddie’s dry cleaning bills were massive.

• The “Laughing Cavalier” look. Except he isn’t laughing very much.

• The Harlequin suit. What a jester.

• Oh dear. Freddie’s still got his leotard the wrong way round.

• Freddie’s choice of casual shirts has always been a source of concern to friends.

• The ‘80s saw Freddie dressed in a dazzling new wardrobe.

• Oh dear. Freddie’s still got his leotard the wrong way round.

• Will he never learn?

• “I want to break free,” crooned Freddie. Surprisingly enough, he was wearing a dress at the time.

• Freddie insists that leather shorts are the thing to wear when astride one’s robot.

• Freddie regrets to this day being sick all over his best velvet robe.

• Freddie “dressed” for tennis. Bleeeeeee!

• Oh dear!

• Freddie’s perv leather look, which Neil Tennant would later make his own.

• And his pink suit with black shirt “look” spawned hundreds of copyists too.

• What a toff.

• “If only I hadn’t been sick on my robe, I wound’t have to wear this yellow tracksuit!!!”

• A perfectly acceptable suit! What is Freddie playing at?

{Barcelona lyrics}

QUEEN

FREDDIE MERCURY

Has recorded an album of duets with opera singer Montserrat Caballe in the same warbly style as "Barcelona" and even an album produced by Tim (Chess-and-lots-of-other horrible musicals) Rice. Both the album and another single will be out early next year.

BRIAN MAY

Produced the recent Bad News' single "Bohemian Rhapsody" — originally a hit for Queen eons ago. He's now settled down to make some more hit records in London with EastEnders' gin-sodden bar-maid Angie, i.e. Anita Dobson and the fruits of their labours together is a new slushy Christmas song "I Dream Of Christmas" due out lamentably soon.

ROGER TAYLOR

Has put together an entirely new group full of entirely un-famous musicians gathered from an anonymous advert in the British music papers. Once he'd picked the other four members of "The Cross" as they are known, he whisked them off to Ibiza to record their LP "Shove It" which sounds apparently entirely unlike Queen and even has some rapping on it. (!!)

JOHN DEACON

All anyone seems to know about him is that he's "doing a film score" though what it is or who for, is a complete mystery. All anyone would say is that "he's had a quiet year."

All four members of Queen apparently will get back together in the studio sometime next year when all their various solo projects are over and done with. And just in case you're wondering they are still all very, very, very good friends...

[Queen 1988 calendar advert]

QUEEN

Mostly live photos of various "members" of Queen spanking their planks, swirling their microphones etc. with one rather brilliant moment where moustachioed Lord Frederick is doing press ups in the rain on stage for some reason and looks entirely demented. Nice black backgrounds. (?)

On to the reckless spending habits of Freddie Mercury. Some amongst you may remember him spending several thousand quid on some goldfish the other day. They were actually v. rare Japanese Koi carp which sell for about £4,000 each. Reckless you may think, and you'd probably be right. Especially as he woke up one recent morning to find that his goldfish pond had cracked and all the water had seeped away killing the poor little dears. Still, what's a few thousand quid for a couple of dead fishes, eh?

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #montserrat caballe #queen scans #smash hits #smash hits november-december 1987

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straykidsupdate · 3 years

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Stray Kids Are Breaking Records, Breaking Eardrums and Breaking Limits (INTERVIEW)

A Stray Kids track a day keeps the stress away. Though one can argue the K-pop group's energetic brand of "noise music" could possibly heighten tension, their bass-bumping, get-the-crowd-jumping songs are encouraging, vital points to Stray Kids' calling: to be the voices of their generation.

As showcased on their fiery 2019 hip-pop hit "MIROH," or 2020's heavy-hitting "God's Menu," Stray Kids — often abbreviated as SKZ — are unrelenting in their journey of self-expression and their determination to push themselves, and their fans, to their full potential. A prime example? Their second studio album, NOEASY, released Aug. 23.

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Source: Pop Crush

The 14-track project, the majority of which was produced by sub-unit 3RACHA (Bang Chan, Changbin and Han), exhibits Stray Kids' ability to bring the noise no matter the tempo. NOEASY starts off strong with five in-your-face tracks that blend EDM and hip-hop elements (lead single "Thunderous," "Cheese," supporting single "Domino," "The View" and "SSICK"), while the later part of the album experiments with different genres and styles, from jazz-pop to rock.

Just three years into their career — they formed in 2018 — members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. already carry dozens of award nominations and wins under their belt, and boast chart-topping hits in both physical and digital sales. Even before the release of their second album, the group already set a new record by becoming the first artist under JYP Entertainment to reach 1 million pre-orders.

We recently caught up with the members to talk about NOEASY, the adorable SKZOO version of "Thunderous" and why touring is their first and foremost priority.

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Congratulations on your second album! A studio album takes lots of work, so how does it feel to have this out there in the world now?

Changbin: We really put our everything into preparing this album and we're really confident in it, so I’m really happy that STAY can finally listen to it!

Lee Know: We couldn’t wait to put this out because there are so many really, really good songs on it, so it feels great to finally release this album.

Hyunjin: Somehow a year has already passed, and we’re so thankful to our STAY who have waited for us. The entire album is good, so we hope STAY really enjoy it.

NOEASY has already achieved the title of being the best-selling album in JYP Entertainment in history. Any thoughts on that? What other records would you guys like to break?

Bang Chan: That title was achievable all thanks to STAY! If it weren't for STAY, we wouldn’t have been able to have even gotten this far. Stray Kids are known as “the kids that enjoy breaking things." We break objects, break eardrums and break limits, so breaking another record wouldn’t be so bad. Of course, we’ll need the help from STAY!

I.N: I hope we grow even more with the next album, so much so that people will describe us as artists who are constantly improving.

What were your first impressions of the title track?

HAN: When we listened to the final product, it made me really happy that the track sounded really fresh, the lyrics were very witty and full of spirit and it clearly embodied Stray Kids’ distinct color. I wanted to hurry and work on the performance and share the song with someone!

Felix: The song is really unique and I believe that we were the only team to make it impactful.

Seungmin: One day, upon arriving at home, 3RACHA immediately played the song for me. The moment I heard it, it felt electrifying, and I really wanted it to be a title track. That’s why I voiced a lot of my opinion, too.

3RACHA (Bang Chan, Changbin and Han), you guys have made a name for yourself and were heavily involved in this second album just like past releases. What was it like with this project?

Bang Chan: Just like any other project that we’ve worked on, we just had fun. We experimented with a lot of different styles and tried our best to widen our musical spectrum.

Changbin: We knew there would be a lot of expectations as this would be a full album, so we really put a lot of effort into the process.

HAN: The process was a lot of fun. We’d ask ourselves, “What should we attempt? What should we try next?” And we looked forward to what we’d come up with while working on this album.

How was it different this time?

Bang Chan: The “let’s just have fun” part hasn’t changed at all, but the biggest difference would be the genres of music and the ways we recorded the songs.

Changbin: Perhaps because our second full album is the first album we’re releasing after [television competition] Kingdom, there was a bit of pressure to meet people’s expectations. When pondering what everyone would be expecting of us, we thought they’d definitely be looking forward to something new in true Stray Kids’ fashion. I think that’s the part that we contemplated a lot.

HAN: I think, compared to before, we had a little more fun while working on this album. There was no time crunch, and we worked with the thought of making music that best fits who we are today, so I think the end result came out really well.

What would you say were the key highlights for the album?

Bang Chan: One thing that I hope people will notice is the improvement of all the members’ recording skills. We put a lot of effort into all the songs.

Changbin: The album includes unit songs in which all of our members took part during the creative process.

HAN: I hope people look forward to Stray Kids’ distinct musical color, our wit and how much we’ve matured.

When you guys came up with NOEASY as the title, how did you define it in your own terms?

Bang Chan: This might sound cheesy, but life itself is pretty “no easy." Everyone goes through obstacles, everyone has their own downs and lows, but I feel like it depends on how “noisy” you’re going to be to overcome those hardships.

HAN: NOEASY is trying to convey that things may be hard, but we’re going to break through that difficulty with our sound! I think the best way to explain it is that even if things are tough, as long as we have the sound of Stray Kids and the sound of STAY, we can overcome anything.

youtube

You spoiled your fans with so much pre-release content, which would you say were your favorites and why?

Lee Know: The SKZOO teaser was the most memorable. I would say the cuteness amidst the power was the key point.

Hyunjin: The trailer video was a little embarrassing to film, but after seeing it all come together, it looked so cool that I hope we get to do it again next time!

Seungmin: We worked on unit songs that were included on this album, and the Song Camp teaser videos that showed the creative process behind those unit songs were really good! I think our STAY really enjoyed them, so I hope we can do that type of content again.

About the SKZOO version of the “Thunderous” video: Whose idea was it?

Felix: As we prepared for our comeback, we wanted to impress and entertain our fans with something fun and unique, so we all came to one conclusion which was wearing our costumes for “Thunderous."

Your music has become incredibly encouraging and has touched many STAY around the world. What would you say is your ultimate message as Stray Kids?

Bang Chan: At one point in their lives, people will have a moment where they feel astray from the road that they’ve chosen, and I would like those people to know that they’re not the only ones that feel that way. So, whenever you need someone to keep you company, just know that Stray Kids are here to get you back on track.

You guys pretty much owned 2020 with hit after hit, including “God’s Menu” and “Back Door." How has it been working and releasing music in the midst of the pandemic?

Changbin: There was a lot more time being spent at home, but I didn’t want to waste that time, and instead used it to consistently work on new music. I hope people listen to our songs and gain strength during this challenging time.

Seungmin: To be honest, I was really bummed we couldn’t get to meet our STAY in person, but I think we promoted our album hoping that STAY could feel our love through videos, our music and their hearts even from afar. I’m grateful because I think our sincerity was relayed despite not being able to see each other in person. We spent our time working really hard even in the unseen!

When the pandemic is over and everything’s okay, what’s the first thing you want to do?

Bang Chan: World tour, first priority!

Lee Know: The very first thing I want to do is have a fan meeting with STAY.

Changbin: Definitely an in-person concert.

Hyunjin: I want to go on a world tour to hurry and meet our STAY all over the world and experience new cultures in different countries! I also want to perform for our STAY in-person at Korean music shows.

HAN: A concert! I want to hurry and have a concert so we can vibe with STAY and sing together in the same place. I miss this so much and can’t wait until we can do this again.

Felix: World tour!

Seungmin: I would say the first that comes to mind is a concert with STAY where we can finally greet them and have fun together!

I.N: I want to do a world tour.

Congratulations on your third anniversary! Do you guys have any wishes, individually or as a group?

Bang Chan: Individually, I just wish for everyone to be safe and happy. As a team, I wish that we can reach places that haven’t been reached before with the help from STAY.

Lee Know: I really want to be able to let STAY experience our performances visually and physically in real life as soon as possible.

Changbin: I want to make music and perform as Stray Kids for a long time.

Hyunjin: I’m sad that we can’t right now, but I would really like for this time of coronavirus to pass so we’re able to make many more memories with STAY. I really miss the fan meetings, concerts and world tours.

HAN: I want to mature more and continue growing in my music and just as a person. I would like to make even better music so that I can continue to touch STAY’s hearts and give them joy.

Felix: Individually, I hope to make a lot of memories and give a lot of hope and happiness to the STAY all around the world to the best of my ability. As a team, we really want to go on a world tour to meet our STAY as soon as possible.

Seungmin: I want to show our fans an even more improved version of ourselves. My wish is to show STAY that we’ll never go backwards!

I.N: I would like to continue improving and be described as an artist of consistent growth. I want to become an artist that’s a good influence on people.

What’s something you would like people to know about SKZ if they haven’t given them a chance yet?

Lee Know: We’ve got backbone. Once you fall for us, it’s hard to get out.

Hyunjin: I hope that after listening to our diverse music and watching our extravagant performances, people will notice us a little more.

Anything else you’d like to say? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

HAN: STAY, thank you for always giving us positive energy. We feel bad because it seems like we’re always just on the receiving end, but we’ll work hard to reciprocate what you’ve given to us! We’re always so thankful for you, and we miss you so much. We love you, and please continue to watch over us.

#stray kids #210924 #era: NOEASY #t: article #pop crush

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the-gc-record-club-blog · 3 years

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HEAUX TALES (JAZMINE SULLIVAN)

Selected by V Nasty

OBELLA’S TAKE

Favorite Song: On It ft. Ari Lennox

Spit Yo' Game/Talk Yo' Shit: My honorable mention is Ari’s Tale because that skit is actually one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. God, I would die for Ari Lennox. But that is neither here nor there. Jazmine did that with her brilliant display of the diversity of femininity and womanhood, powerful female vocalists behind the insane vocals Ms. Sullivan already has going for her, and a selection of songs that give us grief, confusion, insecurity, empowerment, and self-love all wrapped in one. It has bangers but also has ballads and it never felt like too much of either. A very well balanced R&B hit album if I do say so myself... and I do... say so myself that is

Lit-mus Test: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

VANESSA’S TAKE

Favorite Song: Put It Down Spit Yo' Game/Talk Yo' Shit: I really enjoyed Reality Show, the album before this one (and I recently got the shock of my life in remembering that it came out in 2015!!), but somehow Heaux Tales is even better. Jazmine Sullivan has been a consistent presence for years but doesn't get nearly enough credit for being one of the greatest vocalists in the game - and improving on the model with each new release. "Put It Down" gives me everything I could want in an R&B song and she's singing/spittin from *within the gd fibres* of her bag; the call/response/harmony segment at 00:20-00:28 sounds so perfect to my ears that it literally gives me goosebumps. I'm weary of skits on albums as they rarely do enough to convince me that the album wouldn't be better without them, that's the only reason why this didn't get a 5-flame rating. But Jazmine is at her zenith on Heaux Tales - she found the perfect mix of bangers and ballads, and I'm struggling to find better words to describe this but her attitude/swagger on this album is off the charts. As such, I'd be remiss if I didn't write in an honourable mention for "Pick Up Your Feelings" because wheeeeew get out the way!

