#but it's 11pm and i have the album on repeat again

[gregorygerwitz]

Please tell me about Ian's music and the Genius plan to label it season and episodes?

Alright we're doing it let's go

Shae, Ian is so smart??? Season 1 is a five-song EP, but it tells such a complete story where the narrator starts in "episode one" with lyrics like "damn, I feel like an adult, and I'm pretty sure I really don't like it" and by the end of "episode five" has lyrics like "I don't wanna hate stuff, I just wanna like stuff, I don't think that life sucks."

I've become unhinged about it - because there's so many lyrical callbacks where you can see the growth this character goes through, and the album is only thirteen minutes long. But it doesn't feel rushed. It feels like a natural progression. Dare I say even written better than a lot of shows with 22 episode seasons, in a way that makes more sense and doesn't feel like it's just there to further the complicated plot?

It's the character-driven narrative that I've been wanting to consume for years, and it's perfect.

warnings: mentions of sex (in the lyrics), implied depression of the narrator, one of the songs is about a messy relationship that is implied to be somewhat toxic, some swearing (in the lyrics)

Like I said above, there are 5 songs on Season 1, and Ian released them on Thursdays at 8pm EST, starting on June 9th, 2022. He announced the project on his tiktok (user ianmcconnelmusic) some time before that, but I wasn't following him then so I couldn't say when that was, oops. But it was meant to mimic the typical television episode release - with a set schedule, at a set time, during prime time, not midnight eastern. Something for people to look forward to and anticipate the what happens next. And the basic story is as follows:

EP. 1: Adult (released June 9th) - the narrator doesn't like the life the way it is, talks about how he feels like an actual adult and has to take care of himself and do all the things he's "supposed" to do with his life and it sucks. life feels like a chore which is a major let down since he didn't even anticipate making it this far to begin with. it's hard and he hates it.

EP. 2: Friends (released June 16th) - the I Want song. the through-story of this one is a relationship that was probably never supposed to happen in the first place that ended because of the circumstances in their lives surrounding it. but a lot of the lyrics are like a list of "I wish..." statements about things in the world that can't be controlled, things that the narrator wishes he could change but can't. personally, my favorite lyric in this one is "I wish cheese were not so expensive" because it makes me smile, but in all the "episode" is about the stress of things being out of the narrator's control.

EP. 3: Pair (released June 23rd) - the narrator talks about friendship and natural distance. it's similar and opposite to the episode before it. where episode 2 was about something that was always destined to fall apart, episode 3 is about this pair of friends growing in different directions but are still close, or as close as they can be. they grew apart but they'll still be there for each other when they need to be, and they didn't stop being friends just because a little bit of life got in the way. the theme here of still being close despite distance is so poignant in society today with quarantines and the pandemic and I swear I could listen to it a million times and get emotional every single time. but it's also the turning point in the narrator's arc, where the episodes stop being so much about missing things that were are starting to look forward.

EP. 4: Important (released June 30th) - I'll touch on lyrical connections later, in the actual body of the essay, but this "episode" is foreshadowed in episode one. it's this quarter-life existential crisis where the narrator talks about how no one is important in the universe, and that's a good thing. he talks about how freeing that is. nothing we do matters, at least in the grand scheme of things, and doing things that make us happy and make life a little more bearable isn't going to make the universe implode. humanity as a whole doesn't even have that kind of effect on things. there's one lyric in the chorus, "I'm not important, and neither are you, so let's do whatever we wanna do." it's the mirror opposite of episode 2. where episode 2 was about things being overwhelmingly out of the narrator's control, episode 4 is this moment where he realizes nothing is in his control and that's good. it means he can enjoy himself without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

EP. 5: Hating Stuff (released July 7th) - if episode 4 is the mirror to episode 2, then episode 5 is the mirror to episode 1. it's this almost kind of... relief? after episode 4? being an adult is hard, but there are lots of little things he can do that make it a little more enjoyable. it doesn't have to suck. he can enjoy the life he has while he has it, instead of stressing out about every little thing, and not care about the tomorrow that might not even come. it's the episode where the narrator is happy with where he is in life. nothing around him has changed at all. he's still 26 in the middle of a pandemic, people are still growing apart, the universe is still steadily moving toward its collapse, and there are so many things still out of his control, but he has all these things that he can control that make him happy and that make life worth living.

It's a wonderful arc, and this album will probably resonate with me for a very long time. Because I'm also 26, currently, in the middle of a very complicated world that doesn't have a lot of good in it right now. I got to follow this narrator on this journey over about a month, listen to him go from this kind of "I didn't even expect to live this long and I hate it here" energy to "my life is worth living and continuing because these things make me happy and that's enough," and that hit in a very specific way. I feel like I grew as this project did, which is something that I've missed during the summer when all the regular shows I watch are on hiatus. Growing with characters is kind of hard to do with seasons that drop all at once on streaming services, so it definitely has that quality that I miss from regular serials during the summer hiatus season.

But honestly I think my favorite part of this album is the little details of growth. Yes, the overall character arc is wonderful, and I love it, but there are little details and callbacks that I keep noticing as I've listened to this all on repeat. There are a number of lyrics in the first two episodes that get referenced again in the finale, things that show evidence of the narrator's growth instead of just telling us.

There's an entire part of the first verse in Adult that has a number of callbacks later on:

I been overwhelmed not prioritizing my mental health spending too much time wrapped up in myself and somehow also not enough being twenty six is tough how do I do all this stuff?

I work a lot and I exercise and I meditate and I socialize and I date a girl and I read and I try to get enough sleep

And almost every single one of those pieces gets called back to through out the season.

Exercise is brought up again in Friends ("I wish exercise were less sweaty") and then in Hating Stuff ("really into yoga practice flows") in a way that shows the narrator's growth with exercise. He still does it, but he found a way to do it that he enjoys - that isn't as sweaty. Immediately after that lyric in Hating Stuff is another one, "really proud that I can touch my toes, really proud of just how much I've grown," and it's so !!! I don't even have the words for it.

And the through-story in Friends is about that girl he was dating and how the thing he was "supposed" to do in life actually made him miserable, made both of them miserable.

I wish you were less narcissistic I wish I had known how to help wish you could have seen what I loved in you instead of hating yourself I wish I had met you when COVID wasn't fucking up our whole lives I wish both of us were less lonely from our months of staying inside I wish I were more understanding I wish you were way less intense maybe then you could still stand me

'cause I wish we could have stayed friends when our never-meant-to-be relationship ended all the life we lived and now we're strangers again all the time we put in all the things that we've been and it isn't all your fault but some of it is and some of it's mine and some of it's just bad timing and shitty circumstances

And those are just the big, more obvious parallels.

The Friends lyric, I wish one night stands were romantic, turns into having good meaningful sex, having good meaningless sex, in Hating Stuff, where the narrator reflects that, while one night stands are necessarily the heart of romance, they can be fun, and it's okay to enjoy them.

A seemingly throwaway mention about dancing 'round a quarter-life crisis in the chorus Adult turns into the entire basis of Important.

The mention of reading in the first verse of Adult is treated the same as exercise - it comes back in Hating Stuff as [I] like when I get recommendations of young adult books I should read, as a spin on it. Yes, it's what he's supposed to do, but he's going to do it in a way he enjoys.

Coffee is mentioned in the opening lyrics of Friends and then he mentions drinking tea in Hating Stuff, presumably as an alternative (that won't stain his teeth).

It's a wonderful, and timely, story about a guy who's just trying to find a reason to keep going when the world is falling apart. He's trying to find meaning in his life and the big realization that he has is that there isn't any, and that's okay. It's someone's journey of realizing that life doesn't have to have meaning to be worthy of living it.

It's three songs of mourning what he thought life "should" be, what he expected out of his life, and then two songs of accepting what reality is. Things change, people come into our lives and some of them leave, and we can't control any of that. But we can control what we do with the life we have, the narrator doesn't want to waste what life he has left only thinking about the bad things about the world.

And from that, we got a beautiful album that starts with this guy who hates the way life is, who wants to change the situation he's in to make it the life he's decided is what he wants, and then it ends with my favorite bridge and chorus of any song that I've listened to this year:

I know it's an unrealistic goal to see the glass always half full I'm no stranger to succumbing to the hopelessness spiral I just want to remind myself just how much is wonderful and how motherfucking lame it is to always be

hating stuff focused on the way life sucks there's an awful lot to love think I've had enough hating stuff no, I don't wanna be hating stuff

(I don't wanna hate stuff I don't wanna hate stuff I just wanna like stuff I don't think that life sucks)

there's an awful lot to love think I've had enough hating stuff I think I've had enough of hating stuff

[midastouches]

happy red tv eve eve my kylie bo bylie!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️!!! do you have any plans for how you're going to listen to the album? (like straight through, skip to vaults, play the 10 minute version on repeat until you're devastated enough to listen to the rest of the album heartbroken??)

catie🥺♥️ ok so red tv comes out tomorrow at 11pm for me and i have a very intense track workout friday that i need to be ready for so im going to be picking out some of my favorite songs from the og tracklist that I want to listen to (state of grace, treacherous, all too well, i almost do, stay stay stay, holy ground, begin again, come back... be here, etc.) and then the vault tracks, and then going to bed. friday i will be buying coffee and listening to the whole damn thing, watch the short film, and lastly, break down and cry. not how I would normally approach an album release, but you gotta do what you gotta do🤷🏼‍♀️ i AM so excited to freakout with you because you and I generally have very similar tastes when it comes to our favorite songs so I cannot wait to hear your thoughts ♥️

[steelmagnoliamusic]

24 September 2020

Unexpected Music Drop: “Skinny Skinny” by Ashton Irwin from his debut album Superbloom (out Oct. 23rd).

Yesterday, 23 September 2020, at 1:17pm, while I was working on homework, my roommate notified me that Ashton Irwin, drummer for 5 Seconds of Summer and love of my life, is releasing solo material. Because of COVID-19, the quarantine cancelled their tour, and everyone got cooped up inside, but rather than take a well deserved break, Irwin decided to keep his creative juices flowing. He worked on his own music, which talked about important issues and topics he has and continues to face. From depression to eating disorders and body dysmorphia to alcoholism and addiction, we learn a little more about Irwin and a lot more respect for him.

Now when I say he is the “love of my life,” I don’t mean he’s attractive to me (I mean he is but that’s not the point.) I mean his character and personality are unparalleled. You watch him in interviews and interacting with fans, and you can tell how proud and appreciative and genuine he is about what he does and the people who support him. He hasn’t hidden his struggles, like the ones I had mentioned, but he uses his experience to help others find hope and positivity in their lives again, myself included. You can tell how much he’s grown and how much more he wants to grow both as an artist and as a person. He is, in my opinion, one of those people who can say “I love you” and never have to doubt if he means it.

Ashton Irwin and everything he’s done means a lot to me personally. As you know, I lost my dad a little over 2 1/2 years ago. My dad was the one who built the foundation for my love of music. I remember driving with him when I’d go over to his house, and we’d listen to Kasey Kasem reruns, and he could always tell you which song was playing by which artist off which album from which year. It was impressive, and I still wish I could do that. Most of the music I listen to today I got from my dad. So when he passed, there was a bit of a void because music didn’t feel the same. It was still my go-to escape, but losing my dad also made it hard to listen to the stuff we used to. And yes, I admit I’ve had a crush on Ashton for years. I’ve always liked him, and I’ve always been able to relate to him in some way. So when my dad died, Ashton became a sort of solace for me — the one who kept me sane and kept me going and told me not to give up because if anyone could understand the emotional/mental pain I was/am in, help me to love and appreciate myself again, give me some hope and positivity when I needed, it’d be him. Ashton also, I guess, took on the mantle my dad had. I get my music tastes from him because, honestly, his voice and sound and music tastes are phenomenal. Though I’m not a “musician” myself, I learn from him, and I get my creative inspirations from him. Again, for me it’s not how he looks that attracts me to him, it’s who he is as a person and what he stands for as an artist. This is subjective, I know, but to be honest, I believe Ashton Irwin is the only good man I know. Like, I know good men who have guided me in my life, but Ashton for lack of a better term is pure and real. He is the epitome of who I think a good man is. It’s dangerous to hold someone to such a high standard without knowing them personally, but it’s what I feel. I honestly didn’t think I would ever be loved by somebody. I still don’t. I’m still convinced that no one cares about me, no one loves or wants me, no one appreciates me or respects me, that I’m not attractive enough or “normal” enough, that I’m not worth anyone’s time or attention. But when I see Ashton or I hear his voice or listen to him sing, for a moment I don’t feel those things. So far, he’s the only one who has ever made me feel otherwise. Again, I don’t know him personally, and I know the version of him in my head is not who he is in real life, but Ashton helps me get through the day. He helped me get past those terrible days when I just wanted to fade from existence. His smile makes me smile. He makes me feel better. Truth: I respect and appreciate him more than words can express. He is my hero.

So to hear about this solo venture of his (don’t worry, he’s not leaving 5SOS) is incredible. To have watched and grown with him is an honor to me. For Ashton to be so confident and comfortable enough with himself, his band, his music, us, the place he’s at, it’s amazing. I couldn’t be prouder to experience this with him.

