#debut tay my beloved | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

screensquared · 1 year ago

Text

The Killer (2023)

Dir. David Fincher

Spoiler free:

Fincher is my favorite director, so I'm probably more than a little biased but I tried to go into it with open eyes. I ended up loving it. A good portion is just waiting and watching with Fassbender's droning monologue, (and a heavy dose of the Smiths' entire discography) but I could have happily watched an hour more. I love character driven stories, and this was so character driven it might as well have been a study. There are some action scenes, but most of the tension and conflict comes from the suspense. Fincher and Fassbender work so well together and I hope they collaborate more in the future.

Spoilers:

Synopsis :

Man, I wish they could have switched out the Smiths for the Cure. It would have kept the tone exactly the same and I'm sure Fincher could have found songs that had the same idea represented. Maybe if I have more time I'll go through and make a post picking the Cure songs I'd use to replace the originals. Maybe we're supposed to read deeper into Fassbender's choices to listen to the Smiths, but I doubt it.

Fassbender plays a hitman who misses his most recent target. In the aftermath, his girlfriend's home in Puerto Rico is discovered and she is assaulted. The rest of the movie is revenge porn where Fassbender adopts various aliases and travels the country killing everyone who played a role in hurting her.

Highlight:

Fassbender's monologue constantly tells us to not care and only focus on what is necessary (paraphrasing), but each time he recites his credo, he's already in the act of breaking these rules. He constantly cares. He mercifully kills Dolores and leaves her for her family to find so they can collect life insurance. He kills everyone responsible for his girlfriend's assault, which may be necessary for his safety, but is clearly fueled by vengeance and not self preservation.

And when it comes to the monologue, the narrative choice was *chef's kiss*. True, it might have been pretty boring to just watch Fassbender watch people for ⅓ of the movie, so the choice to fill the silence was compulsory, but it was written in the best way. Fassbender says so much but tells us nothing. I clocked him as an unreliable narrator maybe 5 minutes into the film when he quotes Aleister Crowley and can't remember to whom to attribute it. At the same time, we are being shown his character without being told who he is. If someone asks me a good example of atmospheric narration, I'd show them this movie.

Lastly, I can't talk about my favorite aspects without mentioning the cinematography by Erik Messerschmidt. I was waiting for Fincher's penchant for green and blue, and while it took a little while to arrive, by the middle of the movie it was there to stay.

Lowlights:

Fincher can't escape the "tint Latin America sky yellow to indicate we are in South America" trips, I fear. Maybe the sky is decidedly blue but I feel like there's a dusty haze to the streets of South America that might be movie magic.

Another Fincher movie, another woman who gets sexually assaulted... David, my guy, you know I love you. You write female characters better than pretty much any other male director. I appreciate your artistic vision. I love your depiction of women. It doesn't even bother me that Fassbender's girlfriend has 0 agency and her defining moment saying "You would have been proud of me that no matter what they did, I never gave you up." (Ride or die problematic slay) However. Just one single movie without a woman being raped. I beg. Do I think the movie would have been just as impactful if she was only beaten? Sure. I'm not going to condemn Fincher for taking it there. Like Lisbeth, Amy, and Ripley before her, (Alien3, my beloved, Fincher's directorial debut, a post for another day) Magdala joins the cast of Fincher's violated women. At the end she's sipping mai tais, so who am I to speculate.

Rating: 🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

4/5 Divas

#screened screens #s² says #the killer #david fincher #michael fassbender

6 notes · View notes

bishreview · 4 years ago

Text

Track by Track Review - Hottest 100 2020

Wrote this article a little bit ago just for fun. Decided to post it on here with the thought of maybe getting back to the Bish Review. Also, put an asterix next to my votes (songs that made my top 10). Anyway, here we go:

100. Kool - BENEE

One of the many gems from ‘Hey u x’. Unlucky to hear her biggest hit so early on.

99. Itch - Hockey Dad

I thought ‘Brain Candy’ was a little bit of a disappointment, but Itch was one of the strongest tracks they duo have released.

98. Your Man - Joji

Surprised to hear this track in the countdown. Pretty solid tune though

97. Audacity (feat. Headie One) - Stormzy

He’s still one of the best from the UK rap scene and this track shows why.

96. Germaphobe - Hockey Dad

One of the weaker tracks, I thought, off Brain Candy, but not surprised a lot of Hockey Dad fans liked this one. Definitely plays into their audience’s taste.

95. Loose Ends (feat. G Flip) - Illy

I do not like Aussie Hip Pop. This track is not an exception.

94. Rain (feat. Tay Keith) - Aitch and AJ Tracey

The piano in this is very ‘Humble’ - Kendrick Lamar. Still a banger though.

93. Lemonade (feat. Gunna, Don Toliver and NAV) - Internet Money

Bit of a forgettable track. It’s okay, but feels like there’s a lot better like this out there.

92. These Days - Thelma Plum

First cover of the countdown. Still one of the best Hottest 100 number ones, and Thelma does it justice.

91. Charlie - Bugs

Second cover of the countdown. I do like this but I feel it doesn’t reach the same heights as the original.

90. No Time To Die - Billie Eilish

A little expected from Eilish but still a solid Bond song (the second in history to make it).

89. In Her Eyes - The Jungle Giants

I cannot wait for the new Jungle Giants album. They’ve gotten better and better with each release.

88. Heart Attack (feat. lau.ra) - BRONSON*

I fell deeply in love with this song the second I heard it. It just has this quiet yet strong emotion behind it. The production on it is something else as well.

87. Three Leaf Clover - Teenage Joans

A really solid debut single by the Unearthed High winners. Can’t wait to hear more from them.

86. Laugh Now Cry Now (feat. Lil Durk) - Drake

I still don’t get the hype for Drake. The falsetto “baby” in the chorus also never ceases to make me laugh.

85. Too Tough Terry - Dune Rats

Dunies slow descent from mature stoner pop to edgy tracks for teens has been hard to watch. This song just seems like a parody of the band.

84. Chicken Tenders - Dominic Fike

Has to be the sexiest song about the best thing in the frozen food section at the supermarket. Pity the album didn’t live up to the hype.

83. Down For You - Cosmo’s Midnight and Ruel

I was really keen for this once I heard about the collaboration between the two. Unfortunately it felt a little too much like a Ruel song and it doesn’t really feel like Cosmo’s Midnight had much of a touch on it.

82. The Clap - The Chats

It’s a bit generic for The Chats but I just like hearing them get more popular. Just hilarious dudes.

81. Weightless - Spacey Jane

One of the stronger and more unique tracks on Sunlight. The synth touches really suit the band.

80. Freaks - FISHER

Cannot wait for FISHER to just slowly fade away. His tracks all sound the same and are so basic.

79. my future - Billie Eilish

One of the best tracks Eilish has released. Love how this just turns halfway through from a really soft ballad to a bit of an electro pop song.

78. Lady Marmalade - G Flip

It’s a nice cover. The video of G Flip performing it though is really fun.

77. House Arrest - Sofi Tukker and Gorgon City

This song bangs pretty hard. I like a lot of Sofi Tukker have really been putting out some solid stuff.

76. Baby It’s You - London Grammar

This is a great track, that synth in the chorus is heavenly.

75. Photo ID - Remi Wolf

I do like this song but it reminds me of a track from the 80s or 90s and I can’t put my finger on what that track is.

