#but i've also been into punk/rock music since i was 8 and wanted to be goth since a similar time

[gallongall]

i wanna get a buzzcut sooo bad but i'm so scared because i've always had a reputation for being a girly-girl and i care wayyy too much about other people's opinions

[astrangetorpedo]

IN INTERVIEW

Julien Baker, the interview 6/8/2016

At just 20 years old, Julien Baker gave us last year a first album of intense and rare emotional force, the superb Sprained Ankle reviewed here . A moving record that left a deep and lasting mark on me. It was therefore impossible to miss the young American's arrival in Paris and not to take advantage of the opportunity to try to get to know this outstanding artist a little better. A meeting was thus organized thanks to the invaluable help of Sean, her manager, in a café in the 12th arrondissement, two hours before the young lady's very first Parisian concert, on May 24. A one-on-one meeting that revealed to me an adorable and voluble young woman, incredibly touching and sincere, and above all determined to seize life with all her might! A moment of exchange and sharing that I am not ready to forget.

Hello Julien!

Julien Baker : Hello!

First of all, thank you very much for granting us this interview. I am a big fan of your music and it makes me really happy to meet you!

Oh, thank you! It's a great pleasure for me too, you know! I still can't believe that people like my music enough to want to meet me to talk about it. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, really!

Perfect! Let’s start at the beginning of your story. I read that you’ve been making music for a while now. Could you summarize the journey that led you to where you are today?

Yeah, sure! I started listening to music in middle school. It was rock, I was really into it with painted nails, black eye makeup, all that stuff! [laughs] Then I started playing in bands, punk bands mostly. Then I joined Forrister which is the band I still play in today. We were playing shows in cities around our area. Then I went to college and a friend of mine who worked in a studio there offered me to record with him for free. Since my band couldn't be there, I did it solo, without any specific plans. I put the album out on Bandcamp for $2 or $3 a copy.

That's when Sean [Julien's manager] contacted me and suggested we release the album in a more official and professional way. I told him that I was actually in a band, Forrister, and that no one would be interested in me as a solo artist. He insisted and even though I didn't believe it at all, I agreed to give it a try. I'll always remember the day he called me to tell me that NPR [National Public Radio] was going to play my single. I hung up crying and immediately called my mom all excited to tell her the news! But then, as things seemed to start to take off for me, I started to doubt myself. I felt guilty towards the rest of the band, thinking that they would resent me for doing this project without them. So I called the drummer and asked him what they thought and he said they were just proud and super happy and not mad at me in any way. So I kept going and here I am! I never thought I would come to Europe and do all this, it's crazy, really!

During the band's time, did you already have this desire to write your own songs?

I don't think I had any real unfulfilled desire to do this.

But you were writing?

Yes, I wrote my own songs. But not because the band was holding me back or preventing me from doing it within the collective. It's just that sometimes you write songs but they don't fit the moment. So I put those lyrics aside, like that, without any specific goal. I've always written and played in different bands. There was enough space for all that, things didn't have to be done exclusively in one framework or another.

Were your parents musicians?

Not really. Well my dad bought me a guitar and showed me how to play it. So I started playing by practicing at home on my own. I also took piano lessons but for a very short time. My teacher didn't really like me because I didn't work hard enough. I just played by ear without wanting to learn to read music and he didn't like that. So I taught myself. But my parents were big music fans. They played records all the time at home. When I was younger I wanted to go to a concert, my dad would come with me to make sure I was safe! He was the only adult in the middle of all these tattooed and pierced kids! [laughs] Oddly enough it never bothered me. When he made a surprise appearance at the Bowery Ballroom for my concert in New York, I was so proud! He and my mom have always been a great support!

This is really great!

Yes I know !

In addition to being an author and composer, you are also a student. Are you still going to university?

I just finished my semester. It's currently summer vacation. But I think I'm going to take a break in the fall. I completed the theoretical part of my literature course thanks to online courses. The last thing I need to fully validate my teaching diploma is the practical part, in school with students. I tried to do it last fall but it's complicated to carry out both projects at the same time: give lessons during the week then take a plane to California or New York on the weekend to play a concert, before returning to teach on Monday morning! So I'm going to take a break to devote all my time to music.

Do you want to teach one day?

I think I would really enjoy teaching. I love it. As a teenager I was a summer camp counselor, I love children. So yes it would be really cool to teach!

You studied literature. Did that influence your way of writing?

Yes, totally! I try to feed myself as much as I can from all these different ways of perceiving life and emotions that I find in books. It enriches me intellectually speaking. I have the feeling of learning new things about myself each time I discover a new author and this is then reflected in my writing I think, consciously or unconsciously.

Are you familiar with French literature?

Voltaire! I often joke with my professor friends that I would really like to have a big Voltaire and Cervantes tattoo! I already have a Gabriel Garcia Marquez tattoo [Julien then shows me his 2-part tattoo on the inside of his 2 wrists]…

Is he your favorite writer?

One of my favorites, I can't choose just one! And so when my students would complain that Voltaire is an old man who's not cool, I could show them my Voltaire tattoo and prove to them that it's really cool! [laughs] Reading Candide really changed my life. It was incredible! I think the translation of the title is The Optimist , which is quite ironic. Cervantes wrote Don Quixote and we have this word in English, "quixotic" which means optimistic but optimistic to the extreme, to the point where even if everything is going wrong in your life and you know it, you continue to believe in it despite everything. There is a really romantic and admirable dimension to that attitude I find. Same for Candide where there is this quote that I always come back to when I feel really bad and which says: "I wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but I still loved life" . I think I cried when I first read that sentence. Anyway, I could talk about literature for hours, don't drag me down that dangerous path! [laughs]

Haha, ok. So back to the music! Listening to your album I couldn't help but think of two other artists I really like: Sharon Van Etten and TORRES…

I love TORRES!

Me too! I even did my very first interview with her!

Wow! She's amazing!

Do you agree with this comparison even if the artists in question do not come from the same scene as you?

I totally agree with this comparison! As a teenager I only listened to punk and thought that anything that wasn't punk was worthless. Then I grew up as a musician and learned to appreciate all styles. When you really love music, you love an artist as long as their music is honest and good, no matter what the style. It doesn't matter if it's hip hop or country or whatever!

I totally agree!

And so I'm a big fan of TORRES! I loved her first album, the one before Sprinter . The song Honey is the very first one I heard from her.

The same !

And oh my god, what a song! I played with her in Chicago, I was added as the opening act at the very last minute, I felt so honored! On my way to the dressing room, I ran into her and as I was saying "Oh sorry, I don't want to bother you" she said "No, come on, this is a shared space, you have as much right to be here as I do" and she kindly invited me in. As for Sharon, it's funny because the first time I met her, she asked me to have lunch with her, can you imagine having lunch in New York with Sharon Van Etten! And she told me she was also going to invite her friend Mackenzie [Mackenzie Scott aka TORRES]. But our phones died and we couldn't get a hold of her. So in Chicago TORRES couldn't make the connection, I was just the little girl at the door!

Excellent! Are there any other musical influences that you would claim?

Do you know David Banzan?

Nope…

Ok. There's a band called Pedro The Lion and David Bazan is the lead singer. He influenced me quite a bit. And do you know Death Cab For Cutie?

Yes of course !

They were the first non-punk band I listened to. At the time I only listened to loud and fast music, but when I heard Transatlanticism for the first time it was a shock, everything changed. They really meant a lot to me.

Your texts are very strong and very personal. When you wrote them, did you think about the impact they could have on those around you first and then on the general public?

Well, at first, I didn't imagine that this solo album would lead me anywhere, I was convinced that my music would only be made with my band Forrister. So when I released the album on Bandcamp, I really thought that only my friends would listen to it. So I wrote all these songs like that, just for me, without really thinking about the scope of the lyrics. And I'm ultimately happy that I didn't think about it because if I had known what was waiting for me, I think I would have most certainly changed things, I would have probably been more reserved in my words. But if it's difficult for me to show my vulnerability, I realize that it's totally worth it when young people come up to me after concerts to tell me that my music has helped them in difficult times in their lives. It's of course a little embarrassing for me to share such intimate things but if these things make others feel good, then I think it's worth it in the end.

But isn't it a little scary to expose yourself so completely naked and transparent? It's so brave, I don't know if I could do it myself!

Well, you see, it's exactly the same for me, I'm not sure I would have been able to do it if I had known everything in advance! But now that it has happened, I feel that from now on I have the right, the license to be brave. Perhaps it was the plans of destiny or God, something like that.

And isn't it too difficult for you to sing songs every day that inevitably bring you back to painful moments?

I think there are two options. Option one: I can sing these songs every night, let them take me back in time and feel sorry for myself. Option two: there is the quote from this poet that I love who says that all the horrible things in life just need to be seen from a different and courageous perspective. Things that seem bad can indeed turn out to be good in the end. So I have chosen to let the dark and sad aspects of my songs become pretexts to be positive and happy. Because yes, all these things have happened to me but if that had not been the case, I probably would never have written these lyrics and I would not be here today in Paris talking to you, Laurence! In the grand scheme of things, everything has a meaning and works for our good in the end.

That's very beautiful what you say! [laughs] To talk about lighter things, this is your first time in Europe, isn't it?

Yes !

How do you feel?

I love it! I have such a good time. Well I don't sleep much... [laughs]

Is it the time difference or the excitement?

Well now it's the excitement! But a week ago it was also the jet lag [laughs]. Imagine, we traveled for over 30 hours straight to get here! I first took a plane to Richmond and then a train to Washington DC. We then took a flight to Iceland where we took another flight to Copenhagen. Once there we took a train but due to a problem on the tracks we had to take a bus that took us to another train! When we arrived at the hotel, we were totally exhausted! [laughs] It was 11 o'clock in the evening but at that time of year the sun hadn't set because we were so far north and my body didn't understand anything at all! But hey after a good night's sleep everything was better! And now if I don't sleep it's just because I don't want to miss anything, not a single minute you know! I thought I would never be able to afford to travel and once again it seems that Destiny's plans are extraordinarily kind to me. I feel so grateful and lucky!

And that's just the beginning!

I hope so! But you know, even if everything had to stop, well in any case it would have been much, much more than I could have imagined! I am so grateful for everything that is happening to me!

Are there any particular places you want to discover?

Sean has been here before and wants to show me places he liked. Today he took me to see the Sacré-Cœur which is beautiful. On my side, there are also places I would like to visit, especially in Barcelona, ​​because I am majoring in Spanish literature. I would like to go to the café where Picasso had his very first exhibition, long before he was famous. I would also like to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's work, visit a museum, buy a Viva Cataluña t-shirt and eat paella. I am so excited to be able to do all these things!

That's great! But it's going to take you some time to do all of this!

We are staying there for the whole festival [Primavera Sound Festival]. So we should have some time. Of course we won't sleep much because in the evening I also want to attend the concerts!

You'll sleep when you get home!

Exactly! Since I am a big coffee drinker, one of my friends gave me a badge for my jacket that says "I will sleep when I am dead" ! [laughs] There are indeed so many things to experience in one life! [laughs]

And what are your plans for after the European tour?

We're actually going to be touring until the end of the year.

Will you come back to Europe?

We're going to Australia in November I think. I can't wait! We're also going to tour the States so as for Europe I don't really know... And then I hope to have some free time early next year. I'm always writing new songs that I play live. I must have 30 demos on my computer and I'd really like to record them. So it would be great if I could get into the studio early next year!

Last question: do you have one or more musical recommendations to share with us?

Lucy Dacus!

Oh I love it!

We played together in Washington DC. I had never heard her songs before Washington and I remember hearing the lyrics to Map On A Wall which say "I hope good comes from good and good comes from bad anyway" and I started crying all by myself watching her play. Her music is so beautiful, so powerful! And we have so much in common: questions of spirituality, sexuality and faith, questions about gender too and the place of girls in rock music. We are really like two halves of the same person. We have the same booker and were approached by the same label. And when I saw her again in Richmond I knew we operated exactly the same way. So our biggest fear is that we will one day become jaded and arrogant. We want to remain grateful, sincere and enthusiastic. There are so many people who do this for a long time and end up jaded. It's really great to find someone who feels exactly the same way you do, and that's the case with Lucy. We're platonic soulmates! She's a very, very dear friend.

You must tell her at all costs to come and shoot in Europe and in Paris because there are people waiting for her here!

Promise! I'll send her a message as soon as I have wifi!

Lucy Dacus! A perfect choice! Thank you very much Julien!

Thank you! It was great!

photos by jean-marc ferré 📸

interview by lolo from paris (who has great footage of that paris show on his youtube account) 📝

wayback link for the interview 🔗

[cherrylng]

Upcoming Victories UK ‘00 - Muse - Matt Bellamy interview [BUZZ (November 2000)]

"'Compared to dance music, nothing great ever comes out of rock music, no matter how many years we wait. I'm going to start a new rock scene here.' That's what I thought when I started MUSE."

Out-of-this-world heaviness, out-of-this-world dramaturgy. What is the frustration, sense of purpose and impulse of MUSE and Matthew Bellamy to shake up a situation where only sing-along music can survive?

Text by Shinji Hyogo Interpretation by Makoto Takami

I noticed that in every issue I wrote things like "The new UK bands today are all sing-along bands that haven't been able to escape the influence of Oasis even though it's been years since their breakthrough" or "their sound is not as strong as dance or American heavy rock". There are issues where I don't write about it, but I write about it in the JAPAN record reviews that month. Do I want to make enemies with UK rock fans? Do I really hate them that much? When Coldplay's new album arrived, I was happy and listened to it every day. I also liked the new REEF stuff. I praised Placebo in the record reviews in the previous issue, and I love Oasis to begin with. What's so bad about it, me?