Lit-mus Test: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

OCHIENG’S TAKE

Favorite Song: Bodies - Intro

Spit Yo' Game/Talk Yo' Shit: I thought Jazmine's career was much older than it actually was, seeing as though most of my experience with Jazmine is through her singles from her debut album. It's actually crazy to think about but Jazmine is actually younger than J Cole, who has been around for a while but I hardly consider him a veteran. I think the reason I thought Jazmine's career had a much longer run than it actually did is because her biggest hits are dated so clearly by their sound. This isn't a bad thing by any means, but it worried me going in. You often see when people relied on a certain sound during their prime they try to recreate that magic by using a completely different sound that's not suitable to their strengths in an attempt to adapt. I think Eminem and Nas are recent examples of this. However, Jazmine came through in full effect and delivered an amazing project. From the opening track she had me hooked and now I need to go through her discography in full! Lit-mus Test: 🔥🔥🔥(and a half for good measure)

CALVIN’S TAKE

Favorite Song: Girl Like Me (feat. H.E.R.)

Spit Yo' Game/Talk Yo' Shit: For better or worse, one of the first things I'll do these days when I look at any piece of content is: how long is this? In a noisy world (some of y'all need to pipe down for real), you kind of have no choice but to be good, be brief, and be gone if you're going to break through. Enter "Heauxtales" - thank you Jazmine Sullivan. What I love about this album so much is not just that it's 30 minutes long - it's the clarity of the concept, and how quickly Jazmine pulls us into it. By track four (seven minutes in) we know: Jazmine's grown. But she seems to be going through it. She needs to get it together. Is she too grown to be going through it and not have it together? Antoine is going through it too. Ari, we hear you. Men ain't shit but: can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! It would seem that people (but Jazmine is specifically doing this one for the ladies)...have needs and contain multitudes.

None of this would have connected without the power of the vocal performances on the project. It's almost scary that the power to belt out a hook like on "Pick Up Your Feelings" can exist inside a human that isn't 50 feet tall or lives on top of a mountain ruling over their subjects. It's a vulnerable album that's presented very confidently, because Jazmine seems so accepting and present within herself, her feelings, and the contradictions within them. That willingness to lay it all out makes it (to me) sound fresh, without chasing trends.

Lit-mus Test: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (and a half for good measure)

#jazmine sullivan #jazmine #heaux tales #the gc record club #music #music reviews

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talkfastromance4 · 4 years

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something part 3--calum hood

A/N: This is it! The final piece! Thank you for bearing with me while I took you on this rollercoaster of emotions and for being so kind while I took my break. Much love💕

Word count: 5.2k

Warnings: drinking, mentions of smoking weed, dealing with heartbreak, sexual situations

Part one || Part two

***

Five months have gone by and Calum tried to push the idea to publicly date Missy away as best he could. The guys even tried to help, but inevitably he was forced to say yes. Calum’s reading over the itinerary he and Missy have to follow over his morning coffee. He takes a sip remembering when she was brought in to discuss the arrangements. It was the Monday following the best and worst weekend of his life with Y/N.

Calum’s body language is screaming ‘leave me the fuck alone I’m pissed’ as he sits slouched in the chair, arms folded against his chest and his hands in fists. His facial expression mirrors a rock, hard and unforgiving as Missy walks in with her manager and the band’s PR liaison. He watches her with hard eyes take a seat next to him, Calum purposely shifts his chair far away from her. She frowns slightly then smiles politely to the rest.

Calum listens as the team discusses the arrangement. How it will benefit both the band and up the ante on her modeling career.

“To be tied with one of the most desirable bachelors will increase magazines wanting to feature you,” Christina the liaison explains excitedly. Calum can’t help but snort.

“Pair her with Styles’ then, he’s more notorious than I am,” Calum grumbles.

“We couldn’t get in contact,” Missy’s manager says, her voice clipped as she narrows her eyes at Calum. “It will boost record sales for your music—”

“And we want the first single to be the love song, ‘Through the Dark.’”

Ashton, Michael, and Luke’s heads whip to Calum who has become even more outraged. It can’t be that song; he wrote that about Y/N.

“With the new romance rumors and the song, it will be a hit in no time, probably surpassing the charts of Ariana Grande and Styles combined.”

“No, we’re not having that be the single,” Ashton tries to dissuade the agreement that neither member of the band was a part of.

“Why not?”

“Because it wasn’t written about Missy,” Calum says. His voice is as monotonous as his face. From the corner of his eye, he sees Missy look at him with a quizzical look.

“So what? No one will know except the people in this room. The relationship will last about eight months, until the album is officially released, and touring starts. You’ll inevitably break up because Missy will be too busy modeling around the world and you gentleman will also be touring. Everybody wins.”

There’s grumbles amongst the band, Calum’s jaw clicks in anger. He turns his gaze to the window, sees the clouds rolling in as his private life is being scheduled like he’s some sort of robot. He closes his eyes thinking of Y/N, and how she looked in that flower crown and then how she looked with the petals scattered in her hair like she was some type of goddess. Then he sees her with tears in her eyes.

“Calum?”

He opens his eyes and turns at the sound of his name. It’s just him and Missy in the conference room. He’s getting really tired of hearing his name if it’s not from Y/N’s lips. She moves a little closer to him in her chair, an apologetic look on her face.

“Kind of surprised ‘fake dating’ actually happens. I’ve heard rumors and look, they’re true.”

“Imagine that.” He rolls his eyes.

Missy feels the iciness in his tone, and she tries again.

“Look, this is weird for me, too. It was all my manager’s idea which is insulting because if I need a fake boyfriend to get more modeling gigs then her faith in me isn’t all that great. I don’t think of you that way—”

“Your kiss at my party said otherwise.”

“I was drunk, I’ll kiss anyone. And…all right, maybe I did have a crush on but when that girl—”

“Y/N?”

“Right, her. When Y/N showed up and I saw the way you looked at her…I couldn’t compete with that. I don’t want to come between you two.”

“Too late.”

“What happened? Maybe I could talk to her—”

“I don’t really feel like talking about it, Missy, all right? She’s not even talking to me, so I highly doubt she’d talk to you. The woman of my dreams ended things before they even began, and I couldn’t even tell her I love her.”

Missy’s quiet for a moment then offers a kind smile.

“Sounds like you want to talk about it a little….”

He pushes away from the table in a huff then stops with his hand on the doorknob.

“I’ll play this act if it helps you in some weird, twisted way but it means nothing to me. We’ll do all the proper pap shots and appearances but no physical contact whatsoever. Those are my limits.”

He storms out as he hears a quiet ‘okay’ and the guys are waiting for him down the hall. They try to reach out for him, but Calum continues walking.

Calum looks down at his notebook, sketches and doodles of flowers are scattered about the page. Their stems and vines looping through the words that are constantly running through his head. He takes a long drink of his coffee, letting the bitterness warm his insides.

After the meeting with management and Missy, Calum called Y/N. He texted her. He knocked on her door. It wasn’t until Crystal told him to give her space did he really back off. He knows Y/N didn’t mean what she said. That night they shared was something special. From how she was so perfect with his untimely manner to how she took care of him while he had allergies from the flowers he picked. And finally, to the way they connected.

The radio in his car is still broken, but he doesn’t listen to music anymore, he can’t because it reminds him of Y/N. Everything reminds him of her.

It’s not like Missy is a bad person. She’s actually become a good friend to Calum and respected his boundaries he set up for their ‘relationship.’ The only touching that happens is by her with her hand holding onto his arm, and even that is just for pictures. No hand holding, no hugs, no kisses.

She’s gaining the hype her manager wanted and Calum has remained off social media as soon as it started. When he’s not rehearsing with the guys or doing PR with Missy, Calum’s secluded himself to his home and music room all while being viewed like a goldfish in a bowl.

So, he writes. He writes about flowers in hair, flowers pressed between bodies and flowers held together by a chain. He also writes about strawberries. He hasn’t eaten one since he kissed her last.

Y/N’s been keeping herself busy, well, as much as she can. Everywhere she goes she’s reminded of Calum. Especially when she opens her closet and sees the small wooden box she placed his bouquet of flowers and flower crown in. She couldn’t find it in herself to throw them away.

That first week after what happened with Calum she spent it crying and listening to sad music. Her heartbreak had her rethink of past moments with Calum. All of the ‘what if’s’ are now ‘will nots.’ Which is way too close to ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ for her liking hidden in the petals of the flowers.

She ignored his calls and texts.

The first time she saw them together was a month after the whole ordeal. She thought she was in a good place and as she was scrolling through Instagram on her lunch break she saw the first picture. Calum and Missy were walking along the pier going in and out of shops. They were wearing sunglasses and Calum didn’t really show much emotion but if he knew paps were around, he never did.

What Y/N zeroed in on was Missy’s hand on Calum’s arm.

Her heart fell into her stomach and she closed the app without even reading the caption. She deleted her Instagram and Twitter apps that day.

When she got home she opened the box of flowers, their scent mixed in with the cedar wood twisted her heart. Very delicately, she lifted the bouquet from the box. Calum’s chain was still wrapped around the now dry, frail stems.

She should throw them out. She almost did. She couldn’t. The dried flowers were the only reminder that what happened between her and Calum was real. That it actually happened. How could she let that go? Even if he was the one that got away and kept getting away?

“You did this Y/N,” she muttered to herself placing the flowers back in the box. “You made him leave before you could get attached.”

The next day there was a knock at her door. Not expecting anyone she peeked through the curtains and saw it was Ashton with a pizza box and a plastic bag.

“Ashton…what are you doing here?” she asks upon opening the door.

“I come bearing gifts of the heartbreak kind,” he grins sheepishly holding up the box and bag.

“Is that a champagne bottle I see in that bag?” she asks seeing the slender neck and gold foiling.

“It is. And caramel ice cream.”

“All right. You can come in,” she allows stepping aside so he can enter.

“So,” he sighs falling heavily against the couch. The pizza box is open on her coffee table, he has a glass of water while Y/N is holding onto the bottle of champagne. His hazel eyes take her in, “how are you?”

“That’s a loaded question,” she scoffs pressing play on the Marvel movie. She decided on Infinity War. “It’s been a month, so you think I’d be okay. I was told that however long you were with someone, that’s how long it takes to get over them divided in half. So, if you’re with someone for a year, you should be over them in six months. Calum and I were…’together’ for a day so it should have been twelve hours, right? But nope.”

She takes a long chug of the champagne until it makes her eyes water from the bubbles. The sweet nectar bites at her tongue and teeth.

“Who told you that math?”

“An old boss of mine,” she shrugs.

“Well, it’s stupid as shit. There’s no time limit for how you fall for someone just as there’s no time limit for you to lose feelings. You have feelings when you have them.”

“We went on one date, Ashton. I shouldn’t be this bent out of shape over that.”

“Hey,” he pinches her shoulder affectionately until she looks at him. His face softens. “You and Calum always had something between you. From an outside perspective, I get why you both danced on that line between friends and something more. You’ve both been hurt and there was always something in the way.”

“Or someone,” her eyes drop at the thought of Missy. Then she thinks of the photo she saw of them and rubs at her eyes, so the tears won’t come.

“My point is,” he stresses grabbing hold of her hand, “you’re allowed to feel hurt and sad and angry.”

“I’m trying so hard to not feel that way all the time, but it…it’s so consuming sometimes.”

“I know. Before you drink the whole bottle, eat some pizza, we’ll watch the movie and we can talk some more, okay?”

About halfway through the movie Y/N’s hugging the ¾ full bottle against her chest as a comfort object. She never drinks her sadness away, she knows how dangerous that is, but it feels nice to have her head not feel so full because all her thoughts are tumbling out to Ashton. His arm is around her shoulders in comfort as she leans into him.

“You always thought there was something between us?” she asks.

“I didn’t think, I knew.”

“What’s the difference?” she stares at him quizzically; the bubbly made his words confusing. Ashton smiled at her response.

“He’d always tell me how he wanted to ask you out. He’d ask if you were coming to any dinner or party we had. But he was scared to ruin your friendship and in my opinion, I think it scared him how close you two got so fast.”

“Hmph,” she slumps against the inside of his arm.

“Your song played while we were driving that night, you know.”

“Yeah? Which one?”

“Drive,” she giggles at the comedy of it all. “He gave me wildflowers with his chain around it and bought me a flower crown.”

“It sounds like a great night.”

“It was! But then he got sleepy cause he was allergic to the flowers, then he passed out on me. But I liked it…” she takes the last sip of her champagne then pouts that it’s empty.

“One is enough for you,” Ashton chuckles placing the bottle next to the pizza box. He settles back next to her and they watch the movie for a moment.

“I saw their picture today,” she says somberly. “I know it’s fake. But they’re both a catch…so it’ll be no surprise that it’ll become real.”

“Y/N—”

“It happens all the time Ash,” she shrugs. “I’m the person before everyone’s happy ending.”

“That’s not true. Look at all you and Calum have been through together. This damn arrangement is a roadblock for sure, but you two are the final drive.”

“That…kind of makes sense. I can’t tell,” she shakes her head.

“It’d make sense a full champagne bottle ago,” he mutters but she hears him.

She nudges him in the ribs playfully until they’re both laughing.

“I’m going to use the bathroom,” she says and moves down the hall.

Ashton checks his phone to see Luke is trying to console Calum, too. It was hard for him to act with Missy today. Luke reports that Calum has had only one drink but is smoking a lot of weed to help clear his head and wants to drive to Y/N’s house.