His debut single, “Skinny Skinny” is off his debut album Superbloom, which comes out Oct. 23, and it’s fucking A. this specific song brings up the reality of eating disorders and body dysmorphia — something that he, his friends and family, and many of us have dealt with. He calls out the impossible standards we hold about the “perfect body” and the body shame we feel from that idea: “eat, but don’t get fat. Be skinny, but not too skinny, show off your assets so people don’t think you’re a slut and cover up but not too much so people don’t think you’re a prude. Fat is ugly. Why do you look like that?” and so many more things that society and we tell ourselves. It’s impossible to look like those people in magazines when even they don’t look like themselves in magazines. Everyone is different — size, shape, color, build, health, basic chemistry and biology — there is no such thing as the perfect  body except for the one you already have. (Obviously, still keep your health in mind. I don’t want any of y’all to get sick or hurt because of a health issue. I have high cholesterol and PCOS, I have to think about that stuff too. But that still doesn’t mean who you already are and what you already look like is wrong or bad in any way.) This idea of a “perfect body” is dangerous. It makes us hate ourselves and our bodies, and it causes us serious mental and physical health issues, i.e. body image issues/body dysmorphia and eating disorders. Ashton said it perfectly. We don’t “feel at home in our own bodies” when that should be the one place we can always feel at home.

Truth: I’ve only listened to this song since it released yesterday at 11pm. It’s literally on repeat now. So if “Skinny Skinny” is any indication of what we can expect from Superbloom, we are in for a Holy Spirit-inspired, God-given miracle. (Sorry to bring religion out. It’s the best analogy I could think of.) Ashton Irwin is so damn talented.his voice and range are jaw-dropping and impeccable. His music style and sound are amazing. Proud doesn’t even begin to describe how much this means to me. It’s more than pride, respect, admiration, appreciation, or even love. It’s just a part of myself that I either never knew was there or how much it affected me. I know I have depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, but there’s all these other things too that play in my mind and affect how I see myself and the world. And now there’s words for it, for the thoughts and feelings.

Just amazing.

I can’t wait for his album to drop on October 23rd. There’s no doubt in my mind that it will be anything less than awe-inspiring. I’m so happy and proud of him and this “side journey” he’s on, and I’m proud and honored to be a part of it.

For the God-given love of music,

Big Shot

[mydemimonde]

‘muse’ ch. 4 | matt (bbtl)

CHAPTER 4

Surprisingly, Javed accepted the invitation to Matt’s party. The only problem they had was that his father wouldn’t let him go outside at night, not for a party. Mia had the idea of telling Javed’s father they would stay at her house reading some books to prepare for school. He totally believed it, and now they were standing in front Matt’s house. Music could be heard from at least ten blocks away, the neon lights were all over the place.

“Before we go inside, remember that if you feel uncomfortable, we can leave, okay?” Javed nodded and they made their way into the house. A lot of people were drinking, talking and dancing, it wasn’t a small party like Mia was told.

“Alright, let’s go get some drinks!” proposed Nellie before looking at her sister and Javed. Mia invited her sister because she knew Javed would get bored and leave early, crazy parties like these (full of drunk people and weed) made him uncomfortable. She didn’t want to be alone there, with Emma and Matt sucking each other’s faces in front of her. “No alcohol for you”

Mia gasped. “That’s not fair!”

“It’s my duty to look aft…” a girl bumped into Nell. She looked at the obviously drunk blonde, checking if she was ok.

“I’m sorry…” she stumbled. “I was looking for Emma… Emma!” she yelled and looked around her. A few seconds later, Emma turned up, a drink on her hand. She looked breath taking with a red dress and her hair in a ponytail.

“Lyla, I finally found you”

So, this is Lyla. Mia turned to see Javed’s wide eyes. He looked at his friend and shook his head.

Emma glanced at them and welcomed them. “Hi guys! This is Lyla, my cousin” they saluted her and Lyla showed a drunk smile. Emma eyed Nellie, studying her. “Excuse me, you are…?”

“I’m Nellie. Mia’s sister” her smile was close-mouthed. Mia immediately recognized her sister’s disgust, she always smiled that way when she didn’t like someone, or something.

Emma’s eyebrows raised. “I didn’t know you were coming”

“Well I guess it won’t be a problem, since almost the entire population of Luton’s here” she deadpanned with a smug. Mia pressed her lips together to supress a laugh.

“This looks great, Emma. It’s a good party” she tried to lighten the tense atmosphere.

Emma turned to her. “Thanks sweetie, we have some drinks over there” she pointed at the table behind a group of friends chatting in a corner, “and snacks in the kitchen”

Lyla almost fell again, and looked up at Javed. “Oh, can you bring me another drink?”

Javed looked confused and kind of hurt, Mia wasn’t having it.

“Excuse me, are you stupid?”

Emma grabbed her cousin’s arm. “I’ll take Lyla outside to take some fresh air before she throws up” she dragged her cousin outside.

Immediately after they left, Mia rolled her eyes. “She’s a fucking asshole!”

“What a bimbo. Just like her cousin, I saw that coming I swear” Nellie had like a sixth sense when it came to people and their intentions. “If Emma ever looks at me like that again, I’ll shave her eyebrows.” Javed almost spat the juice.

“Mia, J!” a tipsy Matt made his appearance, placing each arm around Javed and Mia’s shoulders. “I’m so glad you made it here, the party’s going awesome!”

“Yeah we can tell. Half of your guests are drunk as hell” replied Nellie, taking a sip from her glass. Matt beamed.

“Nellie, you’re here too!” he quickly embraced her in a hug.

Nellie hesitated but returned the hug. “I couldn’t leave my little sister alone, besides, I love parties”

“Well I’m glad you’re all here, we can remember the good old times” the moment was interrupted by Emma, who made her way into the group.

“Baby! You’re having fun without me?” she laughed and kissed Matt’s lips eagerly.

Nellie rolled her eyes and looked away, Mia felt like a punch in her stomach.

“Shall we go to other place?” Nellie whispered into her sister’s ear and the trio left.

After an hour and a half of dancing and having fun, Mia’s feet started to hurt, but she didn’t want to leave. When she saw Matt and Emma kissing, she wanted to run, but thankfully Javed and Nellie were there to cheer her up.

Javed approached her with a sorry smile. “I’m sorry Mia, but it’s time for me to leave. It’s almost 11pm and my dad doesn’t want me to be out of the house for so long”

“It’s okay J. I’ll be fine, Nell’s with me” they said goodbye to each other and he left. Mia took her shoes off and went upstairs, looking for the bathroom. She couldn’t remember exactly were it was, despite having visited Matt’s house so many times during her childhood.

She opened the door of the last room in the hall, and her eyes widened at the sight. Matt was shirtless, sitting at the edge of the bed. Emma’s dress was down on the floor. She on top of him, kissing him with passion, just with her underwear. She closed the door immediately, breath hitched in her throat. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped.

“Let’s get out of here” asserted Nellie, looking at her sister’s teary eyes.

Mia couldn’t sleep. The image of Matt and Emma making out almost naked kept repeating in her brain. Luckily Nellie was there to wipe her tears away. Now, she was sure she wouldn’t tell him about her feelings for him. It was obvious that Matt was head over heels for Emma. Why wouldn’t he? She was just like him. She was like his soulmate.

- - - - - - -

“Good morning to you all” Mia’s voice sounded hoarse. She cried almost all night, her eyes were puffy and a little red.

“Hello hon… oh my God sweetie, you look dreadful” her mother said worried at the sight of her daughter.

“Well, thanks mum. Maybe I caught a cold last night. I forgot to take my jacket to the party” Nellie looked at her from the kitchen with a sorry look. “I’ll drink some coffee and a painkiller, my head’s killing me”

She sat next to her sister and both had their breakfast in silence. “How are you feeling?” Their parents were watching the news on TV, so they wouldn’t be paying attention to their conversation. Mia shrugged and proceeded to eat her waffles.

“I’ll be okay” her voice cracked at the end of her sentence. “My feet still hurt, remind me to never use high heels again to dance” she commented, trying to change the topic. Nellie giggled.

“Noted. Would you go with me to HMV? I need to buy new albums”

“Alright, let’s finish this up and let’s go” Mia ate the last bite of the waffles and went quickly to the bathroom to do her make-up, at least to cover the redness in her lids.

Nellie was ready when Mia headed downstairs, and they said goodbye to their parents.

Mia was laughing frantically as her sister told her how one guy tried to hit on her the night before, and when she refused him, he started crying. “I swear, he was crying like a spoiled little boy who didn’t get his favourite toy. Poor chap” their laugh ceased when they got into HMV and saw the cashier.

“You got to be fucking kidding me” Mia muttered. There she was, Emma chewing on a gum, twirling a strand of her hair. Mia turned her back to her. “It feels like she’s haunting me. I’m sure I’ll have nightmares tonight”

Nellie shook her head. “Let’s just focus on Cyndi, alright? I will look for the album and I’ll pay, so you don’t have to go…”

“Hey girls!” Emma hollered. Mia closed her eyes.

“Fuck” she faced Emma again. “Hello Emma”

“Do you need any help?” she wouldn’t stop chewing on the gum.

“No, we’re fine, thanks” she faced her sister again. “Let’s grab Cyndi and get out of here”

They went to look for the album they wanted and approached Emma.

“You left early last night. You missed all the fun!” she chirped while putting the album on a plastic bag.

I’m sure you didn’t.

“Matt asked for you when he couldn’t find you”

Oh.

“Yes, Mia wasn’t feeling alright. She caught a cold, actually” Nellie replied and payed for the article. “Nice to see you again, Emma”

“Same, bye” she answered waving her hand.

They left the building as quickly as possible and got themselves some soda. “She’s so annoying. Why is Matt so hooked?”

“They both love parties and loud music, etcetera, they were made for each other”

“He will get tired of her, eventually. She’s too loud” she stuck up her nose and finished her drink. “Let’s go to listen to this baby” Nell hold the album in her hands and hugged it.

Both sisters made their way to their house and immediately after lunch, they put the album on the record-player. Nellie was banging her head at the rhythm of the music, until they were interrupted by their mother, who knocked on the door and opened it immediately. Nell turned the volume down.

“Matt’s downstairs. He said he wanted to talk to you” she nodded towards Mia.

Ugh, no. I don’t need this today.

- - - - - - -

tag list: @blueeyedheizer​

[unclejuho]

sf9 in london event + concert experience ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

this is my 5k essay on what happened 190512 // enjoy reading!!!

so i got to the venue at 11pm the night before bc i was so stressed by the other concerts (ppl at la started lining up at 6pm??) i really wanted to be near the front since im coming all way from the netherlands anyways i better go big or go home!!!! so like i waited there for an hour amongst other fans who were still waiting from a diff concert and when they left other fantasy arrived so we started queueing up. i rlly have to thank sf9 uk casue they were so nice to me and they kept letting me use their hotel next door to let me go to the bathroom and change ♥️

i ended up getting nr1 (or nr21 ig isbdhs) so!!!! we did it LMAO succesfully got a good spot even though my feet and butt were dead by the time anything even happened,, its so hard to wait for 16+ hours to go to a concert but its sf9 so who cares about health 🤡 we didnt get knifed and a lot of ppl came up to ask who the fuck we were waiting for hdbshsh it was so funny

so i started handing out my juho stuff ofc and ppl seemed to like it!!! so im glad haha eventually even i didnt have any anymore so i was happy ppl liked it!

skip to like 1pm which is when the members arrived at the venue, i was a lil late noticing cus i was waiting for those signed narcissus albums but i ran to the front anyways n saw youngbin chani tae leave the van (like what they posted in the travel preview) so that was!!!!! jdbdbsb they were so unbothered it was so cute so i went to get my albums and came back to line (i got all hwiyoung pcs oshshah) 

also there were so many other fans handing out fanmades it was so sweet the entire atmosphere was fantastic bc everyone was nice to eachother, rlly everyone i talked to was super sweet!!! also so many fansites with slogans or fans so i went broke once more but it was all worth it theyre so pretty...

at like 4.30 was the special event which lmao i rlly was so tired and i got sooo nervous i had my already signed fanfare from mwave bc if ure gonna sign any album it should be fanfare (looking at ALL the ppl that gave them narcissus) sooo us 20 were led upstairs to some sort of bar area and they had a long table w water bottles so we had to wait a lil while the staff checked our signed items if they were ok and then we had to form a line to wait (they were late) i met another dutchie so that was nice hdhshsh

finally the members walk out and im shaking bc baek ju is the first to enter the room!!! he was wearing that leopard sweater and i didnt even hate his mullet seeing it upclose...

jae was wearing that stupid unbottoned shirt skbssbsb and he came in giving ALL the fanservice like him and inseong were here for the entire thing osbdbsb the other members just sat down and sociaized with eachother like yb kept being adorable and pulling faces at the table it was everything and i couldnt see rowoon bc ppl were standing in front of him but i was!!!! shaking already bc whos idea was it to start off this event with fucking rowoon lmao is like immediate heart attack! ju was last which was oof...

so i had like ideas of what i wanted to talk abt w each members but lmao??? i didnt talk abt any of it to any member my mind was so shook...

first up was rowoon and he just hdhshsh???? the eye contact of this man and just seeing him upclose was so intense tf he rlly was.. so gorgeous n bc of his hair up his eyes looked even bigger n shimmered and the pics rlly dont do him justice... so the first thing i said was wow so handsome bc why not.. i was gagged indeed hdbdbsb he said like woooow our debut album and you already have it signed oabdbs i didnt explain the entire mwave thing bc wud he understand haha but he opened n he saw the pic of himself hes like what do u like better me now or me here??? me being myself im like fanfare bc ur hair down is so cute oahdhshs i rlly not a narcissus hag anyways but fanfare was best rowoon as always... so rowoon did his sign and i asked him to do sky castle impersonation he didnt understand so i just repeated sky castle he was like ah the voice thing im like yes cha minhyuk isbdbsh so he did the fucking thing and i was dying lmao great to have seen it in the flesh ofc...