I thought about it and realised that the point is that I don't like the "same" thing. I've written about this before, but when I listened to the songs of creators from all over the world who uploaded their own work to MP3.com, I felt really depressed because they were all Aphex Twin imitations. Why do they go to the trouble of being "the same" or "under the influence of XXX" when they are in a field where they can do whatever they want with their music? Isn't it a waste? Isn't it uninteresting for both the performers and the listeners? First of all, you can't win if you do the same thing. I can't say that I haven't been influenced by someone else, or that I haven't written similar texts to someone else, but I think so with a sense of self-discipline. This was the lead sentence of an interview with MUSE. It is said that Radiohead and Nirvana have a strong influence on the band, and they admit it, and in fact, when I listen to the band, I certainly think so. However, I can't help but feel that I can see "beyond" the dramatic, dynamic, heavy and loud feel of their songs, the fragile beauty of their melodies, the sheer skill of their playing and vocalisation, and above all, the swell and dynamism of their sound.

There are strong sounds. MUSE's sound is strong too. However, the fact that this strength is different from alternative, (current) punk or American heavy rock is clearly expressed in the first album "SHOWBIZ" released earlier this year and the Japanese compilation "RANDOM 1-8" released in time for the band's visit to Japan in the middle of this month. Whether in melody, lyrics, or sound, what MUSE is aiming for is a sound with an intensity and drama of a type never seen before. And that's what makes you want to expect "maybe they'll change the current status quo". Matthew Bellamy answered.

I think the loud, heavy feel of MUSE's sound is what sets you apart from other UK guitar bands. 「Yeah.」

And I think there are two reasons for that. One is that American heavy rock and dance music are first of all overwhelming in terms of the intensity of sound, whereas UK rock today is not, so you had to get the intensity of sound to match it. And the second is that you needed that kind of strong sound to give form to the world that you genuinely wanted to express. 「Yeah, I think the second opinion is right. I needed that kind of sound to create what I wanted and to make music that accurately expresses my feelings, how I feel about life and so on. I've tried to make the sound as intense as possible in order to make music that is sincere and honest. I also want to convey my feelings and emotions in a way that I can enjoy. So yeah, I think you're right about that. But it's not that I felt the need to do it to get rid of the weakness of the UK rock sound. We were born and brought up far away from the mainstream British music scene, so it was a very natural progression for us to start playing this kind of music. In fact, we didn't really know much other than this kind of music growing up. I think the main reason is that we grew up in a remote and isolated place where we were shut out from the outside world. When you grow up in a place like that, you develop a unique worldview.」

Like a rare species of animal that evolved on its own on a remote island? 「(laughs) That's terrible. No, I listen to all kinds of music without preconceptions. As far as I remember, the first music I liked when I was a kid was blues music. I think I was 10 or 11 years old, and I was first into blues piano, like Ray Charles. And I learnt guitar by listening to Robert Johnson. Then, when I was 13 or 14, I became interested in more indie British music, like Wedding Present, Senseless Things, Mega City Four, and Sultans of Ping FC」

What?!?! You liked the Sultans? (Note: A B-grade band that existed in the mid-90s and was like a combination of early Manics and Iggy Pop and the Stooges.). I've interviewed them a lot. 「Oh yeah? Did you like them?」

I loved them, but when they didn't make it, I thought, "I knew it" (laughs). 「Hahahaha. So yes, I was almost exclusively focused on British music at the time. But when I was around 15 or 16, I started listening to American music too. Like Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Then I travelled around continental Europe for a while, and that's when I started listening to a lot of European folk music. I got really into Spanish flamenco guitar and started studying it myself. And also Greek music. I was also influenced by a lot of Eastern European bands and Southern European music, as well as a lot of Irish folk music. My mother is from Ireland, so we had a lot of folk music from there at home. So yeah, I've been open to all types of music.」

All of this is reflected in the sound of MUSE, isn't it? 「Right? (laughs)」

So it wasn't just a subconscious thing like, "I grew up in a remote area, so this is how it is," but you actually wanted to play music that was completely different from the mainstream scene? 「I think so, yes. The music scene in the UK was getting pretty boring at the time. There was some good dance music coming out, but there wasn't much interesting stuff going on in the rock scene. So I think that was definitely part of what inspired me to think, "I want to put out a record. No one's going to come out any time soon. Then I'll start a new rock scene here". So much was missing in rock at that time. I'm happy that some good bands have finally started to emerge recently.」

Also, I think MUSE's music and sound are very complete and dramatic. Is this something that comes naturally to you? 「Hmm…… No, I don't always make music with conviction. So it's not like I do it intentionally, it just comes naturally, or that when I make music, it sounds that way. It's not like I want a certain sound and plan it out in advance, I just write songs that honestly express how I feel. So for me, it's very personal music, but maybe new listeners will see a completely different perspective, or a dramatic side to it, like you said. For me, it's a very personal piece of music that expresses my own thoughts and feelings in the sound. However, the album I'm currently preparing will contain many different types of songs. For example…… There are some songs on there that have an unusual positivity to them, which I can't really describe. What I mean by "unusual" is that they actually sound very positive when I sing them, but they're also the hardest and most emotional songs for me to sing in a way. Maybe it's because it's so positive that it becomes hard. There will be some songs like that on the next album, and it's the first time I've ever approached songs like this, but I'm really enjoying it.」

If that's what happens when you make it naturally, doesn't that mean that your life and your life itself up until now has been dramatic in a way? 「Yeah, it certainly hasn't been normal so far. I feel like I've travelled a very long way. And I feel like I've come this far without really being aware of what's going on. I don't really know where I'm at or where I'm going. But for me, that kind of situation feels really good. I really enjoy getting lost and not knowing where I'm going. I don't know how it's going to end or when it's going to end, so it's kind of fun in a way. It's like my emotions and everything else is a blur, and that's what's really interesting. Even now, I'm so busy that I can say I don't have time to rest at all, and I feel like I don't know what's going on, but I think the more chaotic it gets, the better the music gets.」

Do you feel that you are becoming more and more sensitive to those vague and unpredictable states? 「I think I'm becoming more and more aware of them. And what I like about that feeling, and why I like it, is that I'm the kind of person who thinks that situations where you can predict what's going to happen next are uninteresting. As soon as I'm in a situation like that, I get bored and start looking for something else to do. That's why…… Yeah (laughs).」

So you're the type of person who likes to put yourself in unpredictable situations on purpose. 「Yes, that's true, haha. That's for sure (laughs).」

I understand (laughs). By the way, you've said in the past that you have a great distrust of "communicating through some kind of system", whether it's the media, the internet or religion, and it shows in your lyrics. What is the reason for your dislike and distrust to such an extent? 「Hmm…… I think it's because I grew up with a constant sense of "something's not quite right" about developments and changes in the world. But I can't really explain what that "something" is. So I'm trying to learn more about the world, about the system of government, about the system we grew up in, so that I can explain it better. Why is it that the power structures, for example, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), seem to be more and more in step with America? I'm trying to learn about the impact of that kind of system on the rest of the world. Maybe in doing so, I'm trying to learn more about that sense of "something's wrong" that I've had since I was a little kid. I'm looking at it carefully, trying to find out if it's just a fantasy or if it's real. But I think anyone can feel that kind of discomfort when they watch the news, or read a newspaper. You can feel it from all media, and you can also feel it when you talk to people who don't understand the hidden, subtle messages the media give out. When you realise that there are so many people who can't read what's being said, who don't realise that there's another movement going on behind the scenes, it makes you realise that you have to learn more.」

Does this mistrust stem from structural problems in the system? 「It's largely down to how people are informed. For example, the other day there was a huge demonstration in London against the WTO, and 26,000 people marched through the streets of London. By the way, I think 50,000 policemen were mobilised (laughs). Anyway, the media misreported that march. All the news programmes said that "everyone was at the demonstration for a riot". And that "hardly anyone turned up". They deliberately downplayed the fact that it was a very small demonstration. This is a classic example of media control of information to the public, which they probably thought was harmful to the state. Also, in the UK we have recently had a fuel shortage problem, and when the price of petrol went up, everyone started to strike at once. And what happened was that people barricaded themselves in refineries all over the place. And at one of the refineries, the police force opened the gates of the refinery and let the trucks out, and the press photos of the scene showed the gathered crowd cheering and clapping, as if they were happy that the petrol was being taken away. But in fact they were on strike there, trying to stop the petrol from being taken out. But the press just happened to film everyone clapping and made it look like they were happy that the petrol was being taken out. There were hundreds of other refineries protesting, and only one of them happened to be on the news, and they just happened to take a picture of the crowd applauding as the petrol was taken out. It was nuanced, as if the strike had failed. In fact, after the photo was published, all the refineries bowed to the pressure and stopped protesting. So, I think that in certain areas of news, the people who are involved in the press are manipulating information, especially in America, and I think it's done on a much larger scale.」

"I'm acquainted with the sing-along type bands like Coldplay, and we're actually good friends. I think it's great that they've had success. But when it comes to music, we're definitely marginalised."

So for you, does the process of pursuing your music and expressing it as a piece or performance involve a feeling of being in struggle with someone or something? 「I think it does, yes. I get confused and sometimes I don't even know how I feel or what I'm thinking about. You can think about love, or religion, or science, or the meaning of life, or simpler things that are not that complicated, but when you have to make decisions, when you have to figure out what is the right thing to do, you can get confused. Moral standards are not as clear-cut now as they used to be. In the absence of religion, moral standards become ambiguous. So there's a lot of confusion when you have to make the right decision, and confusion about what the right answer is, and that's what I'm trying to express in a lot of our songs.」

You could say that rock ‘n’ roll has been singing about themes like "despair" and "confusion" for a long time now. However, such an approach tends to lead to a dead end at some point, but I think your music is unique in that it doesn't sound claustrophobic in that way. No matter how naïve the songs are, the sound is always bold. 「Yeah. That's probably…… I just think that…… Hmmm…… I think it's because the music is flowing with me. I don't know, it's always flowing, or it's always reflecting the situation at the time. So as long as interesting changes and unpredictable things keep happening, I think the music will always be interesting.」

For example, the new bands that have been coming out of the UK recently, such as Travis, Coldplay, and even Toploader, are all sing-along bands in the vein of Oasis, Manics, and Verve, without the intensity and aggression. What do you think about that situation? 「I still can't find a band that plays the kind of music we do. Like you said, I think most of the bands are sing-along type, and that's been the trend for most UK bands for a long time. But of course I know people in those bands, and they're all very nice guys and we get on well, and I'm honestly happy that they've had such success. It's not the kind of music I really love, but that's fine. I prefer music that makes the listener more passionate, more energetic.」

Are you aware that you are quite marginalised in the current scene? 「I don't think it's the same as being "marginalised". I know them and we get on well with them. But when it comes to music, yes, I think we are marginalised. Because there is no one else.」

I think the intensity and heaviness of MUSE's sound can be attributed to your experience of American alternative rock as a listener, but having seen you live twice, my opinion is that there is actually a strong heavy metal influence. What do you think? 「……Heavy metal? I think it's one of the two extremes…… Wait a minute…… Hmm…… I don't really know, Chris and Dom listen to a lot of that kind of music, so maybe that's an influence. But I've never really listened to heavy metal. I like playing heavy music, sure (laughs). I like the dynamic transition between playing really heavy and playing really mellow. One minute you're standing still on stage, the next you're flying around. In short, I just like doing different things. I guess that's why some of the songs sound like they're influenced by heavy metal. But I don't think there's any band that I actually listen to on a daily basis that I would call that.」

I understand. But your main guitar is based on the Music Man's Eddie Van Halen model, isn't it? 「Yeah, yeah.」

I think it is very rare to find a British guitarist who uses a Floyd Rose nowadays (Note: Floyd Rose is a tremolo arm that was very popular during the metal boom in the mid-80s). 「Hahahaha. That guitar. I actually smashed that guitar at a festival in Leeds and threw it into the audience*. So, well, I don't have that guitar anymore. And in terms of stage performance, when I used to go to see bands as a kid, I always wanted to see a show where the band was just jumping around like crazy and giving everything they had on the stage. That's why I'm so fed up with British bands these days. They just stand there and look bored, like they're not enjoying themselves. But in my case, when I go out on stage, I really enjoy it, and I think that joy shows in my desire to let everyone know that we're having fun too. I think having fun is a wonderful thing, just as much as pursuing intensity and seriousness. In the case of MUSE, the music itself is often very serious and intense, so I think it's interesting to contrast that with a positive, energetic stage show. I think it makes a good contrast to the music.」

Translator's Note: This is my first time scanning the pages from BUZZ magazine, a now defunct magazine issue that was a subsidiary under ROCKIN'ON. The shape and quality of the magazine are more akin to a photobook with interviews included, really. But overtime, it really did became more of a photobook before it was sadly discontinued.

* Finding the guitar that matches Matt's description was a bit hard, but my guess was that it was a Peavey EVH Wolfgang. Matt owned two of such guitars back then, with the differences being that one was partially covered in grey tape and the other was completely covered in black tape. It was the one with the grey tape that Matt smashed it and threw into a crowd. A photographer picked it up, sold it on eBay, someone repaired it, and it was auctioned several times up until it was last seen on auction in 2018 before its listing was removed.

Now, finding when and which festival in Leeds that Matt smashed and threw the guitar to the audience is harder. There were 2 festivals in Leeds that Muse performed in August 2000 that were just 3 days apart and there are no descriptions available to pinpoint the event down. So it either happened on August 26th during Carling Weekend or on August 28th during the Leeds Festival.