When Ashton has finished replying to keep an eye on him, Y/N is standing next to the couch. He looks up at her to see she has her arms wrapped around herself, her lower lip caught between her teeth, but he hears the quick gasps of her sobs.

“I really hate this, Ashton.”

“C’mere,” he opens his arms to her and hugs her tightly.

“It’s really hard being lonely.”

She cries into his shirt, finding comfort in his embrace and friendship.

Y/N’s found a good friendship with Max from work. Nothing romantic at all, but he makes sure they do a lot of fun things together. It’s been almost five months since that night with Calum and when Y/N comes across a photo of him and Missy together, Max is there to take her to the beach or a movie to distract her mind.

Now when she sees photos of them it doesn’t make her go in her closet to look at the wilted flowers. It’s still a sting in the thorn of her heart but it’s more bearable. The first single off their new album was ‘Through the Dark’ and it made her cry. Max found her laying on the floor of her room with it playing on a loop, the box of flowers unopened but lying next to her. He laid next to her and held her hand as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She’s meeting up with Max at his place for lunch and she was craving the chicken Caesar sandwich from the bistro on the pier. It wasn’t until she saw her that Y/N remembered this is a favored spot for Calum and Missy to be spotted and there she was. Standing off the side of the counter looking gorgeous in a spring dress.

Y/N tried to keep her head down as she ordered.

“And what’s the name?” the cashier asks.

“Y/N.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Y/N? Oh, it is you!” Missy says suddenly next to her.

“Got it this time, thanks. We’ll call you when your food’s ready.”

“Thanks,” Y/N mutters. She takes a deep breath and turns to Missy. “Hi.” She looks around the shop expecting to see Calum and trying to prepare herself to come face to face with him.

“He’s not here,” Missy says quietly glancing around the shop as well then grabs Y/N’s wrist pulling her to the far end of the sandwich showcase. “He’d actually hate me for even talking about this…and to you but…I’m so sorry. For everything. My manager came up with this PR stunt.”

“You don’t have to explain, I get it’s for publicity,” Y/N tries to get away from this situation as quickly as possible while also keeping herself together. Her neck is warm, and her breathing has accelerated in a slight panic.

Missy grabs her wrist again but pulls her into the women’s bathroom. Y/N’s affronted at the boldness of Missy’s actions.

“It is all publicity, I swear! I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Calum but he’s miserable. We’re friends now and all he talks about is you. How funny you are and kind you are. He really misses you,” Missy continues with a frown.

Y/N sighs. She really does seem nice but she’s still keeping her guard up. How could she not?

“He really cares about you, Y/N.” Missy stresses squeezing Y/N’s hand for emphasis.

“Missy, look. I appreciate you telling me all this. You… you actually seem really nice and genuine which makes it that much harder for me to dislike you.”

“I get that,” Missy nods her head, “but he really, really cares about you.” Her eyes grow bigger each time she said really, and Y/N gives her a confused look.

“Yeah…you um…you said that?”

“No, he…ugh he’s going to hate me, but he loves you. ‘Through the Dark is about you. He told me you’re the girl of his dreams when we met the Monday after his party. I’ve felt horrible all this time.”

Y/N stares at Missy while she processes what she just heard.

“When did he tell you that again?”

“His party was Friday, and we met that Monday to discuss the logistics of this stupid ploy. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for kissing him in front of you! I was drunk, I’ll kiss anyone, and I told him I did have a small crush on him but when I saw the way he looked at you it went away. I swear!”

“He really said he loves me?”

“Yes! When we’re not out getting photographed he’s always writing in his notebook and drawing flowers in it. Not that I’ve read anything,” Missy adds in a rush. “It’s just over his shoulder I saw it a couple times before he closed it.”

“Yeah but that was months ago, I’m sure he’s already caught feelings for you.”

“No, he hasn’t. Trust me. He’s become more like a brother to me, honest. I’ve been trying to force him to talk to you and our ‘contract’ is up in a few months anyway for the album release. I want to break if off early publicly so you can finally be together but he’s so stubborn he won’t.”

Y/N laughs lightly at how fast Missy talks. She’s not sure if it’s out of keeping this all to herself for so long or if that’s really how she is, talking a mile a minute.

“Thank you for telling me this, Missy. I…I can’t believe I’m telling you this since we don’t really know each other but I love him, too. I’ve loved him for so long but I’m the one who pushed him away. I’m the one who told him to do this deal with you because he and I only had one night together,” Y/N explains.

Missy’s eyes widen and she squeals in joy. “You love him too?! Oh, this is great. I’ll arrange for you two to meet up and—”

“Missy, Missy! No, no don’t do that. It’s been too long,” Y/N shrugs. “I doubt he’d want to see me.”

Missy plants her feet on the ground firmly, her face turning very serious very fast. Y/N’s a little taken aback at the fierceness in her gaze.

“Do you want to be with him?” she asks.

“Um..yes.”

“And you love him?”

“Yeah…”

“Then let me help you fix this, please. It’s the least I can do for coming between you when it wasn’t my plan to do so in the first place.”

Y/N takes a deep breath. She’s really starting to like Missy; she has a good heart.

“Okay. How can you help?”

“They’re all planning to go to the Invisible House for a week. I can’t go because I have a shoot to do in New York, but Ashton told me that Calum will be there a couple days before they all arrive.”

Y/N mulls it over, her mind thinking of ways to make it up to him. To apologize. To make him realize how sorry she is and how special he is to her. That despite all the hurdles and messes they’ve been through, that something they have is meaningful.

Then, she gets the perfect idea.

“Do you know when he’s going to be there?” Y/N asks and Missy smiles.

“I know all the details, Y/N.”

The drive to the Invisible House is pretty boring without his radio working so he hums to himself as he drives. Calum’s glad he decided to head there a few days before the rest of the group shows up. The pictures are immaculate and he’s excited to try out the hundred-foot pool.

He texted Missy when he was leaving, and she responded with an encouraging text in return.

‘Have fun! Let me know how everything goes 😉’

He’s confused by the winky face but appreciates it all the same. He’s glad to have her as a friend.

When he arrives at the building it’s dusk, the stars are just dusting the sky and the house is a glowing violet in the desert air. He stares at it for a moment, taking in the beauty of the panes of glass, breathing in the cool desert night. If they were all here a year ago maybe Red Desert would have been Purple Desert.

He shakes his head in disbelief. He’s starting to sound like Luke.

He grabs his belongings, two suitcases and a duffel bag and makes his way to the entrance. Ashton and Michael will be bringing the instruments for a jam session, so he didn’t pack his bass.

Once the door is unlocked, he’s mesmerized by the space before he hears music playing. Was that supposed to be playing? He sets his things by the counter and walks further in. The pool is lit up in a light blue and purple with glowing white lotus flowers floating on the water.

There’s flower petals beneath his feet as he walks the length of the pool. It’s a sweet aroma that fills his nose. Then he panics and thinks Michael has this set up for Crystal. He does not want to walk in on them having a private moment, but that’s hard to do in a glass house.

When he’s at the halfway point of the pool, the soft music becomes a bit louder and he recognizes the drum and guitar chords of Something by The Beatles. His mouth goes dry as he comes to the living area at the end of the pool to where Y/N is standing.

There’s petals on the carpet and she’s holding a white flower in her palm with a flower crown on her head. He’s at a loss for words.

“Hi,” she welcomes quietly.

“Hi…what are you doing here?” he wishes he didn’t ask such a dumb question.

“I should have rehearsed this beforehand what I wanted to say but I had to make sure this was all perfect before you got here. Um, I’m here for you. I know it’s been so long, and this is all my fault in the first place. Pushing you away and I thought I was protecting myself.”

She takes a step forward.

“I’ve been a mess without you, Cal. I miss you, so much it hurts. I think of you all the time, and that night we spent together. Your necklace is still wrapped around the flowers you gave me and that’s what made me think of doing this,” she gestures to her flowers on display all around. She takes another step forward. Closer to the step of the living area, closer to Calum.

“We’ve had our fair share of messes with each other. And it’s my fault for the last one so it’s my responsibility to rectify it. I wanted to show you how much you mean to me, how much that night meant to me.”

Another step forward and Calum is reminded of that night in his room. How he came to her, now he’s the one on the receiving end. He watches her with bated breath, and he knows she’s nervous (like he is) by the way she’s playing with the white flower in her hand.

“And the more I thought about the messes we’ve been through it made me think of the Lotus flower. It grows through the mud but when it breaks through, it’s this vibrant and full flower,” she takes two steps and is right at the edge of the step. She holds up the flower.

“And it’s like we’re the flower. We’re growing through the mud and I called it quits before we really bloomed. And…” she takes a shaky breath then laughs nervously, “this sounded romantic in my head but now it sounds super cheesy. But when I heard you were drawing flowers it made me feel like we were still connected.”

She doesn’t say anything more and neither does Calum. Then, when she looks up at him it all makes sense. What they’ve been through these last several months, that was their mud.

“Can you say something?” she whispers, “I’m starting to feel like an idiot and that this was a really stupid idea—”

He lifts her up to his level connecting their lips together. He brings her against him, and she wraps her arms around his neck, their lips getting reacquainted with each other. She tastes like strawberries and smells of flowers and he’s filled with bliss. He feels whole again.

“I love you,” he gasps when they pause to catch their breath. “I should have said it months ago, but I was scared. I thought it was too soon.”

“I love you, too. I’m so sorry for what I said that day. I wish I didn’t—”

He silences her with another kiss.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. I understand why you did it, sweetheart,” he cups her cheek and gazes into her eyes. “I shouldn’t have walked away like I did.”

“We really are a mess,” she laughs brushing his curls from his face.

“A beautiful mess,” he corrects sucking a kiss from her lips then holds her against him in a tight hug. He never wants to let go.

“Was this too much?” she asks moments later.

“No, it was perfect, thank you for doing all of this for me. I’ll be honest,” he stands up straight to look at her, “I thought I was walking in on Michael and Crystal.”

Y/N laughs and continues laughing until Calum kisses her and she’s left gasping.

“How about we try out the pool?” he mumbles.

They spend a good forty-five minutes in the pool. Soft touches and kisses are exchanged until they reconnect as one. They’re surrounded by the glowing flowers and the ripples they create from their movements. Words of love are spoken and moaned, echoing throughout the space.

They transition to the bed that is also covered in flower petals. Calum kisses down the length of her body, his lips ghosting over her core. Their eyes lock as he attaches his mouth between her folds, his tongue swirling around her bud.

Her legs squeeze around his head on their own accord as she’s vibrating with pleasure. The moans are continuous as he works her over into her second orgasm of the night. When it surpasses, she’s giggling quietly as Calum peppers kisses to her thighs.

“Wow…”

“That good, huh?” he remarks, his lips smacking against her skin bounce off the walls.

“Yeah but…” she rises up on her elbows to look down at him. “Is that all you got? You told me you’d make me cum eight times when we were in your bathroom. Or was that just talk?”

“Oh, you want to be a little sass, huh?” he bites down on the fleshy part of her thigh. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” she smirks.

“Because now I’m going to make you cum ten times.”

“Okay, Cal, I was just jo—OH!” She falls back against the bed as she’s already filled with intense pleasure.

Suffice it to say, Calum did make her cum nine more times. The overstimulation and her noises got him riled up and he had to be close to her again. He made love to her slowly and tenderly. He gave her gentle kisses and she molded to him.

Before she fell asleep he was stroking her face after she drank some water, he really exhausted her.

“How did you know I was going to be here?”

“I ran into Missy at the bistro I love. She explained everything,” she replies sleepily. She’s struggling to keep her eyes open. “I like her, she’s nice.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“I think she and Max would get along,” she yawns snuggling closer to him.

“I’ll take your word for it. You can go to sleep you know.”

“I want to keep talking to you,” she squeezes his lower back.

“We can talk all day tomorrow. And tomorrow night. And the next day, and the next…”

“Mmm, that sounds nice,” she smiles closing her eyes. “I love you, Cal.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

Two days later the rest of the group arrived, and it was a happy albeit awkward reunion because Calum and Y/N were still naked in bed. They spent their time eating, watching movies, and having sex as much as they wanted. It was perfect but also took a lot out of them.

They were both fast asleep until their names were shouted, and Calum scrambled to cover Y/N up.

“I’m glad to see you, Y/N but I’ll hold off on the hug until you aren’t naked with Cal,” Luke laughs.

“We’ll go bring in the rest of the stuff,” Ashton giggles then winks at Y/N.

“Please tell me this was the only place you had sex,” Michael asks peering at them both with narrow eyes.

“Umm…”

“Ugh!” Michael throws his hands in the air. “You guys better not have left messes anywhere!” he complains walking back towards the main kitchen area.

Calum looks over the wall separating their ‘room’ from the rest of the house and turns to her.

“We’re done with messes, yeah?” Calum grins down at her and she nods bringing his face closer to hers.

“Something great came from the mess,” she agrees and slots her lips with his. They’ll have to be super quiet now.

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#calum hood oneshot #calum hood angst #calum angst #calum hood smut #calum smut #calum 5sos writing #calum writing #5sos writing #calum hood 5sos #calum fic #5soso fic #calum hood fic

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Full Text Electronic Interview, CFNY FM102.1 "Live In Toronto" with Johnny Marr & Bernard Sumner of ELECTRONIC, Thursday, July 18, 1996 (found here - a very special thanks to the webmaster for painstakingly transcribing it all, and archive.org for saving the old web!)

[Transcriber notes: "Live In Toronto" is a music magazine program on radio station CFNY 102.1 FM in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on weeknights from 6:00PM-8:00PM, hosted by Kim Hughes. An audience was also present for this interview Kim had with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner of ELECTRONIC... This entire interview has been transcribed as closely as possible by myself (and it took a really long time!), therefore, errors and omissions are entirely possible.]