74. Scream Drive Faster - LAUREL

When I first heard this I thought Ladyhawke was back in the mainstream. Little disappointed it wasn’t, but this slaps.

73. Don’t Need You - Genesis Owusu*

Possibly the best chorus of the year. Owusu has stepped up massively in the Australian Hip Hop scene.

72. Way Down - Ocean Alley

Ocean Alley have plateaued. ‘Lonely Diamond’ just felt like the band had become comfortable.

71. Obey - Bring Me The Horizon and YUNGBLUD

I just can’t take BMTH seriously anymore. They’re music has become so comically edgy.

70. Low - Chet Faker

Hey look, Nick Murphy has become Chet Faker again. Don’t know why he changes between the two when one is just slightly more soulful than the other, but he does release nice tunes.

69. Second - Hope D

I do like this female, Aussie version of Jamie T. It’s a really nice track. Also the number 69 is claimed by Hope D. haha.

68. Lie to Me - Vera Blue

I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s something about Vera which just puts her on a different level than her counterparts. She’s just that consistently good.

67. Boss Bitch - Doja Cat

This track doesn’t get old for me. It’s so much fun, and Doja Cat owns it. Love it.

66. Fantasising - Skegss

This track really does have a very “Three Leaf Clover” vibe. I have enjoyed Skegss in the past but their new stuff hasn’t captured my attention really. Seems a bit run of the mill.

65. C’MON (feat. Travis Barker) - Amy Shark

I actually don’t mind this song, but why does it feature Travis Barker. It’s a piano ballad featuring a punk drummer, and he really doesn’t do that much. I’m confused, was he jealous of Mark Hoppus?

64. Soak Me In Bleach - The Amity Affliction

The song title reflects my thoughts when I hear that The Amity Affliction have released a new one. There are so many better Aussie metal bands out there.

63. Day & Age - Ball Park Music

BPM have a knack for writing amazing ballads. I wasn’t huge on their latest album, but tracks like this continue me having them in my good books.

62. Run - Joji

One of the best tracks Joji has released. A really mature song for the artist and a step in the right direction for him.

61. Pretty Grim - Ruby Fields

Ruby is good, but I feel she’s starting to release the same song over and over. Need something fresh.

60. Go (feat. Juice WRLD) - The Kid LAROI

Probably the strongest track by The Kid LAROI, but Juice WRLD outshines him just due to his vocal tone. He just sounds better.

59. Gimme Love - Joji

And that’s three for Joji. I really like how this song has two distinct sections and both are solid without overshadowing the other.

58. Fly Away - Tones and I

I still don’t get why Tones and I puts on that fake accent in her songs. It just detracts from what could be a nice pop song.

57. Sobercoaster - Beddy Rays

Really didn’t expect this to get so high. I’m happy though because it’s a really fun song.

56. On The Line - San Cisco

Tracks like this keep me invested in San Cisco. They can really release some brilliant stuff.

55. I Think You’re Great - Alex The Astronaut

The fine line between overly chessy and adorably optimistic is what Alex walks on with every track. I think this falls on the former side sadly.

54. Blue - Eiffel 65 (Flume Remix)

The fact that Flume puts so much of his identity into this remix is why Flume has been one of the most successful Aussie acts this past decade.

53. In Your Eyes - The Weeknd

If The Weeknd release ‘Blinding Lights’ a month later I’d believe that he would take out this countdown. He didn’t though and instead we are left with this solid track in the bottom 50.

52. The Glow - DMA’s

Why? Why did DMA’s have to get so poppy and generic. I loved their first two album, but I struggled to get through the third.

51. Your Love (Déjà Vu) - Glass Animals

Out of the three big hits the band had in 2020, this is the most underrated. There is so much going on here, yet it never feels muddled. Wavey Davey on fire here.

50. Nothing To Love About Love - Peking Duk and The Wombats

Although this is a nice song, there’s been so many 80s electro pop throwbacks recently that have been done better that this collab just fades into the background.

49. Wishing Well - Juice WRLD

This song is so beautiful and heart-breaking. Really shows why Juice WRLD became such a beloved artist so quickly.

48. Ain’t It Different (feat. AJ Tracey and Stormzy) - Headie One

This is a really cool collab. They use the Red Hot Chili Peppers sample so well and really flow so well with it that it feels almost effortless.

47. Animals - Architects

I like a lot about this track, but the chorus really hits another level. Feels cathartic to scream along to.

46. Pretty Lady - Tash Sultana

Was hoping Tash would move into a more psychedelic direction with their newer stuff, but this is still a fine track.

45. as long as you care - Ruel

A pretty by the books Ruel song, but he really does this style so well.

44. You & I - G Flip

Probably G Flips strongest release this year. The chorus has a lot of flavour.

43. together - Ziggy Alberts

Generic acoustic track by generic Byron Bay artist. He really took the cake this year for dumbest comparison, when he compared wearing a face mask to the holocaust. Thought he’d suffer a bit for it, but apparently his fanbase grew stronger.

42. WHATS POPPIN - Jack Harlow

Jack Harlow is just so much fun. He’s killing it, and WHATS POPPIN is proof of that. Keep the bangers coming Harlow.

41. I Still Dream About You - The Smith Street Band

I felt I was growing out of The Smith Street Band, their newer music just not resonating to me. Then they drop this and make me a big fan again.

40. Come & Go (with Marshmello) - Juice WRLD

Just that chorus. It is so enjoyable. He really was going places.

39. Righteous - Juice WRLD

A back to back, and from one of the more exciting songs on the album we get to one of the more sombre tracks. Everything from the guitar, the vocals, those synth notes. . . this track is just a perfect send off for the artist. R.I.P. Juice.

38. Parasite Eve - Bring Me The Horizon

This song is so unironically cringe and edgy that it somehow becomes ironically fun. It does the full circle.

37. SO DONE - The Kid LAROI

I do like The Kid LAROI, but his vocals on this, combined with the lyrics, just make him sound like a child chucking a temper tantrum. It does make me laugh though.

36. forget me too (feat. Halsey) - Machine Gun Kelly

If this song was released in the early 00s (where it belongs), it would’ve faded into oblivion. At least Halsey sounds pretty solid on her verse though.

35. Running Red Lights (feat. Rivers Cuomo & Pink Siifu) - The Avalanches*

My personal number one for the year. This song has that melancholic, nostalgic feel to it that just hits home every time. Also one of Cuomo’s strongest vocal performances.

34. Everybody Rise - Amy Shark

This song is fine. I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to it, but it’s fun to sing-a-long to.

33. Breathe Deeper - Tame Impala

One of the best tracks from The Slow Rush. I love that piano motif throughout, and the bass is so funky. That weird bridge section towards the end is also pretty slick.

32. Criminals - DMA’s

The real criminals are the ones who told DMA’s this was a good idea. I just can’t get around their new stuff. I miss ‘Hill’s End’ and ‘For Now’.

31. Reasons - San Cisco

Tracks like this keep me from becoming a full time fan of San Cisco. They can really release some average stuff.

30. Bagi-la-m Bargan (feat. Fred Leone) - Birdz

Powerful. Birdz really took it to another level here.

29. Dribble - Sycco

Although I find there’s a lot of similar stuff out there, I think Sycco does sound like an original voice in the Australian music scene. She’s killing it.