Do support me on my Ko-fi! ☕

[defjux]

Hi Chris! I followed you a few years back because you posted a lot of Jazz and Hip Hop but I know you're into other genres as well. I've been trying to branch out a bit and you seem like a good person to ask for recommendations, so I was wondering if maybe you could post some of your favorite band/artists currently or anything you'd recommend? Any genre is fine! Love your blog btw, glad to see you're still on here :) Cheers!

thanks for the kind words anon, always nice to feel like the time i've spent on here wasn't a complete waste. sorry it took a few days to respond to this, but i wanted to give a more in depth answer. i can throw out some recommendations for sure, i basically just went through my last.fm from the last year and added all the non hip hop / jazz stuff to a list. you didn't mention if you were into metal or hardcore at all and there's quite a bit of that on here, but if you're not interested in that let me know and i can suggest some other stuff. i'm not a genre expert or anything but i did my best to give a brief description, so maybe if you end up liking one of these artists it'd be easier to find something similar. also a good chance you might be familiar with some of the ones that are more hip hop adjacent. you can also click the name of the artist and it'll take you to an album i recommend on bandcamp or spotify. i'd also be down to do another one of these later if you want, you can even hit me up off anon if you want. i appreciate you and i hope you're doing well! peace.

tried to make this as neat as i could so i put it in alphabetical order and made it a read more. 1. 10th Letter (Electronic/Jazz/Hip hop - Underappreciated producer, if you’re a fan of Flying Lotus you’d probably like this) 2. Alvvays (Indie Pop / Dream Pop) 3. At the Drive-In (Post-Hardcore, Relationship of Command is my favorite album in the genre) 4. Autonoesis (Thrash Metal / Black Metal) 5. Birds in Row (Post-Hardcore / Screamo) 6. Blood Command (Poppy Post-Hardcore/Alt Rock. Not a huge fan of their new vocalist, but the previous album and EP with Karina are both fantastic) 7. Boris (Drone, Stoner Rock, Noise Rock, Sludge, Post-Rock, Crust Punk – depends heavily on the album. ) 8. Bruno Pernadas (Progressive Jazz Fusion Art Pop) 9. Brutus (Post-Hardcore / Post-Metal, Stefanie is one of my favorite vocalists right now) 10. The Callous Daoboys (Mathcore) 11. Chelsea Wolfe (Darkwave / Gothic Rock / Doom Metal / Dark Folk) 12. Cibo Matto - (Art Pop / Trip Hop) 13. Cleric (Avant-Garde Metal / Mathcore / Brutal Prog) 14. Cloud Rat (Grindcore / Punk) 15. Converge (Metallic Hardcore, another all time favorite band.) 16. Cult of Luna (Atmospheric Sludge Metal / Post-Metal) 17. The Dillinger Escape Plan (Mathcore, top 5 band of all time for me) 18. Dragged Into Sunlight (Blackened Death / Doom Metal) 19. Dreamwell (Screamo/Post-Hardcore) 20. Every Time I Die (Southern-fried Metalcore / Mathcore, an all time favorite of mine) 21. Fievel is Glauque (Jazz Pop / Progressive Pop) 22. Genesis Owusu (Hip Hop/Neo-Soul/Funk/Post-Punk - all over the place in a good way) 23. Gospel (Blend of 70s Prog Rock with Screamo/Post-hardcore, with their 2022 album being a lot more of the former but still very good.) 24. Greyhaven (Metalcore / Post Hardcore - one of the few bands i know of carrying the torch for that Southern-tinged Metalcore sound since Every Time I Die split) 25. Grouper (Ambient/drone, folk and dream pop influences)

26. Hiatus Kaiyote (Psychedelic Neo-soul / Nu-Jazz) 27.  Ichiko Aoba (Minimalistic Ambient Folk) 28. Imperial Triumphant (Avant-Garde Black Metal fused with Jazz) 29. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Foundation of their sound is pretty much Psychedelic Rock but they pull from all over the musical spectrum. Last album even had a couple tracks with rapping, hard band to classify. It’d be easier to list the rock subgenres they haven’t dabbled in) 30. Knoll (Grindcore / Death Grind) 31. Krallice (Avant-Garde Black Metal) 32. Liv.e (Neo-Soul / Alternative R&B) 33. Massa Nera (Post-Hardcore / Screamo / Post-Rock) 34. Maudlin of the Well (Avant-Garde Progressive Metal - Also check Kayo Dot) 35. Messa (Doom Metal) 36. Misþyrming (Black Metal) 37. Ne Obliviscaris (Progressive Black Metal with violin except it’s actually tasteful and doesn’t feel gimmicky) 38. Neptunian Maximalism (Avant-Garde Jazz/Drone/Noise/Industrial.. like Swans meets Sun Ra meets John Zorn’s Electric Masada. These guys also have some of the best album artwork out there.) 39. The Ocean (Progressive Metal / Sludge - mainly on the earlier albums) 40. Oranssi Pazuzu (Avante Garde Psychedelic Black Metal) 41. Os Mutantes (Brazilian Psych Rock) 42. Otoboke Beaver (Noisy, High energy Hardcore / Garage Punk from Japan, very fun band) 43. Panopticon (Atmospheric Black Metal with some Bluegrass and Folk influences) 44. Protomartyr (I think I like these guys the most out of all the newer Post-Punk bands) 45. Rolo Tomassi (Mathcore, Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore) 46. Senza (Blackened Screamo/Mathcore. Chaotic in a way that reminds me of Jerome’s Dream a bit.) 47. Sigh (Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal) 48. Soul Glo (Noisy Hardcore Punk, 2022 album incorporated some more hip hop elements and even had rap features. Shout out to McKinley Dixon who used to be on tumblr waaay back about a decade ago.) 49.  Spiritbox (Alt Metal / Djent / Metalcore) 50. Stereolab  (Space Age Pop mixed with Lounge Music and Krautrock) 51. Sudan Archives (Alternative R&B, Art Pop / Neo-Soul) 52. Tim Hecker (Ambient / Drone) 53. toe (Japanese Math Rock / Post-Rock - Kashikura Takashi is one of the greatest drummers ever.) 54. Tómarúm (Progressive Technical Melodic Black Metal) 55. Tricot (J-Rock / Math Rock / Pop) 56. Tropical Fuck Storm (Punk-Blues, Noise Rock) 57. U.S. Girls (Psychedelic Pop / Art Pop) 58. Ulcerate (Technical Death Metal) 59. Ultha (Atmospheric Black Metal) 60. Vanishing Twin ( Neo-Psychedelic Art Pop, check if you like Stereolab or Broadcast) 61. Wake (Black Metal / Tech Death / Sludge - Grindcore on the early releases) 62. Weyes Blood (Baroque Pop / Art Pop) 63. White Ward (Black Metal / Blackgaze /Dark Jazz) 64. Wormrot (Grindcore) 65. Yves Tumor (Unique sound blending Neo-Psych / Soul / Glam Rock /  Hypnagogic Pop + some Sound Collage / Ambient stuff as well on earlier albums)

[prettyhockey]

get to know you tag gaaaame

tagged by @sportsthoughts (thank you!!!)

do you make your bed? I try to daily, but since I wake up early for work, I usually just pull the covers and flatten it out. Weekends though - I like to change the sheets and make the bed nice and neat!

what's your job? it's [redacted] I am essentially a corporate pencil pusher in a field I don't particularly enjoy, and am actively working on getting out

if you could go back to school, would you? Definitely! I dropped out because of Reasons (mostly financial) so I'd love to go and finish it = I wanted to be an archivist and was looking into a history/library science degree

can you parallel park? very well! living with a small parking lot, street parking, and friends in k-town made me have to get good at parallel parking and getting into a space real fast.

do you think aliens are real? ehhh not like little green men, but we can't be the only ones. Parallel dimensions? Maybe (for fun though, not actually)

can you drive a manual car? Nope! I'd like to though - manuals are hard to find here though.

guilty pleasure? I don't think it's a guilty pleasure but I've been getting more into motorsports! I think it's neat!

tattoos? None - I get anxious about what I'd choose, but there are a couple of designs I've wanted to get for a couple of years.

favorite color? All greens! Sky blue, orange

favorite type of music? I've gotten into country recently (thanks to Orville Peck and Tyler Childers) but my go to will always be pop punk/emo and like rock.

do you like puzzles? Yeah puzzles, board games all of them!

any phobias? trypophobia - no clue why, I hate it!

favorite childhood sport? i didn't really do any sport as a kid other than a couple soccer seasons and friendly basket ball games. I was an Orchestra nerd from like 9 - 16? (Cello!!)

do you talk to yourself? constantly and always - I have full on conversations with myself all the time - half the time it's just for me to talk through things.

tea or coffee? coffee almost always - tea if i want to be cozy. I've gotten into making my own coldbrews and can make decent espressos cus of the machine at work.

first thing you wanted to be be when growing up? I remember being a kid and wanting to be a farmer. Growing up and going to Mexico made me love just going out to the land and I thought farmers just tended crops and hung out outside (it made sense in my head back then!!). Once i realized that I wasn't truly about that life, I wanted to be a librarian!

what movies do you adore? i loveee movies and i watch so many movies regularly: Singin in the Rain, Pride & Prejudice, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Tombstone, Jurassic Park, Mad Max Fury Road, Dune, Star Wars - the list goes on!! (Also yes -Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Hairspray are sooo good!!)

Thank you this was so fun! No pressure tags! @podcasts-8-my-heart, @riahchan, @vettel, @sidsthekid - and if you're reading this! I wanna get to know you all!

[day6source]

EXCLUSIVE: Young K sends ‘Letters with notes’ to fans in joyous return; talks about evolving as a musician, upcoming DAY6 anniversary

By Monica Yadav

“This time can’t be stopped / When the season changes / where no regrets are left / this time is aflame / followed by blooming spring / remember this time / never let it fade away / for all my life / let it be summer,” – croons singer-songwriter Young K in his pre-release track ‘Let It Be Summer’ from his full-length album Letters With Notes. As the 29-year-old multi-hyphenated musician is back from his two-year hiatus (as he was serving in the military), he compares his life to the changing seasons while expressing the desire to maintain youthful enthusiasm. The melodic pop-punk track definitely enhances the vocals of the gifted singer, who was missed from the music scene for the past two years. Over the past 8 years, Young K, birth name Kang Young Hyun, has about 160 songs copyrighted under his name. He has been the bassist, lead vocalist, and rapper in DAY6 and continues to excel as a versatile singer. He is easily one of the most valuable musicians of our time who often dabbles in different genres including rock, pop-rock, and alternative rock. Returning to the music scene after two years with Letters with notes, the 11-track album, which he was heavily involved in from scratch, sees him play with a lot of nostalgia. While ‘dreamer’ has influences of ‘60s rock-n-roll, ‘babo’ has elements of ‘60s rock with the groove of R&B; ‘waited’ has that ‘90s melodic modern rock rhythm, ‘playground’ infuses the elements of ‘60s Motown funk and rhythm and blues. He ended the song ‘Guard You’ from his 2021 album Eternal with ‘I’ll Hold You Until The End’ and begins with the same lyric in ‘nothing but’, the title track of his new album where he is unable to let go of the love. It is poetic how he uses a metaphor for the world ending in the first track whereas in his latest track, uses the same line as his world is collapsing. There is a reason Young K is called a gifted musician. He plays around with sounds and easily makes you go through varied emotions. This album takes you on a journey of different phases of love, which comes in any form, and the beauty and intricacies of it. Discharged from his military service in April 2023, Young K became the first Korean idol to join the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA). It is the branch of military service that requires applicants with fluency in English to a high degree and only recruits about 2,000 men every year. Between April and August, he had four months to prepare and complete the album. Addressing his fans over the three-day concert held at Kwangwoon University’s Donghae Culture and Arts Center in Nowon-gu, Seoul between September 1-3, Young K said, as per Korea Herald, “The opening to today’s set list is also the first track in my new album. While working on this song, I imagined the moment I finally stepped on stage to meet you. The first words that came to my mind were, ‘I’m nervous,’ and that’s how I started the lyrics. Then I wanted to ask if you’ve been well and eaten well. I’m so happy to be performing in front of you.” Before enlisting, Young K exclusively told Bollywood Hungama in 2021, “I learned to love more. The love My Days have shown made me think about it a lot and since I write and sing about it, I guess it was one of the biggest issues and concepts I tried to know more about. I can't say I know what love exactly is, but I did learn how to give more.” Now, as he returned, we spoke to him again and this time. He had a lot more to share about his craft and his creative process of making Letters with notes.

First and foremost Young K, welcome back. The music scene has missed you and your soothing vocals. How much have you missed releasing music for your audience?

Young K: First of all, thank you for the kind words. It's been a while, so I've waited for this moment quite a lot. As an artist, I thought it'd be important to come back with an album as soon as possible, so here it is.

Congratulations on the Letters with notes. One of the teasers said ‘6 sides of Young K’ and mentioned Hexagon. Symbolically, the hexagon also stands for harmony and balance. After your return from the military, what significance does this album hold for you and why was this an apt album title?

Young K: 'Letters With Notes' can mean the lyrics, which are literally letters that has notes. The sum of those letters turns into a song, which is an individual letter sent to the world. 11 letters all combined, the album itself became 'Letters With Notes'.

A full-length album is truly a heavy work. When did you begin to put together 11 tracks? Which was the first track and last track you worked on?

Young K: All of the recordings began after I was discharged, but I had been having ideas beforehand. So it's really hard to say when the exact album preparation began. All of the ideas were mixed up, so I don't really remember which one came first.

The pre-release pop-punk track ‘let it be summer’ truly narrates the youthful enthusiasm of life. Also, the song is so Young K, it’s great to see you back. Where do you draw the inspiration for a song like this one?