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KIM HUGHES: Welcome back to "Live In Toronto". My name is Kim. The new ELECTRONIC album is out. It's called Raise The Pressure. Of course, ELECTRONIC is Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner. Everyone join me in welcoming them. Thanks for coming.

[Lots of clapping and cheering.]

KIM: Good evening. It's very nice to have you back. As you can see, Toronto is a very pro-ELECTRONIC town... Well, first of all, thanks for coming. Congradulations on the album. It's nice to have the music out. One of the things, I guess with this sort of music, right off the top, is that it takes a long time to make this music. I read a great quote that you said that you a were sort of a 'dictatorship of two'. And I'm wondering, with respect to putting it together and crafting the music, how did it typically come together? I mean, are you just sort of of one mind when you're in a recording, or did you come in with separate things. Sort of take me through it.

JOHNNY MARR: Well, the thing that we most like to do is work together from scratch with no ideas and we just go write what we're gonna do and we help each other out and stuff...

BERNARD SUMNER: We even scratch each other...

JOHNNY: Yeah, you've sort of got to be of one mind when you're going to work together for so long really, otherwise you're in trouble. So it's just the two of us and an engineer and we do it ten, eleven hours a day everyday pretty much. And when it gets too intense, we try and get out of there, have a bit of objectivity of what we do, take a break, and then go back in and do it again.

KIM: When it comes to things like maybe remixes, for instance, some of this material would lend itself obviously to being able to be farmed out for different kinds of remixes and allowing different people to put a new spin on it. Did you feel that sense of, 'Don't want to let it go'? Did you feel a little bit strange about turning it over to someone and seeing what they might come up with?

JOHNNY: Not at all...

BERNARD: Well, the first single off the album is "Forbidden City", and we didn't really feel that lended itself to being remixed, because it's a straight-ahead rock track. And speaking from experience, sometimes in the past when we've released a track like "Regret", for instance, those tracks don't lend themselves that well to remixes. I always thought you put a dance track out, you do a remix of that. But, I don't know, there were some good remixes on the first album...

[Someone's chair squeaks very loudly.]

BERNARD: Is that your wooden leg again?

[Laughter.]

KIM: It's a little squeaky. Just before we get into some music and like we say, we'll get some questions from the audience, you'll allow that within certain British music scenes, as far as dance music is concerned, it's a very rapidly changing thing. I mean, it's a pretty precarious landscape to get into. I mean, today's great thing is sort of yesterday's 808 STATE. There must sort of a sense of wanting to...

[Lots of "Ooh"ing and laughter from everyone.]

KIM: And I mean that... No no, that's not an insult. Don't misread what I have said. I'm saying they're a great band, but there's that sense of always having to be reconfiguring things to the extent of staying on top. I think they were great, and it's too bad now that they don't seem to have been able to reconfigure themselves to an extent that they've been able to stay on the charts. You will admit to that certainly.

BERNARD: Sure, yeah. 'Flavor of the moment'.

KIM: So with that in mind, is that sort of a concern, to a certain extent, because of the track records that you've had, that you'll be spared some of that?

JOHNNY: Well, in regards to dance music, it's really music to listen to at home because not all of our audience want to go out to clubs, but they like dance music. So we were sort of careful to avoid being that kind of 'flavor of the moment' thing. It's like a continuation of the first album, because we just wanted to prove the first album wasn't a one-card trick really.

BERNARD: Yeah, I don't think we appear like a club act neither. There's all different kinds of music on this album. Some of it has got a dance flavor, but, like Johnny says, it's designed to be played at home or in your car. It's not really aimed directly at the clubs, so we're not a mainstream club act. And I think that's allowed...

[Another chair squeak.]

BERNARD: Is that your leg again? It is your leg, isn't it?

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: It's allowed us to be independent of that 'flavor of the month' kind of thing.

KIM: To take it one step further, to my knowledge, at this point you don't have any plans to tour this particular project.

BERNARD: We were talking about it at dinner last night. If these people here in the audience want us to tour, then we'll do it.

[Lots of cheering and clapping.]

BERNARD: Well, I will anyway. What about you Johnny?

[Audience cheers for Johnny.]

JOHNNY: Can you all come over to Manchester?

[Some more cheering and laughter.]

KIM: Why don't we play some music, and stick aound and talk some more and get to some questions from our audience. This is music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["Forbidden City"]

KIM: 102.1 The Edge. Music from ELECTRONIC. That's "Forbidden City", the first single taken from the new album, which is called Raise The Pressure. Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner are here from the group, and what we're going to do in a few minutes, we'll talk a little more about this album, play some more music from it, and also defer to our sizable crowd and get some questions as well.

[Commercial break.]

KIM: Thanks for staying tuned. We are speaking about and with ELECTRONIC: Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner are here. And we were talking about Karl Bartos just off the air, the guy from KRAFTWERK, who is not only contributing on this album, but had a hand in some of the songwriting. And I'm not surprised that you might know of him. Did you run into him in NEW ORDER. Was there like a kindred spirit thing?

BERNARD: No, not at all, no. I've got a friend that lives in Berlin. It's a Manchester connection again. He used to live in Manchester. He lives in Berlin, and he's got a record label called MFS, which plays trance music. It's a sort of a monotonous kind of dance music. He knew that I was a big fan of Karl's and a big fan of KRAFTWERK, actually. He knew that we were looking for people to work with so he put the two of us together.

KIM: Are you the kind of guys when it comes to song writing who could write a song forever. You seem like you might. I mean, how do you know when it's finished? How do you know when it's done? When does it feel complete to you?

JOHNNY: Bernard drags me out of the studio and says, "It's finished! It's finished! I don't like it anymore! I want to go home!"

BERNARD: Stop it...

JOHNNY: And I do the same to Bernard, so that's when we know it's done... No, like I said, we try and be objective...

BERNARD: We're obsessed. We're pretty obsessed. We know we're a part of the legacy of the groups that we come from, NEW ORDER and THE SMITHS, and we know that everything that we do will be so put under the microscope by everyone. They just don't just listen to our records, they dissect them. So everything has got to be...I guess we're a bit paranoid about it, and everything's got to be as perfect as it can be.

KIM: But in a way, it is an embarrassment of riches. I mean, it wouldn't be the same if people didn't care so passionately about those groups...if they hadn't felt so very moved spiritually by it, then it wouldn't have been an issue, right?

JOHNNY: It's just the way we are...that people really care about what we do and that when we do any B-side, we spend as much energy as on an A-side, partly because we can, to be honest. We've worked hard at being musicians, we have our own studio, we don't have the record company breathing down our neck for products and stuff. And we can take a long time and get it perfect, and we do, really. There's people from day to day...all our self-worth is tied up in what we do, and that's the truth of it. I think people who follow us know we're not the sort of people who just sort of ????????.

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Apart from this one occassion.

JOHNNY: First time I've ever been in one! We work underground in our own studio, and it's a very intense situation...and we mean it, you know.

BERNARD: We also actually enjoy writing songs. So we really like it...we like being down there, wittling away at this thing. We like doing this--one of the benefits of spending that amount of time downstairs without any windows, is that when you do get out and meet people like this, you actually enjoy it. We actually enjoy doing the interviews for the first...

KIM: ...10 minutes or so.

JOHNNY: The first 200 of them!

KIM: On that note, just before we play some more music, and I hope you'll stick around a bit, because I'd like to play a fair bit, I'm sure there's lots of people who have really interesting questions as well. So, if we can organize...fire away...

Q1: First of all, I want to say you guys both look very beautiful today.

[Cheering, clapping, and laughter.]

Q1: I just wanted to know how this whole thing got started a few years back, how you met a few years back, how you guys met up?

JOHNNY: We first met up in 1982 when Bernard was producing a record...

Q1: How this project got started.

JOHNNY: This album?

Q1: The first album and this album as well.

BERNARD: We actually met...we knew each other because THE SMITHS and NEW ORDER did a couple of gigs together in Manchester...around England. Actually, I was doing a concert in Berkeley and California with NEW ORDER and I actually met Johnny in the toilet at the gig . I won't tell you what he was doing...

JOHNNY: He said, "Do you want to do it?"

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Do what? Do what? He said, "You know...me and you, me and you!"

JOHNNY: ...No...

[More laughter.]

BERNARD: Oh, make a record! Right! I'll do that.

JOHNNY: So that's our spiritual home place now. There's a gold disc in there somewhere.

KIM: Thanks a lot. Do we have another question..?

Q2: I just wondered what kind of music you've been listening to these days. If there are any bands that have caught your attention in a big way?

BERNARD: Personally speaking, when you've been working on music for 10 hours a day, you don't want to go home and listen to it. I normally watch a film or read a book. If I do listen to music, I listen to a dance station called KISS. I also listen to classical music, because it's really nothing like the music we're doing. I've just heard a new Patti Smith track called...

JOHNNY: ..."Summer Cannibals"...

BERNARD: "Summer Cannibals". And if I was to listen to a rock record, that's the kind of rock music I like...sort of rhythmic driving sort of stuff.

JOHNNY: I saw VERVE a few years ago, and they were fantastic, and then I saw them again and saw them again. I like Bernard Butler's stuff. Yeah, he's happening...

KIM: I have a question. I had heard that Johnny Greenwood of RADIOHEAD was doing some guitar parts on Bryan Ferry. Do you know if that's true? Are you still in touch with Bryan Ferry?

JOHNNY: It's probably true because Bryan collects guitar players like most people collect guitars. He has a huge collection of guitarists...so I guess so. Bernard Butler played on the new Bryan Ferry stuff as well, so that's interesting.

BERNARD: Did he?

JOHNNY: Yeah, yeah.

KIM: Interesting. I'd like to play some more music now, and we'll organize some more questions if you'll stay for a bit...

JOHNNY: (sarcastically) Oh! We like OASIS as well!

[Laughter and jeering.]

KIM: Here's music from ELECTRONIC. Oooh. On 102.1 The Edge...

["Second Nature"]

KIM: Music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge. The new album is out, it's called Raise The Pressure. And we're going to continue speaking with the guys and taking a bunch of audience questions in just a few moments...

[Commercial break.]

KIM: We are back on the program. Thanks for staying tuned. Speaking with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner about ELECTRONIC and of ELECTRONIC, and stuff like that. We do have some people who have been waiting really patiently to ask some questions, so take it away...

Q3: This question is for Bernard. What's happening with NEW ORDER nowadays? Is there any plans to make another album in the future?

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: "Well, we haven't split up... But we've got no plans to record together in the forseeable future."

[More laughter.]

BERNARD: You've said that one before!

KIM: Well, I guess we can have the question the other way. We can have your impression of Johnny... That's actually quite good...

BERNARD: "...NO! Nnnnnn..." (grumbling)

[Laughter.]

KIM: Something that I wanted to ask you. There was an album that came out called A Means To An End that was a collection of different people covering JOY DIVISION songs. I don't know if you've heard it. I assume that you had to give some clearance. How did you feel about this sort of latent reverie towards the group? Are you comfortable with that?

BERNARD: The funny thing is that everyone is allowed to do a JOY DIVISION cover except NEW ORDER. If we did it, we'd get our heads cut off by the press. 'Cause we did get approached by the record company asking us to do a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" but I refused because I didn't want to get crucified on the spot. I was very touched by the gesture.

JOHNNY: We were sort of considering doing "Heat And Soul" live, weren't we?

BERNARD: We were thinking about a track by JOY DIVISION called "Heart And Soul" which we're both really big fans of, and we'd like to do that, yeah... Live, just live.

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: In Toronto!

[Laughter.]

KIM: Another question...

Q4: I'd like to ask Bernard, what were your impressions of the Deborah Curtis book? Have you read it, or are you familiar with it?

BERNARD: I have read it, actually. I started reading it and I couldn't put it down. It kept me up all night, you know. I thought it was a really good book, although I did think it was...obviously you're bound to be bitter about something like that and I think that sometimes she did get the wrong end of the stick, she got the wrong angle on something. But I understand that. Yeah, I thought it was very good.

KIM: Go ahead.

Q5: This one's for Johnny. A couple of years ago, Trent Reznor was in an interview in Toronto here, talking about how if he could hire you as a guitarist for the album, he would, but he couldn't afford it. Would you ever consider working on something like that, or is that too far out of your...

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: No. You've got too much class!

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: You don't know me!

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: You know, I'm really happy I found someone that I can write songs with. I look up the period where I did some sessions, and the way I see it is that I got to make some records with some people I really respected, you know, Matt Johnson in particular. But now I want to put all my time and energy into ELECTRONIC, because that's the thing for us. So I'm trying to avoid doing sessions really.

BERNARD: And why is that? And did you make it?

JOHNNY: I did actually...and now...

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: To be honest, as far as sessions go, I've played and sung on the new PET SHOP BOYS album. The PET SHOP BOYS are the only people I play with really. Mostly because if I refused I'd never hear the end of it. I'm not sure about sessions. I don't really know Trent Reznor's stuff very much.

KIM: I think it would be interesting myself. I think he's a really interesting musician. But I want to pick up on something that you said there with respect to ELECTRONIC. If you're saying that this is your focus right now, on this hand, but you're saying that you're not really sure about touring, does this mean that there's a lot of other material that we're going to see coming out in the next little while? Are you anxious to get back in?

JOHNNY: Why we're not sure about touring is that we don't want to do something that means we can't make a record for about another two years. We really want to play, we like playing, we like the hour and a half on stage, we like seeing everybody, and we like the sort of gesture of 'look, we've come here, we want to play', but we just got ourselves now into a position where we're free to do another ELECTRONIC record, is that right?

BERNARD: Yeah, that's right. You know, maybe we can ask these people what would you prefer. Would you prefer a new record or would you prefer to see us play live?

LOTS OF PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE: Both!

BERNARD: Well, we'll do a live record...

[Laughter.]