28. Straightfaced - Spacey Jane

Although there was a lot of good stuff on Spacey Jane’s debut album, I found it to be quite repetitive. This track was one of the ones that I found to fade into the background instead of standing out.

27. Under the Thunder - Skegss

I really want to like Skegss, they’ve released some great tunes in the past. But this just doesn’t do it for me. It’s just boring.

26. No Plans To Make Plans - Lime Cordiale

Everything that makes new The Rubens tracks so average is presented here on a Lime Cordiale track. Obnoxiously quirky.

25. Reality Check Please - Lime Cordiale

Hey back to back Lime Cordiale tracks. And another one of their weaker ones. ‘Addicted to the Sunshine’ did this chorus better.

24. Blue World - Mac Miller

Didn’t expect this to make it so high but so well deserved. This song slaps hard but still continues the tragic story that is presented on his posthumous album ‘Circles’.

23. Good News - Mac Miller*

Back to back Mac! To be honest, I am close to tears every time this track plays. If only the lyrics “there's a whole lot more for me waiting/I know maybe I'm too late, I could make it there some other time/Then I'll finally discover/That it ain't that bad” were told to Mac before his passing, because he did have so much more to offer. R.I.P. Mac.

22. Complicated - Eves Karydas

This song is so good. I’ve heard it that many times but it still hasn’t lost its shine. So damn good.

21. Energy - KLP and Stace Cadet

I was really hoping this would crack top 20. Probably the best Dance track of the year. Such a jam.

20. Addicted To The Sunshine - Lime Cordiale

Despite thinking that ‘14 Steps To A Better Living’ didn’t have many new tracks that were that good on it, this one is nice. It’s just a pleasantly nice song.

19. You Should Be Sad - Halsey

I really don’t like Pop Country music but I also find it hilarious that the genre cracked the top 20. ‘09 Taylor Swift would be proud.

18. Tangerine - Glass Animals

With Tik Tok exploding in 2020 I don’t get how this didn’t get adopted by someone on it. It’s so primed to get hyped on it.

17. Is It True - Tame Impala

I think Kevin Parker’s vocals on this are underwhelming, but that might just be because the instrumental slaps that hard. The rhythm section is so tight.

16. Screw Loose - Lime Cordiale

This sound is what Lime Cordiale do best. We need more dub influence and less elevator pop influence.

15. Skin - Spacey Jane

No matter what you think about Spacey Jane, they sure do make some emotional tracks. One of the most powerful songs on Sunlight.

14. Tombstone - Ocean Alley

The verses are average and pretty bland but the chorus is amazing. Just don’t think the album resonated with me too much, and Tombstone is another mixed track off it.

13. Rockstar - Mallrat

Possibly Mallrat’s best song yet. Her laid back, relaxed style mixed with the low-fi production really meshes well.

12. Get on the Beers (feat. Dan Andrews) - Mashd N Kutcher

I’m not going to pretend this is my style, but the way this has resonated with Australians during lockdown last year makes the track way smarter than it deserves to be. It’s both ironically and unironically good.

11. On Our Own - Lime Cordiale

I’m happy the three best new tracks of Lime Cordiale’s debut were the highest placing in this countdown. This really is a nice song.

10. Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

Not my favourite songs from Billie but she continues to be consistently good. The production on this is immense as well.

9. I’m Good? - Hilltop Hoods

I wish old school Hilltop could hear this so could prevent themselves every going this direction. Aussie Hip Pop is not a good genre. This is one of their worst tracks yet.

8. Sending Me Ur Loving - The Jungle Giants*

This song has so much flavour too it. It’s so funky and fun and the production is so tight. Also the guitar work is underrated here, not doing much but adding that icing on the cake.

7. Hyperfine - G Flip

Every time I hear this track (and I’ve heard it a lot) I completely forget about it a couple minutes later. G Flip is good, but this is forgettable.

6. WAP (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) - Cardi B

I understand if this isn’t your style, but I love it. I don’t think there’s ever been a song with so many quotable moments. Every line makes a statement that will get in your head. My personal favourite? “ I let him taste it, now he diabetic”.

5. Lost In Yesterday - Tame Impala

There’s a lot of songs on ‘The Slow Rush’ I like, but Lost In Yesterday I’ve always found kinda boring. It feels a little uninspired. Surprised that this was the album’s big hit.

4. Cherub - Ball Park Music*

BPM have released some great music over the decade but I think this is their best yet. It’s beautiful, emotional and has a fantastic, cathartic breakdown at the end. I love a good build up.

3. The Difference (feat. Toro y Moi) - Flume*

Everything about this track is why Flume has been so great for so long. This track is great for any situation. If I’m partying, I play it. If I’m relaxing, I play it. If I’m getting pumped up, I play it. If I’m sad, I play it. Flexibility matters.

2. Booster Seat - Spacey Jane

OHHH-OH-OHHHHHHHH AND IT FEELS LIKE THAT AGAIN! One of the best sing-a-long tracks of the year, yet massively emotional. Like damn this song is rough.

1. Heat Waves - Glass Animals*

If I had one word to express how I feel about this winning I would say “deserved”. Not many tracks were as perfect for 2020 as this one. Glass Animals love writing absolute bangers with emotional cores and this one is one of their strongest tracks. Glass Animals just continue to outdo themselves.

That’s it for now, gonna maybe start posting again. I dunno. See how I feel. Ta-ta.

#triple j #triple j hottest 100 #2020 #triple j hottest 100 2020 #Glass Animals #spacey jane #flume #Ball Park Music #tame impala #cardi b #g flip #the jungle giants #hilltop hoods #billie eilish

15 notes · View notes

bybdolan · 4 years ago

Note

hey Amy! what’s your Taylor album ranking?

I’m sorry Arden... You probably won’t like this.

1. Folklore [THE defining Taylor album to me. It is the one I listen to the most and the only albums of hers where I genuinely love every song (…except for the lakes). I truly believe this is Taylor at her peak, and as somebody who enjoys calm, slow music, the instrumentation is also *chefs kiss* One of my all-time favorite albums already. It deserves all the praise it gets and more.]

2. RED [Even though folklore is her strongest as a whole body of work, most of her best songs are on RED, at least in my opinion. This album has its weak spots, but when it’s good, it’s astonishing. I also have a lot of great memories attached to this record. For some reason RED also feels like Taylor’s star album – even though it got less praise than 1989 or Fearless, I believe it will hold up the best and will be remembered as one of the defining records of the 2010s.]

3. 1989 [She’s a queen <3 Back when I first bought RED and 1989, 1989 was my favorite and I listened to it so much on CD that, to this day, I get irritated when Bad Blood doesn’t play immediately after IWYW. It is a weirdly nostalgic album for me and a lot of people, and on top of it it is arguably one of Taylor’s most cohesive works, in music, style, marketing, etc. It deserved everything it got.]

4. Speak Now [Used to be my favorite back in 2015/2016, mainly because I bawled my eyes out to Never Grow Up so many times (that still is my favorite Taylor song). I probably should listen to it more again and I know for a fact that it would rank higher had I listened to it in its entirety recently. My songwriting obsessed heart is easily swayed by 6-minute long ballads filled with some of Taylor’s best lyrics to date.]