after rowoon was taeyang and taeyang!!!! was so hyper and attentive like hdnsb whenever u see him in vids hes usually very casual but he was soooo sweet and he too was like ahhh fanfare he took a while to say but he said his heart was still in there hdhdhsh so i was 🤧🤧 i just asked tae if he was doing okay or if he wasnt feeling tired and he said he was doing great bc i was there im like dying hdhshsh so i said yah me too!!!! 

jae was after taeyang n jae was jdhshshs soooo into it i know korean fans say ppl change biases to jae after meeting him and i have to say i can see why!!! i didnt rlly know what to say to jae beforehand but he said oooo i really love london and im like haha i dont like it here im like im from the netherlands so he was shocked he said thank you for coming to travel here and he held my hand isbdbsbsb

next was inseong and... the eye contact level was sooo severe he rlly threw all into it hes like hi thank you for coming so much so i was wearing this shirt w a 🥩 on it and im like inseong do u like my shirt bc i know u love meat iahdhahsh so he was laughing n said yea wow this is my favorite shirt oshdhshs rlly had me going LOL he asked if it was my first time seeing them im like yea but im going to korea in the summer tho oshdhshs he said that was great n asked how long i was staying for,,, so im like im going a month so he asked why i was going so long im like im going for u!!! hdbshsb he gave me some hearts and i moved on ndhsbsab

so chani was next up and he looked so shy,,,, im sad bc i forgot to say everything i wanted to say to him at the beginning and i was just like chaniiiiiii and he laughed and signed my album before i went i quickly pushed in a URE MY FAVE DANCER n he highfived me hdhsbs

so youngbin was next and i... lmao... i was weak haha he just read my name hes like hiiiii gia im here being depressed saying HI YOUNGBIN I LOVE U SM thank u sm for everything u do for us and i shit u not my eyes like tearing up oshdbsbs yb asking me how im feeling im like YEA GREAT tears in my eyes oabdbs i rly couldnt speak otherwise id actually have them roll down my face so i just nodded and moved on iabsbs

hwiyoung im so sorry... i was still emo from yb and i even forgot to say happy birthday like pls hit me... hwi cheered for the fanfare album and im like yess hwi i love ur hair here i love the blonde;; hwi thanked me for coming 

next up was dawon and jdbsbs i came in saying hi fantasy president so he said yeeee fantasyyyyy and hes an unbothered legend oabbdhssbn he signed quickly and within a minute i was away again jdhdhs

so juho.. my god oshdhshwh hes so:((( pretty let me breathe liek... i came there im like juho i love u oahdhshsh hes just nodding his way going to sign my album and he drawing that heart stickman so im like i have a question can u draw— hes like this is my signature drawing LUCKILY i drew the jucasso next to my name so im like pointing at it being like lmao boy we dont want this heart flop bdhdhsh so he quickly drew it and i said i hope u feel better soon and i was off again,,, rlly dawon and juhos signing went so quick...

so we moved on to the pictures and they were grabbing the chairs and ju was standing all way back at first but then no members went to sit on the chairs oahdhs so JUHO THE MAN WENT FOR THE SEAT NEXT TO THE MIDDLE HDHSHSH and hwi on the other side and jae behind so im blessed like juho... he rlly did it... hdhshsh i quickly go to grab one of my banners bc im like bitch i gotta fucking rep for it now otherwise i wudnt know a pose anyways oahdhshs so i quickly took off my glasses as well

so its my turn im going up and sitting down and like handing this banner to ju and hes like ???? oh???? he quickly reads it n was impressed hdbsb so there was one pic and tae was sitting next to ju and wanted to read what was on the banner so he turned to us but then we had to take another pic so he had to turn back quickly again oahdhshsh and then i had to go again but as i walked away ju was explaining to the members what was on my banner so i :(((( 

after everyones picture was taken they said goodbye and waved and inseong stayed behind a lil to joke abt drinking beer (i rlly hate him but also me?) and then they left and we got our merch bags n went back downstairs

so i quickly ran over to my bestie to tell her abt it before realizing we had to line up to go inside for the concert so i was like stressed running away i rlly almost lost my first spot LOL but we were let inside the venue i had like 50 bags but i ran to the front and BLESS IT there was like tiny space left at the left side which is were i wanted to be bc juwoon!!!!!! so i rly did get barrier thank god i could put down all my bags as well and the fantasy next to me were great as well!!!!

// i’ll add the concert later as im tired rn and this is already 5k osjbhdbhjas

[dorks6]

Beep boop, checking in! How are you doing? Is it cold where you live? Please be careful and stay as warm as possible.. I know my nose runs every time i go out hehe 🌥️ I've been very obsessed with baek yerin these days (that one fancam of her singing 'square' ughhh) and also stella jang!! She is so talented (i love that cover she did from ratatouille). Is there something you've discovered recently and that you really like? Have a nice night or day it's 10 pm here rn. Signing off!! - 🌸🌠

Hi there sweetheart!

It’s not too cold here, few degrees below zero, but the wind makes it feel a lot colder than it is! Because of that, I’ve been thinking of Day6 as various types of warmth, maybe it’ll see daylight over the weekend! Please stay warm, sweetie!

And ooh, I admit I’ve only skirted edges of Baek Yerin’s music and never heard of Stella Jang before. Her music is very soft and lovely and the kind of bright we really need!

Last night, I didn’t really discover anything new, but I did realize there is new and last album of Leonard Cohen out, released yesterday, and that was such an amazing gift even though it also hurt for a lot of reasons.

Recently, I also started getting into Bear’s Den, Broken Parable was on repeat for a good while. For Korean music, I had bvndit’s Dumb kinda on loop as ‘get off your butt and do stuff’ song on and off for some time, will probably put it on tomorrow again!

Also, I remember that when you sent the anon, I read it immediately, but I had to go to sleep and it was 11pm for me, so I think we’re in rather near timezones, sweet anon! Interesting! :)

[taetaesource]

Out of the Ordinary

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 

You won a lucky draw chance to meet BTS backstage and got to know Min Yoongi. 

As BTS was growing bigger and bigger, Yoongi's burdens seemed to get heavier and heavier. BTS moved dorms, took on more endorsement contracts, upgraded their studios and Yoongi got a much bigger studio with the freedom to decorate or put whatever he wanted in there. He was getting more responsibilities at work. He would usually only be in charge of writing songs after songs and producing a few of them. Most of the work was done by the older and more experienced song producers and writers of the company. The rappers of BTS were only contributors to a small part, mainly coming up with beats or the hooks of the song, the bulk of the production came from the backend team. But after hyyh proved to be a huge success, the company allowed Namjoon and Yoongi to take charge of more production. WINGS was the album that Namjoon and Yoongi poured their hearts into. You knew the efforts that were taken to produce this album and the scepticism Yoongi had towards it. Yoongi was not as involved as Namjoon as he was working on his mixtape at that time, but he was definitely stressed out over the two projects.

The number of sleepless nights, long discussions and quarrels with Namjoon, wrestling back and forth between the different drafts, this album deserved to be a hit. When Yoongi was working hard to prove his worth through his mixtape and album, you were working hard on your final year thesis. You had countless of sleepless nights as well, flipping through pages after pages, academic journals after academic journals, researching and fitting everything into coherent chapters of essays. While Yoongi went back and forth between Namjoon and the senior producers, you were constantly going back and forth your professors' offices.

Dates with Yoongi was no longer a thing as both of you were just too busy and stressed out. Occasionally, you would text Yoongi in between breathing time such as when you were waiting for your food to be done at the takeaway, and he would sometimes call you in between his breathing time such as when he was waiting for his computer to finish saving and uploading the file that he was working on.

When WINGS was out, you were in the final week before your submission. The album was such a hit that everyone was talking about it. BTS was on the TV and radio everywhere, the streets were playing their songs and their advertisements were all over the bus stops, underground tunnels, subway and LED screens. Yoongi was busy with his promotions and he knew that you were busy too so he could not call or text you during the period. You were too busy and stressed out with perfecting your thesis that you hadn’t noticed his silence. The last time he texted you was to tell you that the album was out on itunes and spotify and you were on your way to your professor’s office so you left him on read receipt. The meeting with your professor turned out to be a stressful one as he pointed out the points that you would need to change in order for your paper to be more coherent. “You have 5 more days to go young lady, and I am not sure how you are going to get all these changes done. I can only say that you should have gotten more research done a month ago and not at this last minute. With a paper like this, you should be happy with a C grade.” 

So even if WINGS topped the charts and BTS has been winning at all the music shows, you could not bring yourself to congratulate Yoongi. Heck, you could not even find the time and mood to watch and follow BTS news and updates. You literally had 5 days and a disappointed professor to deal with. You barely even had time to eat and sleep properly. 

The day before your submission deadline, you were holed up in the library finishing up the final chapter of your paper. You still had to prove read the entire 12 chapters and polish up your acknowledgment and citations pages. You worked through the night and finally submitted your paper at 8am. It was not your best as you felt that you could have done better if you had even just one more day. So you turned your paper in with a less than satisfied heart and not as relieved as you thought you would be. Nonetheless, you were so tired and exhausted, all you wanted to do was to get in bed and sleep till the next day. 

That evening, after you woke up from your long nap, Hee Ji suggested to go out for dinner in celebration of your thesis submission. Although you were still feeling the fatigue, you thought it was a nice idea to finally get out to see the world after weeks of hell. The both of you headed to the chicken store near your dorm. 

The shop had a good business but it was not very crowded so you didn’t have to wait for long to get a table. After settling down and placing your order, you noticed Hee Ji singing along to the song that was playing in the shop. The song was very catchy and had a chorus that sounded like, “money money money money.” You started to nod to the rhythm of the music and when the chorus kept repeating, you said to Hee Ji, “this song is so funny, are they really singing about money??” 

“Oh my god girl, it’s BTS telling you “i want you many many”???”

Your first reaction was to look around as if to check if you could see what you were hearing and indeed, the music was coming out from a TV screen at the side of the store. The TV was playing the music video and you could recognise that it was BTS. But the truth was cemented when you saw Yoongi in the music video. A weird feeling came up to you. You suddenly realised that you had no idea when exactly the album was released. You had no idea how does the song sound like, how does the album look like and how does your boyfriend look like in this comeback. You remembered reading the texts that Yoongi sent you but you have not listened to the album that he had put in so much effort into making. You felt guilty and you suddenly missed Yoongi alot. You picked your phone up, attempting to reply to his last text but figured that you should at least listen to the album first before talking to him about it. 

That night, you ran the album on spotify and read up on the latest news of the comeback. You texted Yoongi and surprisingly got a quick reply from him. 

Send: I just managed to listen to the full album and saw the MV while i was eating at the shop just now. I am so proud of you my love. 

Message from Yoongi: you submitted your paper? Ya the album was well received thankfully. I’m going for a radio show in awhile. I’m so goddamn tired. 

Send: All the best! Please eat well 

Message from Yoongi: we are on 009FM if you want to hear my voice. 

Send: why would i want to? I’m going to sleep. I literally just submitted my paper this morning with no sleep yesterday. 

Message from Yoongi: Fine. Don’t listen to it. 

Send: Promise you would say something funny on the show and I will listen to it. 

Message from Yoongi: Forget it. Sleep. 

Send: I am tuning in now. Remember to be funny, I’m listening. 

Send: And I miss you. 

Message from Yoongi: Idiot 

You had your radio on as you prepared for bed. You had washed up, applied your night cream, turned off the main light and lying on your back on your bed with the warm bedside lamp on and the soft music playing from the radio station. 

“It’s 11pm and you are listening to 009FM. How have your Monday been? Were you feeling the blues as you were getting to work or school this morning? As the day is coming to an end, I hope you would be encouraged that you made it through today and tomorrow is a brand new day again.” 

“For our dear listeners tonight, are you waiting for our special guests to be on air tonight? Are you exciting to listen to them on this show?” 

“Our guests are here with us tonight and they are BTS. Say hello to our listeners please.” 

“Hello, we are BTS!” 

“Wow so much energy from this bunch, it suddenly feels like our late night show has brightened up so much. Please introduce yourself and tell us how you are feeling now.” 

“Hi I’m Rap Mon, nice to meet you tonight” 

“Hi I’m Jin, I’m glad to be here on this show tonight” 

“Hello I’m Jimin. Please enjoy the show tonight.” 

“Hi I’m Jhope! Wah I see so many of our armys outside. Hello!” 

“Hello I’m V. Please send us lots of love.” 

“Hi I’m Jungkook. Nice to see all of you here.” 

“Hi I’m Suga. Nice to meet all of you on this show tonight.” 

“Wow I’m sure your fans are happy to meet all of you on this show as well. Congratulations on your new album! Please tell us more about your new comeback.” 

Rap Mon: “Yes, this album is our third full length album with 7 solo songs from the members. We have put in alot of effort in this album, with our own compositions and performances. The concept is new as well, it’s about meeting and overcoming the temptations that youths face.” 

“Ahhh are there any temptations that you face as well? Could each member tell us about your temptations? Let’s start with Jin?” 

Jin: “oh yes... that would be food for me.” 

“Oh yes, that is a temptation that is hard to resist. There’s just too much good food around isn’t it?” 