Young K: The track itself had a very powerful energy, so I wanted to narrate something that would match the vibe. I thought youth holds an explosion of feelings and emotions, so I tried comparing life to change of seasons, having summer as the most burning era.

There are 11 tracks on the album but you chose ‘nothing but’ as the main track. The blending of the '60s British sound with 80s American hard rock ballads is a truly unique way to approach the song. The song is about someone ‘unable to let go of love’. Tell me your approach regarding this track and how you decided on making it the title song.

Young K: Producer Jisang Hong and I were talking about how I tend to have a hard time letting go of things. And I guess this concept turned into a song. An example would be – sometimes me having a hard time leaving food behind even when there's no need to finish everything. After submitting all the demos, we went through a monitoring system to choose a title song. And ‘nothing but' was selected.

There are so many favourites on the album but one particular track that caught attention was ‘natural’ which signifies that you don’t have to be insecure in love. Am I right? What can you tell me about it?

Young K: The word 'natural' caught my attention for some reason, and I started thinking about what could be natural. Breathing, having a meal, the flow of time and such came to my mind. It added on to how it's natural to love, so there's no need to worry.

This album feels so personal in terms of how you go about the storytelling. When you work on an album on this scale where you have so many songs to create, what is the progression like? Is it exciting or does it get stressful?

Young K: It's always exciting and stressful at the same time. To make sure it's made at a good quality, even when it seems like it's over I feel like there has to be a point where you go through it. So I always check whether it's good to be presented or not. I'm not a perfectionist, but it's the least I can do.

Thematically, the album seems to be about different stages. What is it about “love” that excites and do you think you were able to showcase it through this full-length album?

Young K: "Love" can be in countless different forms. Love for your family, love for My Days(fans), love towards music, etc. Without love in our lives, I feel like it'd be very difficult to go on.

Are you someone deeply romantic? Is this why the majority of themes of your music reflect that emotion?

Young K: I consider myself a storyteller as I'm writing, and I guess I wish to talk about various stories from many different views. In music, I don't think I want to define that storyteller as someone in a certain way. So yes, sometimes romantic, sometimes maybe not.

Are you someone who is hyper-focused during the process of album making or someone who enjoys a good balance between work and life?

Young K: I would prefer a good balance of work and life. I don't feel like I need to be intensely focused on album-making only for a period of time, but when I am at the session, I am focused.

What do you enjoy more – songwriting or producing? Are there any times when you feel words aren’t flowing how you wanted? In those times, where do you seek inspiration from?

Young K: Whenever I get a writer's block, I take a break. Short or long. I try to refresh my mind and look around. If nothing found, I try to let my mind take me anywhere to come up with something that's adequate for the music. That's also why in my everyday life I let myself be open to all the ideas that come to me. For now, I consider myself a singer and a performer most importantly. And the rest, I'm good with anything.

The fans are so happy to see you back doing radio. That gives so much joy to everyone but also showcases your relaxed side. Are you elated to be back? Do you enjoy being on the radio?

Young K: Radio lets me look into bits of many lives. I get to communicate with lots of new people and think from different perspectives. For example, a kid says she really doesn't want to go to school. The next person says she also doesn't want to go to school, but this time, it’s coming from a teacher. Another merit would be me being able to send my voice to My Days and my parents every day. How can I not be elated?

DAY6 will complete 8 years on September 7, a day prior to my birthday, which I am always pumped about. Interestingly, the album drops in the same month. Is this month special to you? Have you ever sat back and wondered about your musical journey over the years?

Young K: Happy Birthday! From time to time I tend to look back on what I've done. I realize what I've done good, and what I’ve lacked. I learn from the mistakes and grow. The more I get to know, the more I see. Never perfected it, but it was the best that I could do.

I have often wondered if you ever had a chance to watch any content from India or heard any of the artists. If yes, what or who are they?

Young K: I'm still not quite familiar with artists from India, but I'm willing to know more! Please give me recommendations!

The last time you left a message for Indian fans of DAY6, they were extremely delighted and also praying for your safe return. Is there a message you want to leave for fans on this comeback?

Young K: I gotta say thank you for all the support. The only thing I wish for you guys is to stay healthy and happy. Hope I get a chance to visit you guys too!

[robbiefischer]

💭 📚 🩹 🎶 for Viola and Jamila?

Ooooh, these are such great questions anon, thank you!! And tysm for asking about my girls! Since I've never talked about them here, here are the absolute basics. Jamila (35 years old) and Viola (37 years old) are another set of my doctor wives - Jamila's a plastic surgeon and Viola's a trauma surgeon, and they both work at the same hospital in New Islington. I apologize in advance for any missing words/spelling issues - my dog's kept me up most of the night the last couple of nights because of storms (plus my partner, who she adores, has been on a business trip) and my brain feels mushy af not getting much sleep.

💭 THOUGHT BALLOON — what is your oc's MBTI, enneagram, and/or other personality aspects (if known/interested in)?

So, I don't usually do MBTI or enneagram stuff for my OCs but I decided to take a test for each of them answering as I think they would based off of what I know about them and it was a really interesting experiment, ty!

Viola is an ENTJ-A (assertive subtype, apparently) which... makes perfect sense, really. She is 100% a natural born leader, is extremely charismatic, loves nothing more than a challenge and is very goal and achievement-oriented. She has a very big personality and sort of commands attention and respect, if that makes sense. She's not obnoxious about it at all, it's just who she is and how people respond to her energy. She's also an enneagram type 8, wing 7 which seems to correspond well to her MBTI type.

Jamila is an ENFJ-A, although quite a bit less extroverted than her wife. She's closer to the border between I and E and definitely has moments where she needs time to herself to recharge her energy. She very much has the "wants to do the right thing always" trait, and loves nothing more than an opportunity to help her friends and family grow into the people that they're supposed to be. Jamila is an enneagram type 3, wing 2.

📚 BOOKS — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?

Jamila and Viola both finished medical school, then went on to do fellowships in their respective specialities - Viola in trauma surgery, Jamila in plastic surgery.

🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?

Sorry, I know this is probably boring but I don't think either of them have any physical or mental disabilities.

🎶 MUSICAL NOTES — what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often?

Viola absolutely loves music and listens to it whenever it's practical (the only time it's not blasting in her OR is when she's got another surgeon in there with her who can't concentrate with music on). She tends to be drawn to rock, especially harder rock and alt rock, punk and post-punk, heavy metal, some industrial and EDM (especially dubstep). When she was younger (as a teenager and young adult) she was a constant presence in the local scene, and spent so much of her time going to shows and being in the pit. Now, she still loves going to shows but is a lot more careful and less willing to take dumb risks especially if she could hurt herself or her hands - her job's too important to her.

Jamila's not actually a huge music person. She doesn't dislike it or anything, and has artists she really enjoys but she just doesn't tend to think of putting it on most of the time. She's another of my OCs who tends to really prefer music without lyrics - she loves minimalist, modern piano music and film scores more than anything else. If she's going to listen to music she'll probably put on a little Joep Beving, Arvo Part, Megan Wofford, Gavin Luke, Franz Gordon, Reeder, Arden Forest, Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter or someone like that. It's soothing and helps her center herself, and she has a playlist that she always listens to before bed to help her brain wind down (it's one of the few times she DOES think to listen to music).

[thesinglesjukebox]

SCREAMING FEMALES - "BRASS BELL"

With John, we say goodbye to Screaming Females...

[7.19]

John S. Quinn-Puerta: This has been my song of the year since it came out. Maybe it's just the familiarity -- when a single is released in January, it has 12 months to make its way into my heart. Maybe it's that I saw Screaming Females for the first -- and last -- time in March at the EARL (East Atlanta Restaurant and Lounge), surrounded by friends I didn't have a year before. Maybe it's the rawness of Paternoster's guitar and vocals, her insistence on a rhythmic minor key riff that I just don't hear much without the layer of pretense that can surround it. There's no valorization of the '70s here, no bemoaning of what music used to be, but a reaffirmation of what the guitar always could be, of the idea that anyone, no matter how small and quiet they might seem, can close their eyes and yell and become a star, even if just in tiny rooms drenched in domestic beer and cigarette smoke. I did not know, when I submitted this song, my rediscovery of a band that I had first found doing college radio in 2012, that Screaming Females would announce their breakup a week later. I did not know that even as I wondered how I could possibly write a blurb for this, the most important song of my 2023 by any metric, would also be the swan song of an 18-year... it almost feels wrong to call the band a titan. That's never what Screaming Females was in ethos. They simply made the music they wanted to, beholden to no one but themselves. I have no means to eulogize them, but I still had to try. [10]

Nortey Dowuona: "I hope they keep going forever." -- Steve Albini [8]

Tara Hillegeist: Screaming Females may be the only grunge-indebted band to exist whose songs have only gotten better the clearer and prettier their production has become, and I've been on team "Marissa Paternoster is one of America's greatest living rock & roll singer-songwriters" since Castle Talk, without a single reason to betray my ideological loyalty in that regard in all the years up till now, either. And since "Brass Bell"'s got riffs that would make even Ratt bang their heads in appreciation, and lyrics like if Cocteau Twins wrote a Neil Young song -- in other words, it's a Screaming Females song... yeah, of course I think this is amazing. It'd take a harder sell and a colder heart than me to think anything else. [8]

Micha Cavaseno: Truly, I don't think of songs beginning with that kind of analog distortion as leading to the sort of gallop and retreating riff cycle pattern I associate with stoner rock and beard metal. I don't think in any of the times people would've mentioned this band I would've expected that I needed to make comparisons to Torche or Mastodon. And go figure: this first note is the note they're going out on. Hell of a way to go out, and just my luck really. [7]

Taylor Alatorre: Two weeks after Screaming Females released Desire Pathway, the J Mascis side project Heavy Blanket came out with Moon Is, an album of instrumental stoner-psych jams aimed squarely at those for whom "rip" is the default verb for guitar solos. There's no doubt that a similar path is open for Marissa Paternoster if she wants it; as if to confirm this, she played a show with the Dinosaur Jr. frontman just a few days after her band's break-up. "Brass Bell" is a solid showcase of the trio as a tight-knit riffing machine and not just a one-woman fireworks show, though there are a few too many concessions made for the radio airplay that never came. The flange effects feel like tacked-on regressions, and the wings of a high-flying, late-coming Paternoster solo are clipped after four terse measures. The sad reality is that the airwaves only seem to have room for one basement-band-doing-stadium-rock at a time, and if your name isn't White Reaper, you may just be out of luck. [6]

Ian Mathers: I mean, kudos to whoever made the wiki entry for this album list "punk blues" as the genre (follow your bliss!) but in every sense except the subcultural this is absolutely classic rock. The production, Marissa Paternoster's vocals and especially and gleefully so her soloing. It's great, in a way that makes me want to take up the air guitar and reach for words like "stentorian." [7]

Katherine St Asaph: I think I like this because of, not despite, the early-'00s radio rock feel. At times it almost feels like it's going to turn into Trapt (not an insult I swear). [7]

Brad Shoup: "Brass Bell" has something I always admired about Screaming Females, which is their uncanny ability to make nu-rock. They never really coded as "punk" for me: maybe stoner metal, but with a lighter guitar tone and an ability to write a hook. Because I grew up in butt rock's salad days, I guess I tend to hear it everywhere. But these riffs (the start-stop one and Phrygian-sounding one) and the way Marissa Paternoster punches into the chorus are modern-rock radio gold. Hell, the chorus even has the kind of fake-deep imagery that should get over. (Would a different alloy make living in a bell a tolerable situation?) Godspeed, Screaming Females. I'm sure all your subsequent bands will rock. [7]

Dorian Sinclair: Having spent the past three weeks on a placement where I learned, in great detail, about the history and function of carillons (bell towers, specifically those with two octaves of bells or more), I am definitively able to confirm: living in a brass bell would be really fucking loud! Central metaphor holds up! [7]

Rachel Saywitz: Sounds like a disaster on the horizon and a heroine's call to arms. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Everything starts to crumble once the actual verse arrives -- you can't feel the jaggedness of the start-stop guitar riff, and the band sounds all too eager to go straight into the chorus both the first and second time around. Unfortunately, the central metaphor there is too awkward, and is shouted with a conviction that leaves no room for it to be a proper hook. They almost convince me with the detours taken in the final third, but the radio-rock sheen is all too much: it sounds like I'm at a bar and the local band is trying way too hard to convince everyone of their energy. [3]

Alfred Soto: Marissa Paternoster's vocals are the right kind of arch and posh: when she complains, "It's too loud!" she sounds like a country club member sneering at Rodney Dangerfield. The rest of the riffage is not too loud, with interesting changes. [7]

David Moore: Every time I get really into a band a few years late they break up within the year. I take full responsibility and vow to stop listening to music. [8]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Long live Screaming Females, they rocked harder and longer than a lot (A LOT!) of posers, and they have songs that showcase their gnarled hookiness better than this (download "Ornament" for clear skin etc. etc.). [8]

Aaron Bergstrom: Thirty-five seconds of "When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?" synth build, but we're talking about one of the most dependable indie bands of the past decade-plus, so you better believe they get there. Whether it's Marissa Paternoster screaming on guitar, or Marissa Paternoster just screaming, they've always lived up to their name. She deserves the plural all to herself. RIP to an institution. [7]

Frank Falisi: Screaming Females was an underrated experiment in texture. They could shift tactility live on the ridge of a dime. The big metal monster would suck in its woofer and start to strut different, guitar puffing over tom hits, which were doing the riffs. The bass was too big to hear and the bass was mercury. Something about playing live means performing life, which means playing the changes. Texture in music is a signal. It prepares your body to sound different. "Brass Bell" begins with washing electronics, a loop. It leers and jeers, like a Mica Levi film score on your fretting fingers. The mouth of sound is broad. "Brass Bell", Desire Pathway -- these are the descendants of All At Once (2018), of Marissa's Peace Meter (2021). Once you master bass and guitar and drum and the human voice, you can unmaster it, unwind it, break a string. "Brass Bell" breaks open after the noise into perfect form, crunched production, crisp like adenoidal panic. There's a perfect breakdown in the middle of the song, a perfect bring-it-all-down with a minute left before drumming back up, before one last chorus. "It's too loud!!" How many times have I said this at the Screaming Females gig? How many times has the sound entered my ears, all my complicated receptors and sets of crevasses ringing, only to feel my own texture quake at the sound? We talk sometimes of the collective frisson of the gig, of being a body among bodies. Divine. I think something like that happens on a studio sound too. Me and all my changes, a flange forever. [8]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[tomorrowonu]

Bias tag game!!