5. Lover [First time on this list you’ll hear me talk about wasted potential, but *deep sigh*. It could have been great. Cruel Summer, Lover, Paper Rings and INTHAF are some of my favorite Taylor songs ever, but the album as a whole feels a bit forgettable. There are a lot of songs that didn’t necessarily need to be on the record, and as much as I love Taylor experimenting with new sounds, the 90s-does-60s sound of Paper Rings or the title track would have been an amazing base for an amazing album. She’s a bit too messy for me.]

6. Debut [Baby Tay!!! I used to rank this album the lowest and rarely ever listened to it, but after coming back to it, I have to say that it is VERY good. And it ticks a lot of the personal boxes for me – nostalgia, American small town blues, storytelling. Mary’s Song is hands down one of the best songs of Taylor’s career.]

7. Fearless [I don’t have many thoughts on Fearless. It’s a good album. I never connected to it much myself, which is why it’s that low on the list, but I respect it a whole lot. The album cover is BAD though.]

8. reputation [Do I understand that it was an important album for Taylor? Yes! Do I think it is a bad album? Not really. Do I think it could have been so much better? Yes. I listen to rep more than I listen to Fearless or Debut, but all the potential that I think this album had makes me a bit sad. I feel like it doesn’t really deliver the fake-persona campiness nor the introspective “who am I without my reputation?” aspect. But I 100% understand why the album is so beloved by fans and I also think that a lot of the criticism it got was unjustified.]

#and it's reps birthday..... sorry :(#ask #jamietaylors

14 notes · View notes

mingi-bubu · 5 years ago

Note

hey! i’m a new follower and i’ve just recently been getting into cpop. what are some songs you recommend and groups/artists to listen to for newbies? thanks!

aaahhh!!! hiiii!!! welcome! i hope you don’t mind that i published this! well, depending on how long you’ve been following me you probably have seen posts about my favorites in cpop rn so i am going to split it into two categories: groups and artists. there will be some overlap between these two and even within different groups. there’s probably a post out there about how everyone in cpop knows each other and honestly i don’t doubt it.

this got longer than i expected, i am so sorry, so i put it under a “read more”

the tl;dr of it is there are kpop artists who are chinese who put out chinese music either solo or with their groups, idol producer and youth with you are 2 idol maker competition shows that many of today’s better known cpop artists have been in, there is currently a ywy season going on right now for creating a girl group and you can find my posts about it under the tag “ywy” or “youth with you”. these posts are specifically about the girls and my reactions to the episodes. i mention it at the end of the post as well but my “cpop” tag may be of help as well

Groups:

Nine Percent -> first idol group put together at the end of Idol Producer, Cai Xukun was the leader and I love him a lot

Nex7 (also known as Next or Yuehua’s Next) -> there are three members who overlap with 9%: Zhu Zhengting, Fan Chengcheng, and Justin Huang

Unine -> second idol group put together at the end of the first season of Youth With You; Yao Mingming, Li Zhenning, and Jiayi are my bias line from them

Uniq was good but also dabbles in kpop as well so if you’re looking for a nice transition group I would go with that

Super Junior-M was the Chinese subunit of Super Junior

WayV is the Chinese subunit of NCT

Oner is good

Mr. Tyger has my beloved Jiayi as one of the members and their MVs are so visually interesting

Artists:

Since 9% has disbanded, all of the members went on and did some solo things. Again here I will mention Cai Xukun, but Lin Yanjun, Wang Ziyi, Chen Linong, Justin, and Zhengting all also have really good solo stuff

Zhoumi is one of my favorite ballad singers for cpop

Z.Tao is good and his song “Beggar” is my current song on repeat

Kris Wu has some really really good songs in both English and Chinese

Luhan is incredible and his falsettos really are something else

Zhang Yixing, aka Lay of EXO, is probably one of my favorite cpop artists both musically and choreographically

Jeffrey is an artist I haven’t listened to a lot but the stuff of his I’ve heard is good

Jolin Tsai has some of the most interesting and amazing music i love her a lot

Ella Chen is one of the mentors on this current run of Youth With You and was part of the girlgroup S.H.E but her solo music is good as well

I also like Eric Chou

9m88 is more jazzy in music but she’s got an interesting voice and also did a cover of the City Pop classic “Plastic Love” which I love

If you are more used to kpop, there are plenty of songs by the original groups that are in Chinese; Exo was really good at having a lot of songs in Chinese done because in their original debut lineup they had 4 Chinese members

Here are some links to different cpop playlists on spotify that i recommend:

idol producer bois

im on my laptop but this playlist is entitled *cherry blossom emoji**sparkle emoji*

this is arguably one of the most popular posts i’ve made so far on this blog and the playlist that came out of it but we love Cpop Thot Bops

this definitely seems like a lot but honestly i’m just trying to give you as many options as you can have because of the different styles of the artists in the industry. there are also a ton of OSTs for cdramas that are done by members of groups or by solo artists. I personally like Bi Wenjun’s songs for the drama “Sweet Tai Chi”!

There are also plenty of cpop blogs out here but the ones that i would recommend are @zhuzhengtngs, @9toawaken, @princekunge, @baobeejun, @ruangz, @kunxcii, and @lovleez ! am i biased bc i’m friends with them and they bully me in our groupchat daily? perhaps. and of course I’m always here if you have questions, want recommendations, or want to scream about what X person wore on 160319 or whenever date :p

also if you want more background on Nine Percent, Nex7, or Unine, you can find Idol Producer and Youth With You on YouTube. Through them you are also able to find a lot of incredible rappers, dancers, musicians, and singers that i didn’t have the space for in this ! I am sorry for how long this is and I’m wrapping it up I swear but you can check my “cpop” tag as well as anything related to cpop will be there and that can give you more background on certain people (cough cai xukun cough) and perhaps enable you to develop your bias or help figure out who you want to listen to. also the ppap stage of idol producer was the best one dont listen to anyone else who says it wasnt :D

#answered #lovesjenmoong #zhuzhengtngs #9toawaken #princekunge #lovleez #cpop #yuehuas pr team #jae.mail

14 notes · View notes

whileiamdying · 2 years ago

Text

Coolio, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ Rapper, Dies at 59

From a bookish, asthmatic child to mainstream hitmaker, the West Coast M.C. charted a distinctive path to hip-hop stardom.

By Eduardo Medina and McKenna Oxenden Published Sept. 28, 2022 Updated Sept. 29, 2022

Coolio, the rapper whose playful and sometimes gritty takes on West Coast rap and anthemic hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” made him a hip-hop star in the 1990s, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 59.

His longtime manager, Jarez Posey, said he was told that Coolio died at a friend’s house. No cause was given.

Coolio, whose legal name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., achieved mainstream superstardom and critical success with “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995. A grim, minor-key track that featured the singer L.V. and drew on Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise,” it spent three weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 and was named the chart’s No. 1 song of the year.

It also won the Grammy for best rap solo performance in 1996 and was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, outshining the movie it was featured in, the high school drama “Dangerous Minds.”

“Coolio still builds his raps on recognizable 1970s oldies, and he delivers intricate, syncopated rhymes as if they were conversation,” Jon Pareles wrote in an album review in The New York Times, noting that “Gangsta’s Paradise” uses “the somber minor chords” of Mr. Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise.” Coolio told Rolling Stone that he had cleared the usage through a family connection — his wife knew one of Mr. Wonder’s brothers — with the stipulation that the song couldn’t contain any profanity. Mr. Wonder received a writing credit.