Jimin: “computer games” 

V and Jungkook: “me too, computer games.” 

Rap Mon: “sleep” 

Suga: “Yes, I am tempted to sleep now.” 

*everyone burst out laughing*

Jhope: “armyyyyyyys” 

“Hahaha and why would armys be your temptation?” 

Jhope: “they seduce my heart.” 

*everyone burst out laughing* 

“Hahahaha pretty sure love is one big temptation that every youth encounters. Is love a big concept in your new album?” 

Suga: “yes i would agree with you that love is a big temptation in youth and we have incorporated that into the album as well. If you listen to our title track “Blood Sweat Tears”, you would see lyrics that are along the lines of “getting drunk on love” and “wanting you many many”....

“And are these inspired by your experience of love?” 

Suga: “oh is this a trick question? hahaha i would say love is a big temptation because all of us know that love is a nice feeling- from movies, from books, from songs etc. Many times, we draw inspirations from these sources and we imagine and translate them into our songs and music. Love comes in many forms as well, it can be love between friends, family, and we hope to put in and show different aspects instead of just love between lovers.” 

“And what kind of love is the greatest temptation for you?” 

Suga: “haha another trick question?” 

Jhope: “love from armys” 

Jimin: “yes, our army’s love is irresistible.” 

Suga: “I guess it’s the love from someone who loves you unconditionally. When you love a person and the person loves you back even greater, even more than you expected, that’s when it becomes a temptation. A temptation to get closer, to give more and to love more.” 

Jhope: “that’s why we are always giving back to our armys greater music, greater songs, greater performances.” 

“Ahh that makes sense. To our armys listening to this show, are you feeling the love from BTS?” 

“To let our fans know how much you love them, please say something to those who are listening to our show.” 

Jimin: “thank you for loving us and supporting us, we will show you a better side of us with this new album and the performances to come.” 

Suga: “To the you, listening to this show, and the you who loves me, thank you for your love. I love you too.” 

“Our dear listeners, can you hear the love from BTS? May the love from this 7 lovely young men warm up your hearts tonight and give you the strength to live beautifully for the week. Goodnight.” 

[anothersecondinthesunshine]

So I took a walk last night listening to Desire and here’s some word vomit about it for my own health and sake because I can’t keep it inside

After going through it quite a few times I still get nothing from it, like honestly noffin

and if this was any other band I would not play it twice and I would not turn around and ask for the name of the song if I heard it randomly in public Really this album is one loooong song that is an ok background track I guess Meaning it will do well in movie credits, tv shows, you’ll hear it in Zara or H&M while looking for knee socks and maybe it even does good on radio if force-fed down collective ears often enough

But will it go well with main fanbase idk and ironically I don’t even feel the desire to buy the album ??

Like it is listenable but do I want to play it not really As for the comments I saw these days, People mention it’s sort of the continuation of Surrender and I get it because of the “lightness”, but for me it’s kinda incomparable because Surrender still has some unique sounds you’d always recognize and want to hear more of, even be it Rolling Stone’s turbofolk solo or demonic closing voices of Policewoman

I mean I adore WOTW  to this day and Lights is a one of a kind creation, so Surrender was experimenting and it was easy accepting it as truly that

Desire offers nothing new plus it kinda lacks the depth of the emotion, I heard each of these songs in so many other bands and will hear them again and songs like these are made every day Using obvious mainstream trends of the moment and oversimplifying everything is evolving, really? Changing yes (and change is a good thing!), but evolving hardly Nobody’s wanting depressed ballads all the time either. It is possible to write good, smart pop that is insanely catchy, and still stay true to your own values. I’m thinking about what Marina did with Electra Heart. Seems they watered down their essence so much it accidentally washed away down the drain

Also, I’m afraid it won’t be impressive live, especially put between old songs to compete with

Like there’s too much laid back non distinctive instrumental parts that I can only imagine doing awkward swaying hands left to right to Onto the individual songs, skipping the ones we already heard: People Like Us - catchy leading beat! kept wanting bit more of it, to grow in intensity and kick in hard, but it never delivered; needs more of that strange pronunciation at the end; nice earworm, should’ve been a single, with a video about people faking happiness in a relationship

Something I Need To Know - bit forced, in the likeness of Blind, Wings, STDF; it goes on forever, not feeling it, something Emeli Sande could sing better Thinking Of You - so basic. too basic Wherever You Go - damn that’s a weird one, and in a good way! the melody makes me wanna do something and I’m not sure what, but by the chorus it becomes total lyrical cringefest; i don’t want to like it but it keeps me interested; I really appreciate the sentiment, but it’s like reading love letter from a schoolboy, he’s cute but it’s awkward as fuck; also it gets me because my life is a joke and it’s a reminder that truly wherever I go he’ll be the one

haunting in every way possible (I just randomly looked at left and I swear that’s his spirit self trolling me for not feeling this album, I mean who is even genuinely named Theo in this country) Chaperone - I hate it; below basic; Love Yourself by Justin Bieber and the rest of those in the same manner; don’t even get me started on fedora guy lyrics

Boyfriend - I can’t this one; they think they’re Prince and INXS and so smooth and cool but really someone just spent too much of his free time with Healy and the1975; this song is written at least 30 times so far in history and what’s the use of them making another one Walk Away - hello Charli XCX; “eo eeoh eo eo” WHY; oh and that intentional accentuated part at the end which we will all repeat on gigs while they instruct us to clap along eeeek

Wait Up - started nice musically like yes this could be the one and then those lyrics oh my god HOW DARE THEY combine smooth jazzy rnb with such asshole fuckboy lyrics ?! I am so angry; actually congratulations on making me feel at least some real emotion, amazing, I want to hear it never again; what am I supposed to do with this song, what is the occasion to listen to it? putting it on when getting frisky with a partner? fancy hearing about some jerk while you’re getting touched how you like? consulting it when debating whether letting some sleazy slimy excuse of a man humiliate and ruin your life? listening to it while reminiscing worst times in your failed relationships? sing along at gigs god forbid?

Spotlights - I’m torn on this one; maybe I’ll like it when I see the lyrics, I can’t decipher all; music gives me Vegas casino vibes idk why

Magnificent - melody reminds me of Love Is All Around (intentional?) and message is so sweet; it’s about us and them and about the two of them and it will be soooo beautiful singing it together at gigs like the family we are; I’m confused by “you held my heart in your hand while it was still beating”  tho; like, is it not beating anymore? what did they try to convey here? someone enlighten me

(oh and as this song was starting, out of nowhere comes a stray dog behind me and bumps into me and I startle and jump a little because I had earphones in and didn’t hear him, and he looks me with that silly super excited dog smile and there comes another one waggling his tail at me and suddenly they’re now chasing one another and playing on the freshly kept almost fake looking grass in front of a closed shopping mall at 11pm to “so take a look around it’s so magnificent this love of ours is something brilliant” and it looks like a bizarre hallmark postcard so much that I start laughing out loud like a maniac which just excites and encourages them even more and from that point on they would not leave me and they walked beside me and we roamed empty streets listening to Hurts together lol and then I started following their lead like hm just for the fun of it let’s see where they would go and we go into this little street and there’s a table and I glance over it and it says Jure Kerosevica which can be translated as something along Chase Doggovich Street AND I JUST LOST IT LAUGHING) Anyways, I’ll adore them till the day I die and I’ll always run to see them whenever they come and I’ll support their efforts, but in general this is the direction I was hoping they will not choose to take. I can mentally appreciate certain things, but I’m still not feeling it much. Sadly, it doesn’t move me at all. If I have to name favourites those would be (in no particular order) Hold Onto Me, People Like Us, Wherever You Go and Magnificent. Good that may come from this is that they satisfied whatever particular ambition they wanted to satisfy and in future they move onto something else and completely different. Also if there’s anything autobiographical in it, I hope this helped them exorcise their complicated love affairs and demons akin, because most of the lyrics are damn deceptive and when you think about them, in the way certain lines are folded, where they’re placed and how they’re sang, they show an immature, self-indulgent, reckless and borderline insulting narcissistic behavior. Kinda telling why their faces on the cover are hiding and perfectly telling why Desire. Visually too, it advertises itself as Valentines Day chocolate candy, but it’s half empty inside. Careful what you call love and who you fall in love with :)

[realphan]

kevaaron coffee shop au

this is a 2.2k fic for @some-sort-of-firefly for the @aftgexchange , I really hope you like it!

Starbucks had never been the most exciting building. The brown walls reflected the boredom (and often frustration) in the brains of the baristas while the too-bright lights were reminiscent of the naïve customers with their double soya low-fat caramel mocha lattes. It was certainly the most boring place that Kevin Day had ever been and he was a history major who had once visited a wheel museum which he had to write a 10-sided essay on.

Kevin had once been a bright star - a face roughly 10% of the country would recognise – and was supposed to become a professional baseball player. However, his family lost all of their money in a stupid investment when he was seventeen and they essentially dropped off the face of the earth, Kevin losing all chances of fame and stardom.

Day-in and day-out, Kevin now made coffees for arrogant businessmen and giggly schoolgirls. Today was a particularly rough day, he had been finding it hard to concentrate and had already messed up the order of one particularly pretentious man in a brown suit. As if he wasn’t already in a bad enough mood, he looked up at the next customer and had to hold in the sigh threatening to burst out. An incredibly short man stood in front of him, blonde hair sticking up all over the place, with the largest scowl where a smile should have been. He practically spat out his order and Kevin almost forgot to ask his name.

“Aaron,” he growled. Kevin was in no mood to deal with this Aaron so he turned away to make the black coffee that matched both the man’s mood and fashion sense.

A thought struck Kevin as he heard Aaron tapping impatiently on the counter. Why should he care about this man who obviously thinks he is superior? Before he could change his mind and think better of it, he put the plastic lid on top of the takeaway cup and scrawled ‘Erin’ on the side. What it would prove, Kevin didn’t know, but he felt satisfied when Aaron raised the cup and turned to glare at him. “What the fuck?” he asked, but Kevin just turned to the next customer as Aaron stormed out.

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

The sun glared through the windows of the coffee shop. Kevin didn’t know if there was any worse way to be spending the end of summer.

Kevin didn’t even try to conceal his groan when the asshole from the previous day walked in. Today, however, his frown had been replaced with a blank look. Couldn’t be worse than yesterday, Kevin thought.

Aaron ordered the same drink and Kevin made it perfectly again. All was well until Kevin turned to face him and Aaron was looking pointedly at his watch. Fine then, he thought, we can do this again.

The cup read ‘Aarun’ and the man’s retort today was simply, “Go to school sometime, might learn how to spell.”

Kevin almost ignored him but changed his mind, “I’m a history major at Palmetto State University.”

“That shithole,” Aaron snorted and walked out. Kevin tried not to be offended by this stranger’s opinion but it was not in Kevin’s nature to take things kindly, and he vowed to win this war.

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

Even though Kevin hated working there and Aaron appeared to hate Kevin, he still showed up every day and ordered the same coffee. For the first week, Kevin kept the names to simply misspelled versions of Aaron, but he soon ran out so he threw logic out of the window entirely. One day the cup would read ‘Dave’, the next it would be ‘Sebastian’. Kevin tried his best to avoid any repeats and kept a list of names that he had used. It wasn’t until three weeks in that Kevin realised that he was putting far too much time and effort into this petty feud. That was the same time that Aaron started saying his name – he just didn’t call him Kevin.

Before that, the only words that had been exchanged between them were the order and the price (Aaron had given up giving his name, regarding it as futile) and there had been nothing personal about the encounter. Until one day, Aaron called Kevin ‘Bob’. Kevin chose to ignore it, assuming that he was addressing someone in the queue, but the next day he looked up and realised that Aaron just called him Henry. It wasn’t a genuine mistake – the large and obnoxious tag on Kevin’s apron insured that even those with the worst vision could read his name.

Both boys smirked at each other – this is getting fun, Kevin thought.

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

Another two weeks later, Kevin was lying in bed when he realised how much he was actually enjoying this mini war. Ever since Aaron had started joining in, his personality had come out and Kevin thought he was genuinely funny.  Also, Kevin may have picked up on the fact that he found the man quite attractive, despite his messy hair and height (or rather lack thereof).

He knew that the small crush he was developing was ridiculous – he knew nothing about the man other than his name, they hadn’t even had one proper conversation and after all, Aaron probably hated him.

Thankfully, Kevin was going to visit his father for a week and he was completely ready for a week away from both work and school. It was honestly unfair that he was still working throughout summer while his friends were drinking cocktails in hot tubs (and making sure to send him pictures, too). It would also give him a chance to clear his mind of Aaron, although he expected that he would miss the two minutes that he sees him every morning, since that was usually the most interesting part of his day.

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

Aaron entered Starbucks the next day and immediately noticed Kevin’s absence. He ordered his coffee anyway, and the barista had to prompt him twice to give his name, as Aaron was used to the routine he and Kevin had. It was bizarre to see ‘Aaron’ written on the cup and it felt completely wrong. He dumped the coffee without even sipping it.

He turned up the next two days and was disappointed both times so he decided to stay away for the week and see if Kevin would return the next week. Aaron hadn’t realised that he actually enjoyed seeing Kevin, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and refused to ponder it.

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

Kevin returned from his visit fully refreshed. He loved seeing his father as they got along so well and it had been nice to essentially sit around for a week and do nothing. He had finally had a chance to enjoy the summer sun and had spent most of the break lying on the beach and swimming in the ocean. The thought of work hadn’t crossed his mind once and he was grateful when he got back and realised that he hadn’t thought about Aaron once. Perhaps he had been wrong and he didn’t actually have a crush on the blonde.