KIM: If you're just joining us here, we're speaking with John Marr and Bernard Sumner from ELECTRONIC, and we're going to play some more music in a moment. Other questions? Please...

Q5: This one's for Bernard. I was just wondering, your music has changed a lot in the last 20 years, and I was wondering what changes in your life might have been reflected in that?

BERNARD: Well, yeah, I mean, hopefully the purpose in life is to straighten the deep end and to make yourself happier as you go along in life. You know, everything you do, you go to school, you go to work, it's to make yourself happier and I've achieved that, and that's reflected in my music. My music's now optimistic, happy, 'up' music, and in the days when I was in JOY DIVISION, before I had achieved anything... I mean, hopefully, the best music reflects truthfully my personality...and I'm pretty happy, pretty happy these days...

KIM: Has fatherhood had an imapct on life?

BERNARD: Um...yeah, well of course it has...yeah, yeah...

KIM: Why don't we play another track from the record? And then perhaps we'll take a few more questions and let you get some dinner.

JOHNNY: Well, yeah, okay. I'm enjoying answering questions to be honest...

BERNARD: You know what's really good... After all this time, we're in the studio, we're making the record, and then we spend a lot of time promoting. We talk to the journalists, it's really good to talk to people...directly.

KIM: Okay, we'll do it again in a minute. I just want to play some music here for those who aren't with us in the studio who might enjoy the music, so let's do that. This is ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["One Day"]

KIM: Toronto's New Rock 102.1 The Edge. Music from ELECTRONIC taken from the album Raise The Pressure. We're just speaking with Bernard and Johnny from the group, and actually, we were letting it go to the people who have bought the records and the concert tickets over all these years. And I'm sure that you would agree, certainly you Bernard, having played here a number of times, that Toronto is sort of a microcosm in North America in a way, particularly when it comes to English groups. They can always do so incredibly well here and their music seems to be appreciated so much...I mean I know how this sounds, but it's sort of true. I mean, you'll sell more records here per capita I think than almost anywhere else really.

BERNARD: Yeah, I was just saying to Johnny at the end, just before the record was playing, on the first album release, we didn't really come to Toronto, and I was just wondering why we didn't do it, 'cause we just get such great response from people here. And I've always had great gigs here with NEW ORDER, really good everytime, really enjoyed it.

KIM: And you've played a lot of different venues here over the years, I know for a fact you have!

BERNARD: Yeah! I like that...what's that game you play over here...

KIM: Baseball..?

BERNARD: Baseball, yeah. Was going to say cricket there...

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: That baseball stadium, that's a great place.

KIM: You've played Varsity Arena, or Varsity Stadium...

BERNARD: Yeah, really good...

KIM: Kingswood...um...CNE Grandstand...Kingswood... Anyways, back to the crowd. Questions for Johnny and Bernard...

Q6: This is directed to Johnny Marr. This is a million dollar question. It said in Select Magazine that, I guess this was last year, that you might in time maybe get together with Morrissey...

[Groaning from the audience.]

JOHNNY: Sometime...

Q6: I know it's bad, but...

JOHNNY: Only this morning, I saw the most incredible cloud formation.

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: It looked like a bird...

[A long silence, followed by laughter from the audience...]

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: Good answer!

JOHNNY: Well, to be serious...

BERNARD: He's going to get his gun, Johnny, he's going to get his gun...

JOHNNY: To be serious, what it is...we don't have any plans to work together. I mean, that's the truth of it. And in the press, often, my true feelings don't really quite translate and, you know, I don't have any weirdness or weird feelings towards THE SMITHS or anything. I'm very very proud of everything we've done. But, see, this is what matters to me at the moment. And that's the end of it.

KIM: Okay. Any other questions, please go ahead.

Q7: This is for Johnny also. You've worked with THE THE on two of their records, but you weren't on the latest one. I wondering if you planned to do anymore work with Matt Johnson at all.

JOHNNY: I'd like to think that Matt and I could work together in the future. And, uh...I don't know, I have no idea... I feel that with THE THE, I did some really great work, and I was really pleased to be involved. The album Dusk I was particularly happy with, and I saw Matt pretty recently and I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and he's working on a new record. And we still ring each other up and give each other a lot of encouragement, so that's cool. He's really happy for me doing what I'm doing, and I'm happy for him doing what he's doing, so...maybe.

KIM: Okay. Um...take one or two more.

Q8: Yeah, this is for Johnny. Um...

[Laughter.]

Q8: ...Again...

JOHNNY: I get all the hard ones.

BERNARD: What's that T-shirt you got on there..?

[More laughter.]

Q8: I just like to say I feel like...of British rock legends, I feel like I'm talking to one of the disciples of Jesus...

JOHNNY: Thank you very much...

SOMEONE IN AUDEINCE: Two of them!

JOHNNY: Cheers, thanks!

[Bernard laughs. The audience cheers.]

Q8: Yeah, two of them... But speaking to Johnny, you said that you met Bernard in 1982 and I was wondering if maybe THE SMITHS might have had some...break up because of the two of you wanting to collaborate and wanting to give us new music...

[Increasing laughter from the audience.]

BERNARD: (laughing) It's nothing to do with me!

[Even more laughing.]

BERNARD: Oh, it's my fault! What have I gotten myself involved in, eh..?

JOHNNY: Absolutely true! 100% true! He said to me, "You know, that stuff sounds really miserable, come down to disco."

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: "Take some ecstacy."

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: "...and you'll feel really good." And you know, he was right.

BERNARD: Get down with it...

JOHNNY: No, no. The split...I've never...it was nothing to do with any external forces really. It was just to do with my feelings about what we've become as people and particularly myself, and it was very very unhealthy, and I just felt a sense that something very tragic was going to happen any minute, and so before it did, I just got out of there. And I thought it was the healthiest thing for the four of us if that was to happen.

KIM: With that in mind, you've both been around long enough to have seen...what's the most outrageous thing you've ever read about yourself?

JOHNNY: I try not to read anything about myself to be honest.

BERNARD: A journalist said that the album took so long because you were in rehab.

JOHNNY: Oh yeah, that's right...which is pretty bizarre. That actually quite surprised me when he said that. But it actually makes me sound more interesting than I am really. So I said, "Continue with the rumor, you know...it's fine." I think there's been some wild ones. I just put them out of my mind if I read anything that I don't really think is truth.

KIM: Okay. We'll take one final question and...uh...two final questions...quick, very quick...

JOHNNY: Someone ask Bernard a hard one.

KIM: Go ahead, please...

Q9: This one's not for Bernard, it's for Johnny. But...

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Please ask me a question...

Q9: But before I say...I just want to say that you both have really distinct styles, and when you come together, you're mixing two incredible styles and I think ELECTRONIC's a great project. My question to you, Johnny, is what ever happened to the Ian McCulloch work that you guys did...that stolen record or whatever..?

JOHNNY: Yeah, that was really bizarre. You're the first person to ask me that question... And even Ian didn't ask me that question.

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: I told him that it's in the post. He needed to make a record and he was trying to sort of find his feet. We were introduced by a mutual friend of ours and I wrote some songs for him, and a couple of them I think ended up on the ELECTROFIXATION record. And what's really bizarre, I sent the tapes over to Liverpool, and they got stolen...which is amazing...

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: No, I don't mean that. But, that's Liverpool for you.

BERNARD: You'd expect it if you come from Liverpool where that sort of thing happens all the time.

JOHNNY: It does, yeah.

Q10: I was wondering why the absence of lyrics on the CD's, and especially for NEW ORDER, why the absence.

BERNARD: Well, actually, on this album, I wanted to put my lyrics on the cover but Johnny wouldn't let me.

[Snickering.]

BERNARD: No, the graphic designer wouldn't let me because he wanted a nice clean product. It's quite good if you listen to an album and you interpret the lyrics. And even if you get lyrics that I haven't written, and you change them a bit, I think it's quite interesting. I don't know...I don't know. Writing lyrics is kind of like exposing yourself to the world and it's like showing people what you think inside your mind. And I guess to go one stage further I feel a little uncomfortable with actually putting it on the cover of the album and everyone can read precisely what I'm saying. I feel a little bit uncomfortable with that as a person, but hey, that's me.

KIM: Well, on that note, this has been about the most fun 45 minutes I've had the pleasure of spending in a long time...

[Lots of cheering.]

JOHNNY: And same for us too as well actually.

KIM: I just want to thank you guys and everyone who came out. It made it so much more fun. It's really been a pleasure having you. I wish you the best of success with the album. Please consider touring and more albums soon. Thank you. Here's music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["For You"]

Broadcast on CFNY 102.1 FM (Toronto) on "Live In Toronto" - Thursday, July 18, 1996.

#electronic #bernard sumner #johnny marr #text #not quite sure what the best way to post these longer text based interviews but I'll figure something out

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passionate-reply · 4 years

Video

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Great Albums is back for a third time! This week, we discuss Dazzle Ships, the avant-garde masterpiece that was so infamously weird, it almost “sank” the pop career of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Or did it? As usual, you can find a full transcript of the video under the break, if you’d like to read it instead.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums. Today, I’ll be talking about an album that many would consider OMD’s best, and many would consider the last great album they ever made: 1983’s Dazzle Ships, their fourth studio LP. It has a reputation that precedes it, as a strange, experimental, and avant-garde album. And I can’t argue with that too much, when it has tracks that sound like "ABC Auto-Industry."

The most obvious thing one can say about Dazzle Ships is that it’s dense and rich with samples. You’ll hear found sounds ranging from a “Speak and Spell” toy to a radio broadcast from Czechoslovakia. It’s a magpie’s nest constructed of garbage and baubles, collage-like and conscientiously artificial. And OMD’s Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey managed to make it before sampling became easier and hence more widespread later in the 1980s, thanks to advancements in digital technology. In its own day, it was, famously, a huge flop, baffling even the critics, which makes it tempting to argue that the world simply wasn’t ready for it. Popular legend says that Humphreys and McCluskey were essentially forced to make increasingly soft, pop-oriented music for years afterward, usually at the hands of their label’s higher-ups.

Is that story really true? Well, I don’t know, and I’m not sure if anybody really does. But I think it’s important that we entertain some doubt. Regardless of its actual veracity, this legend is offering us a simplistic narrative of art and capital butting heads, and one that we see repeated all too often in music journalism. It’s a story that expects us to believe that experimental music is good by default, and the natural goal of music and all the people who make it--and, conversely, that accessible music is bad, and anyone who writes a song you can dance to is always after profit, never craft.

Ultimately, though, the most important reason why I’m asking you to leave this question at the gate is that it’s simply a less interesting way to think about art. What I think is truly ingenious about OMD is their ability to combine a pop sensibility with that bleeding-edge experimentation, and vice versa. I don’t think of Dazzle Ships as just an inscrutable, esoteric musical ready-made, but rather something capable of animating and enriching a bunch of otherwise mundane sounds. A word I might use for it is "challenging," because it isn't simply off-putting--it has a certain charm that invites you to stick around and work through it, and you don't feel like it's a waste of your time. I think the underlying pop DNA offered by Dazzle Ships is a big part of that.

In “Genetic Engineering,” the samples from that Speak & Spell are contrasted with a more traditional chorus, which rises above the chaos, stirring and anthemic. It’s a song full of friction, not only between these musical ideas, but in ideas about technology and our future. Like many great works of electronic music, especially earlier in its history, Dazzle Ships is deeply concerned with science and technology, and the ways they’ve structured our world. These guys wrote “Enola Gay” a few years earlier, sure, but there’s much more than Luddite, dystopian thinking here! Dazzle Ships walks a tightrope between romantic adoration of the promise of a better tomorrow, and the tempered uncertainty we’re forced to develop, when we witness the devastation our most horrifying inventions have wrought already. Something that helps sell the former is the motif of childhood: in addition to the Speak & Spell, “Genetic Engineering” also features a children’s toy piano, and prominently references “children” in its lyrics. And “Telegraph,” the album’s other single, sees fit to reference “Daddy.”

Touches like these, and the centering of not-so-new technologies like telegraphy and radio, carry us backward in time. Dazzle Ships has a sense of nostalgia for the technological explosion of the Midcentury, when household technologies were improving in ways that saved time and labour, and faith in “better living through science” was high. It’s not a wistful or introspective nostalgia, but rather one that taps into the bustling excitement of living through that era. That retro styling helps us situate ourselves in a childlike mindset: optimistic, but somewhat naive. Children are highly imaginative, and become enthralled with possibility, but don’t always understand every implication their actions have.

But, as I said, “Telegraph” and “Genetic Engineering” were the album’s singles; the typical track on *Dazzle Ships* sounds more like “ABC Auto-Industry.” The track listing is structured such that these more conventional songs are surrounded by briefer, and more abrasive, intrusions. They become signals in the noise, as though we’re listening to them on the radio--or ships, rising above some stormy seas. Several tracks, such as “International,” also feature a more dissonant intro, on top of that, crowding their main melodies inward.

Over the years, many critics have been quick to contrast Dazzle Ships with OMD’s other albums, but I actually think it has a lot in common with their preceding LP, 1981’s Architecture & Morality, and seems to me to flow naturally from the direction the band had already been going in. Architecture & Morality is a lively mix, with moody instrumentals like “Sealand,” guitar-driven numbers like “The New Stone Age,” and catchy, intuitive pop songs like “Souvenir.” Architecture and Morality proved to be their most successful album, when its title track sounds like this. I fail to see how it’s tremendously different than the title track of Dazzle Ships, which leads us on a harrowing sea chase, with radar pings quickly closing in.