You're going to pick 10 of your biases (or as many biases as you have and then fill in the rest of the spots with idols you like) and number them 1-10. Then answer the questions below! Try not to look at the questions before you make your list!

thank you Jo (@onlyoneofyouu) for the tag !!!! i'm going to tag these incredible people : @wnjunhui , @yongbonk , @blushgyu , and ofc @lovejoshua !! ofc if you don't feel like doing it, no pressure!! games like these are supposed to be fun, so don't force yourself<3 (but i'm excited to see your answers if i'm honest hejejzk)

As for my answers:

BIASES:

1. Mark (NCT)

2. Beomgyu (TXT)

3. Wonwoo (SEVENTEEN)

4. Seonghwa (ATEEZ)

5. Yunjin (LE SSERAFIM)

6. Jiung (P1HARMONY)

7. B.I / Kim Hanbin

8. Winter (AESPA)

9. Baekhyun (EXO)

10. Kevin (THE BOYZ)

QUESTIONS:

1. Between 7 and 5, who did you bias first?

Ohhh though one because there was never a point where I "decided" to bias Hanbin, but I've started to get interest in him after BTBT was released, so a year ago? As for Yunjin, it's only been 3 months but she's been such an inspiration that it feels like i've been admiring her for so much longer</3

2. Between 2 and 6, who are you more attached to?

Beomgyu is the epitome of comfort for me😭😭 when i feel down i listen to his covers, watch compilations of him, and he's just been a very big reassuring presence in my life if that makes sense!! as for jiung, i also hold him so dearly to my heart considering i've been listening to P1Harmony since their debut, and thinking about his growth as an artist just makes me kinda emotional lol but beomgyu's got such a big place inside my heart</3

3. If you were to spend the day with either 3 or 1, who would you choose and what would you do?

dON'T DO THIS TO MEEEEEEE wonwoo and mark are both my boyfriends 🧍🏻

but for so many reasons (langage barrier and how much of an inspiration he's been for me for the past four years (oof)) I'm going to choose mark<3 he just seems SO chill, i hope we could watch anime (I'd make him watch jjk ofc), browse a bookstore and choose a book for the other person, have some conversations about the meaning of the world, write stories, make music, etc etc just spend a chill yet creative day with him i guess

4. What is your favorite physical feature about 9?

BAEKHYUN'S CHEEKS this man is so squishy !!!!!!!! his little round cheeks when he smiles please i'm devasted</3

5. What is your favorite part of 6's personality?

oh jiung my boy<3 i'll always remember the first p1harmony video I watched, where he helped Soul answering questions because he wasn't fluent in Korean</3 he seems like such a nice and genuine person who is always willing to help people around him, and i think his humour and his chill vibe can make anyone comfortable! he seems like a nice person and a good friend<3

6. If you were to tell 8 anything you wanted, what you would you tell them?

winter my incredible talented girl<3 I'd praise her insane vocals but also her ability to play the guitar like a GODDESS, telling her how underrated she is, that i hope she knows how talented she is, that she deserves the whole world and more!!! also winter solo when ?

7. Between 1 and 2, whose closet would you raid?

technically mark is the exact same height as me so it'd be convenient but ... the way he dresses sometimes .......... yeah no i'll choose beomgyu lmao and i'll just have extra comfy and oversize clothes I guess!!! i'm a big fan of flannels as well so it's perfect

8. What is a style that you want to see 3 try?

maybe it's the mcr stan in me talking but .... wonwoo would sound so good in a punk/rock concept !!! he's got that deep raspy voice that would just sound SO GOOD with electric guitar, it would be incredible. i'd lose my mind

9. Between 5 and 4, who are you closer to in height?

yunjin is 1m71 and i'm 1m73 !!! oh god i thought she was way smaller, this is making me rethink everything 🧍🏻

10. Between 10 and 9, whose music do you like the best?

i LOVE the boyz so much and i think they're incredibly underrated considering what they're able to do in terms of vocals, rapping, performance, and on top of it all they're also super funny!!! but . (😭) i listen to baekhyun's music all the time and he's just one of these artists that never, ever, disappoint me with their new music!! and as a whole, exo are just SO INCREDIBLE they even wrote one of my favourite song ever made so... baekhyun gotta be the winner here!!

[taminoarticles]

— Tamino for Gazet van Antwerpen, February 2017 (x)

Child prodigy Tamino, after recognition in 'De Nieuwe Lichting': “I don't want to be the new Jeff Buckley”

Finding shelter with the management of dEUS and Balthazar, and being allowed to debut on the record label of Het Zesde Metaal and Trixie Whitley: things are going fast for Tamino. A week after the 20-year-old from Antwerp was chosen as one of the laureates of Studio Brussel's De Nieuwe Lichting, he captivated Flanders with the captivating song Habibi. “But I don't want to be the Flemish Jeff Buckley,” emphasizes the confident young man.

gunter jacobs Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 8:53 PM

Tamino impresses. In November he already made jaws drop when he was a guest in Trix in the Radio 1 session of Het Zesde Metaal. Listeners from Studio Brussels voted him last week in the final of De Nieuwe Lichting as one of the laureates from more than 800 promising young artists. Since then, more and more people are discovering this special twenty-year-old singer-guitarist.

The comments on YouTube under the clip of his first single Habibi do not lie. "It's been a long time since I've been so overwhelmed by a voice and a melody," someone writes. “Absolutely beautiful. Beautiful chord progressions and what a vocal range,” another new fan exults.

Tamino does not come completely out of nowhere. “I've been playing music in all kinds of groups since I was fourteen, from punk and desert rock to more danceable music. Solo I now bring the music that I have to make on my own.” His name has been buzzing in Antwerp for a long time. Last year he also did support programs for Trixie Whitley and Bazart.

Nice reactions

“Especially after the Radio 1 session in Trix, I noticed that suddenly a lot of people had discovered me. When I performed in café Trefpunt in Ghent afterwards, not everyone could even enter. With De Nieuwe Lichting I have gained a whole new audience. While I didn't even expect to make it to the final. I even doubted for a long time whether I should register; I don't like competition in music. That is why I will no longer participate in competitions, although I received many nice reactions after De Nieuwe Lichting. A friend who has seen that it is now starting to work out for me, let me know that she is inspired to do her own thing as well. I think that's super cool.”

Named by his opera-loving parents after the prince from Mozart's The Magic Flute, Tamino's full name is Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad, has partly Egyptian roots and lives in Mortsel with his Belgian mother. “I do want to live alone, but for now I find living at home especially useful,” he confesses. “I lived in Amsterdam for 2.5 years to study at the conservatory there. Two weeks ago I decided to take a break. Because my education really can't be combined with my career for a while.”

From Mortsel to Amsterdam

“At the conservatory I follow the pop training. The focus is on their own music. When I was seventeen I went there on my own. Believe me, going from Mortsel to Amsterdam was a huge step. There I learned to stand my ground and become more assertive. The fact that students come from all over, from Denmark and Germany to Latvia and Israel, has broadened my horizon.”

“I can also easily do my thing in Antwerp. I don't belong to a particular scene, but thanks to Tom Pintens, with whom I recorded my first record, I do get to know many well-known musicians. When we were recording at his house, Gregory Frateur and Het Zesde Metaal would sometimes drop by.”

For that first record, a five-song EP that will be released in May, Tamino has a deal with Unday Records, the record label of Het Zesde Metaal, Trixie Whitley and Dans Dans, among others. In anticipation of that debut, the compelling Habibi has been launched as a digital business card. “That number is already old. I wrote it two years ago, when I was eighteen, in Amsterdam,” the young man clarifies. To add with a timid laugh: “Like many songs, it is about love. I don't want to say more about it. Let people make their own interpretation of it.”

Tamino's partly oriental roots shine through in Habibi. His grandfather, Moharam Fouad, turns out to be a well-known singer-actor in the Arab world. “Unfortunately he passed away when I was five. Well, I didn't know him. Yet my grandfather plays a role in what I do. At home, my mother always puts on Arabic music, including my grandfather's. I have many recordings of him that inspire me.”

Tamino tells how he rescued a decaying guitar from his grandfather's house while cleaning up. He is currently having it refurbished to give it a second life. Although he was born in Belgium, his heart also leans towards the Middle East. “I lived in Egypt for a while, but unfortunately I don't know Arabic. I would like to learn that someday. The intensity in my singing and the romantic character of my music come much more from that world. Jeff Buckley also listened a lot to Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, hey.”

Melancholy

The fact that many label Tamino as the Flemish Jeff Buckley only bothers him a little. “On the one hand I feel flattered, on the other hand every boy with a guitar who sings high and emotionally is quickly called that. I didn't even know Jeff Buckley's music when friends pointed out the similarity to me. Ever since I listened to a live CD of his at my mother's, I get it. But I sing with the voice I have. I don't want to be the next Jeff Buckley. I think it's okay that people describe my music as 'for fans of Jeff Buckley'.”

Just like the lamented American cult hero - drowned in 1997 and best known for his Leonard Cohen cover Hallelujah - Tamino brings his soulful songs without much frills; sometimes subdued and with a deep crooner voice, then fiercely lashing out with an angelic falsetto. There is a spiritual and melancholic edge to his intriguing songs. “Sincere melancholic music,” Tamino calls it himself.

“Everything I do stems from that melancholic feeling. That's why most of my songs are slow. But I also have uptempo songs, you know. Dynamics in a show is important.”

However, Tamino also turns the Arctic Monkeys hit I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, which he covers for Studio Brussel, into a ballad. “I first wanted to do something by Leonard Cohen, but they thought that was too unknown at Studio Brussels. I'm also a fan of Arctic Monkeys. By playing that song slower, I make it my own.”

“I myself listen to a wide variety of music, from Vashti Bunyan and Thelonious Monk to Nick Cave and Radiohead. And don't forget: dEUS! That's a group I grew up with and look up to. I think it's really cool how Tom Barman and also Mauro (who played his last concert with the group on Friday in the Lotto Arena, ed.) have always done their thing.”

Tamino is proud that he has now found accommodation with Musickness, the management of dEUS and Balthazar, among others. “Compared to three months ago, it feels like I've climbed a step higher,” he muses. “From now on I'm going to be selective with performances. I've performed so many times, sometimes in pubs for ten people. From now on it is important that the setting is right and that people really come for my music. Ticket sales for my concert in the AB-Club in Brussels have just started. There I will present my first mini album on May 16.”

Tamino undeniably has a bright future, but not a dream scenario. “I hope that I can gradually play all over Europe and mean something to a small audience everywhere. Then I would be very satisfied. I may also play with others in the future. I don't always want to keep making music on my own.”

INFO

Concerts as support act for Het Zesde Metaal on 16/02 in Antwerp (De Studio), 10/03 Ghent (Handelsbeurs), 17/03 Hasselt (Muziekodroom). Also 30/04 Ghent (De Vooruit) and 16/05 Brussels (AB, CD presentation).

[starvinginbelair]

ranking every original song from the next star

because i can and also i've never listened to the full discography before! reminder that this is only really my opinion and that this is just for fun (not an actual serious critique lmao). also i only watched from season 5 onwards, so there may be a bit more bias to the newer seasons and songs. this will only be songs that were written specifically for the show, no songs that were released by participants after the show.

1. good as gone by melissa (charlie) storwick

C A T C H Y. it's no wonder she won with this song, with how good it is melodically and lyrically. sonically, her voice really suits it too and while it does have electronic elements to it, it's not so overpowering that it feels dated by any means. the dynamics of her vocals in the last chorus carry it higher and makes the song not feel energetic and fun. one of the best, if not THE best written and produced song on the next step

2. all i want by alex zaichkowski

you could flip a coin between this one and in my mind because they're pretty similar to me. at least musically, both really lean into the live instrument/band aspect and i eat it up. what puts this one above in my mind is slightly better writing in the chorus and a stronger bridge. i really like how this one paints a distinct image through the lyrics though, and the songwriting is definitely some of the strongest out of the songs on the show

3. in my mind by ryan hawken

the chorus of this one is so genuinely catchy. and i feel like he has the vocal chops to pull off the way it swells in the last pass of it. the verses are memorable, and really the only weak part of this song is the bridge. definitely something you could see an early 2010s boyband singing, and one of the better songs from season 5. one i find myself inclined to listen to again

4. my best friend's girl by diego gomes

does it have a ton of vocoder and voice modulation on it? yes. does it also hit insanely hard and is a party hit? also yes. i really like the simple guitar at the beginning that transitions into a more electronic sound. i also love the breakdown section/guitar solo. obviously, the lyrics are quite juvenile but they somehow work for this song? it fits and doesn't make me feel weird and in high school lmao. i also love the octave change in the last chorus. why this wasn't more of a hit? idk.