All self-satisfaction was thrown out of the window when the aforementioned man walked through the door. Aaron had his usual grumpy expression until he looked up and saw that Kevin was serving again. For a brief moment, a wide smile flashed across his face, replaced with a smaller one only when he realised Kevin was looking right at him. Fuck, Kevin thought, how can I find him so attractive when I know nothing about him?

By the time Aaron reached the counter, both of the boys had managed to conceal all feeling and expression. Their interaction was no different from normal until Aaron went to speak the wrong name as usual. Aaron didn’t know anything had gone wrong until Kevin looked at him with wide eyes. He thought back and had to stop himself from cringing when he realised that what had come out of his mouth was, “Babe.”

Kevin had forgotten how to move. Aaron had called him babe but then immediately looked like he regretted it… Kevin couldn’t deal with this right now. He turned away to make Aaron’s coffee, feeling his heart beat fast in his chest.

When he could no longer stop stalling and turned around, he saw a bright red flush over Aaron’s face which gave him a surge of confidence. He seemed more embarrassed than regretful so instead of writing an incorrect name on his cup, Kevin wrote his own mobile number.

Before Aaron could read his cup, Kevin turned quickly to the next customer. He was mortified, why had he just given his phone number to a customer? There was no way he could listen to customers while his own mind was being even louder, so he shut all of his thoughts away and vowed not to think of Aaron, at least until he got home.

--------

By the time he did get home, he had three messages on his phone.

[15:05] hi, it’s aaron [15:05] i can’t believe you gave me your number, i’m hoping it wasn’t a mistake, it would be great to talk to you more [15:17] you’re probably still in work, i’m so stupid

Kevin wanted to tell him that he wasn’t stupid but he thought that that probably wouldn’t have been the best way to start a conversation with a boy he had a crush on.

[17:36] sorry I didn’t get your messages, I was working, and I’d like to talk to you more too

It took ten minutes for Aaron to message back and those ten minutes were filled with Kevin picking his phone up and throwing it down, trying to distract himself with a book but not being able to concentrate and burning himself on the tea he was trying to make when his phone finally buzzed.

[17:46] no problem, i’m in med school so i understand being busy haha

For some reason, Kevin found the ‘haha’ incredibly cute. They started talking about university and what they were studying and somehow moved onto topics including (but not limited to) what animals they most related to (they mutually agreed on a sloth although Kevin put forth a convincing argument for a fox), their Hogwarts houses (both Ravenclaws) and Beyonce’s most recent album.

Kevin had been thoroughly enjoying texting Aaron and had completely forgotten the awkwardness from the start. He hadn’t realised how long they had been talking until at 11pm Aaron said that he would have to go to sleep as he had a 5am shift the next day. Somehow, they had talked for five hours, with only a short break in the middle for both of them to put their ready meal dinners in the microwave (Kevin was a student who worked in a coffee shop, it wasn’t like he could afford anything healthier).

In bed that night, Kevin smiled to himself, thinking back over the conversation that had felt so natural to him, and feeling grateful for the grumpy blonde shortie that had entered his life.  

Three weeks later, the boys had a new routine. Aaron would get coffee when he was finished with work or school, rather than in his break, and then would wait for Kevin’s shift to finish. They would then go for a walk, or head back to one of their apartments (usually Kevin’s since Aaron had roommates who loved to tease him). They were making the most of the summer, although Aaron was eager to stay out of the sun considering how pale he was.

Kevin couldn’t believe his luck. His shitty Starbucks job had gotten him a boyfriend who loved to hold Kevin’s hand while they kissed on his cheap Ikea couch. While Kevin hadn’t hated his life before, it had been dull, and the introduction of Aaron brought a new enthusiasm into his life and he found himself appreciating the little things.

He knew it wouldn’t always be this easy, but they were still in the sickening honeymoon phase where they would text the other saying they missed them, and they could cuddle for hours without getting bored.

All of this was why, when Aaron walked through the door at Kevin’s work earlier than usual and with a dark look on his face, Kevin was worried. He made him his coffee before he had even reached the till as there were no other customers queueing and he wanted to cheer his boyfriend up.

He approached the till and handed over the coffee while Aaron stood there with a raised eyebrow and a five dollar note in his hand, “Aren’t you going to take my order?”

Kevin ignored the question and smiled at his boyfriend until Aaron looked at the heart Kevin had drawn on the cup and took a sip of the coffee, “What the actual fuck? This is so fucking bitter.”

The confused barista stood looking at his boyfriend in bewilderment. He was trying to figure out what he had done wrong when the door opened and a second Aaron walked in. In passing, Aaron had once mentioned that he had a twin brother and from the look on the faces of both of the Aarons, Kevin could figure out his mistake.

“You’re not Aaron, are you?”

[bohnesarmy-blog]

BOHNES | EUPH.

Tell us about Bohnes. How did it come about?

I was in a band called The Cab, and it was kind of coming to an end. Mentally, I knew that I was ready for the next step. I started the band when I was 14. And so when you’re 14, what you want to do, and what everyone else in the band wants to do changes dramatically when you’re 24 years old. Think about how much you grow from when you’re 14 and 24. Exponential. It’s crazy.

Like two completely different people.

Exactly. There were guys in the band that didn’t like being in a band, that wanted to get “real” jobs and guys who gained confidence to do their own solo thing. It was one of those things where The Cab was almost like college. I learned so much, and I met so many amazing people, and we had the greatest fans in the entire world. Probably a highlight of being in The Cab was just meeting all of the fans and hearing their stories. I hit this point in my life where The Cab was going to, at least temporarily, be finished. And I had no idea what to do. I was completely like “Well, shit.” Do I go get a real job? Do I start another band? Go solo? And it was really important to me to not have the new project called “Alexander DeLeon” because I didn’t want anyone to think I felt like my name was bigger than the band. It had nothing to do with “Oh, you guys, my brand is bigger than the band and I am big enough to where I’m going to do my own thing.”

You didn’t want to pull a Justin.

Well… hey. Justin can do no wrong. But totally, that’s not what it was. I was going in a different direction and try something new. To be honest, the two years between the band and Bohnes were pretty brutal. Fun, but I really had to figure myself out. I was drinking every night, partying, and enjoying not being in a van or tour bus. That’s where I was from 17 years old for about 7 years, touring 11 months out of the year. I had lost girlfriends because I just wasn’t home, fell out of touch with a lot of my family.

So, I went to Paris and started traveling the world to kind of figure out what I wanted to do and figure myself out. When I was in the Catacombs underground, where there are millions of bones, I’m gonna call myself Bohnes.

How’d you get started in music? Before The Cab days, take me back to the beginning.

My mom could not hit a note if she tried. You could give her a million dollars and she wouldn’t be able to sing in tune. But my dad was a professional singer. And his mom, my grandmother was a singer who was pretty famous in Mexico, she sang mariachi. It was kind of in my blood. When I was a little boy, I wanted to either be Batman or a professional basketball player…

I mean, duh.

Yeah, I mean Batman/Bruce Wayne and on a basketball team. All my friends got tall and I stayed short, so I was like well… I have to adjust my goals.

So… Batman it is.

Exactly (laughs). When I was in high school, I was actually the opposite of what I am now. I studied really hard, all my friends would party on the weekends and I would not because I played sports and got really good grades, I wouldn’t drink. Late high school, everyone would go to the desert, do bonfires and drink beer. I’d have basketball games or exams and when I was bored I just bought a guitar and would write songs at night.

I would have dinner, do my homework and then from about 11pm to 6am I’d write songs. Then at 6am, I’d hop into the shower, go to school and everyone else would be groggy and still waking up but I’d be fresh and awake. Then when school was over, at basketball practice, I’d crash and go nocturnal. So I always enjoyed writing at night because there’s no distractions, no texts, my mom’s not yelling at me.

For those who haven’t heard “Six Feet Under” yet, how would you describe it? I blasted everything you have on Spotify and I’m loving “Witchcraft” and “Six Feet Under” so far.

“Witchcraft” is a Frank Sinatra cover, which I love it because my dad used to sing it to me as a kid. I think I have four songs up on Spotify and three of them are demos I had put up about a year and a half ago. I put one tweet out, no videos, no press, I just wanted people to know that I was doing something else, but I wrote those songs really fast. So “Six Feet Under” is probably the first song that I actually consider Bohnes. This is what it’s going to sound like, this is what it is.

People that listen to the whole album, like my friends and some fans, who I’ve shown the entirety of the new album, everyone says that it sounds like if Justin Timberlake started a heavy rock band like Rage Against the Machine. There’s a lot of heavy guitar riffs, there’s definitely darker elements on the album, but the vocals are super pop. So instead of hearing synth lines, there’s heavy guitar. My background is listening to Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, NSYNC, so the harmonies on “Six Feet Under,” if I could show you the vocals without any music, the chorus sounds like a five-part harmony.

You worked with some talented people on the track. How was it working with Matt Johnson (Matt & Kim) & Bryan Sammis (The Neighbourhood, Olivver The Kid)?

Bryan was in a band called The Neighbourhood and I was a big fan, so he left, probably for the same reason. I don’t think there was any crazy animosity and did Olivver The Kid and La Bouquet. So I did “Six Feet Under” with him and the next single with Matt. Matt’s interesting because he’s in an indie rock band but also loves hip hop. So I wanted to challenge myself and work with people– Like for The Cab, I worked with Bruno Mars and pop writers who did Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez songs, so for this project, because it’s more rock n’ roll, I want to work with people who were in rock bands. Because my vocals are so pop, I need people to just dirty them up a bit and bring them back down because it’s just so poppy.

Tell about the music video. What inspired it?

The music video for “Six Feet Under” was shot in Nara, Japan, which before Tokyo, was the capital of Japan. I think the theme park was built in the late 60s or 70s and the owners and builders originally wanted to create a DisneyLand and Disney said no, but Walt said he’d help. When you’re in this park, there’s Main Street, there’s a mountain that looks like the Matterhorn in Disneyland LA, there’s a castle and everything’s in a circle around the castle… It’s pretty dead on. I remember going online and going down the rabbit hole, which is the Internet, and found “the coolest abandoned places.” And #1 on all these lists was this abandoned theme park.

I flew all the way there, I didn’t have access. It was illegal to get into. And because I didn’t want people to catch me, I stayed 2-3 miles away and brought only two videographers, one was a girl who could be a videographer and an actress, and my friend Justin Clough, who was the main director. We stayed in a hotel and at like 3am, we put all the camera gear, got flash lights and had to walk 3 miles down a highway. If you call a cab, Japan’s such a respectful country that the cab drivers will call the authorities and be like “Just so you know, I just dropped these kids off at an abandoned theme park and they’re probably up to no good.”

Dude, we walked 3 miles and the scary thing was that it was still dark when we got to the park, we had to wait for the sun to come out to film. We hid in a haunted house until the sun came up then we ran around and filmed. There were also security guards, so whenever we saw one, we had to break into a building and hide. We broke into the haunted house, an arcade, hid in bushes by a rollercoaster. We couldn’t talk either. Imagine filming a video without being able to talk and only whispering or using hand motions. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was insane. That probably would’ve cost half a million dollars to do.

What do the skull masks represent?

Ironically enough, we filmed the video before we had the song. I watched the video on repeat and kind of got lyrical and musical ideas together from the video. It was almost like scoring a short film with a pop song. It was challenge. It pushed me to think in a different way. It was a completely different thought process.

The masks represent that Bohnes isn’t just me, it’s a thought process and a universe that I built. Anyone could be Bohnes, and underneath man, woman, gay, straight, doesn’t matter where you’re from, your sexual orientation or the color of your skin, underneath it all, you’re bones. The masks represented that we’re the same and anyone could wear that mask and we’re all people: we all live, die, fall in love, lose, fail. That’s who we are at our core, and again not to be morbid, when you die, everything disappears and your bones are left to tell your stories.

What can fans expect from your upcoming album? Does it follow any recurring theme or concept?

It’ll be out early next year. Yes, it’s as close to a concept album without it being a concept album. One of the reasons the project is called Bohnes is because it was at a point in my life, where it really hit me. Life and death really hit me. Death is actually this incredibly beautiful thing because it forces you to live. If we all lived forever, there would be unlimited amount of time and we wouldn’t catapult ourselves into adventures because we could do it later. Life is short, so it makes us want to travel the world, fall in love, and do these things. I guess the entirety of the album is based around time and life and death.

My favorite song on the album is a song called “Coffins” and it’s a love song and the main lyric in the chorus us “If you walk out the door, know that I will too, I hope they build coffins for two.” It’s kinda realizing that one day, you will die but being okay with it knowing you have someone you’re walking life with that’ll go with you.

Any plans to tour soon?

I think I need to get music out so there’s more content and for people to understand what the Bohnes world is. But, definitely I would love to tour. If enough people like the music, I’ll be touring endlessly again.

To what extent, if any, does your personal style and look reflect your music or your new persona as Bohnes?

I think rock n’ roll my entire life has affected how I dressed. I found this picture a few days ago I had like spiked hair that was pink tips, I think I’d buy those studded bracelets from Hot Topic. Growing up, I went through every phase of rock n’ roll. I went from listening to the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles to listening to AFI, The Refused, Rancid, Alkaline Trio that went into Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco. The first rock band I ever heard was Queen.