That nautical theme is a great segue to discuss the album’s visual motif. Like all of OMD's first five albums, its sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, most famous for his stunning work for New Order. The cover and title were inspired by a painting Saville had seen, Edward Wadsworth’s *Dazzle Ships in Drydock at Liverpool,* which portrays WWI warships painted in striking, zebra-like geometric patterns. These sharply contrasting “razzle dazzle” designs weren’t “camouflage,” but rather served to confuse enemy forces’ attempts to track them, and predict their motions. Dazzle ships were killing machines that fought dirty...and they were also beautiful. It’s a potent, complex symbol, and it’s a natural fit for an album that’s also capricious, perplexing, and captivating in its uniquely modern terror. Saville’s sleeve design features both a die-cut design as well as a gatefold; peeking through the cover’s “portholes” reveals the interior, where we find a map of the world, divided by time zones. It’s yet another reminder of how technology has reshaped the planet, connecting the human race while also creating divisions.

Earlier, I argued that Dazzle Ships isn’t that different from OMD’s preceding LP, and I’d also suggest that their follow-ups to it aren’t all that different, either. It’s easy to see the influence of Dazzle Ships on their most recent work, made after reforming the group in the late 00s, and informed by the critical re-evaluation and cult acclaim of their alleged masterpiece. But even in the 80s, they basically continued the pattern of layering easy to love, “obvious single choice” tracks alongside more experimental, sample-heavy ones. Compare the title track of their sixth LP, 1985's *Crush.*

Even the greatest of pop hitmakers can't maintain a streak in the charts forever--it's not the nature of mainstream pop charts. Not even in the 1980s, when you could get away with quite a lot of electronic weirdness...at least for a while. Looking back and listening to "Maid of Orleans," it's almost hard to believe it was one of OMD's biggest hits. Is it really less weird than something like "Telegraph"? Perhaps they had simply reached the end of their imperial phase...whether they really had that stern talking-to or not.

It's not so much that Dazzle Ships isn't weird, so much as it is foreseeable that a nerdy, left-of-center band like OMD would have come up with it. Dazzle Ships IS excellent--it’s a Great Album! But it's good enough that I think it deserves to be heard and valued on its own terms. The album is too goddamn good--too compelling, too spell-binding--to be reduced to "that one album the plebs were too dumb to really get." I'm not clearing the air because I think this album is overrated, but because I think it deserves better, deeper discourse than it gets. A truly great album is great whether it sells or it doesn't, right? My advice is to never let art intimidate you, no matter how obtuse people say it is. Send your ship on that plunge into the dark waters of the unknown--you might find something beautiful.

That said...my favourite track overall is “Radio Waves,” an irresistibly fun cut that could easily have become a third single. Since “Genetic Engineering” and “Telegraph” live on side one of the record, “Radio Waves” is really the only “reprieve” we get on side two, smack in its middle. It really stands out, in context--almost like the opposite of how a more conventional album might have one out-there track that catches you off guard. Aside from all of that, though, the song also stands perfectly well alone. I have a real soft spot for music about music, how it’s made and transmitted, and “Radio Waves” is simply one hell of a ride.

Thanks for reading!

#great albums #music #omd #orchestral manoeuvres in the dark #album review #album reviews #dazzle ships #peter saville

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r3b3lgrrrrrrrl · 4 years

Text

A LunaTic and Her Gunn (Part 117 2xs2) "Internet Thangs"

Colson and Luna pull up to The Chateau Marmont. Colson steps out first, handing his keys to the valet. As another man approaches Luna's door he puts his hand up to stop him. Walking around, he'd rather open His Girl's door himself. Slipping out of the SUV, the somewhat notorious couple manages to walk inside, hand in hand without being bothered.

"Why are we here?" A slightly drunk and totally confused Luna asks.

"They usually film in NY, out here they book where we want. Ash or Jackie must've chose The Chateau... I'm not sure who booked this one." He shrugs out his answers as he leads her to room 29.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Inside the room looks nothing like the hotel Luna's used to. Everything is draped in black sheets. It actually makes the tragic landmark a bit more gloomier, which Luna didn't think was possible.

"Hey, Colson! How are you?" Sean the host greets him. "This must be Luna, it's such a pleasure." He grins as he stretches his arm out.

"Thank you for having us." Luna accepts his hand warmly, still not knowing what the fuck Colson has gotten her into; all she knows is that there's supposed to be wings and she's starving.

"We're all set up. Make yourselves comfortable and we'll start in 10... Sound good?" Sean confirms to Colson's nod and Luna's look of uncertainty; this is Colson's third time, Luna's never have I ever.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Welcome to Hot Ones, Everybody!" Sean greets the camera. "We've got a special couple's edition here today with some self proclaimed Bad Things. I'm talking with Machine Gun Kelly and if you don't mind my saying so, his STUNNING girlfriend THAT Brooklyn Bitch. They're both ruling the charts with their hit single Bad Things along with other collaborations like I Think I'm Okay and Nightmare." Sean now turns to them directly. "Guys, I've gotta admit, I've seen the music video, caught your performances on SNL, Ellen and GMA... Not a stalker but I might've also peeped a couple hot Insta pics and stories of you two... I have to say, they do not do justice to the amount of tattoos and bad assery, I don't know if that's a word but I'm making it one... That comes along with the two of you in person. Just looking at the you, I wanna peirce my nose, buy a fender and find a hardcore chick to rule The World with!" He laughs nervously as Luna gives him an weird look; in her drunken mind, he's an odd, little man.

"Do it! Live the dream, my Dude!" Colson encourages him with a chuckle.

"Don't tempt me, I just might." Sean wishes. "Okay, so lemme give Brooklyn a little insight... We've got ten wings. Ten types of hot sauce raising in intensity with each wing... And one question to go with each wing and sauce." The host explains.

"Wait, what?" There's that magic sentence again as Luna hears how each wing is contingent upon a question. "You told me hot wings... You didn't say anything about questions." Luna raises her eyebrows at Colson.

"Ten wings. Ten questions. Come on, we got this, Kitten." Colson sinks a firm kiss onto Luna's cheek.

"Not the way you eat fucking wings." Luna lowly snarks for only Colson to hear with an obviously unamused tone; she doesn't like to be blindsided.

"Okay, Round One... One wing, one hot sauce, one question. Beware they get hotter as we go. Don't worry though, we've got your water and your milk that you can refill at anytime." Sean begins to start them off.

"Hold on... Wait. What? What is milk and water? Are you... Are you children?" Luna slightly stutters in disgust. "If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna enjoy it. Fuck this ballsack shit, lemme get a beer. Please." Luna asserts while finding herself asking the same stupid fucking question AGAIN as she tries to reel herself in.

"Fucking MILK??? Who the FUUUUUCK... Ugh... Shut up, Loons. Get your beer, eat your chicken, let Colson answer whatever questions and roll on." She tries to calm down and mentally prepare herself for who knows what besides chicken and beer. "They are REALLY trying to ruin two of my favorite things though." Luna can't help but still complain to herself, thinking of how much she HATES interviews.

***********************************************

Colson can't help but laugh at her. He knew today was gonna take a lot of patience and persuading, considering Luna's great love for interviews and all things The Internet. He's surprised she's held up this well so far. "SHIT!! I hope either Ash or Jackie screened these FUCKING questions." Colson's heart suddenly begins to panic.

"Heineken, please." The sound of Luna's voice breaks Colson's thoughts as he focuses on the secretive smile on her face.

"Alright, Penny Lane." He teases her as he squeezes her thigh and tries to drop a kiss on her lips.

"Unh Unh... Luna Smith, motherfucker." She declares with a slur as she ducks just out of his reach; reminding him of the first time he tried to kiss her.

Giving him a playful eye, she let's him pull her into his lap. Luna runs her fingertips along Colson's jawline as he dips his tongue inside of her willing mouth, lightly dancing together until he breaks away to only hold her by the lips; hands firm upon her ass as always. There's a sweet, sensualness to them as love and other emotions rush between their beings by just their kiss on the lips. Colson wraps his arms around Luna, both sighing upon his release as they rest forehead to forehead. Intimate words are exchanged between the two of them until Sean interrupts them after grabbing Luna a few beers. EVERYTHING being caught by the cameras. Slightly intoxicated, Luna doesn't even think to be aware of them like a fucking dumbass.

"Alright... Round One... Now complete with water, milk and beer." Sean rubs his hands together with a chuckle.

"Thank you." Luna lifts her beer graciously to his smiling nod.

"Starting us off, we've got Hot One's classic sauce. It's our garlic fresno edition so critique away." He suggests as they all bite into a leg.

Colson takes one bite. Luna's eating the fuck out of her chicken wing as always. Then dude starts asking questions and ruins everything.

"You two are getting married in like two weeks so I'm assuming you live together... How do you guys typically start your day off?" He is easily the most awkward interviewer Luna has ever encountered.

"We do." Colson answers after he swallows his bite; looking over at Luna whose still munching away, her chicken filled nod agrees with him for the moment. "We usually start the day by fucking and getting stoned. One or the other or both together. It don't matter which order as long as their together. Back to back. Fucking and stoning. Stoning and fucking." Colson clarifies himself as Luna almost snorts her beer and Sean tries to compose himself.

"I fucking love him." Luna's soul shines for Colson.

"Round Two... This is a shawarma sauce by Dawson's. Little spicier but not much." The host leads.

Colson takes one bite as expected. Luna's chilling. Eating fucking chicken. She can't talk if she has a mouth full of chicken.

"You've got this new album out, Hotel Diablo... What would you say is the most personal song on it?" Sean asks as he takes a sip of his milk.

"Glass House." Colson answers lowly; Luna hands him her beer, only slightly happy her mouth is preoccupied by delicious meat.

"Next we got Goat Rider by Angry Goat Company... " Sean begins to describe the next sauce.

"They should call Em that... " Luna says lowly as she looks up at Colson and tries to contain herself; his smirk only encourages her. "Because he's the angriest little GOAT of them all." She says in a tiny, childlike voice; it's Colson's fault she couldn't help herself as she dips her face into his chest to hide her giggles; he's just as bad as he covers her head and his own laughter with his arm crooked around her.

"God Damn, I fucking love her." Colson's heart glows with amusement from his Kitten's sense of humor.

"Hey... Hey... Hey... No secret conversations. Hot wings and questions." The host tries to redirect them.

"Alright, super chicken man." Luna announces as she comes out of her hiding spot. "What's next?" She asks as she grabs her third wing and chomps into it.

"Are you guys REALLY getting married at ESTFest?" He asks as Colson almost chokes on his chicken.

"Need some milk?" Luna asks sarcastically with a full mouth.

"Fuck you." Colson coughs out as he sips the milk. Luna almost chokes on her own chicken as she laughs at him. "See, that's what you get. Asshole." He calls her out after handing her, her beer and making sure she'll live.

"So ESTFest... ?" Sean goes on to remind them.

"Yeah... " Colson nods after he collects himself also. "During ModSun's set."

"What?" Luna asks Sean directly when he won't stop looking at her for an answer. "You see the ring." Luna wiggles her sparkling left finger in the air. "ACTUALLY... I got two." She grins like a spoiled little girl as she extends her right hand out. "THIS one is my favorite... " Luna declares as she admires it herself before she leans back against Colson, staring up at him with THAT One Look as she plays with one of her most prized possession.

"Is that a guitar string?" Sean asks with pure wonder.

"Is that the fourth question?" Luna asks with a teasing charm as she holds her hands together towards her chest, just underneath her chin.

"I like that you play hard ball." Sean chuckles nervously as he wags his finger at her, not wanting to let this question go. "I'll trade it in for Round Four's question as long as it's a two part answer." He bargains.

"Mmmm... Nope. Two questions. Two answers. Two chickens." Luna's unwilling to budge.

"Fine... Is it a guitar string?" He asks again with a tinge of disappointment but still wanting to know.

"Yes." Luna nods her head proudly as she answers and presents her hand back towards him again so he can fully study the work of love.

"Wow. That's really neat the way the wire is twisted around to reinforce itself." He observes in admiration. "Where did it come from? EXACTLY." He reframes the question.

"We were On Tour in Pittsburgh and Colson sporadically proposed to me in his dressing room after The Show. He made it with one of the strings off the guitar he'd used that night within like 20mins." Luna sweetly admits as she thinks back to those private moments.

"I just wanna say, for the record, One... The guitar that string came off of goes everywhere with me now. Has ever since... Actually I don't think I've used another electric since that night." Colson looks over at Luna, who shakes her head to agree with him that he hasn't. "And Two... I had that rock for a few weeks but my dumbass left it behind when we hit The Road." Colson points out.

"Annnnnnnnd I love them both." Luna coos as she pecks Colson on the side of the mouth. "Now can I see why this goat is so angry?" She asks as she shoots him a grin and grabs her chicken leg.

"Alright, where are we at?" The host struggles to regain control of his show.

"We're at you owe me another hot wing because we gave you two answers." Luna reminds him of their deal as she splashes the sauce from the next bottle in line onto her fifth tiny drumstick. "You want any?" She asks Colson as she reaches over.

"Ahhh... Just a bit." He groans.

"You know Imma tell Slim all about this later tonight, right?" She chortles at him lightly.

"I fucking hate you." Colson chuckles at a munching ass Luna while he reaches for her beer.

"So... Round Six?" Sean asks as he weakly throws his hands up to their nods. "We've got Scorpion from the Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co. Now we're climbing up the ladder guys but Brooklyn, you've eaten all of each of your wings. The only other person to do this is Shia Labeouf. Think you can you keep up?" He asks her as if it's a test.

"This motherfucker is DUMB." Colson snickers to himself at the idea of anyone challenging Luna.

"Hold up, I have some questions. First off... What do you mean only one other person has eaten all their wings? What the fuck do they do with 'em?" She asks, feeling kinda offended by the lack of chicken respect on this Internet Thang that Colson has her involved in.

"Most guests usually take a small bite of each wing." He explains to Luna's look of horror.

"Why did you ask me if I can keep up? Did you run out of chicken and beer?" She genuinely asks around the sexist insult to his head shake.