Another 1995 movie, the comedy “Clueless,” gave Coolio another crossover moment. His song “Rollin’ With My Homies” was on the soundtrack, and its hook, beloved by the character Tai — the desperate-to-be-hip new girl played by Brittany Murphy — is a running joke in the film.

Coolio’s other hits included “Fantastic Voyage” — the opening song on his debut album, “It Takes a Thief,” released in 1994 — and “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” from the “Gangsta’s Paradise” album, released the next year. Both albums were nominated for Grammys. “C U When U Get There,” which is based on Pachelbel’s Canon, a Baroque-era standard, was a standout track on Coolio’s third album, “My Soul,” from 1997.

But nothing could match the success of “Gangsta’s Paradise” — a song that, with its piercing production and ominous background vocals, became instantly distinguishable for millions of 1990s rap fans, especially with a memorable opening verse based on Psalm 23:

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin’ left.”

While Coolio lamented that his hit had overshadowed his other work, he told PopkillerTV in 2018 that the song had taken him on “a great ride.” Its popularity has endured for decades; the music video has garnered a rare billion-plus views on YouTube.

Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born on Aug. 1, 1963. He grew up in Compton, Calif., in Los Angeles County, a place known for producing some of hip-hop’s most successful artists, including Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

He told The Independent in 1997 that as a child he would play board games with his single mother, to whom he later dedicated his success. After a turbulent youth — a bookish, asthmatic child, he became a teenage gang member, juvenile offender and drug addict — Coolio worked as a volunteer firefighter.

In his 20s, he moved to San Jose to live with his father and fight fires with the California Department of Forestry. He became more spiritual there and later credited Christianity for helping him overcome his addiction to crack.

As he embarked on a music career, Coolio joined a growing wave of West Coast hip-hop that was increasingly becoming mainstream; it had surged in national popularity as MTV, radio stations and major labels came to embrace this once-regional underground sound. After performing with the group WC and the Maad Circle alongside WC, Sir Jinx and DJ Crazy Toones, he went solo.

Coolio signed to Tommy Boy Records, the independent rap label known for releases by De La Soul, Naughty by Nature and Queen Latifah, which had partnered with Warner Bros. Records a decade earlier to expand its commercial reach.

Building off the gangster rap and G-funk sounds and images of N.W.A, Ice-T, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Coolio gained a following by combining his credibility with a willingness to appeal to a broad audience by means of softened language, dance tracks, recognizable samples and other nods to past hits.

A Spin review of the “Gangsta’s Paradise” album in 1996 called it “great pop music” and “the most stylistically broad mainstream rap album you’ll probably hear all year.”

“Coolio presents himself as an entertainer,” the magazine added, “one who projects an unhinged personality while creating solidly commercial sounds.”

“Gangsta’s Paradise” had board cultural impact, even spawning a Weird Al Yankovic parody, “Amish Paradise,” which replaced the streets with farm country, offering lyrics about churning butter and selling quilts.

The scale of the original song’s success awed its creator. Coolio told Rolling Stone that he was on tour in Europe when he realized that “I was No. 1 all over the entire planet — not just in the States. I was No. 1 everywhere that you can imagine.”

On Wednesday, the rapper Ice Cube recalled Coolio’s hard-earned rise, writing on Twitter that he had witnessed “first hand this man’s grind to the top of the industry.”

Coolio, known for his spindly and sprouting cornrows, went on to sell 4.8 million albums in the United States, according to Luminate, the tracking service formerly known as Nielsen Music.

The year after his big hit topped the charts, he wrote and performed the theme song for “Kenan & Kel,” a Nickelodeon staple in the late 1990s starring the future “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Coolio later became a recurring presence on reality TV, appearing in shows like “Coolio’s Rules,” a 2008 series that focused on his personal life and his quest to find love in Los Angeles.

He had four children with Josefa Salinas, whom he married in 1996 and later divorced. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

In 2009, Coolio pleaded guilty to drug possession and went to a rehabilitation program. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to a felony firearms charge after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on bag at an airport.

Coolio, who struggled with asthma all his life, served as the spokesman for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, according to his official online biography. At a 2016 performance in Brooklyn, he had an asthma attack and was saved by a fan who had an inhaler, Page Six reported.

Coolio had in recent years become aware of his place in hip-hop history. He said in 2018 that after long lamenting his struggles in the music industry, he came to understand that “people would kill to take my place.”

“I’m sure after I’m long gone from this planet, and from this dimension,” he said, “people will come back and study my body of work.”

Eduardo Medina is a reporter covering breaking news. @byEduardoMedina

McKenna Oxenden is a breaking news reporter and a member of the 2022-2023 New York Times fellowship class. @mack_oxenden

#coolio #the new york times #artis leon ivey jr #gangsta’s paradise #dangerous minds #michelle pfeiffer #grammy

0 notes

thankyouforcomingtomytaytalk · 6 years ago

Photo

I might forget to follow the thread every day, so here's my whole list of answers:

1. Back to December was the first song I heard from Tay

2. I've never been to a show😔... yet😊 #NeverLoseHopeKids

3. I would have loved to go to a show from the Speak Now Tour because it was the era I became a Swiftie and my favorite album from her so far

4. Debut stan song: The Outside

5. Fearless stan song: Forever and Always

6. Speak Now stan song: this is hard but I'll go with my dear and beloved Mine

7. Red stan song: All Too Well

8. 1989 stan song: Style

9. Reputation stan song: I Did Something Bad

10. Favorite Lover single: The Archer

11. My favorite era is Rep era but I have a feeling that Lover era could become my favorite

12. I could BLAST my speakers to: Mine, Love Story, WANEGBT, Shake It Off and DWOHT

13. White Horse, Last Kiss, I Almost Do, The Moment I Knew and All Too Well are complete tearjerkers for me... I also believe that Track 10 from Lover could climb up quickly to this list😅 #RumorHasIt

14. Favorite collab: Everything Has Changed feat. Ed Sheeran, Breathe feat. Colbie Caillat and Safe and Sound feat. The Civil Wars

15. I never get tired of All Too Well, I Did Something Bad or Call It What You Want

16. Favorite cover: Drops of Jupiter (Speak Now Tour), I See Fire with Ed Sheeran (Red Tour) and September

17. For someone who has never heard Tay's music I would recommend: State of Grace, Back to December, This Love, Getaway Car and The Archer; a very mixed selection but one that showcases Taylor's unique and impeccable songwriting skills... I would also say: go listed to her album Red

18. While I was listening to The Outside the other day and I focused on the lyrics, I felt strongly related to it, and The Archer also spoke directly to my anxious, insecure, self-aware self

19. My #1 stan songs will FOREVER be: All Too Well and I Did Something Bad. (Some song(s) from Lover might be added into this list)

20. I LIVE for Taylor's Red Carpet style, but I've sworn endlessly love to:

the pink and yellow princess gown from the TIME 100 Gala (2019)

the pink gown from the Met Gala (2014)

the blue Cinderella dress (and THAT coat) from the BAFTAs (2019)

the sequined romper from the iHeart Radio Music Awards (2019)

that black and red sequined dress from the LA Premier of The Favourite (2018)

21. I would love to see Mine or Sparks Fly on the Lover tour setlist

22. From what some secret sessioners have been saying I think I claim tracks 2 and 10, but who knows? Maybe I'll end up claiming the whole tracklist😂😅

23. What I'm most looking forward to this era is just seeing Taylor smile that beautiful smile of hers, seeing her happy and doing what she loves, having the time of her life, seeing Joe smile back at her as she sings on Tour... basically just seing Taylor happy. And I won't lie I also look forward to meeting her this era😂💕 Again, #NeverLoseHopeKids

🏹✨💞🏹💓✨🏹💗✨🏹💖✨

That's all guys! Hope you liked it :) and don't hesitate to share yours (and maybe to it orderly, unlike me😅)

And thank you for coming to my Tay Talk 😉💕

@taylorswift @taylornation

august 5th: you belong with me

19 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 4 years ago

Text

Manga the Week of 9/16/20

SEAN: Mid-September, and, for once, quite a light week. We do have some very impressive debuts, though.