My dad raised me on listening to Freddie Mercury. I think that’s also been a big inspiration to the project because if you listen to a Queen album, you can have “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” which sounds like an Elvis song, and “Another One Bites The Dust” which is a funk song, “Tie Your Mother Down” which is rock n’ roll and then “Bohemian Rhapsody” which is an opera. I loved that they could have so many genres on one album, but when Freddie sang, you knew it was one album. And Justin Timberlake does the same thing, “Drink Your Way” a country song, “Senorita” a Spanish-flavor song, “Rock Your Body” which is a Michael Jackson-Prince sounding song. I love that their voices tie everything together. I always try to keep that in mind. Don’t let the music put you in a corner.

I have a song that sounds like an acoustic James Taylor song, but on the same album that’s like incredibly heavy like Rage Against the Machine and somehow they’re tied together with my voice and the lyrics.

We saw you went to Burning Man on Instagram! How was it? That’s definitely on our check list of many festivals to go to.

Burning Man was Mars. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever been to. It really makes you believe in people again. In this world, you watch the news and it’s crazy. It’s tragedy after tragedy. Going to Burning Man, where my phones just didn’t work so I put them away, you’re in the middle of nowhere. You just meet people, and you’re not talking about pop culture, or anything but what you’re feeling and what inspires and motivates you and there’s just something super magical about meeting people who aren’t on their phones.

Sometimes I just need to throw my phone across the room and just be like “Ok, that’s enough.”

Especially these days with the news, I would go on Twitter if it was just my friends, but seeing what’s going on in the world.

I feel like between the weather and the politics, I feel like everything that’s going wrong is just telling us that we fucked up.

Totally. There were, what, four major hurricanes in a month? On top of all the shit that humans are doing? I’m from Las Vegas so it’s been a rough week for me with what happened there. You almost become desensitized to a lot of it. Vegas was a wake up call for me because it was my hometown. Sandy Hook hit me real hard, because those are kids. I lost my mind when that happened. I couldn’t comprehend. I think Sandy Hook woke everyone up, and you thought there would be change and they didn’t. But Vegas was my hometown and my city, and I have friends who got shot, and my mom had tickets to the concert and I called her and she wasn’t answering her phone. Your mind goes places. Luckily she didn’t go to the concert.

All you can do in these circumstances is, you can’t let them win. You can’t stop going to music festivals, you can’t give up on people, because as soon as that happens, they’ve won. If anything, I’m going to go to more music festivals and love even more and put out even more music. I put out a song today called “702” which is an acoustic song that speaks directly about the Vegas events. I was crying so hard the night before because I thought my mom was there, that my voice on the demos was really scratchy. I put that song out and, if you’re reading this, it’ll be on Spotify and iTunes and everything that I make will go to the victims of the families and you can also donate here.

If you had the ultimate celebrity power, what would be on your tour rider?

I would put a basketball court in my house… which I’m working on doing, it’s a pipe dream. If I had Jay-Z money, I would buy a house in about 20 major cities and they wouldn’t be extravagant, it wouldn’t be over the top. Super modest houses, 2-3 bedrooms in all my favorite cities. Rome, Tokyo, New York, Nashville, Kawaii, cottage in Iceland. Just places I could stay and to encourage my friends and family to travel more and be like “don’t pay for hotels, just stay at my place and go see the world.” For everyone that I love, I just go say, “get the hell out and go see the world.” Buy little houses and apartments, no mansions just little spots.

Where has been your favorite travel destination so far? Why?

From my last year in The Cab to now, I think I traveled to about 65 countries. Can I give you 5?

Iceland: You can drive around the entire country in 5-7 days and you can see beaches, glaciers, waterfalls, icebergs, volcanoes, auroras, anything you can think of, Iceland has it.

Rome, Italy

Tokyo, Japan

Nashville, TN

Kawaii, Hawaii: For some reason it doesn’t get as much respect as Maui or Honolulu, it’s gorgeous. It’s like Bora Bora Jr. and only 6 hours away from LA, it’s incredible. It’s extremely cheaper than Bora Bora and not a 26 hour flight (laughs).

What was your last Google search?

Can I look? (laughs) “Misdemeanor trespassing consequences Alabama” because I’m filming an acoustic performance in abandoned buildings in Alabama and I’m thinking there was a 50/50 chance I’ll go to jail or get slapped with a misdemeanor and just in case it happens, I wanted to prepare myself and know my rights.

Photographer: Laura Ersoy Interviewer: Laura Ersoy. Magazine website: http://www.euphoriazine.com/ Magazine instagram: https://www.instagram.com/euphoriazine/

[dah-knee-cuh]

Restless Nights (Peter Parker)

Summary: You can’t sleep, so you call your knight in shining armor to cuddle with you for the night.

Warnings: occasional swearing

Fluff

Requested: @143amberrose

Word Count: 1045

               11PM:

                Finals week coming up consists of open textbooks all throughout your room, sheets of notes sprinkle the ground and even little sticky notes dot your bedroom walls to help you study. Pacing the room whilst repeating concepts, formulas, and SparksNote the last novel you supposedly read. Eventually, you complete countless equations until you decide to call it a night. For studying for three hours straight you’re satisfied with your work. Although in the end, you aren’t any less stressed as you were earlier in the week and no amount of studying can help.

               1AM-3AM:

               There isn’t much for you to do at this time of night. As much as you want to, sleep just isn’t able to come.  You do all the possible tricks in the book to help get some sleep: count sheep, drink warm milk, and even some breathing exercises, but none of them did the job. Tossing and turning in bed does nothing but make you more fidgety. After so much moving you happen to fall off your bed and choose to lay there in hopes that it would help. It did not.

               When coming to the realization that sleep won’t be happening tonight, you can only accept the restless night with open arms. In the mean time you try some yoga and rearrange your bookshelf since there’s finally time to. It doesn’t take long for you to get to the point of just cleaning your room just because. Capping off the night with mindless scrolling on your phone when you discover an album of videos Peter happened to take with you.

“I’m telling you Peter I can climb this tree!” You let you when attempting to grab hold of the trunk.

“Come on (nickname), you’re going to hurt yourself and it’s going to be embarrassing to take your injured self on the subway.” He says from behind the camera, “I’ll stand behind you to catch you when you fall.”

“I can do what I want, your punk ass wishes it can be as cool as me.” You counter when pulling yourself onto a branch, “See Pete I got-Oomph!”

“Ouch babe, what did I tell you? Must you always be falling for me” He groans from under you. Flipping the camera onto the both of you on the ground in slight pain, he films himself kissing your shoulder before stating, “c’mon love gotta remember, I’m always right.”

“C’mon Y/N!” Peter yells while running through the halls of some building, “Don’t you want your phone back?”

“Peter,” your laugh echoes through the halls, “drop the silly string and give me back my phone you ass.”

“Not until you apologize for waking me up with a face full of whipped cream,” turning a corner he finds you with a water gun. “What the?”

“Gotcha Petey,” you say with a devious glint in your eyes. Before blasting him with water, you snatch the phone and capture Peter getting soaked before the video ends.

“I miss Peter,” thinking to yourself and without a second thought, ring him up in hopes he’s still awake.

Surprisingly it didn’t take long for him to pick up, even with it being extremely early in the morning.

“Hi,” he answers breathlessly.

“Oh hey, are you okay? You sound like you just went of a run or something.”

“Wh-Whaaat? N-nope not running here, nada, zip, zero. I’m just going on a little walk. I uh-couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”

“Um alright then, I can’t sleep either and I miss you. Can you come over?”

“Is the Y/n Y/L asking for a booty call? I never thought I would see the day!” He says with a smile evident in his tone.

“What? No! Peter I can’t sleep and you know having someone to sleep with helps.”

“So you do want someone to sleep with you!”

“Shut up Peter. Can you just come over?”

“Yeah, sure I’ll come over now. Shit. My-,” the call happens to break for just a second, “tingling.”

“Your what is tingling?”

“My-my hands! My hands are really cold so it might be awhile before I can swing by.”

“Okay? Just come in by the fire escape so my parents won’t hear you. Bye.”

“See you in a bit.” He ends before hanging up.

Click

4AM

               The tapping on the bedroom window snaps you out of your reverie. Opening the window lies Peter Parker, shivering and bruised up.

“Pete, what the hell happened?” You ask.

“Um- I fell on the way here. That’s why it took me so long to come.”

“That’s so weird! You okay though?”

“Yeah of course, I’ll heal up eventually and it’s not even that bad. Just a flesh wound babe.” He says wrapping his arms around you, “Besides my secret weapon is here so I can heal faster.”

“Oh my gosh Parker, you’re such a nerd. Now come on, to bed we go!” You laugh when dragging him on to the bed.

               Instantly you wrap yourself in the many blankets and in Peter’s arms. As you breathe in his scent, you can only smile in content and snuggle closer to him.

“Thanks Peter, you didn’t have to come you know.” Your words muffle against his chest.

“It’s no problem; I’d do anything for you, you know that. Have you been sleeping lately?” His concern evident in his voice.

“Not really, I haven’t been sleeping much, if at all, for the past few weeks. It’s fine though.”

“It’s not fine, you should’ve called me sooner. You know I don’t mind.” Peter retorts.

“I know, I will next time. Promise. But really though, thanks again Petey; you are amazing, spectacular even. A complete lifesaver.”

“Oh you have no idea,” he mumbles when pulling you closer to him.

               With Peter by your side, sleep finally did come. Maybe it’s the warmth of another person, or when his fingers softly trace shapes on your arms, but finally a decent night of sleep came for the first time in a while. Perhaps it is just because it’s Peter Parker and your body knows that you are safe with him. The gentle kisses, him instinctively holding you as if you are his world, even in his sleep, if all your nights came to an end like this, life would be perfect.

A/N So sorry that I took so long on this, I thought I would have more time. On the bright side I finally posted and I hope you guys liked it! Requests and feedback are always open, just hit up my asks or messages.

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[imaginethatsj]

Daniel Andre Tande imagine - “Lyrics”

Part two to “I’m getting by” imagine

Ever since you talked with Daniel you couldn’t get the conversation out of your head. “Take care of yourself Y/N please” kept replaying in your head ever since he said it. You weren’t completely fine like you told him. Your friend and you went to get some food from a really good restaurant after a very exhausting event in Planica. You hardly ate anything so far and you were starving. Know how they say never go to the store hungry? The same thing applies to never ordering food when you’re hungry. You ordered two pizzas and two portions of American pancakes, one with blueberries and one with chocolate.

After twenty minutes the food was ready and you were teased the whole ride home with the smell of freshly made pizzas. The ride wasn’t long but right then and there it was just too much. Finally, you arrived to your friend’s house and got everything ready to eat. Friends episode was playing on the television and in your lap you had your pizza with tuna and pancakes. You knew you can’t even eat one whole pizza so let’s not talk about a whole pizza and a portion of pancakes. Both of you were tired so the only thing that could be heard was a few “mmm” and “so good” along with the voices of Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phebe and Joey.

That night your friend went to sleep early. It was funny since you were always the one who went to sleep first and she was awake till midnight. You’re not saying you weren’t tired because you were, but somehow you couldn’t fall asleep. “Take care of yourself Y/N please” kept repeating in your head and even the way he was looking at you like you were going to crumble down any second. His eyes were worried but somehow loving. “Don’t let him mess with your head again Y/N” You said out loud to yourself. “I’m fine, everything is okay. No need to worry.” You were trying to calm down your thoughts. But deep down you knew that wasn’t true. Ever since he left you, you didn’t know what to do with yourself. Yes, you had a job and things to do but you weren’t who you were before. Your family and friends noticed that and began to be more attentive to you but they weren’t who you needed. You lost your appetite and lost weight, not much since you were skinny anyways but it was noticeable.

He was your first serious boyfriend and before him you were very organized, independent and you could take care of yourself. But then he came along and everything changed. You got too attached and used to always having him a call away if anything happened and now suddenly he was taken away.

With everything else you were strong but dealing with this break-up you figured out that you have a weakness and that was him. He was with you at the time that you lost your grandfather and with his help you handled it in the best way possible. He was your source of strength. And now you had to become your own. It wasn’t easy but you though you‘ve got this.

You’ve looked at your phone to see that’s the time. It was already 11PM and you still weren’t sleeping. Somehow you managed to fall asleep and slept like a baby till the next morning.

Planica was over and the season ended. You felt a small relieve since you knew you weren’t going to see Daniel’s face every weekend on the television for some time.

You needed something to distract you so your friends decided to have a little get together in your family’s weekend house. They got everything you needed from food, music, drinks and sleepover clothes. For this occasion, they went over the top and you all got matching pyjama shorts and top. The party started and after one drink thing got a bit wild. You weren’t drunk, far from that you just got a bit of courage to do things you normally weren’t comfortable with.

You were playing songs and singing along until Justin Bieber’s song came on. You weren’t ashamed to admit that his album Purpose was downloaded on your phone. From `Sorry´ to `Love yourself´ you found yourself singing and dancing along. His song that described your situation all too well. “Where are you now that I need ya? Couldn’t find you anywhere. When you broke down I didn’t leave ya, I was by your side So where are you now that I need ya?” You sang and then did some weird dancing. You loved the song not solely based on the lyrics but because the beat and the melody was really catchy. Someone else got a hold of the phone that was playing the music and after a few songs we ended up listening to Taylor Swift’s music. That wasn’t a very good sign. From `I knew you were trouble´ to `Style` and `We are never ever getting back together´. The most important thing was that you were having a good time and you and you had all good friends together after a long time.