5. fever by victoria duffield

one where i'm like how the FUCK did she not win with this song. the way the chorus hits and while repetitive, isn't at all grating or annoying. i love the verses, they're so well written, and the second verse pre-chorus is genuinely one of the best parts of the song. it really set up where she was going to go as an artist tbh and i really love that. definitely a hit, and there's a reason it's probably the most popular song from the next star

6. breaking glass by kaleia simons-cook

another one where it genuinely flabbergasts me that she didn't win with this song. it fit pretty perfectly with what was popular around the time she was on the show, an edm banger, and her voice sounds so good. has top 40 hit written all over it, and i'm still a bit salty this song wasn't appreciated more

7. sparks are gonna fly by j.d. meeboer (rip)

this was the pop-punk/pop-rock song this show NEEDED. it was so refreshing to listen to, the live instruments sound great, and the breakdown is great. of course, the lyrics aren't amazing, but you can absolutely tell that there was a lot of thought put into them and that there was a story they wanted to tell using the imagery. it's catchy as hell, and definitely one i'll revisit and replay until my heart's content. my one complaint is that i wish it went a bit harder, but i'm sure live, it could be different (it is different).

8. into pieces by electric ave

the instrumental on this one is amazing, and the swagger the guys bring to the song is unmatched. it's truly been years since this song was released and i *still* remember the lyrics because that's how fucking catchy it is. instant brainworm. i love the breakdown too, and it just elevates the song going into the final chorus. everyone sounds good on the track and really, just a song you can absolutely bop to

9. we are the brave by rebel coast

such a unique song concept! the instrumental of this one might be one of the best the next step has ever done, with the excess of snares and dark sound. the vocals on this sound great, especially from kyle and curtis. i think the lyrics are pretty weak but this does have one of the better choruses out of all of the songs. replayability is high, and i have nothing more to say than this one is a bop

10. we just don't care by the season 6 top 6

a bit autotuned, yes, but never to the point of annoyance. i think the outro really sells it for me, it's just so catchy and everyone's voice is utilized well in this one. it's also not repetitive in the way now is, even though the chorus is similarly simple. the mixing is great and everyone has a moment to shine. i like the lyrics and sonically, the backing instrumentals provide just enough that it is easily one i revisit and listen to often.

11. turn it up by the season 4 top 6

are charlie, milly, april and parker's lines completely autotuned garbage? yes. but does it slay regardless? also yes. it's a certified bop, that i will always love dancing to. i think the lyrics are perfect for a dance track, and in general, i think it'll always bring good memories for me. so what if i'm a little nostalgic for this song? it's valid. it's catchy as hell.

12. better off anyway by brandon bizior

this song walked so the holy trinity of sparks are gonna fly, in my mind, and all i want could RUN. that pop-punk flair i really love is so apparent and there, and i cannot understate enough how much i love the instrumental. i didn't expect to like it this much even, but sonically it's so good. reminds me a lot of check yes, juliet by we the kings to be honest. what knocks it down here (still top 20 lmao) is just that i think the lyrics aren't as strong as the three songs i mentioned above, and there are other songs i like better. but definitely a replayable song and one that i was shocked to like so much that i want to revisit it!

13. see you again by amer dhaliwal

the chorus of this one is so catchy!!!! i really like how it's written too, and i think the melodies are really good. i would say the verses are kind of boring though, and they're cheesy as well. but amer sounds amazing singing the lyrics so does that cancel it out? to me it does. the high notes are killer and it's definitely one i can see revisiting. however, it does land here because i just like the other ones more, and they appeal more to me.

14. dreams by shania fillmore

classic tbh!!!! i love the instrumentation, and while the lyrics are very VERY cheesy, i find that shania's delivery makes them less so. she seems to really believe the message of the song lmao. it's also insanely catchy, and i applaud the decisiveness of wanting a country-pop song instead of something that might be more leaning into edm or straight pop.

15. front row by madi amyotte

i swear this song was featured somewhere and tbh even if it *wasn't*, it should've been. even though the writing is very very cheesy, it doesn't seem played into so much, like the artist genuinely believes that it's true. i also love the instrumentation and think the vocals are great. i genuinely think that this is one of the best songs, just for how catchy it is even upon my first listen. season 3 really had a great group!

16. up to us by jory zechner

wow season 7 really had some of the best production and songwriting in terms of melodies. i think the chorus carries this song but around it, there's p good lyrics and melodic tendencies. the one thing that i do dislike a lot is the spoken word bridge, but overall, the rest of the vocals are really solid. replayability factor is also high.

17. if i fall by wren burnett

i was shocked to find out how much i liked this one! i think the writing in the verses is really solid, and the chorus has a lot to it too. the instrumental is amazing and you can tell that wren has a great voice that doesn't need excess vocal modulation. i genuinely am going to revisit this one and it is definitely my favourite of the season 2 songs for sure. it's very early jojo and you know what?? not a bad thing at all.

18. the last word by briar gillis

so evanescence, so angsty. and genuinely i really enjoy it! i think that the verses have pretty good songwriting, but the pre-chorus is cheesy. the chorus could come in stronger, but her vocals overall are pretty good throughout and fit the song. i like the instrumental a lot too, and that she leaned into the live instrument thing. the belt before the last chorus is what i would want for the whole song going into the chorus.

19. it might be you by parker schmidt

okay so if we're talking on writing ALONE this one would be way down there with "the way i see you". but we're not, so i would just like to say that i really like the instrumental of this one and how catchy it is. yes there is a ton of vocoder on it, but it's a really really cute song otherwise and i think it's one of the ones with the most earwormy choruses. def a fave of mine, no matter what.

20. goodbye gravity by dante scott

i love the verses and pre-chorus of this song. the soft drop is also perfectly timed, and it's just a great dance song! it's so catchy that by the end i was singing along to the chorus, but it's also not dated. however, i can't put it in the top songs simply because the post-chorus is quite shallow and i really like other songs more

21. be your holiday by shon burnett

say what you want but this is a cute ass song. catchy for sure! while it is really shallow writing, and i really think the instrumental is grating with the brass, shon's voice is actually pretty good in this, and makes it up for it. aside from the spoken word pre-chorus of course. i would've liked this song to explore the more tropical sound in the way the bridge implies, as opposed to the brass. but like it's one that i always find myself aw-ing at

22. say u 2 by paige prescott

cheesy yes, but it's so catchy and easy to sing along to. i love her vocal on it and it sucks that during the live show, she also got sick similar to issy. but i like this song far more than issy's, just for how cute it is. it also has great background instrumentals and overall is just a bop!

23. i got a crush on you by isabelle stern

such a cute little song! i really like isabelle's vocals on this, and you can tell that she has such mature depth in her voice. again: electronic elements but it doesn't feel dated. the lyrics do make this feel a bit juvenile but at the same time, i think it works for her voice and she sings it well. i love the octave change too. definitely catchy, but it's not good enough to be pushed up into the upper echelon of songs.

24. lioness by kat moscone

the instrumental on this one really hits, and tbh saves it. outside of the verses, which come in really strong and are lyrically pretty alright, the chorus is weak and so is the bridge. i really dislike the rap bridge section, and while kat's vocals are good throughout, i just find myself drawn more to the backing track more than the melodies. it's catchy, but in a way that's definitely grating by the end of the song due to its repetitiveness

25. from the heart by amanda rowland

i wasn't expecting to like this one as much as i did! i think it works and fits perfectly with her voice, and i love the instrumental and how it builds throughout the song. it doesn't feel juvenile either, if a little bit cheesy in the lyrics. i think my one knock is that it builds so much that by the end, you can tell the vocal chops just are not there to hold it up.

26. caught up by grace johnston

i like the instrumental of this song and i absolutely love the chorus. they're both really catchy. however, i think the vocal delivery on this song is weak and really, the lyrics are pretty mediocre. it doesn't hit hard enough either. middle of the pack seems right about right for this song. i like the name drop too though.

27. without you here by tiana flegel

very hilary duff-esque. i really enjoy it, it's solid in terms of sound. and the songwriting is decent enough that it's not a bother to me! i wouldn't necessarily look for it to listen, but if it came on, i wouldn't be mad. kinda just a middle of the pack song

28. what r u doin 2 me by michaelah weekes

i don't love the chorus of this one, but the verses are really great lyrically. i think the instrumental is interesting too. but overall, there's nothing super special about this song. it just kinda feels like it's there.

29. shy by dunnery bond

again, it might just be that it's not my style, but i feel like this song sounds a bit like elevator music. it doesn't feel juvenile to me though, which is good. i think it's just cause i'm not drawn to this type of music, but overall it's really not that bad

30. gotta give a little extra by darren espanto

darren's vocals in this song are amazing, and that's genuinely the only thing that saves this one lmao. the verses are bloated with unnecessary lyrics, and the chorus is annoyingly repetitive. there's nothing even interesting going on in the instrumental. darren's runs sound great though, and you can tell he's probably the most talented vocalist (on vocal talent alone) out of all of the top 6's in the show. i wish they would've given him a better song though, so all of that could shine.

31. so hepburn by ryland clark

meh. that's really all i can say about this song. i think it's catchy enough, but i also don't find myself dancing along like with the others. it has this guitar lick that just goes on forever and never gives up, and it's quite annoying. the verses are also quite bloated with lyrics. i don't find that there's anything spectacular about this song, although i think that the concept is interesting! the songwriting also isn't great though, so it falls flat.

32. now by the season 5 top 6

a pretty shallow pop song tbh. i find the chorus a bit grating with it's repetitiveness, but i like the post-chorus. the verses are not that well written either though, and the overall mixing of their voices together wasn't done very well. definitely the weakest of the top 6 group songs, by far.

33. more by issy dahl

i could only find a live version of this, and she's very visibly sick in it tbh. chorus hits but the verses are super boring. kinda just meh. i wish there was a better version of it online because she really does kill the chorus. hard to judge because of the vocal performance.

34. solitude of sunday by darrelyne bickel

cheesy writing and boring instrumentals, really nothing i like in it. i think the vocals are really lacking too. just a boring song that has not much going for it, and isn't memorable overall in terms of the show. i won't be revisiting it. it's alright though i guess. mid.

35. insane (thru with you) by mimoza duot

ugh with mimoza's voice they could have done SO SO much more!!!! instead we get an electronic and vocally modulated song, with shallow lyrics. it also completely loses me on the catchiness factor, really does sound like something from an early 2000s movie that plays during the shopping montage. i wish we had more from her cause her vocals through all the modulation sound deep and great but...

36. everyday crazy by christina leclair

i really dislike the lyrics to this song. they feel really cheesy and they remind me of a knock-off of wonderful crazy by katelyn tarver. the backing instrumental IS good, but that's about all that is with this song. i think the vocals are alright, but it's really nothing special and i don't enjoy it in the same way i enjoy the others.

37. spotlight by april llave

it's so similar sonically to breaking glass, but i think the writing is worse, and there's an overuse of woahs and ahs in the verses. the pre-chorus really does hit, but the chorus is boring as hell with the same words repeated over and over again. the bridge is pretty bad as well. the edm backing music is interesting though, and that's probably what keeps it here and not somewhere lower. cause it is pretty catchy.

38. you better watch out for me by alicia moffet

this one is really just mid for me tbh. like i genuinely don't know why people liked it so much. i liked the message and it was a cute song, but the production is really lacking anything interesting and the lyrics aren't great either. of course, i like it better than many of the other songs but really, there's nothing special with it.

39. more perfect than a doll by lizz kellermann

the audio for this one was really bad, but i don't think that changes how bad the songwriting is either. i can see where she's coming from with this song, trying to be relateable, but at the same time, it just feels really fake. i like the vocals, but there's just not much else that draws me to this song.

40. the way i see you by brooklyn roebuck

oh wow, listening back to this one really makes you realize how HIGH SCHOOL it is. it's really not at all that catchy either. maybe it's just because it's very country and i don't love that genre, but in comparison to the other country songs on this list, it's definitely the weakest.

41. winners by jaden macphee

it might just not be my style, but i find this song really just boring and not at all catchy. the verses are quite bloated with lyrics in comparison to the chorus, which only has a few. the edm drops just aren't appealing here to me, and there's so much more they could have done with jaden's voice i feel like. he kills it on his runs, but unfortunately the rest of the song is just repetitive and annoying to listen to .

42. what we need is love by rayandra hudson

maybe it's just because of the sound quality but i really just did not like listening to this song. aside from the sound quality, rayandra sounds pretty pitchy. and it's far too reminiscent of a song like hey there delilah without the charm. it's definitely not the worst song, but not something i'd ever reach for.

43. stuck in my world by maranda thomas

i don't like the repetitiveness of the chorus nor the random people shouting things throughout the song. it's very early 2000s though, reminds me of outrageous by britney spears. i don't like that song either though, so maybe it's just the style. not one i'll be revisiting

44. do it by nissita francis

it's so cheesy and juvenile and i am cringing about it, but trying to keep in mind she was really young when she sang this. i mean it is kind of catchy, in a bad way, with just the chorus. the verses aren't really engaging and i feel like she sounds very autotuned. i really don't like the background instrumental claps either. the video is cute though! and her vocals are also good, just not her natural vocals, and you can tell.

45. if you were mine by milly benzu

the catchiest part is the "if you were mine"s and even that is really just a bright spot in a sea of edm that is bad and uncatchy. the songwriting is really juvenile and tries to have so many unnecessary drops and vocal modulation sections. i really would've just loved a song with milly's singing on it cause i know it was good, not this bs.

46. one more first chance by brock zanrosso

it's so early 2000s and so just boring. i imagine this song as a glob of wet paper mache tbh. it's just so unappealing to me, and maybe i just don't like the style, but there's something that distinctly turns me off from it. i really couldn't listen to all of it, i think the lyrics are cheesy and sonically it isn't amazing either.