J-Novel Club has two new digital light novels. The first, and more sensible one, is Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party (Hazure Skill “Mapping” wo Te ni Shita Shounen wa Saikyou Party to Dungeon ni Idomu), a standard “my skill seems useless so everyone hates me but in reality it’s super overpowered” light novel. I’d planned on skipping this, but have been told it’s better than it sounds. We’ll see.

ASH: I mean, cartography is incredibly useful.

MELINDA: I kind of have a thing for maps, but I tend to NOT have a thing for light novels, so???

SEAN: The next one I am absolutely not skipping. This may be the most ridiculous license we’ve ever seen. WATARU!!! The Hot-Blooded Fighting Teen & His Epic Adventures After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!! (Truck Uketome Isekai Tensei! Nekketsu Butouha Koukousei Wataru!!) is a massive parody of isekai works where the hero gets hit by a truck and dies. Wataru does not die, though, he’s JUST THAT TOUGH. I am hoping this is as silly as it sounds.

MICHELLE: I am amused by the phrase “the hot-blooded fighting teen.”

ANNA: I hope this is as silly as you are expecting!

ASH: I am amused by the premise, at least!

MELINDA: I, too, am amused. Probably not reading this, but still amused.

SEAN: We also get Deathbound Duke’s Daughter 2 and the 3rd and final volume of The Extraordinary, the Ordinary and SOAP!.

Kodansha has some print debuts, both of which have appeared before digitally. Sayonara Football is from the creator of Farewell, My Dear Cramer (in fact, it may be an noutright prequel), and came out digitally around the time the author’s other series Your Lie in April was doing well. Now it has a print release.

MICHELLE: Yep, Sayonara, Football came first, which is something I didn’t know when my first reaction to Farewell, My Dear Cramer was basically, “Why did the mangaka introduce these two girls and then quickly start focusing on someone else instead?”

MELINDA: That sounds frustrating.

SEAN: Sue & Tai-chan is, of course, the new cat manga from the author of Chi’s Sweet Home.

Also in print: Eden’s Zero 9 and Witch Hat Atelier 6.

MICHELLE: I still need to read Sue & Tai-chan and Witch Hat Atelier.

ANNA: I love Witch Hat Atelier, excited for the print volume. The art is so fantastic.

ASH: It is an astonishingly beautiful series, both art-wise and story-wise.

MELINDA: I’m behind on everything, but I like both cats and witch hats, so I feel like I should be on board for these.

SEAN: There’s two digital debuts, but one has print coming 2 weeks later. Whisper Me a Love Song (Sasayaku You ni Koi wo Utau) is from Comic Yuri Hime, and looks quite sweet.

Digital-only for now is Heroine for Hire (Heroine Hajimemashita), a Dessert series about a very strong girl who becomes bodyguard for her high school classmate, who says he will make her “the most important girl in the world!”. Any title that has the heroine suplexing people is always on my watch list.

MICHELLE: I will check out both of these. Kodansha has a couple more of these “girl with a service job” series coming out over the next couple of weeks, but this one looks the most promising.

ANNA: I enjoy this type of dynamic in shoujo, I might overcome my usual resistance to digital shoujo and check it out.

ASH: Likewise.

MELINDA: Same.

SEAN: Also: Dolly Kill Kill 6, GE: Good Ending 9, Kakushigoto 7, Men’s Life 4, Orient 6, and Saint Young Men 8. Also, Something’s Wrong with Us 3, which will also get print in 2 weeks.

MICHELLE: This is the final volume for Men’s Life, also. I never hear much about Orient.

SEAN: Seven Seas is taking a break, they have one print release, which we’ve discussed when it came out digitally: Sazan and Comet Girl.

ASH: Now that it’s out in print, I’ll likely be checking it out!

SEAN: Digitally they have the 3rd volume of light novel Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard.

Udon has Persona 4 12, meaning it is as strong as three Persona 4s.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: Viz has the debut of one of the most beloved manga classics, now getting a re-release with all the bells and whistles. And digitally as well! Maison Ikkoku is the story of a guy who didn’t quite make it into college and his attempts to live at an apartment complex filled with eccentrics… and a gorgeous apartment manager! I have… very mixed feelings about this series, but cannot deny it’s super loved by everyone who isn’t me. Love to see it get this release.

MICHELLE: I’m not surprised that it inspires mixed feelings. There were definitely things I found kind of annoying, but on the whole I love it anyway. I’ve reviewed all of it before, but I will at least do briefs for the re-release.

ANNA: I’m glad it is getting a re-release too.

ASH: I had just finished putting together a complete set of the out-of-print volumes when the new edition was announced. Still, I’m glad it’ll be more readily available for others again!

MELINDA: This is THRILLING. I suppose I also have mixed feelings about aspects of this manga, but in most ways I adore it. I was never able to compile a complete set for myself, so here’s my chance!

SEAN: Ping Pong also comes to an end with its second and final omnibus, speaking of super beloved series.

MICHELLE: I decided to wait for the second volume and read it straight through. I’m looking forward to it!

ANNA: Haven’t read the first volume yet, but I have it!

ASH: I am absolutely thrilled we finally got this series in English.

MELINDA: Like Michelle, I’m behind, but I can’t pretend it was on purpose. I must catch up and read them both together!

SEAN: And we also get 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 9, BEASTARS 8, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 4, Levius/Est 6, No Guns Life 7, and The Way of the Househusband 4.

MICHELLE: I am steadily falling farther and farther behind on BEASTARS. Sigh.

ANNA: Always delighted by another Way of the Househusband volume.

ASH: Ditto and ditto! I’ve also been meaning to read more of Hell’s Paradise, too.

SEAN: Is your life being destroyed by Yotsuya-san? Or are you buying manga?

By: Sean Gaffney

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

0 notes

swipestream · 6 years ago

Text

Sensor Sweep: John Myers Myers, Dave Duncan, Mental State, Warcraft III

Publishing (DMR Books): We’re now open for submissions! You have until the end of November to send us your best sword and sorcery stories. All the details can be found here. We’re looking forward to discovering some talented new authors!

Fiction (DMR Books): Author John Myers Myers passed on thirty years ago today. If for no other reason, his novel, The Harp and the Blade, would justify a blog post about him here on the DMR blog. However, Myers wrote many other interesting works and the arc of his life holds some interest as well.

Fiction (Hillbilly Highways): Bauserman pitched an advanced copy of Some Dark Holler to me because I reviewed a collection of Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John stories. I get a lot of these, usually with the author comparing their work to some colossus in the field. But I couldn’t resist, being a huge fan of both country noir and speculative fiction. I didn’t remotely expect Bauserman’s work to live up to that of Wellman, a master unequaled today in my eyes.