You all went to sleep in the early hours of the next day and were tired from dancing. Some of you even had sore throats but it was all for a good cause. You looked on your phone to see the time but you were looking at your lock screen that was full with notifications from Twitter and Instagram. “What the hell?” You said with your groggy morning voice. “What” your friend next to you asked even more confused. “My twitter and Instagram mentions are blowing up.” You were clicking so fast on your phone and when you saw what caused all that almost made you drop your phone. “No, no, no, no.” – “What Y/N? What’s going on?” You closed your eyes trying to calm down and get some oxygen in your brain so you could think straight. “Someone recorded me on snapchat dancing to Justin Bieber’s song `Where are U now´ and then to Taylor Swift’s song `I knew you were trouble´. On my snapchat where I have some of Daniel’s fans and they put that on `My story´ and they put that online. I guess Daniel saw that and tweeted lyrics from another song from Taylor Swift and people are going crazy.” You said putting your phone down and bringing your hands to your face. “Show me” Your friend said and you gave her your phone. “Daniel Andre Tande: what you’re looking for has been here the whole time. why can’t you see you belong to me.” She read her face looking more shocked with every word she read. “You know what this means right, Y/N?” She asked you with a small smile. You were too afraid to say anything since it was all too much. Since you kept quiet she took that as a no. “He still loves you.”

[markwatkinsplaylistsposts]

FROM 2014

Mark  Watkins Music Show – EXTENDED PLAY

Blast 1386 (Reading, UK)

LIVE : Monday 9 June 2014  :    1pm - 5pm 

REPEAT: Friday 13 June 2014 : 11pm- 3am  

With studio guest Jo Bartlett, co-organiser of Third Rail (1.00pm-2.30pm) and live phoners with Hank Marvin (3.10pm); Seymour Quigley (guitar/vocals) of Horse Party (3.30pm) and Christina Grogan of Open Culture, reviewing Light Night Liverpool (3.45pm).  

http://www.thirdrail.co.uk/

http://horsepartyparty.wix.com/horsepartyhome/

http://culture.org.uk/

Hour one/two : with Jo Bartlett (till 2.30pm)

Jo’s choices from acts appearing at Third Rail

1 Teeth Of The Sea ~ Reaper / ALBUM: Master (2013)

2 Oliver Wilder ~ Stomach Full Of Cats (2013)

3 The Art Club ~ Let’s Start Again (2012)

4 Lakker ~ K’antu / E.P : Containing A Thousand (2014)

5 Grumbling Fur ~ The Ballad Of Roy Batty / ALBUM: Glynnaestra (2013)

6 Polar Bear ~ Be Free (2014)

7 Black Channels ~ Oracles (2014)

8 Firefly Burning ~ The Setting Sun (2013)

9 A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Requiem For The Static King Part One (2012)

10 Boxed In ~ All Your Love Is Gone (2013)

11 Crushed Beaks ~ Breakdown (2012)

12 Felt ~ Mobile Shack (1989)

13 Jesus And Mary Chain ~ Just Like Honey (1985)

14 Orange Juice ~ Falling And Laughing (1982)

15 Jo Bartlett ~ Highway Found / E.P : Highway Found (2014)

    Hour two: 2.30 onwards

1 The Ambassadors Of Sorrow ~ The Centre Cannot Hold / ALBUM: There Is No Ending (2014)  

2 Natalie McCool ~ Wind Blows Harder (2014)   

3 The Hosts ~ In Dreams / ALBUM: Softly Softly (2014) 

4 Ethan Johns ~ Among The Sugar Pines (2014) 

5 Richard Thompson ~ I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight / ALBUM: Acoustic Classics (2014)  

6 Willie Nelson ~ The Wall (2014) 

7 Juice Newton ~ Queen Of Hearts (1981)

8 Olivia Newton-John ~ Silvery Rain / ALBUM: Physical (1981)  

Hour three: with Hank Marvin, Seymour Quigley and Christina Grogan

1 The Police ~  Shadows In the Rain / ALBUM: Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)  

2 Hank Marvin ~ Message In A Bottle / ALBUM: Hank (2014) 

3 live phoner with Hank Marvin 

4 Hank Marvin ~ Summer Guitar / ALBUM: Hank (2014)  

5 The Shadows ~ Apache (1960) 

6 Horse Party ~ Back To Mono / ALBUM: Cover Your Eyes (2014)  

7 live phoner with Seymour Quigley

8 Horse Party ~ Clarion Call / ALBUM: Cover Your Eyes (2014) 

9 Willie Watson ~ Bring It With You When You Come / ALBUM: Folk singer Vol.1 (2014) 

10 Billie Jo Spears ~ What I Have In Mind (1976)

11 live phoner with Christina Grogan

12 Emily Capell ~ Bombs To the Beatles / E.P: Who Framed Winston Silcott? (2014)

13 Anna O ~ Sleepless / E.P: When The Winter Came (2014) 

Hour four: 

1 Hafdis Huld ~ Pop Song / ALBUM: Home (2014) 

2 Carrie Newcomer ~ The Ten O’Clock Line / ALBUM: A Permeable Life (2014) 

3 Rodney Crowell ~  Oh What a Beautiful World / ALBUM: Tarpaper Sky (2014) 4 Sharon Van Etten ~ Every Time The Sun Comes Up / ALBUM: Are We There (2014)  

5 Ben & Ellen Harper ~ Memories Of Gold / ALBUM: Childhood Home (2014) 

6 Limozine ~ Party On The Bus (2014)  AA single p/w Tequila Shots

7 Howling Bells ~ Slowburn (2014) 

8 Big Deal ~ Always Boys (2014)

9 Hank Marvin ~ Summer Of 42 / ALBUM: Hank (2014)  

10 Hank Marvin ~ Good Day Sunshine  / ALBUM: Hank (2014)  

11 Hank Marvin ~ Summertime Blues / ALBUM: Hank (2014)

12 John Lennon ~ No. 9 Dream (1974)

13 OutKast ~ Hey Ya! (2003) 

14 Pharrell Williams ~ Happy (2014)

[womenofcolor15]

2020 GRAMMYS CARPET: Chris Brown On Dad Duty, Cardi Floated & Dripped, Tyler Drips Doorman Swag, Lauren London, Big Freedia, Chyna

Although everyone was hurting after hearing the news of Kobe Bryant’s death, celebs hit the red carpet for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards inside the Staples Center. Peep the red carpet flicks inside…

The vibes for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards were a bit somber and subdued as hours before news broke that NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant died in a helicopter crash. Kobe spent his entire 20-season career with the Los Angeles Lakers inside the Staples Center. With fans gathered outside of the multi-purpose arena, celebs trekked inside to celebrate music and remember an icon.

Several celebs declined to speak with the press after learning about Kobe’s death, which is totally understandable as we all were stunned and shocked by the tragic news.

        View this post on Instagram

                  @muglerofficial on me @chromeheartsofficial on Daddy @offsetyrn

A post shared by Cardib (@iamcardib) on Jan 26, 2020 at 7:26pm PST

        View this post on Instagram

                  @muglerofficial

A post shared by Cardib (@iamcardib) on Jan 26, 2020 at 7:25pm PST

  Cardi B and Offset dripped hard on the carpet in Mugler and Chrome Hearts.

  R&B crooner Chris Brown – who was nominated for Best R&B Song for his track “No Guidance” – brought his 5-year-old daughter Royalty Brown as his date for the evening. The mini fashionista rocked a cream sweater over a white blouse with a matching cream skirt, black boots and white ruffled socks. Her famous dad debuted colorful hair – half pink, half blue. He wore a yellow and cream Prada sweater paired with black trousers for the ceremony.

Big sister Royalty - who welcomed her baby brother Aeko Catori Brown last month - is already learning how to snap a quick selfie with fans from her dad. Check it:

  Chris Brown e sua filha Royalty chegando no #GRAMMYs #Grammys2020!pic.twitter.com/dCHD8BXl7C

— Portal Chris Brown Brasil |(@portalbreezy) January 27, 2020

  Too cute.

This year’s Grammy Awards paid tribute to late rapper Nipsey Hussle, so his entire family was there to see it, including his soul mate/son’s mother Lauren London (rocking Pamella Roland), his daughter Emani Asghedom (who attended the Grammys with her dad last year), Nipsey’s sister Samantha Smith, and Nispey’s grandmother.

The tribute included performances by Meek Mill, John Legend, DJ Khaled, YG, Roddy Ricch and Kirk Franklin, which went down after winning his first Grammy posthumously.

Watch the family accept his Grammy below:

  Nipsey just won a Grammy. His family came to the stage to accept the award.

The Marathon Continues pic.twitter.com/IhUlRvYbDh

— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) January 26, 2020

  After the tribute, Nip copped another Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance for his feature on DJ Khaled’s “Higher” with John Legend.

Before hitting the stage, John Legend rocked a gray pleated Alexander McQueen suit.

His wife/model Chrissy Teigen (and our fave meme-able face during awards shows) joined him on the carpet in an orange ruffled Yanina Couture dress.

Can't say this is our fave.

New dad again DJ Khaled rocked a black suit with red and black Nike sneakers on the carpet.

Grammy & Oscar winning artist Common remembered Kobe Bryant when he stopped to talk to the media.

“We all feel it in our own way but his family, his loved ones feel it in another way,” he said. I’m just giving it to God and hopefully, today we can celebrate through music and different things, but there’s nothing that can take away from what life is.”

“I just want to say, God bless his soul and his daughter, and everyone who was on that helicopter,” he continued. “Man, it just makes you think about people in the world. And we love him.”

"The Chi" actor later performed for a tribute to Trustee Award winner and longtime Grammy Awards executive producer Ken Ehrlich. He hit the stage for a performance with Misty Copeland Camila Cabello, Ben Platt, The War and Treaty for "I Sing The Body Electric" from the musical "Fame."

Oh yeah, and Common was looking GOODT in his maroon Dolce & Gabbana suit.

Before hitting the stage with FKA Twigs and Shelia E to pay tribute to Prince, Usher rocked Balmain on the carpet. It's not horribly bad, but we would have liked to see something more polished.

Before FKA worked that pole on stage, the singer posed it up in this pink and black Ed Marler concoction. Are we feeling it?

Before winning Best Rap Album (his first Grammy ever) and performing at the Grammys, Tyler the Creator served up doorman swag in a pink and red Golf Le Fleur outfit.

After the show, he reacted to Kobe's death:

  Tyler, the Creator reacts to Kobe Bryant’s death: “That news was heavy, especially just being in LA and just being here at the Staples Center” https://t.co/25sWs8vInB #Grammys pic.twitter.com/DDSojKYhkx

— Variety (@Variety) January 27, 2020

  Peep his acceptance speech (and his super happy mother) below:

Rap couple Quavo and Saweetie have been all over LA during Grammy weekend, so it was no surprise when they popped up on the carpet together.

The Migos rapper rocked a custom red and black Prada suit.

Meanwhile, his "ICY" girlfriend dazzled in Moschino.

And look who else came out...

We don't seem him often, but Migos rapper Takeoff was in the Grammy mix.

Gucci Mane (who rocked a Gucci suit) and his wife Keyshia Ka'oir Davis rolled up on the scene in matching 'fits.

On the red carpet, Mrs. Davis said it took her five hours to get dress because she ended up breaking a zipper on her dress. So, they had to sew her in it. By the way, Gucci Mane revealed he has pieces coming out with Italian luxury brand, Gucci. The rapper also talked about his Grammy nomination with Lizzo and more. Check it:

Singer Khalid was nominated for Record of the Year for his track "Talk." Unfortunately, Billie Eilish won for "Bad Boy." This is his 6th Grammy nomination.

Rapper YBN Cordae landed his first two nominations for Best Rap Song ("Bad Idea") and Best Rap Album (The Lost Boy). He didn't win, but he was SUPER ecstatic to even be nominated.

Lil Nas X had one hell of a night in his bright pink cowboy inspired Versace suit.

The 6-time nominee won his first two Grammy Awards ever - one for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and one for Best Music Video, both for "Old Town Road (Remix)." Congrats!

He also hit the stage to perform "Old Town Road" and "Panini" where he brought out rapper Nas, Young Thug, BTS and Billy Ray Cyrus. Peep his performance HERE.

Young Thug also hit the carpet in this outfit before the stage.

"POSE" actor Billy Porter went full glam cowboy in a sparkly teal Baja East 'fit topped with a custom wide brimmed Sarah Sokol Millinery hat.

Bounce queen Big Freedia - who was featured in a Facebook commercial during the show - also served up cowboy vibes.

          View this post on Instagram

                      A post shared by Big Freedia (@bigfreedia) on Jan 26, 2020 at 5:11pm PST

  Rapper Swae Lee was asked what he was wearing on the red carpet and he said "Peter Dunbar." He meant a custom 'fit by Peter Dundas.  He was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Sunflower" with Post Malone.

Lady in red!

Since Blac Chyna has been trying to get her feet wet in the rap game, she made her way to the Grammys to celebrate the biggest night in music.

        View this post on Instagram

                  Beauty at its finest... Grammys

A post shared by Blac Chyna (@blacchyna) on Jan 26, 2020 at 9:33pm PST

  Anderson Paak ended the night as a two-time Grammy winner, nabbing the Best R&B Album Award for Ventura and R&B Performance for "Come Home" with André 3000. Congrats!