"She's such a fucking bitch." Colson thinks in amusement as he watches Luna. She is his favorite person in The World, especially when it comes to her level of IDGAF.

"Okay then, let's eat and answer questions." Sean simply requests as he takes a healthy bite. "What's the craziest thing you two have done together?" He asks once he's swallowed.

Colson takes a drink from the beer he's now sharing with Luna, mentally refusing to sip anything else after she made fun of him. His insides are dying. Luna's having the time of her life like she's the Abba Queen of hot wings as she wipes her mouth after fucking up her latest victim. Both of them are on totally different waves lengths but when their eyes meet for the question anything drops away and everything makes sense.

"The craziest thing I've ever done with Luna is fall in love with her almost 10yrs ago simply by her presence and smile." Colson grins as he looks down for a moment. "I think I might've even described it once as a cosmic boner." Colson lightly laughs to himself as he looks up into Luna's welling eyes and they lightly giggle together at the reality of their love; she covers her mouth to slightly to muffle her happy whimpers.

"Yeeaaah... We've done some crazy shit but none of our foolish antics compare to the risk that we're taking by starting a life together." Luna answers sincerely as her breath catches and her eyes never leave Colson's.

"More wings for Round Seven?" The host interrupts their intimacy again.

"Round Seven." The couple agrees before nodding studiously at each other and focusing on their wings.

"Round Seven we have Bourbon Habenero Ghost from Hellfire Detroit. Let's give it a go." He suggests as they each take a bite. "Best song on Hotel Diablo?" Sean hits them with a rapid fire question.

"AHHHHH... Fuck!! THAT'S hot!! Ahhhh... Ahhh... Bad Things!" Colson shouts out his answer as he stands up and begins waving his bandana around.

Sean heads directly for the milk after one full bite, chew and swallow. Luna eats the whole wing. Then finishes her beer.

"Aww... Bunny." Luna coos with a smile as she lightly giggles and sucks her teeth. "Don't listen to him, he's hot sauce dumb right now. Col, get some milk... " She advises as she hands him the glass. "Hotel Diablo is bigger than just ONE great song." Luna air quotes. "It's a whole concept from beginning to end. I won't say which song I think is the best but I think when a song that is not only number on the Alternative charts but also number two in POP with a major lyric that stands alone about hurting oneself... " Luna's voice begins to quiver. "Than that means to me that millions of people are responding to and resonating with a certain kind of painful feeling... " Luna starts to become visibly emotional as she continues to speak. "And I think it's important to pay attention to that point because it's incredibly concerning that so many individuals in our society obviously relate in some kind of vulnerable way to the words of this song but we don't talk about ANY it. It's time to change our question. It's not what is the best song. It should be WHY is this the best song." Luna has tears rolling down her cheeks as she looks down in her lap to let them drop silently, leaving both men speechless.

"Holy fuck... I never thought of it that way." Colson stares at her while holding the empty glass of milk before making his way over to comfort her.

"Are you guys ready for Round Eight?" Sean gently asks as he sits back down with them after Luna's had a chance to pull herself together.

"Yeah, Man. We got this." Colson answers as he squeezes Luna's thigh.

"Okay... Round Eight... We got Beyond Insanity by Da Bomb and a direct question for Brooklyn. We ready? Bite!" Sean declares skipping his own wing to ask Luna the question mid chew. "Why won't you proclaim your birth name publicly?"

"What the FUCK was that?" Colson's bewildered by the question presented to Luna as he holds tight of her thigh and drops his wing as she speaks. "Just know I'm here, Kitten." Is all he can think as he stares daggers into Sean and Luna cooly rips the host a new asshole.

"Do you know my birth name?" Luna asks as she slows down her chewing and stares through the stupid host. "Because I don't. It's not Luna Smith if that what you're suggesting. That's my legal name. Not my birth name. You should really do your research before you ask your guests personal questions... Or at least have them worded correctly." Luna advises icily as she finishes her wing. "We ready for Round Nine?" Luna asks loudly with an annoyed tone as she drops the chicken bone onto her full plate.

"Yeah. Let's do it." Sean continues uncomfortably. "This is called Chipotle Express and it's by PuckerButt Pepper Co... We may be rising in heat but we're gonna take it down a smidge in the questions... I know you've collaborated a few times but do you guys think you'll ever do anything like a full album or project together?" Sean asks as he bites into his wing.

For the first time Luna doesn't use her love of food as an excuse not speak. "That's probably the best question you've asked yet." She compliments Sean finally as she looks over at Colson's own turning wheels before choosing to explain. "Because it's the first one that I don't have an answer to because I never heard the question."

"I think what she's trying to say is as natural of a next move that you may think making an entire album together may be... It never occurred to either of us until the moment you presented the question... " Colson turns his head to stare at Luna with a loving smile; both knowing that they're sharing almost the same thought. "And now I can't stop thinking of all the other thousands of things we could create together. So thank you." Colson and Luna turn away from each other for a moment to look at Sean with gratitude.

"Do you guys believe in soulmates?" He asks his final question while caught up in the loving feelings between the couple.

"Yes."

"No."

Colson and Luna answer at the same time but with different responses. Different ideals. Different expectations.

"What do you mean no?" He asks her with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't. I believe in true love but I don't believe that we're only destined to love one person. I think different people are supposed to come into our lives at different points for different reasons for different amounts of time. If that wasn't my truth than I would've never been able to fall in love with you after Justin." Luna explains her logic to him as if they're the only two in the hotel room.

Colson's silent for a moment. Totally hating Sean and his hot wings. ESPECIALLY hating his stupid fucking questions. Deeply contemplating what Luna just said.

"But you do, MGK?" Sean asks him directly, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah. I believe I found my soulmate... And if not, I'll have her as my wife." He smiles coyly, never taking his eyes off of Luna as she watches him with adoration.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"What were your other questions?" Luna inquisitively asks Sean after they wrap up taping.

"Oh! Uh... What do you think married life will look like for you guys and do you think you'll ever have kids?" He responds, slightly caught off guard.

"Life won't change." Luna smiles. "We're gonna keep on creating, traveling and being kind to The World as for... "

"You ready, Kitten?" Colson interrupts them as he slips his arm around Luna's waist. "Thanks again, Man." He acknowledges Sean before leading Luna away.

"We already have one... But maybe another one day." Luna answers his second question over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye.

---------------------------------------------------

"Where are we going now?" Luna giggles into Colson's ear as he carries her piggyback style up a slight hill.

"You've shown me a lot of cool things, now it's my turn." He answers her as he gently sets her down in the evening glow of the dipping sun. "Here, lemme get that blanket." He asks of her as he takes the schoolbag from off of Luna's back. Stretching it out, he reaches for her once he sits down. "Lay with me, please?" He requests.

"Where are we?" Luna asks as she curls up next to his body.

"Just wait." Colson gently instructs as he lights a blunt.

On a quiet hill somewhere in LA, Colson and Luna snuggle up together in the warm summer's air as the sun falls off the edge of The Earth. The night's sky slowly creeping around them. Luna's breath catches in her chest as she takes in Colson's surprise. It's a WHOLE sky filled with stars.

"I knew you'd appreciate this." He smiles to himself as he kisses the top of her head.

"It's so beautiful... How did you ever find this?" She asks in amazement.

"Mod showed me one night when we were tripping. It's the ONLY place you can see the stars out here." Colson breathes in deeply as he pulls her closer.

They lay together pointing out what they think are different constellations. Debating what's a satellite and what's a star. Luna drawing out Orion's Belt as Colson shows her where he believes to be The Big and Little Dipper are.

"So you really don't believe in soulmates?" Colson asks Luna again under the cosmic sky.

"No. Not one. I believe we're destined to love who we love... And I love you, Bunny. What's the difference?" She asks him.

"I don't know... I guess I find the whole idea of belonging to one person to be comforting and romantic. It's like having a predestined home." The idealistic yet hurt little boy inside of him answers.

"Oh, Bunny... " Luna purrs as she snuggles closer to him. "I am your home. Forever. Married, not married. Soulmates, not soulmates. I know a lot of shit but there's not much I'm sure of." Luna admits. "I am sure that I've loved since I saw you but that I wasn't meant to truly meet you until I did." She places his hand in the middle of her breasts so he can feel her beating heart. "We are who we are for a reason and right now... Our reason is the only thing that makes sense or matters to me."

Colson grabs her chest with a firm lightness. Holding their feelings tightly inside of his large palm. After a moment he gently rolls his body so that he looms over top of Luna. Staring down at her, he brushes the random stands of hair from her face. Leaning on his forearms, he dips down to kiss her passionately. She runs her fingers along the sides of his face into the back of his hair as she pulls him closer and kisses him firmly.

Their touches are sweet and soft under the star filled sky. They slowly undress each other as their kisses linger on their bare skin. Colson and Luna stare into each other's souls as he fully enters her. Making them both shake from their pure feelings and emotions.

It's not often that Colson and Luna make love. They usually fuck the shit out of each other. Tonight they're not animals. They're intimate lovers, both taking their time. Dropping heartfelt I love yous into each other's ears as they softly pant and moan. Soulmates or not, Luna and Colson are in this shit called Life together. Forever.

---------------------------------------------------

2Xs2

To be continued...

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brianc521 · 5 years

Text

Love Me Right | Nap Date 6

He’s not gonna sign it. Could never fucking do that to Ember. It’d break him in half if he did. He can’t even physically think of anyone else, it makes him nauseous. How would anyone expect him to fake a relationship willingly?

He’s on the phone with Ember before he can even make it to his car. He knows it’s gonna be a rough call, doesn’t expect to leave the driveway for an hour, but he has to tell her. He has to hell her now.

“Hey how was your meeting?” She answers as she picks up.

“It was,” He looks at the awful contract sitting in his passenger seat. “It wasn’t good.”

“What happened?”

He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “They presented a contract.”

“Who’s they?”

“Andrew and Cez, but also her team.”

“Her team?” She stutters. “What the fuck is it?”

“They want us to fake a relationship.”

“They want what?” She whispers.

“For PR. The song isn’t doing as well as they were hoping, so they want us to go out, pretend to date. To spark publicity, get our names out there.”

“Your name is out there.” She responds. “Be real Shawn, they want her name out there. The reason the song isn’t doing as well as they thought was because you’re the background. She attempted to overpower and in the end it resulted in your vocals being turned down.”

He grins a little, loves how defensive she is over him. It’s a way she proves her love, when she’s willing to throw hands over anything.

“So don’t tell me it’s to get ‘our names out there’ because it’s not. It’s to get her name out there. Because isn’t she about to release an album? If her song with you didn’t chart well then how the fuck is her album supposed to chart at all?”

He’s biting his lip to stop from laughing. She’s got this down to a T, it’s incredible. The bad part of his hesitation is, she takes it as him thinking it through.

“Wait.” She stops. “Are you thinking about it?”

“What?”

“Shawn?” She stops suddenly, all noises around her going silent. The only thing he can hear is her heavy breathing.

“What Honey?”

“Did you already sign? It’s already started hasn’t it?”

“What? No!” He grips the parked steering wheel. “Why would you think that? I would never do something like this without talking to you.”

“But there are new pictures out. What are you wearing right now?”

“Um,” He looks down. “I’m wearing my live aid shirt and blue jeans. My black ones are dirty.”

“Oh my god.” She gasps. “You were with her today. You, you were at lunch with her. You said her team?”

“It was, her and her team.”

“Then why is her team not in this picture. Shawn her team and your team aren’t in these pictures.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The pictures, it’s just you and her.”

“We were never alone.” He groans, looking through his feed.

He’s so tired of feeling powerless in his life. He’s finally at a time where he’s thinking of settling down, of being happy with someone he truly loves. Yet this shit keeps happening and it keeps pushing those settling down plans further and further away. He’s frustrated, and the worst part is, he really can’t do anything about it.

“Shawn.” She sighs. “Listen to me, I love you, but this can’t be our relationship.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I can’t do this. I understand that your career is important. I’m so proud of all the things you’ve accomplished, whether I’ve been with you or not, but this is not healthy for me. Not mentally, and not physically.”

His eyes widen at her words, and he’s clicking back to the call trying to make it a face time but she declines it.

“It’s not healthy for me to be stressing over pictures and wondering if they’re real or fake. It’s not healthy to feel the pressure of being compared to who the world thinks you’re with. So,” she sighs. “If you think that this is a good step for your career, that this will help you succeed then maybe we’re not as meant to be as we thought we were.”

“No Baby.” He chokes. “We are meant to be. We are.”

“Do you really think that?”

“Of course I do. I love you.”

“Then can you do me a favor?” She asks.

“Anything.”

“Can you fucking act like it?”

Before he can even think of responding the line goes dead and her heavy breathing has disappeared. He’s essentially freaking the fuck out. This can not be happening to him right now. Not again. He’s already gone through this freak out, when this shit started. She’s already gone silent on him, her walls he’d finally been able to take down when they got together have been slowly building back up again, and he can’t keep fighting if she’s gonna keep building.

He’s tried to call her back four times, she declines him every single time. So he finally leaves a message on the fifth call.

“Okay, I understand that this is hard. Trust me, I fucking know that. But I need you to talk to me. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. This conversation was a full 360 of what I fucking meant for it to be. So for me to be able to ‘act like it’ or fix it you have to let me talk. I’m just trying to be honest with you. I love you, and I’ll give you some space. Just don’t give up on me yet.”

He ends the call and throws his phone on top of the contract, putting his Jeep in reverse before Andrew can even think twice about walking up to his window when he realized Shawn was still sitting there.

It’s been a day, and he still hasn’t heard back from her. This is the one thing that drives him absolutely mad. She pushes him away in times where he knows she needs him the most. He can’t get into any contact with her, so he has no sort of control of the situation. He doesn’t even really need any control, he just wants information.