Fiction (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, now that I’ve wrapped up my current research trip among the Tolkien papers in the Marquette Archives, I’m amazed as always by how fluid and flexible the story-line of LotRs was when Tolkien was drafting the book. What really strikes me this time are the small details that seem so out of place, when their spurious sense of inevitability only comes from the fact that Tolkien did in the end pick A instead of B at a given spot.

Authors (Black Gate): Locus is reporting that Canadian fantasy writer Dave Duncan died yesterday.

Duncan was born in the small town of Newport-on-Tay, Scotland, but spent his adult life in Western Canada. His debut novel was A Rose-Red City (Del Rey, 1987), published when he was 53 years old.

In later years Duncan wrote that entering the field using his own name was a risk, due to the lingering popularity of 50s SF writer David Duncan (Dark Dominion, Beyond Eden), who published his last novel in 1957. Duncan was a vocal fan of the elder Duncan, and used “Dave” for his own published work.

Publishing (Men of the West): Why is Mental State such an important book?

It’s important because powerful people want it squashed and disappeared so badly. Colleagues at the University of Chicago warned him that this novel would ruin his career and spark riots after forty-five death threats appeared recently on his voicemail. Now he’s been de-platformed and his own law school refuses to mention the book even though they enthusiastically promote books by other professors.

Gaming/Conventions (Walker’s Retreat): It’s still a two-day convention, with all of the important stuff said on Friday, so today’s post is a roundup of what Blizzard and friends announced.

Before the show started, Bungie made Destiny 2 on PC free for all Bnet usersto keep until the 18th.

They’re doubling-down on the esports for as many of their properties as they can pull off.

Starcraft 2: Zeratul as Co-Op Commander; Google Deep Mind crew is back to show off their AI work.

Gaming (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): I still have time to get a good read in, though. Most recently I got ahold of Fenton Wood’s Pirates of the Electromagnetic Waves… which pivots effortlessly between weird pulp horror, fairy stories and tall tales. Here’s my tweet-sized review:

What this book does is it takes all of the subversive, dystopian impulses of science fiction between 1940 and 1980 and it turns it all inside out. This is the kind of fiction we could have had if publishing had not been weaponized and turned toward cultural suicide.

Fiction (John C. Wright): Rogues in the House, the seventh published Conan story, first was published in Weird Tales, January 1934.

Here, Robert E Howard has finally hit his stride: the characters, the action, and above all the theme leap vividly from the page and into a permanent place in the reader’s imagination. This is a fan favorite, and for good reason. If you want to introduce Conan to someone who has never read a Hyborian Age tale, this is the one to recommend.

And I do recommend it. Please read no further if you have not read it, because I must spoil several clever twists in order to discuss them.

Gaming (Niche Gamer): When Blizzard recently announced a remaster for their legendary real-time strategy game, Warcraft III, many fans wondered just how much of the game was being changed underneath its fresh new coat of HD paint.

Now, we’ve learned the remaster – subtitled Warcraft III: Reforged – will have an online multiplayer component that is fully compatible with the original Warcraft III online multiplayer, among other new details.

Yes, this means users loading up the ridiculous 4K remaster of the beloved RTS will be able to play it online with holdout grognards that are still logging into that same old lions gate portal – for a game that launched back in 2002.

Fiction (Kairos): Author Yakov Merkin announces the exciting Indiegogo campaign for the third installment in his galaxy-spanning sci-fi series, Galaxy Ascendant.

Do you miss the days when grand, epic sci-fi franchises like Star Wars and Mass Effect were good? Do you want grand-scope, creative, action-packed, and FUN space opera fiction?

Then come on over to the Galaxy Ascendant! We have action, adventure, romance, space battles that are among the largest in all of space opera fiction, and truly heroic characters!

Readers have only great things to say about the series so far, and A Shifting Alliance takes it to a whole new level.

Gaming (Table Gaming News): Funforge is running a Monumental Kickstarter campaign. That describes both the name of the game as well as is an accurate description of what the game encompasses. It’s not just your standard 4x civilization board game, but it also brings in deck-building mechanics as well. If there’s a mechanic you like in those types of games, it’s probably in here.

Game Blogging (Hack & Slash): I’m Bowing Out

Politics, Violence, Social Media, and Dungeons and Dragons I’ve not written this post several times. It will be intensely personal, brutally honest, and not directly about gaming resources. It is likely something in this post might trigger you, regarding abuse, sexuality, or mental illness. It is filled with ups and downs, trials and travails, good and evil, hope and loss.

Cinema (Noblebright): Arthur is trying to get the other knights to accept him as king. Some of them, such as Uryens, refused to have a bastard for a king and chose instead to make war on Arthur’s ally, Leondegrance (played by Patrick Stewart in the movie clip). Arthur rides to Leondegrance’s castle to aid in its defense. This is his first act of feudal loyalty; he’s just one boy with a sword and not much in the way of armor, but he has a moral duty to come to the aid of his besieged supporter, so that’s what he does. He kills some of the enemy, then leaps from the parapet and tackles Uryens in the moat.

Sensor Sweep: John Myers Myers, Dave Duncan, Mental State, Warcraft III published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

0 notes

theworstbob · 7 years ago

Text

yellin’ at songs: week thirty-five

brief reviews of the songs which debuted on the billboard hot 100 the weeks of 6 september 1997, 8 september 2007, and 9 september 2017

9.6.1997

7) "Barbie Girl," by Aqua

I don't have anything constructive or novel to say about this song. It's the same Europe dance garbage we've been listening to this whole time, but now it's tuggin' at the ol' nostalgia what with how it references a beloved childhood toy. I do love how uniquely German the line, "Come on in, bimbo friend!" is, but that's about the only good thing in this song. Otherwise, it's a horrible song that has been bad to listen to for 20 years.

18) "Building a Mystery," by Sarah McLachlan

This goes several orders of magnitude harder than I ever remembered. I mean, we're adjusting to Sarah McLachlan's scale, this is still gentle for most people, but this almost has an edge. That's an electric guitar in this song, and I didn't know Sarah McLachlan was capable of saying the f-word! I like what this song was able to do even if it remained solely in the adult-alternative confines in which Sarah McLachlan typically keeps herself. I'd say the revisit ended up being worth it, even if it wasn't a revisit I would've made were I not doing this.

27) "I Miss My Homies," by Master P ft./Pimp C & The Shocker

...Do I suddenly appreciate the production value of "I'll Be Missing You." Is this how bad this song is. That it has me looking back fondly on "I'll Be Missing You." First of all, Master P is garbage on this track. His flow in his verse is "drunk dude trying to do an improv rap," and he keeps going "unnnnh" throughout the song, because as sad as we are at our friends dying, you need to keep brand engagement going. Like, Pimp C and Slikk don't change history, but they do things with their voices that aren't easily replicated. Master P seems to equate "being sad" with "talking slowly." Plus, like, as dumb as the "Every Breath You Take" sample is, that imbues "I'll Be Missing You" with far more energy and passion than this generic synth-strings and drum-beat track does. This beat sounds like a dude playing a Casio in his basement. This song that was probably written from a place of real emotion is the absolute pits.