47. gonna make you dance by alyssa reid

this was NOT what i was expecting from alyssa reid's debut song. it's so latin flair for no reason? there's also a really odd vocoder on her voice that's entirely unnecessary. i really question what they were going for with this song, because it's not really all that catchy either.

[smallbirdbigcoat]

OMG i love that!!!! blondie are SO good i love dancing to their stuff. do you have a favorite blondie song? its been good! very rainy & i had a test but i think i did good on it:) how was yours? top ten, i realised halfway thru i'd run of of like. text so i stopped giving long explanations … i am just very. talkative sometimes haha 1) lulu by metallica & lou reed: i am very much aware that it is considered one of the worst albums ever created but i PERSONALLY think thats cuz people just dont understand the concept of it. & are not familiar w/ lou's work. i think its a masterpiece i think its a very unique and poignant album and listening to it makes me go insane. i think its really just a phenomenal album and i will literally die on this hill. my #1 album of all time 1.5 (2) bummer by cleopatrick: i sometimes cite this as my favorite album of all time when i don't feel like causing drama over lulu. more often i'll cite it as my favorite album of all time because i am the hardcore cleopatrick fan ive been listening to them since like. 7th grade and i love this album so MUCH its literally so good, the lyrics are flawless the flow is phenomenal the drumming on this is LITERALLY unparalleled. and the guitar tone is SO good. and all the songs are sooooo good like 2008??? literally one of the best songs ever. great lakes is a masterpiece and so is vic park and the drake and…its just SO good. instantly lifts my mood 3) welcome to hell by venom: i love the evil vibe plus ppl take it so seriously when venom literally wear the sluttiest outfits possible

4) blank generation by richard hell: my first introduction richard hell was an article by lester bangs where he talked about how he thought richard hell's music is incredible and how he thought that richard hell had a great grasp of the problems of being alive in the 70s but his solutions were absolute dog shit. which made me want to listen to the album, as a good review will, and now its one of my favorite records. forever mad this is the only proper LP they did. i love his delivery, the guitar work is so unique, and i think the lyrics are still so real & relevant 5) pretty on the inside by hole: sooo raw im a big courtney fan tbh i love her work. holes best album was for sure live through this (nobody's daughter is a close second imo!) but pretty on the inside is my personal favorite cuz its pink! & bc i think its the rawest of holes discog. i like the discordantness of it its so exciting to me 6) welcome the plague year self-titled: PHENOMENAL scramz album its so raw & i think its the best album from that era of scramz & i just adore it. 7) germ-free adolescence by the x-ray specs: prob the only british punk band from the 70s or 80s id cite as a favorite, i just adore everything abt this album 8) lets take it to the stage by funkadelic: groovy! funky! rocking! also i love bootsy collins 9) are you experienced by the jimi hendrix experience: cures headaches somehow?? not complaining though 10) rust never sleeps by neil young: first neil young album i listened to, hes definitely my favorite singer/songwriter of the 70s :) honorary mention to blue by joni mitchell, grateful dead's 13th february 1970 at fillmore east show even tho its not an album, opening fire by powertrip & killing is my business… by megadeth i think i've put you through enough reading with this for today so have a nice day!! i hope the whole thing sends LOL

-❄️

that’s such a good list! i’ve just gotten into richard hell recently, and i haven’t listened to that full album yet but i’ll have to give it a go for sure!!!

picking my favourite blondie song is so hard omg. i’d probably have to go with dreaming, denis or hanging on the telephone, but picture this, in the flesh and atomic are very much up there! what’s your favourite?

[sinswithpleasure]

The Playgirl (ft. LOONA’s Yves) [Part 3] [Female Reader]

—————

I’m back with part 3!

I know I said I’d start mentioning Yves being futa here, but welp, I doubt it’d be out until Part 6-8?

If you prefer, this is also on AO3 and AFF!

Thanks to @existslikepristin​ and @ggidolsmuts​ for editing / beta reading!

—————

Another month passes.

Yves has been improving a lot, and you're teaching her more than just math. Even on weekends, she requests tutoring, and both of you work on projects or study together, be it at Seoul U's cafe or in empty classrooms.

Two months since you began tutoring her, about one month since you took up her deal. Something in Yves shifts—when she began studying, it was out of just competitive spirit. Now, she seems to truly like what she's doing, and you can't help but to let yourself enjoy the sight of this Yves. She turns up to school a little more regularly, though she still comes to terrorize people. She doesn't go out to parties as much, choosing instead to hang with you. The attention you get from her feels like too much and not enough at the same time. 

Other than being your student, Yves becomes somewhat of a regular fixture in your life. She still frustrates you—her semi-regular absences from school are met with your nagging and her regular dismissal, her constant nonchalance about how she carries herself still annoys you, and she still constantly flirts with you. That last point is also part of the reason why she is kind of a welcome presence in your life. If she isn't present in school, she will be seen leaning against a wall after class, leather jacket over her shoulders, your favourite mocha frappe in her hands. If she doesn't turn up for a tutoring session, she drops a call and apologizes, then makes it up to you with your favourite dessert next session. On the regular, she always has a compliment or a greasy remark tailored for you on hand, both making you groan and internally panic simultaneously.

It doesn't help that she keeps getting prettier, at least to you. Every day, her empty desk taunts you. Sometimes, you wish she was next to you, lollipop in her mouth, gazing at you and flirting with you. Your heart skips a beat when she pushes herself off the wall to wrap an arm around your shoulder, waving the frappe in front of your face with a "Hey, babygirl" . You look forward to the text exchanges with her every night, where both of you can text for hours. You adore her lip bites when she is focused on something, her soft "Assa!" when she gets something right.

Perhaps your crush on her is starting to get out of hand, but you don't want it to end. 

-----

Your phone rings. Caller ID: yves 💘

"Yo, babygirl."

"Don't—ah, nevermind."

"The cafe's closed today. Wanna come over to my place?"

"What?"

"My place. Come over."

"Oh, um…"

"Text me your address. I'll pick you up."

"Okay."

When Yves hangs up, you panic. Her place? You'll get to see how she lives? Her private space? What?! You fire off a text to Yves, then you carry on panicking.

[yves💘 has sent a message:]

Gotchu

I'll see you in 15, babygirl

Can't wait ;)

-----

Yves's place is cozy. For someone so punk rock, her place looks so homely, so full of life. However, Yves lives alone. Weird, considering there's a lot of stuff that is placed neatly on tables and shelves, too much for one person to use. 

"Welcome to my humble abode, babygirl." Yves curtsies, flashing you her dazzling smile. You place your bag down on the couch in her living room, rummaging to find what you need.

"Hey, would you mind if I went for a shower first? I've had a busy morning."

"Oh, no, sure. Go ahead."

"Right, thanks babe."

Yves leaves. In the meantime, you wander around her living room, glancing at the items on her shelves. A vintage tea set, a back scratcher, and an old camera? Those look pretty cool. Beneath that, another shelf holds a few old DVD cases, each of some old music from the 70s and 80s. Also, are those cassette tapes? You pick each one up, getting a feel of them in your hands. Damn, these are cool.

You wander along the hallways. When you pass by the bathroom, you can hear the water running. Suddenly, you’re hit with intrusive thoughts, all of them about Yves.

Your crush. Just a handful of metres away from you. Undressing. Naked. Under the shower. Water running down her bare skin, maybe over those chiseled abs of hers? Her naked chest, her legs?

You return to her couch, collapsing on it, trying to fight the dirtier thoughts in your head.

You sink your face in your hands, groaning at the thought of a naked Yves. This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last, but it sucks to be thinking of something inappropriate when the time isn't right. The gulps of water you inhale don't quench the correct thirst, but at least it does something.

"Hey baby."

Yves's voice makes you jump. The cutest girl ever greets your eyes, with a look that you never thought she'd rock. That same girl has her head bowed, a sheepish smile on her face, her hand moving to tuck some hair behind her ear.

She looks gorgeous.

Her wet hair, formerly slicked back, now falls over her forehead, forming cute bangs. Her  leather jackets and crop tops are traded for a cozy oversized long-sleeved sweater that engulfs her body, giving her sweater paws. Yves pairs that with sweatpants, and a cute pair of bunny slippers. 

She looks so cute and all you want to do is to mash her lips with yours.

You gasp, freezing. Yves walks over to you, planting her books on the table, refusing to meet your eyes. She grins when she finally looks at you though.

"How do I look?"

"Ah, um, er…" You stammer, unable to process the sight of the punk rock, cool, bad girl Yves now looking like a girly, adorable cutie. This wasn't Yves, this was just Ha Sooyoung. 

"You… you look, er, good," you breathe.

Yves halts, red starting to colour her ears. She looks away, seemingly wiping at her face with one of her sleeves.

"Thank you." Her voice is tiny, tinier than usual. You want to hug her but you control yourself, settling to admire how she looks instead. She looks so pretty, so fucking pretty, and you wonder why she doesn't look like this on the regular. Maybe she's letting you see her more private, intimate side. Maybe she somehow found out you quite like this style. Whatever the reason is, it's working. How do you even continue to function today, now that you've seen Yves look like this?

You love this Yves— no, this is Ha Sooyoung, you hastily remind yourself. She looks so domestic, so cute, so… girlfriend? You want to glomp her, and that urge is increasingly hard to control.

"Let's begin."

"O-Okay."

Both of you slip into your roles as teacher and student. For Yves, it’s seamless, but for you, you struggle to do so. The student herself is a distraction.

The session begins.

-----

"Stay for dinner, babe?"

Yves rises from her chair, walking over to her kitchen. She begins pulling stuff out of her fridge and cabinets, setting them on the table. 

"Oh, sure."

You sink yourself on a dining chair as Yves ties an apron around her neck. She begins work on chopping up some garlic and onions, and you let yourself just… look at her. 

She looks so cool, so domestic, so beautiful as she works on whatever it is. You can't help but fall harder for her, and you let yourself gaze lovingly stare at her.

"You're staring, babygirl."

"Ummfhhhdgh!" You stammer, hastily looking away to pretend you weren't. You drum your fingers on the table, shifting around on your seat to distract yourself from Yves's eyes. 

"Uh-uh, you don't get to hide now." Yves tilts your chin up with her finger, her eyes locked onto yours, her lips inches from yours. This is the umpteenth time Yves has had you in kissing range, and you wish she'd finish the job. 

"You look starstruck, babe. Am I that pretty?"

"Y-Yes." 

Yves chuckles, stroking your cheek with her thumb. 

"God, you're so cute. I'd kiss you right now, but we both know we'd do more than that."

"Wha—?"

"I've seen the way you look at me. I know what you're thinking. If we kiss…" Yves trails off, moving to finish her sentence next to your ear. 

"If we kiss, we both know we won't just be kissing at the end of the night."

When Yves finishes her sentence, you feel her soft lips press against your cheek. Out of the corner of your eye, you see her lips turn up in her signature cocky smirk. You’ve got the urge to kiss it off her face, but you pause, refusing to give in to her. She is right—if you kissed her, you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from jumping her.

-----

Dinner is a relatively quiet affair, with Yves winking at you when you catch eyes with her, and you becoming more flustered each time. All you can think of is about how Yves essentially admitted she knows you want her as much as she wants you, and that thought is enough to fuel your imagination for the night. 

When Yves drops you off in front of your apartment, she gets off her bike, wrapping her arms around your waist from the back.

"Huh?!"

"Goodnight babygirl," Yves whispers next to your ear, her breath causing you to shudder, "I'll be thinking of you tonight."

That settles it. The fire between your legs needs some dousing. You can't help but turn to look at Yves with the utmost shock, meeting her knowing grin. Yves waves, putting her helmet back on and riding off into the night. 

-----

The cold shower you take after reaching home does nothing for you. Yves's words still ring deep in your ear.

If we kiss, we both know we won't just be kissing at the end of the night.

I'll be thinking of you tonight.

Your body feels warm—too warm for the oversized T-shirt and boyshorts you have on. The thought of having Yves pin you against a wall, her lips on yours, tongue swiping at your lips to gain access is way too much for you, and soon enough, you imagine Yves pinning you to her bed, stripping you and teasing you with her touch. These thoughts lead you to lie atop your bed, your shirt pulled up to expose your chest, your boyshorts stripped off to let your hand circle your clit freely. 

"Oh, fuck…"

In your head, Yves has her fingers on you, touching you the same way you touch yourself now. Her fingers mirror the way yours do—rubbing directly over the hood covering your clit, before swiping between your slit to wet her fingers. 

"So wet, babygirl. All for me too."

"Oh, oh shit!"

Yves plunges her fingers deep within you, thrusting freely. Your free hand kneads your left breast, teasing your nipple to drive you crazier. 

"Fuck, Yves, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"Yes, babygirl. That's what I want to hear. Moan my name. Let the world know how wet you are for me."

The dirty sounds of your fingers thrusting deep into yourself only fuels your lust even further. The image in your head morphs from Yves fingering you to her between your legs, her panties pushed aside to expose her pussy. Yves pushes her pussy against yours, grinding against you, flexing her abs with each movement of her hips. In the physical world, you strip yourself of the shirt, grabbing a pillow and straddling it. 

"How does my pussy feel against yours, babygirl? I told you I'd make you love me."

You grind harshly on the pillow. The haze of pleasure is all you can process—how loud you moan doesn't matter anymore. 

"Fuck, yes, Yves, Yves, Yves, fuck, Sooyoung, Sooyoung, I'm gonna come, Sooyoung, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna come!"