It’s why he always ends up flying back to her. It might seem dramatic, or totally immature but damn he’s in love with Ember Mills. He can’t just let her go because she thinks he wants something that’s fake and gross. He wants her. That’s all he wants right now.

He never thought he would admit it, but she’s everything. If she asked him to stop touring, he would. If she asked to him never pick up a guitar again, he would. She could ask him to do anything and he would do it. His faith in her is that she would never ask, because he wants to believe that she’s in love with him too.

He feels kind of dumb standing at her apartment door. He feels even dumber when he knocks on the door like a kid in 5th grade wondering if she could come out to play. What seals the deal on the dumb feeling is when Juniper answers the door with a glare and scowl painted on her face.

“What the hell?”

“I need to see her.”

“No, you need to let her go Shawn. I love you Mendes boys with all my heart, but this isn’t good for her.”

“You don’t understand. She doesn’t even understand, and I’d like to explain it to her before I do anyone else. So please, can I just talk to her.”

“Are you gonna hurt her?” Juniper asks softly, biting her lip.

“No, the last thing I ever want to do is hurt her. She jumped to conclusions. She never let me explain why I was telling her about the contract.”

At this Juniper stands straight, and it’s then that she realizes that Ember never did tell her why he brought it up. That was the missing piece to the puzzle. She was just so caught up in Ember’s emotions that she forgot that part.

She quickly waves Shawn in, knowing it’s cold outside and he had to be freezing.

“She’s in the living room. I’m gonna head out, was supposed to be at Raul’s 15 minutes ago. She’s in good hands?”

“The best hands, other than yours.” He nods quickly, hugging Juniper and slowly making his way to the living room.

“He still hasn’t called me again June. I’m starting to lose faith that he meant he was fighting for me.” Ember calls from her spot on the couch, thinking Juniper was still in the kitchen.

“Don’t lose faith.” He speaks, watching her jump and turn to look behind the couch at him.

“What are you doing here? Where’s June?”

“She let me in, then headed to Raul’s. We need to talk Ember.”

His eyes are rimmed red from lack of sleep. His curls a mess from stressing them with his fingers. His hands are shaking from nerves, and he can’t seem to catch his breath from his anxious mood.

“Shawn,” She sighs.

“No listen. It’s my turn to speak. You cut me off every time.” He shakes his head. Starting to pace her living room. “I literally called you about the contract so that you would know what they were trying to do. Not once did you let me finish my sentence, that would have gone like this; They presented me with a contracted about having a fake relationship with her, isn’t that fucking ludicrous? They want me to help her get publicity to sell her album, I have enough trouble on my own why the fuck would I want to take on her career as well?”

She gasps and leans back against the couch when he keeps ranting.

“On top of that, they were talking about me holding her hand and kissing her? That makes me fucking nauseous because how in the fuck do they expect me to do that with her when all I want is to do that with you.” At this he finally makes eye contact with her. “I literally only want you. I can’t see my life without you in it anymore. And the more you talk about us breaking up or you leaving me makes me feel like I have no control. Over anything.”

She stands at this, starting to notice his anxious behavior.

“Because like, I’m in love with you. But at every slightest bump in the road you’re ready to run away from me. I can’t, I can’t live like that. I understand that it’s not healthy for you to live a life where you see pictures of me with her or any other girl for that matter. But at the same time it’s not healthy for me to live a life where I don’t feel secure in our relationship.”

“Shawn, breathe please.”

“I thought we talked about this? I thought I made myself clear, but I’ll try one last time. I know my career scares you. It scares me too. I constantly have people in my business, nothing feels private anymore. That was the case until I met you. I will do anything in my power to make you happy. At the same time, I need to do anything in my power to make sure I’m happy too. You and music make me the happiest I’ve ever been. So I promise that I will keep you informed on everything. Every contract, every interview, every fucking thing I can. Okay?”

“Okay.” She nods, finally starting to understand that he’s trying.

He’s really trying to make her feel secure in his career, so he can feel secure in their relationship. That was like a knife to her chest when he told her she doesn’t.

At this he stops, stares at her and finally takes a deep breath.

“I never signed the contract. I was never going to sign the contract. I’m never going to sign that contract. I called you and told you so you would know about it. I don’t want to keep anything from you. I made that mistake, I almost lost you because of it so I’m not gonna make it again.”

“Okay,” She nods, taking his hands and kissing at the knuckles. “I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

“I need you to give me the benefit of the doubt okay? I may be a dumb boy, but I’m learning.”

“I know.”

“I’m also really tired.” He slumps his shoulders. “I’m tired from everything, but most of all I’m tired of feeling like every time I take one of your walls down, three more go up. I feel like I never get a win, that I’m always chasing my tail around you.”

“You’re not.” She shakes her head. “You’re not chasing anything. You have me Shawn.”

“Do I?” He asks her. “Because it doesn’t feel like it.”

“You do, I promise you that. You know me better than anyone else does. I’m sorry that I get scared and run away. It’s just how I cope. But I’ll work on it, I know that doesn’t do any good for you or for me. So can we agree that that’s what we need to work on with each other? Not running away, not letting our emotions get the better of us? That we’ll talk, like adults. That way someone doesn’t have to fly home once a week when we have a disagreement?”

“I’d like that. I’d like to do this right. I’d like to love you right.”

“You do, you do love me right. Now let me learn how to love you right.”

“You do love me right.” He sighs, spreading his arms out, preparing to go on another rant about how she does, that’s right before she presses her lips to his.

“Now shut up for a minute.” She murmurs between kisses. “You’re home, and you’re here. Just kiss me a for awhile.”

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michaeljacksoncaptaineo · 4 years

Text

Today in History

On January 26, 1984, Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.

UPI:

JAN. 28, 1984

Michael Jackson hospitalized after fireworks mishap on set of Pepsi commercial

ByJEFF HASEN

LOS ANGELES -- Superstar Michael Jackson, hospitalized with burns from fireworks that ignited his hair during filming of a commercial, was quietly discharged from a hospital Saturday against his doctor's recommendation.

Dr. Steve Hoefflin said he believed it was best for Jackson to stay at Brotman Memorial Hospital, but reluctantly agreed to his release at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST). Hours earlier, he had told reporters Jackson would be hospitalized 'for several days.'

'We recommended that Michael stay, but we determined this could be done as well out of the hospital as in the hospital,' Hoefflin said. 'Despite our recommendation, he felt he did want to be treated as an outpatient.

'He was quite happy. He felt better after a good night's sleep. He's in excellent health and was showing very rapid signs of recovery. He's very pleased it was not more of a severe burn.'

Hoefflin said he did not know where Jackson planned to go.

Jackson, 25, was dancing down a stairway at the Shrine Auditorium Friday night in a scene for a multi-million dollar Pepsi commercial when a special effects smoke bomb apparently misfired and set his pomade-slicked hair ablaze.

Nurse Pat Lavalas, the burn unit supervisor, said Jackson was in good spirits Saturday morning and he received many telephone calls, including get-well wishes from singers Teddy Pendergrass and Stephanie Mills.

'He left in good spirits and his condition is good,' she said. 'He didn't speak about the accident to us. He watched 'American Bandstand' this morning and people were getting his autograph.

He sang a Stephanie Mills song in the bathroom. He stayed in bed and opened telegrams, and he got a big kick out of one from a fan that said, 'I know you're hot, but this is ridiculous,'' the nurse said.

Just hours before Jackson's secretive departure, Hoefflin told reporters the singer was in satisfactory condition with second-degree burns and a small third-degree burn on the back of his head.

'He's in moderate pain, he's much more tired than we anticipated. He needs sleep at this time,' Hoefflin told reporters at a hospital news conference.

He said Jackson may require reconstructive surgery.

Jackson, the country's top singer, won seven American Music Awards earlier this month and picked up a record 12 Grammy nominations. Hoefflin said Jackson will be able to attend the Feb. 28 Grammy presentations at the Shrine 'if he feels up to it.'

A spokesman for Jackson said the singer requested that a tape of the accident be made public as soon as the film can be processed.

'Michael wants to make certain that his fans know exactly what happened,' Larry Larson told reporters at the hospital.

Asked if Jackson was contemplating a lawsuit, he said, 'There's no indication at this point.'

Hospital officials said the medical center had been inundated with thousands of phone calls since Jackson arrived and a spokesman pleaded with the public to stop calling, saying emergency calls could not get through.

The singer's 'Thriller' album topped the music charts last year, placing an unprecedented six singles -- including 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat It' -- in the top 10 and spawning several popular videos.

The accident Friday night occurred before a horrified audience of about 3,000 people who won tickets to the taping from a local radio station.

One witness told United Press International that Jackson removed his jacket without breaking stride and tried to put out the fire.

'There was supposed to be an explosion for his big entrance,' Daryoush Maze, 25, an extra in the cast, said. 'As he went off, an explosion went off and there was blue smoke all around his head and neck. There were no flames, just blue smoke from the stuff he had in his hair.

'It seemed like it was part of the show. He was doing it very professionally, still dancing. He's a good trouper.'

About a block from Jackson's boyhood home, nearly 1,000 people clad in their Sunday best jammed into a small, stuffy basketball gym to hear the candidate speak.

After a church choir sang a few hymns, Jackson's mother, wearing a deep blue dress and a 'Jackson in '84' button, triumphantly introduced her son to the throng.

Jackson took the stage and led the audience in his familiar 'I am somebody' chant.

'Our mission is justice at home and peace abroad,' he told the townspeople. 'I've watched the growth of this city and this state and I see the need for more growth.

'We have the need this day to have a spirit of redemption and reconciliation -- to rise above historic divisions that have stunted our growth. This is a period for us to beat our swords into plowshares.'

Jackson spoke of Greenville as once being the textile capital of the world, and noted the slump in the industry today that has put thousands out of work.

He called for an end to the 'dislocation of the textile industry.'

'This generation must realize when a plant closes, it closes without notice. Men cannot feed their families; mothers cannot nourish their children. That kind of reckless economic conduct must challenge us to open a new economic order.'

Jackson also visited a small bar that sponsors a softball team Jackson played on during the 1960s.

The presidential hopeful was the team's starting first baseman.

'He's a long-ball hitter,' said Charles Chiles, a patron of the establishment who remembers Jackson's days on the softball field.

Jackson also climbed onto the fender of a brown Cadillac parked near the bar during the afternoon and urged about 200 onlookers to register to vote.

'You can help me and you can help yourself,' he said. 'If we register to vote our children will not have to grow up as we did. They can get jobs. They can develop and grow.

'We can not only hang around on the corner, we can own the corner.'

Moonwalk book page 235-238:

Later one of the doctors told me that it was a miracle I was alive. One of the firemen had mentioned that in most cases your clothes catch on fire in which case the whole face can be disfigured or you can die. That’s it. I third-degree burns On the back of my head that’s Almost went through to my skull, so we had a lot of the problems with it, But I was very lucky.

What we now know is that the incident created a lot of publicity for the commercial. They sold more Pepsi than ever before. And they came back to me later and offered me the biggest commercial endorsement Fee in history. It was so unprecedented But it went into The Guinness Book of World Records. Pepsi and I worked together on another Commercial called” The Kid”, And I gave them problems by limiting the shots of me because I felt the shots they were asking for didn’t work well. Later, when the commercial was a success, he told me I had been right.

I still remember how scared those Pepsi excuses looked the night of the fire. They thought that my getting burned would leave a bad taste in the mouth every kid in America who drank Pepsi. They knew I could have sued him and I could have. But I was real nice about it. Real nice. They gave me $1,500,000 Which I immediately donated to the Michael Jackson Burn Center. I wanted to do something because I was so moved By the other burn patient I met while I was in the hospital.

“ I have a plan to spend most of 1984 working on some movie ideas we had, But those plans got sidetracked. First, in January, I Was burned On the set of a Pepsi commercial I was shooting with my brothers.

The reason for the fire stupidity, pure and simple. We were shooting tonight and I Wassupposed To come down a staircase yes magnesium flash bombs Going off on either side of me and just behind me. It seemed so simple. I wanted to walk down the stairs and these bombs Would blow up. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lighting effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs Were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total Disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

Then Bob Giraldi, the director, Came to me and said, “ Michael, you are going down too early. We want To see you up there, up on the stairs. When the lights come on, we want to reveal that you’re there, so wait”

So I waited, the bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set My hair on fire. I was dancing down the ramp and turning around, spinning not knowing I was on fire. Suddenly I filled my hands reflexively going to my head In an attempt to smother the flames. Are you feeling down and just tried to shake the Flames out. Jermaine Turned around and saw me on the ground, Just after the explosions had gone off, and he thought I was shot be someone In the crowd — ‏because we were shooting In front of a big audience. That what I looked like to him.

Miko Brando , Who works for me, was the first person to reach me. After that, it was clhaos. It was crazy. No for me could probably capture The drama of what went on That night. The crowd was screaming. Someone shouted, “ Get some ice! “ There were fantic running sounds. People were yelling,” Oh no!”. The emergency truck came up And before they Put me in Isow the Pepsi excutives huddled together in a corner, looking terrified. I remember the medical people putting me on a cot And the guys from Pepsi were so scared They couldn’t

even bring themselves to check on me.

Meanwhile, I was kind of detached, despite the terrible pain, I was watching all the drama unfold. Later they told me, I was in shock, but I remember enjoying the ride to the hospital because I never thought I’d ride in an ambulance with the sirens wailing. It was one of those things I had always wanted to do when I was growing up. We got there, They told me there news crews Outside, so I asked for my glove. There’s a famous shot one waving from the stretcher with my glove on. hooting tonight and I Wassupposed To come down a staircase yes magnesium flash bombs Going off on either side of me and just behind me. It seemed so simple. I wanted to walk down the stairs and these bombs Would blow up. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lighting effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs Were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total Disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

even bring themselves to check on me.

https://youtu.be/DkMNn7TA0pg

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