43) "You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time)," by Brian McKnight ft./Mase

Ma$e was ahead of his time, in a way. Obviously, he's an incredibly basic rapper, so he's not ahead of his time in that particular sense. When you think of today's rappers, though, or at least those rappers which are popular on Billboard, and how they sort of passionlessly mushmouth for a few minutes at a time, you can't help but think that Mase would clean the hell up in this era. This song is a really fun if slight R&B jam, and Mase just sort of shows up and goes "enh," and in 2017 this is the hottest feature of the year.

77) "Need Your Love," by Big Bub ft./Queen Latifah & Heavy D

I fuckin' love this. This dude's voice has this insane quality I'm not anywhere near qualified enough to try to describe, it, I dunno, it's like this shovel digging a hole to my heart? And I love how simple this track is, pretty much just a guitar and drums with the occasional bass note, the traditional '90s strings only kicking in near the end. This is the sort of song I'd just put on repeat and let take me away if I ever found myself in the middle of a bad day, it's this intensely chill and uncomplicated thing, and sometimes, uncomplicated can be great.

88) "We Can Get Down," by Myron

i also could do crystal meth, but then i think... nah, better not "I'll be there for you physically, mentally" okay don't fucking lie to the girl just because it fits the rhyme scheme. You are solely here for the physical. This song is called "We Can Get Down," not "We Can Debate the Meaning of Our Favorite Poems Whilst Enjoying Some Sliced Fruit." Mentally. Man, no one listening to this song is thinking, "Just wanna get inside that big ol' thinker of his! What does this man repeatedly informing us that getting down is an option have to say about the important issues in politics and culture?"

89) "Butta Love," by Next

Given that these dudes are eventually going to make a song about wanting a girl to dance further away from them because they're getting an erection, it's disappointing that this is just a standard '90s R&B slow jamz that only mentions butter in passing, or isn't secretly about buttsex. There is a line in the song, "Just hit me on my hip baby," that I had to stare at for five minutes to figure out what that might mean before I realized that was a sexy reference to pagers, and that made me smile, and I guess getting hard is a recurring theme in Next's work with how they sing "You've got those sexy eyes/Enticing thighs/You make me rise" so that's fun to find out, but this was a disappointingly staid song about wanting to fuck a hot woman.

90) "In a Dream," by Rockell

And 1997 ends where it begins: awful dance music I never want to think about ever fucking again. Very impressive storytelling, you always want the end to call back to the start just to reinforce the themes.

9.8.2007

76) "Fabulous," Ashley Tisdale & Lucas Grabeel

It is so perfect that this song had to appear on the Hot 100 on a week that no other HSM2 song debuted. Also it ends with a "not" joke. Thank you for this.

85) "I Get Money," 50 Cent

One of the things I didn't understand about Super Smash Bros. Melee was what the point of secret characters was if they would just be copies of a different character that moved slightly differently. Like, if Ganondorf had the same moveset as Captain Falcon but just moved slower, was Ganondorf really his own character? I sort of get the same feeling listening to "I Get Money" after "Fabulous." This is just "Fabulous" in a hoodie. Fiddy wants fabulous, that is his simple request, and Ashley Tisdale wants money. Man, I can't believe this album didn't manage to outsell Graduation, wonder what 50 Cent could have done better, aside from making songs that weren't shitty versions of HSM2 songs?

9.9.2017

20) "Friends," by Justin Bieber + BloodPop

I dunno, I guess this is okay. This is a Joey of a song -- I'm having fun with it as something that's happening while I'm trying to do something I'm interested in, but I wouldn't want to have like a whole thing of this. Justin Bieber does his usual thing where he doesn't get in the way but doesn't add anything unique or distinct or... anything, he doesn't do anything on this song, one day we're going to figure out the day we stopped asking our singers to be able to hit notes. Y'all are asking me to evaluate Justin Bieber the same week I evaluated Big Bub. Nah, man. Every single dude R&B singer is a better vocalist than the best male vocalist in 2017. I mean, I know we're coming to these songs for vibes and drops and not for technical vocal proficiency, we made this choice when we made Tay Tay a pop star, but how are Justin Bieber and Bryson Tiller the only vocalists we're asking to carry pop songs in 2017? They're boring!

34) "I Get the Bag," by Gucci Mane ft./Migos

What a delightful song with a dazzling array of lyrical twists with a distinct song quite unlike anything either artist has put out to this point! What a treat, to he -- I am being informed I decided to listen to "Need Your Love" again. Fine. Fine. ...The only reason this song exists is if you hear a Migos song you're really into and want to listen to again but are too far away from your Device to hit the repeat button.

77) "Look What You Made Me Do," by Tay Tay

Because of the way YAS is set up, and also because I’ve been taking an extra day to write YAS for reasons that are not completely “gets too distracted by link to the past randos” but are pretty much just “gets too distracted by link to the past randos,” everything that can be said about this song has been said, and Tay Tay’s public perception has gone from legit pop queen to Nazi Idol, which is a hell of a fall. And you’d think that this was just the media waiting to pile on Tay Tay because she’s had positive coverage for so long and it’s Her Turn as it was for all pop stars before her, except this song is legitimately terrible. It’s indefensibly bad. It’s either about a feud she already won, a response song to “Swish, Swish” being completely unnecessary when you already had “Bad Blood,” or it’s about a feud in which she was so clearly and incredibly in the wrong! This song is just unnecessary, especially since it doesn’t actually do anything. The verses sound kinda cool, they have this sparse production I’m sort of into, but they build into Tay Tay saying, “Look what you made me do” and nothing more. And hey. Tay Tay? Never a compelling vocalist! Can’t pull off the spoken word, to no one’s surprise! It sounds less like a deposed Maleficent crashing the christening and taking the kingdom and more like a teen who’s sort of miffed that their parents wouldn’t let them buy Maleficent-branded merchandise at the mall Hot Topic. This song isn’t failing, but my gosh, does it ever deserve to. If there were any justice, Tay Tay would have announced her country comeback an hour ago, but because of this era where brand loyalty rules the day in pop music (you come up with a better reason why DJ Khaled is a legit pop star), Tay Tay’ll be fine.

79) "Younger Now," by Miley Cyrus

Again, it's really cool that Miley Cyrus, an unfathomably rich person, has found inner peace. I am very invested in the journey of this sympathetic character. You don't see good things happen to rich people that often. So happy for Miley. What an emotional journey, going from a rich child to a rich person who did drugs to a rich person who used to do drugs.

80) "It's Every Night Sis," by RiceGum ft./Alissa Violet

...I can't claim to say I never wanted YouTubers to rap. I own two Starbomb albums. Clearly, I wanted this to happen. But I just, I take back the bad things I've said about Master P, trap rap, and mumble rap in this and these posts, because my god, listening to these children is honestly the worst. I hate this.

53) "Roll in Peace," by Kodak Black ft./XXXTentacion 82) "Transportin'," by Kodak Black 90) "Questions," by Chris Brown

Wow! Over already? Well, that time just flew right on by! Good post, y'all! I feel like we accomplished a lot today, and now we're ready to find out...

Who won the week?

It is 1997 because 1997 is the only year that gave me a song I immediately loved.

2017: 12 1997: 12 2007: 11

Next week, 1997 gives us Mariah Carey, Beck, Chumbawumba, and Shaquille O’Neal. 1997 is complicated.

0 notes