With a squeal, you grind harder on the pillow, feeling waves of pleasure wash over your body as slick spills out of your clenching hole. Sweat runs down your forehead, your back, down your chest. In your head, Yves comes just as you do, her body writhing in pleasure as slick flows out of her. 

You collapse on the bed, letting the afterglow of your orgasm wash over you. Yves still doesn't leave your head, but you don't really hate that. You're way beyond trying to hide that you want to fuck her, or that you want her to make you hers anyway.

[who-talks-first]

About Me

{{Occasionally, I stop posting and/or responding to messages. It's nothing personal. I often get overwhelmed by socializing, even moreso since quarantine and my own self-isolation. I will eventually get back. It's also perfectly cool to message me multiple times or rant or whatever. I'm happy to be a sounding board when I have the energy to respond again. I hope everyone's doing alright.}}

{{Pinning this until I get the masterlist completed!}}

Billie, please. But if you know me as Sara, it's okay you still call me that. 💜

My main blog is @your-naked-magic-oh-dear-lord.

36, Aquarius, Rebel, Queer. If I can live through this, I can do anything.

Austin - I have Texas in my heart and soul and will always come back home.

Mostly English and Scottish. I have an ancestor who fought, died, and was buried beside Braveheart, William Wallace.

Bisexual and Nonbinary. Any pronouns are fine, I just usually get she/her.

Very vocal leftist and communist, but I try to keep that to my main blog. I want this one to focus on entertainment. It does occasionally come up topically and the themes appear in my writing.

I suffer from several different physical and mental illnesses, including Major Depression and Diabetes. For all intents and purposes, I'm disabled and often use a cane. I have been institutionalized.

I have a Australian Shepherd named Bear and a rescue cat named Toni Stark. I lost both my cat and my dog last year (2022)and I am stuck in a bad spiral of grief right now. Our household is home to over a dozen cats, two dogs, three horses, three cows, a turtle, one giant goldfish, and whatever needs rescuing on a given day.

I love food and soda. Dining out and going to the movies are my favorite activities. I also enjoy watching my friends play shows at the Live Music Capital of the World. I'm okay at the guitar and terrible at singing but guess which is the thing I love doing more than anything else. I love tattoos, porgs, Daisy Ridley, cute people, punk rock, country music, animals, Steven Universe, stuffed animals, LoZ, rubber ducks, Billie Joe Armstrong, fashion, beauty, decor, the MCU, electric guitar, MLP: FiM, sleeping, Robert Downey jr., drawing, owls, books, Hello Kitty, Brandon Flowers, cussing, magic, and writing.

I've been a SW fan since I was 10 and I've been writing since I was 15 or so. I wore out my copy of Rogue Squadron on N64. I've been a fan of Poe Dameron since "who talks first?" Even though I didn't start writing SW fanfic 'til January, 2018, I have been making up SW stories in my head since I was 12 or so. I had a Mary Sue self-insert OC and everything!

Favorite SW characters in no particular order: Rey, Ahsoka Tano, BB-8, R2-D2, D-0, The Child, Obi-wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Jyn Erso, K-2SO, Cara Dune, Cassian Andor, Wedge Antilles, Jag Fel, Jaina Solo, Leia Organa, Mara Jade Skywalker, L3-37, Poe Dameron, Jar-Jar Binks, Lando Calrissian, Din Djarin, and Jessika Pava.

About the Blog

This is my Star Wars/Poe Dameron/Oscar Isaac fan sideblog. I mostly share others' fanfic, but I sometimes write my own stuff and share it here. I'm working on redesigning/organizing my blog, and making a masterlist.

<<More often than not, the fics I reblog are smutty. I do my best to tag them #nsfw, but I do forget. Thankfully, the authors usually indicate this at the top of the fic too. I do have minor followers and y'all are always welcome. However, I do ask that you respect the 18+ warnings on the dirty fics. I ain't your folks and I can't stop you, but I kindly request that you respect me and my blog so I don't have to make it 18+ only. That's not what I want to do; I appreciate y'all being here, and seeing young people enjoying SW like I did as a kid fills my heart with glee.>>

I genuinely try to tag spoilers when new content comes out. Admittedly, I do forget. If there's an older piece of media you're just discovering and would like me tagging spoilers for it, I would be happy to; just send me an ask!

I cannot promise this is a wank-/discourse-free blog. I'm often criticizing Disney here, but I also will go off about problems in fandom and when a particular group is specifically harmful. This is a very pro-John Boyega blog. I often rage about the destruction of our characters of color (I think the spicerunner arc is one of the worst things done to a character in the history of entertainment) and fully support John, Oscar Isaac, and Tran Loan (and all/any other actor/crewmembers of color who are mistreated). If you want the negativity tagged, you have only to ask. I generally don't shit on particular types of fans that I don't necessarily agree with, ie. Obikin shippers, and they're welcome here. I do speak out about things that make me uncomfortable, whether it be on a personal or corporate level. Besides these tough subjects, most of my posts are fun and light. Fandom is supposed to be fun and I encourage that. If you're not enjoying your fandom, you do not have to stay there! You can enjoy a piece of media without surrounding yourself with toxic fans!

My fandoms are bleeding together a bit. There's often Triple Frontier posts, particularly Pope x Reader fics, occasionally poly/multi as well. I sometimes reblog Pedro stuff and the rare Ezra fic. Don't @ me. Regrettably, at some point, I will probably be posting Dork Lito Bofades content. Believe me, I ain't happy about it.

We're anti-Reylo here, but as long as the wank gets left at the door, everyone is welcome. Just know there's a lot of memes, but I generally don't mean them in bad faith. I also ridicule Renjamin to within an inch of his life.

My tags are #Just Billie for my personal posts; #Billie's Opinion for my SW discourse; #Tainted Fanfic Writer for my SW fanfic; #Not My Fic for fanfic reblogged from others. I try to tag posts regarding specific movies and shows like this: #tpm, #aotc, #rots, #rogue one, #solo, #anh, #esb, #rotj, #tfa, #tlj, #the mandalorian*, and #tros (pre-2020 it's #ep ix speculation). I also tag #gif, #art, #sw bts, #incorrect sw, #aesthetics, #moodboards, #Space Mom, #Poe Dameron Comic, #StormPilot, #JediStormPilot, #FinnRey, #SpicePilot (my joke ship name for Poe and Zorii), #droids, #porgs, #spacecraft, character names, actor names, and common triggers. Villain names usually include their title rather than given name such as #general hux. I'm now reading a lot of Mandalorian fic, so I tag #the Mandalorian (for both the character and the show) #the child for baby Yoda; other characters follow the regular tagging conventions. For TF, I tag #santiago garcia and #frankie morales. If you would like something tagged, even if it's just a character name I don't usually tag or a certain discourse, please inbox me. No worries! *apparently, I've been misspelling "Mandalorian" wrong for 6 months because of the nickname "Mando", so it's going to take me a while to get the tag corrected, so please bear with me.

[daislysxftie]

This is hella creative

1. Soldier, Poet, King/ Choke/ I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (no shit it's 12:53am)/ Helena/ Taking Care Of Things/ Somewhere In Neverland

2. Shit. Idk! I'd love to meet multiple people. I mean I love the whole of MCR, but that's like 5 people. I know I act like such a 15 year old girl but tbh I'd love to meet Dan and Phil... Would you call 11 years a phase?

3. "The X Files", "Gary tells me you have security clearance?"

4. How everything and everybody I love will die one day

5. "Roses are red, Your eyes are nice, He didn't have ice cubes so he put vanilla ice" I literally couldn't ask for a better poem

6. It doesn't have phobia in the title but I have misanthropy and it's an automatic strong dislike to people.

7. Wiccan

8. Dying inside or going home

9. It's not that complex, it's easily MCR.

10. "I'm not going to get up and go into a whole other room just because you forgot to check the toilet paper roll" that was in text form but it still works

11. Ehhh, not really. Idk. I hope it exists

12. Don't have one-

13. My greatest weakness is something I don't want to say anything more about except that I'm a little. My greatest strength is my great ability to mask myself and my feelings, for example, I'm autistic but you could never tell.

14. Who are we kidding? Nicki Minaj is hot

15. I cry and listen to Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Both Of Us on repeat

16. You have no idea how much band merch I have

17. Sometimes I am. I know I could always be someone better, but I gotta learn to be comfortable with something I tried my hardest with: me.

18. Ok I have no sound I love except for rock/ punk/ emo music. I have misophonia meaning there's a specific sound that I hate, it can cause meltdowns and I have no control over myself. It's at a specific time, so if I'm feeling upset my misophonia kicks in and I absolutely HATE any human noise made. I do hate all human noises all the time but when I'm upset it's when I'll start shaking, crying, puking and pulling my hair out.

19. What if we could run away to neverland and have no worries

20. I'll just say I want to believe.

21. The air. I'm literally in my bed

22. Nothing, but whenever my ef comes into my room they can smell rice bubbles and apparently I smell like rice bubbles. My sibling says the exact same thing.

23. Ohio

24. Troye Sivan is so cute ahdbdhdvfj

25. Live your truth, food and sex. Tbh I am panromantic but I'm also lesbian meaning you know what

26. I don't drive because it was suggested I don't because of my height. It was just a guideline, like how 1% of people follow PG 13+

27. Fucking Star Wars. I've literally been forced. I've learnt the whole bee movie script in morse code.

28. I cracked my head open when a kid in 4th grade picked me up then dropped me after saying us shorties need to stick together. They were 6 inches taller than me.

29. Fuck there isn't one

30. Would you call a true rumour a rumour? If so then yes.

31. Nope. For example;

32. Cancer

33. It may or may have not been tea

34. uhh both?

35. Yes, I mentioned my ef before. (ef means enbyfriend)

36. I'm very guilty, I may have dated 32 people exactly..

37. I don't have one, I'm literally the least talented person

38. In Scotland

39. Writing in this

40. Kinda? I'm good at telling lies that I've told myself and I don't wanna put up with being able to tell every single lie they say

41. Call for anyone on the sidewalk to watch and make sure the dog is ok while I call a service and literally sprint when I see them coming.

42. A, no I would only tell my ef, Blayde, Taylor, Julie and Angel. I want everybody else to think of how they were too late to tell me they cared. B, I would spend them with my ef and siblings. C, No because I never expected to live later than 18 years old and I was never scared of death, my existential crises covered that.

43. Woah. Hold your fuckin horses mate. I'm literally listening to Runaway Train at the moment. I guess Sweater Weather?

44. Consent, love, listening and communication

45. Ya can't uneless you're Jakson

46. I actually did go insane once, I went to a mental hospital and it's not like the movies. It doesn't have padding and you don't have cellmates. I guess insanity did bring out creativity in me, I painted a lot and said that I can lie easily in words but I'd never lie in art and sign language.

47. Following Dan's guide to stalk your idol until they notice you.

48. "I wasn't wrong when I thought I was going to die before I'm 18." that may not be a very deep thought to you (I'm 18 at the moment) but it's true, because I'll never be the same person. I change as a person so often and one personality will never live to be older than 18.

49. An anatomical heart

50. Pastel purple, pastel pink, pastel blue and pitch black

51.

Don't look at me like that

52. Casey

53. "Do you have any life regrets?" is a question I'll never answer for anyone that knows me. Since nobody on here knows me, I regret life.

54. Selective invisibility

55. I would like to experience the first time I was told I matter. I wanna go back to 2011, I was 9 years old and I was told by a stranger on youtube that I mattered.

56. Well it would be the 14 years that my father never let me live in the house for

57. uH nO

58. I would go to Australia where it's safe

59. Uh yeah?

60. Nicki Minaj, Troye Sivan, tbh Dan pretty hot and so is Phil but they're not one person so just ignore that, ok I give up I'll admit Tom from svtfoe is hot and Bill (yes I know I find a triangular demon hot, your point?) Cipher from Gravity Falls is kinda hot 🥵

I feel like I know you better. You definitely know me better and if you've seen a glimpse of my instagram you'll feel like they're two completely different people.

[seladorie]

Hello, really love your "a royal soulmate" fic, updating the page several times a day to check for updates. For a fanfic author ask thing, 2, 9, 12 and 14 (and basically all of them ugh hope I'm not bothering you) (about music Russia has a lot of really good revolutionary punk rock and I've pretty much been listening to it nonstop since I had first read it, I can recommend some songs if you want 'em)

i mean you can ask about how many questions you want and i’ll answer them, this is delightful for me, maybe i’ll start doing more of these things

and yes please send me songs i wanna listen to them!

2:What scene did you first put down?

the first scene. I actually tend to write chronologically and then go back to add things in. like meat on the bones

weirdly the first scene never changed much from when i first wrote it. 

9:Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

well. when first thinking of it, i was planning on prompto going to lucis with aranea as like… an official niflheim representative. the idea was that prompto would meet them, recognize ignis’ name, and then go “holy shit that’s my soulmate” and he would prove it by drawing a mark on his face or hand, and to HIS GREAT SURPRISE, both the prince and the prince’s shield ALSO have a mark appear on their faces

12:What do you like least about this fic?

hm. i mean, writing style wise? sometimes even i get a little frustrated writing dialogue scenes over and over again, but most of the scenes are driven by that character’s pov and who they’re interacting with. iggy’s scene in chapter 8 was actually an attempt to break from that repeated style

i don’t really have anything plot wise. at least not right now. i’ve bene pretty happily writing this story as i want it to happen and delighting in the excruciating consequences of the characters’ actions

14:Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

i mean, it would be super cool if i inspired new trends in soulmate aus, since part of the reason i wrote this one is because i want more in depth and developed soulmate au fics. 

i guess... writing mental health and trauma is important to me, and i know people appreciate that, so i would love if people took something from that, but i woudln’t want to presume what