Before she hit the stage to perform alongside host Alicia Keys, 11-time Grammy nominated and 4-time winning artist Brittany Howard hit the carpet in this green, black with a touch of gold ensemble. She was nominated for two awards, Best Rock Performance & Best Rock Song for "History Repeats."

"The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah was nominated for his first Grammy ever in the Best Comedy Album category for his Netflix stand up "Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia." Comedian Dave Chappelle ended up winning the award. On the carpet, he jokingly said he already knew Dave was going to take home the award.

When asked about Kobe Bryant's death on the carpet, he said “I don’t think I’ve processed anything yet.”

He said it felt strange in the Staples Center where Kobe played his entire career.

"It's one of those experiences where you can feel it. Today is all about being present," he said.

Rapper Rick Ross - who was nominated for Best Rap Song for "Gold Roses" featuring Drake - opened up about how late rapper Nipsey Hussle inspired his track "Gold Roses"

The MMG honcho also remembered NBA legend Kobe Bryant:

By the way Rozay was wearing Hideoki Bespoke, which was founded by Dedrick Hideoki Hagiwara Thomas.

Rappers Yo Gotti and 21 Savage made their way on the carpet. Singer Ty Dolla Sign was also in the mix:

21 Savage (above alongside his mom) was nominated for two Grammys and won one for Best Rap Song for "A Lot." Congrats!

Ty Dolla Sign (above next to his girlfriend Lauren Jauregui) was nominated for Best Dance Recording for "Midnight Hour" with Boys Noize, Skrillex.

Rap legend LL Cool J was in the mix.

Producer DJ Mustard - who was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance for "Ballin" with Roddy Ricch - reacted to Kobe and his daughter's death on the carpet while making his way down the carpet with his fiancee Chanel Thierry.

"This doesn't seem real right now," he said. "Love and respect and blessings to his family. I pray that we pray for them [and] everybody shows love to the family."

Singer Dreezy looked gorge in a black high-low dress that she said was her 2nd pick since she couldn't fit her custom first pick for her first Grammy ceremony.

  If my fat ass gain one more pound...

— BIG OG DREEZ (@dreezydreezy) January 26, 2020

    We had a custom dress made that I was gonna wear that I LOVED but I couldn't fit it. But good thing we had the black dress for back up lol.

— BIG OG DREEZ (@dreezydreezy) January 27, 2020

  She also sent love to Kobe's family on the carpet:

  .@dreezydreezy gives her love to Kobe Bryant and his family! #KobeBryant #BETRemembers #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/xAExooWZ6L

— BET Music (@BETMusic) January 26, 2020

  Uncle Charlie Wilson hit the carpet before hitting the stage with Boyz II Men for Tyler the Creator's Grammy performance.

Yeah Boy! Flavor Flav was in the mix as his rap group Public Enemy was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award:

Ballerina Misty Copeland hit the carpet before she performed a beautiful routine with dancers from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

Beyonce's stylist Ty Hunter looked bomb in his futuristic 'fit.

Wyclef Jean made it a date night with his wife Claudinette Jean.

"Growing Up Hip Hop" stars JoJo & Angela Simmons brought their little sister Miley Simmons for the Grammy event. She's growing up!

Grammy winning artist Questlove stepped for the Grammys.

Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for 12 Little Spells. Congrats!

TV host Nina Parker showed off her curves in this brown Lynne Carter Ateliermidi dress. On social media, she talked about how hard the night was for her after learning about Kobe's death:

          View this post on Instagram

                  Today was HARD. I can’t lie, it was difficult to report on something fun when so much tragedy hit so quickly. But I do want to take a second to take in this moment, feel absolutely BLESSED, and thank all the people who worked hard to get me on this red carpet tonight. I appreciate every single moment. Gown: Custom collaboration w @lynne_carter_atelier MUA: @beautybybeyina Hair: @kymmscreations Wardrobe stylist: @ashleyloewen Wardrobe stylist asst: @khai_st_lawrence

A post shared by Nina Parker (@mzgossipgirl) on Jan 26, 2020 at 8:35pm PST

  Def a hard night for everyone.

Congrats to this year's winners.

Photos: Getty/MEGA

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/01/27/2020-grammys-carpet-chris-brown-on-dad-duty-lauren-london-holds-it-down-for-nipsey-tyler-

[chorusfm]

Alkaline Trio – Is This Thing Cursed?

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on August 29th, 2018. I’ve decided to make it free to all users of the website. First impressions are meant to be quick, fun, initial impressions on an album or release as I listen to it for the first time. It’s a running commentary written while listening to an album — not a review. More like a diary of thoughts. This post has been lightly edited for structure and flow. I figured with the album coming out on Friday this was really the last time I had to try and get some early thoughts down on this album for everyone before you’ll be able to hear it. Hell, there’s always the chance this leaks while I’m typing this up. Then everyone can join in with me. At a high-level, this album works for me more than any of their albums have since Crimson. I’ve liked the stuff that followed, but it never really captured that same magic as their earlier work. I would find myself listening to them for a few weeks (with the exception of This Addiction, which never really grabbed me), but after that, when I wanted an Alkaline Trio fix, I’d go back to Crimson or something before it. That’s just how it played out for me. I can’t predict with certainty that this is going to be an album I come back to in the future, but there’s something about it that hits me just right and gives me that feeling. There’s an energy here, a feeling of immediacy that they touched on with My Shame is True, but feels much more rolled into a “classic” Alkaline Trio-sounding album. This urgency to the songs is really resonating with me at the moment. There’s some stuff I don’t love, and I’ll touch on that as I go through the album, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, this isn’t really a review as much as it is just me listening to the album, writing some thoughts down, and speaking off the cuff about what I like, don’t like, and the over all impression the album gives me. Feel free to jump in either nor or later with questions or anything you’d like to know more on, I can always expand and offer more thoughts and such. Is This Thing Cursed? 2:28pmThe album begins with three songs you all have probably heard by now. Which always makes something like this a little funny, because we’re waiting like 15 minutes until we get to some new material. So, I’m going to be brief on the first three for that reason. The main thing about this song is that I think it’s a really great opener for the album. Not only does it give you a feel for where the album as a whole is going, similar sounds/melodies/pacing, I think that it sets up the theme of the album (duh, it’s the title track) in a way that sets the mood for where we go from there. Blackbird 2:33pmWhen I first heard this song I was like “holy shit, yes, Alk3 are back,” and I really liked the energy it brought. It kinda reminded me of a more modern “Private Eye.” It made me remember that I loved this band in the early 2000s, and a little sad that I hadn’t spent as much time with them in the past 10 years as I maybe should had, or wanted to. With that said, I’ve now decided I think this isn’t one of my favorite songs on the album. I don’t dislike it, it’s just that we’re blessed with better. What this does do for those that have heard the album is give a good indication on the production style. The album has this raw feel, it gets a little muddy sometimes, but, to my ears, I like how it sounds. I think this is what a lot of people want a “rock” album to sound like in 2018. You hear the guitars. Vocals are turned up. It’s compressed, but in a familiar way, and there’s not a whole lot of extraneous stuff going on. Demon and Division 2:37pmThis is one of my favorites from the album. That melody excites me. I love that it walks between this little mid-tempo place and a killer chorus. It’s really right in line with the kinda music I want from this band. It’s dark and yet secretly really catchy. That’s the thing with Alkaline Trio, they go to some dark places, but they have to walk it in a way where it doesn’t feel so over the top that you roll your eyes. When they do that well, it’s what elevates them above all the copy-cats. The lyrics and how either of the two singers emotes is such a key ingredient to this band. Little Help 2:42pmThis is my least favorite song on the album. It reminds me of something that could have been on the previous album, with a fast punk-rock sort of sound. Throwback to the 80s and dive bars. But, if I had to cut one song, it would be this one. It doesn’t feel like it fits in with the rest of the album. It feels out of place to me on subsequent listens. I think that’s because I know what I’d consider “better” songs are coming. But, it may also be that the repeated refrain, “does anyone know where I can go get high?” — while catchy and very Social Distortion sounding — doesn’t do much for me. Dan sounds good though. I like Matt’s background vocals too. I like that the band lets both of them shine on this album. They’re used together in enough of the songs that for the first time I actually have trouble hearing/remembering/picking out who is singing what. It’s not as “here’s Dan’s song, and here’s Matt’s song” as it has been in the past. I like that. It leads to a really cohesive album in that regard. I Can’t Believe 2:46pmThat little rolling guitar and drum intro is just classic Trio to me. It reminds me of the first time I heard From Here to Infirmary, and it felt familiar, but in a new unique way. “I can’t believe, anything that you’re saying to me, I just can’t see how you ever dreamed this was for the best…” 2:50pm “I just don’t see how the fuck you could ever thing that I’d agree.” Heh. Some good Matt being Matt lyrics on this one. Earlier, after one listen to this album, I said that it felt like a pop-punk album for 30 year olds. To me that’s from something like this next stretch of songs. There’s an underlying pop-punk/rock sound to the music, but it’s got a clear bend away from what we’ve seen Sum 41, Blink, and Green Day do with their past few albums. “Nothing to see here, move along … nobody to hear your black swan song.” Sweet Vampires 2:59pmThis has become one of my stand-out favorites on the album. I could see it becoming one of my favorites in the band’s discography with time as well. To me, this is what I’ve wanted the band to play with more since Crimson. I wouldn’t call it an experimental song, but I would say that it gets to do more than a lot of the others. It opens with a nice little guitar riff. And the opening melody gets stuck in my head in the same way something like “This Could Be Love” becomes so damn hummable. “I was the live fast, car crash, Mulholland Drive, open the flood gates, this love hate(?) is making me cry, the tears feel the tug of the blood from your wrists that night. If we should live forever, like sweet vampires … ” 3:02pmThe bridge is great. Really love the use of vocals and the lyrics are pure spite. 3:05pm”If we should live forever, like sweet vampires/we could reign together, our own empire/now we should try to sever all our past ties.” I can picture this being sung by a lot of people in complete seriousness, and I kinda love it. That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about the Alkaline Trio melodrama, and the ability to use what some could call silly lyrics — we’re talking about vampires here — but when they wrap it in a catchy package and sing with sincerity, it works even when it probably shouldn’t. And that’s the definitive Alkaline Trio to me. Pale Blue Ribbon 3:06pmGreat gym song. Fast and a toe tapping ditty. Dan at the front again. 3:07pm”We’re supposed to bleed sometimes, we’ll make these scars together.” 3:08pmThis one goes by fast. Barely two minutes. Goodbye Fire Island 3:07pmI can’t hear this song and not think about the Fyre Festival. 3:08pmAnother song that gives me Good Mourning/Crimson vibes. Where they come in strong with the guitars, then pull back, just a little, to calmly deliver the lines. 3:10pm”Dowse my house in gasoline, strike a match and walk a…wayyyyy…yeah.” I love the little “hey yah” part in the chorus. Great chorus. “Ocean filled with plastic bottles … heyyyyyy yah … and tidal waves will wash us all away. Wash us all awayyyyyyy.” 3:11pm”Feed me pills and happy meals.” 3:12pmGood song is good. Stay 3:16pmThis is a slower, confessional, song. But, it’s also become one of my favorites. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first, but it grew on me more than almost any other. The main theme of the song makes me think of a few things in my personal life that I’m … well … I’m glad it doesn’t resonate on that level right now, that’s for sure. “We could never break up, so I’ll love you to death, the man I’ve become was so comfortably dumb.” 3:18pm”Let’s take another day to call it quits and walk away, let’s find some other time to break down.” 3:19pm(PSA: Leave bad and toxic relationships. Heh.) Heart Attacks 3:22pmSince the album leaked in the middle of this (man, what a weird prediction to have come true), I’m gonna speed through the next couple before I head to the gym, then I’ll come back and we can talk more about the album after people have spun it once or twice. This track reminds me of From Here to Infirmary. Worn So Thin 3:23pm I think this should have replaced “Little Help” earlier in the track listing. I think it works a whole lot better and fits the same vibe that that song was going for. Throw Me to the Lions 3:24pmThe kind of song that Alkaline Trio seems to be able to write in their sleep. They’ve done songs like this before. They’ve done a few better, quite a lot worse. Matt’s lyrics shine. Krystalline 3:26pmI think this is the best song on the record. I’ve fallen more for it every time I hear it. I think anyone that’s ever been in any kind of relationship can smile at this one. “Kissed away our memories, fucked away the pain, went out for some coffee, and then we did it all again.” 3:29pmThe track ends and we get some fun little noises to close out the album. There’s just something so simple about the song, and the relatable lyrics, that close off the album so perfectly. A perfectly relatable, sing-a-long-able, song. Can’t really ask for much more than that. 3:31pmAlkaline Trio are a band that I’ve always really liked, but never considered a “favorite.” They were a band I loved to listen to, really enjoyed their first batch of albums, but they never hit me in the same way as they did other fans. After Crimson I considered myself even more of just a casual fan. However, I have to say, I really like this album. It’s brought me back in and reminded me why I used to spend so many nights air-guitaring to “Stupid Kid.” Now that the album is out there, and will be in stores on Friday, I’m curious to read thoughts from other people. I wanna know what everyone thinks works and doesn’t work, favorite songs, and all that. 3:32pmI recommend giving this one at least 2-3 spins. It was that third spin for me, while on the treadmill, that everything clicked just right. That’s when I went from liking it to elevating it up with some of their best. --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/review/first-impressions/alkaline-trio-is-this-thing-cursed-2/